Julius Randle | Junior | Forward | Prestonwood Christian (Plano, Texas)

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Julius Randle is ranked No. 2 in the ESPNU 60. As a junior, Randle, a forward at Prestonwood Christian (Plano, Texas), is one of the most sought after prospects in the country, regardless of class, with heavyweights like Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio State and Texas all pursuing him hotly. Randle has agreed to give ESPNHS exclusive access to his world by chronicling everything from intimate details about his recruitment to cooking recipes in a monthly diary.

What’s up world!

It’s your boy Julius Randle again and I hope everyone had a Happy Valentine’s Day. I actually had a game on that day, but it was fun because we played well and we won.

I feel like I played really well, and the cool thing was (Kentucky) coach (John) Calipari was there watching. I didn’t get a chance to talk to him after the game but my coach talked to him. I’m supposed to call him this week so I’m looking forward to talking to him.

It’s a lot different when a coach comes to your high school game because you know he’s coming just to see you. When he comes to a big event or AAU tournament he’s coming to see a lot of different guys, but when he’s in your gym you know he’s there just watching you.

That definitely meant a lot to me that he came down.

The day before that, Coach (Orlando) Early from N.C. State came to my practice to check me out. State’s been coming at me harder since I visited there the last time I was in North Carolina.

I’ve talked to a lot of the coaches on the phone recently too and a lot of them had birthdays so I got to wish them a happy birthday. I talked to Coach (Jeff) Capel from Duke and Coach Cal on their birthdays and I talked to Coach (Mike) Krzyzewski on his birthday too.

Coach K told me he had a relaxing night on his birthday, but he did say that that was a good way to end his birthday, getting a phone call from me. I thought that was pretty cool.

I will definitely say that I’m thinking more and more about my recruitment as the season starts to come to an end. I just keep thinking that soon enough I’ll be making a decision. Not like in the next few months, but with my junior season coming to a close I can’t help but to think about it more.

I haven’t really thought about when I’ll narrow my list down, but I’m thinking it will be at the end of the summer.

As most of you know my prediction on the Duke-UNC game got messed up last week. I picked UNC to win, but they just gave the game away at the end. Those last two minutes were just crazy. That shot by Austin Rivers was just great though so I’m not mad at that.

But I’m still sticking with what I said about the second-round game; I said Duke would win. I’m not picking against Duke twice.

Other than that, I’m just getting mentally prepared for our first playoff game this Friday. We play Houston Christian in the first round and that’ll be a tough game no question. They’re no slouch so we’ll have to come out prepared. It will help that we’re a No. 1 seed so we get home court advantage for the first two rounds.

I know this is the part where I usually give you guys one of my famous recipes, but, to be honest, I’ve been eating a lot healthier these days so I want to wait until I can give you a healthy recipe next time. I’ve been eating more baked chicken and salads and, even though I don’t really like the taste of vegetables, I’ve been eating those too.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now guys.

Thanks, as always, for reading my blog and I hope you’ll check back soon for my next entry.

Take care.

Don't forget to follow Randle on Twitter: @J30_Randle