Cards back in hunt for Dozier, who will visit

• Five-star South Carolina guard will visit U of L Oct. 30 - night of football game vs. FSU
• Cards immediately reconnected with Dozier after Antonio Blakeney%27s decommitment
• Rick Pitino coached Dozier%27s dad at camps in the %2780s%2C and he%27s respected the coach for years

A positive home visit with coach Rick Pitino on Wednesday night has landed the University of Louisville back in the thick of things in the recruitment of top Columbia, S.C., guard P.J. Dozier, who will take an official visit to U of L on Oct. 30.

Pitino, who was accompanied by assistant coach Kenny Johnson, mapped out his hopes and plans for Dozier and invited him to visit the campus during an impressive presentation, his father and high school coach, Perry Dozier Sr., told The Courier-Journal.

"It went great," said Dozier Sr., who coaches P.J. at Spring Valley High. "It was absolutely wonderful. Just getting in front of Rick Pitino and getting a chance to be face-to-face to him, it was such a warm feeling, and there were a lot of good things being said and everybody being on the same page. It was just a really, really good visit. It felt very humbling, and we really enjoyed it."

The Cardinals had previously been in Dozier's top five, and he had a visit initially scheduled to Louisville, before they accepted a short-lived commitment from five-star guard Antonio Blakeney. After Blakeney re-opened his recruitment on Sept. 15, the Cards immediately resumed contact with the Doziers.

Dozier, a 6-foot-5 player who can play both guard positions, is rated No. 23 nationally by 247Sports.com.

"(Pitino's) excited about the opportunity to be able to coach a big guard," said Perry Dozier Sr., who considers his son a point guard. "He said he's always wanted to coach a big guard like him. He really feels good about the combination in the backcourt and thinks it would be a good situation for both him and Louisville.

"... It was just real impressive all that Rick has accomplished and how he feels like he can help P.J. as well. I think that really had a big (impact) as well."

Pitino's system tends to rely on combination guards who alternate as the lead ball-handler depending on who happens to get the ball first in transition, and Perry Dozier Sr. said it could be a good fit for his son.

"(Pitino) changed the game of college basketball by doing things like that, and he showed how P.J. fits in that set," he said. "He made it clear that P.J. would be a point guard, and he just really thinks it fits P.J.'s style of basketball."

Perry Dozier Sr. described his son as a point guard "who just so happens can do a lot of other things."

"He's a point guard who can shoot the ball and defend three or four different positions," he said. "He's got great vision. He can do a little bit of everything. (Pitino) thinks he could be a big asset."

Dozier already had scheduled four of his five allotted official visits, including to Michigan this weekend, and now U of L will get the last one. Dozier's Oct. 30 visit presumably will include attending the Cards' Thursday night home football game against defending national champion Florida State.

After the Michigan visit, he plans to visit North Carolina on Oct. 3 (the date initially planned for a U of L trip), Georgetown on Oct. 17 and South Carolina on Oct. 24. Maryland's coaches also conducted a home visit and have made a late push for Dozier, but the Terrapins shape up as less of an option at this point than the five schools that will get visits.

Wednesday night's visit was a chance for Perry Dozier Sr., who played at South Carolina in the 1980s, to reconnect with Pitino, coached Dozier at the old Five-star Basketball camps when he was a high school player.

Perry Dozier said he recalls Pitino, who was in his early 30s when worked with Dozier, as "fiery" and with a "real powerful" presence on the court.

"He just had this way where you always paid attention to what he was doing and what he said," Dozier said. "One thing that I always like about Coach Pitino is that he's so involved. He doesn't just tell players what to do. He would always get out and demonstrate it. Even at the age he is now, he works with these players one on one, and I think that's really impressive for a head coach."

Pitino has since gone on to win two national championships and be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

"His history speaks for itself," Perry Dozier Sr. You look at his tradition and the things that he's accomplished, and you look at his status of players he's coaches in college and what he's done for them and (him) definitely knowing what it takes to be an NBA player. And also, just beyond basketball, Coach Pitino does a whole lot more than people think. He teaches them how to be men, how to be great citizens, how to be productive and how to be successful in every way, basketball or not. That's huge, and that's not just me saying it. He's got plenty of background showing it."

Steve Jones can be reached at (502) 582-7176 and followed on Twitter at @SteveJones_CJ.​