Afternoon Rumble: Big weekend for recruiting; St. John's looking at Antonio Blakeney

It's a busy week in recruiting, as programs line up recruits and try to convince them to verbally commit in the early signing period. St. John's is following a number of players who are likely to sign late, and the pursuit for those elite talents continues to be hot and heavy.

Cheick Diallo, the 6'9" forward from Our Savior New American, the athletic forward coveted by Kentucky, St. John's and a host of other programs, is on his official visit to Iowa State in lovely Ames, Iowa. He will go to the Iowa State/ Baylor football game on Saturday night as part of his official visit.

The now decommitted-from-Louisville five-star guard from Orlando Antonio Blakeney will visit Kentucky and will receive a visit from Steve Lavin next week. North Carolina and North Carolina State will also come around.

Blakeney committed to Louisville at the end of the summer, but decommitted two weeks later. Louisville, according to the article, is no longer recruiting him.

Isaiah Briscoe has a busy weekend set up:

Before Thursday, this was going to be a noteworthy weekend for five-star prospect Isaiah Briscoe, arguably the best point guard in the country. Briscoe had planned to visit Connecticut, a visit which will still take place. However, once the trip to Storrs is finished on Sunday morning, Briscoe will head directly to Lexington for an official visit with Kentucky. His father confirmed the itinerary to CBSSports.com on Thursday evening. The Roselle Catholic (N.J.) product has no other visits set at this point, although there are reports he could head to St. John's for the Red Storm's Midnight Madness in October.

On the other tracks

Longread of the Day: Dating and Big Data --> From FiveThirtyEight, a profile of the founder of OKCupid, the revival of the site, and how the data collected by the dating site created "truths" people wanted to read. (I can vouch for the OKCupid blog; even if you're not in the dating scene, it's a good read. The latest post on dating and race is insightful.

America is only good things! --> A school board in Colorado wants to adjust their district's high school American History curriculum to promote what they feel are the good parts of American History, while avoiding material that condones civil disobedience.

The proposed criteria call for teaching materials promoting patriotism, respect for authority and the free-market system while avoiding material that would encourage or condone "civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law."

"It's chilling," said school board member Lesley Dahlkemper, who typically clashes with the conservative majority. "Does it mean Jeffco will no longer study the civil rights movement, the Boston Tea Party or women's suffrage?"

Or, to be more modern, the Tea Party. Additionally: it's hard to explain America's beginning without discussing civil disobedience; but in a varnished history, one could stop discussing disobedience once the British stop fighting the US and acknowledge the nation.

Flickr photo for the weekend: