Negedu Finishing Up Visits; McDonald to North Carolina

Former Arizona commit Emmanuel Negedu of Brewster (N.H.) Academy is winding down his visits.

The 6-7, 230-pound Negedu left Georgia Tech on Tuesday and arrived at Tennessee, where he will be until Thursday morning. Then he will leave for his last visit at Memphis.

We hear that the Arizona staff has "blessed" Negedu to Memphis if that's what he wants. Memphis assistant Josh Pastner, formerly of Arizona, had initally tried to persuade Negedu to stay at Arizona, but the player didn't want that.

Speaking of Memphis, John Calipari's team lost out on a good one when 6-4, 185-pound Leslie McDonald of Memphis Briarcrest Christian chose North Carolina over Memphis, Duke, Georgetown and Tennessee.

The Player of the Year in Memphis, McDonald attends the same school as that of Calipari's daughter.

McDonald is the fifth player in the Class of 2009 to commit to Carolina, joining 6-9 twins David Wear and Travis Wear of Santa Ana, Calif.; 6-10 John Henson of Round Rock, Texas; and 6-3 Dexter Strickland of St. Patrick of Elizabeth (NJ).

Finally, we hear that one of the major reasons why Calipari hired former Pitt assistant Orlando Antigua over Georgetown assistant David Cox is because of his fluency in Spanish. The staff wanted someone who can better communicate with incoming recruit Angel Garcia. Look for Garcia to have a much bigger impact with Antigua's help.