According to Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv, 2013 power forward Julius Randle from Plano (Tex.) Prestonwood Christian has tentatively scheduled his remaining official visits. Per Randle's mother, Randle will visit the Texas Longhorns on the weekend of December 15, followed by the Kansas Jayhawks the weekend of December 28 and the N.C. State Wolfpack the weekend of January 25.
Randle previously took official visits to the Kentucky Wildcats and Florida Gators this past fall. He will not take an official visit to his remaining finalist, the Oklahoma Sooners, although Randle did unofficially visit Norman the weekend of October 27.
There is a lot of chatter that Texas leads for the five-star prospect. For example, that sentiment was voiced by Rivals.com's Eric Bossi, who watched Randle and his high school team this past weekend at Dallas' Thanksgiving Hoopfest event.
The stance of Texas recruitniks is appropriately pragmatic. Despite early season struggles, the hope is that the Longhorns will go on to have a promising season this year. This would hopefully prove to Randle that he is the "missing piece" to help lead the Longhorns to a championship run in the 2013-14 season.
Presumably, the early season visit is not good news for Texas, who would rather get him on campus for a more raucous, hoops-oriented atmosphere. On December 15, the Longhorns will take on mighty Texas St., and with the student body entrenched in finals week, the Erwin Center will surely be about as loud as its derisive nickname, "The Library." That said, even if Randle makes that scheduled trip his official visit weekend, there is still plenty of opportunity for him to revisit Austin in the spring before he makes his final decision.