2010 PG recruitment is shaping up like a Kentucky horse race
By Staff
Calipari has a big idea for announcing the UK basketball schedule plus UK adds a instate rival to future football schedules and remember, today is the last day to vote in this rivals poll to the right…. we will look at those stories in a minute, but first, the point guard “news”…
Lots of drama today as some websites were reporting that Brandon Knight, the top player in the 2010 class, and Adreian Payne, a big man that UK desperately needs next year, were both very close to committing to UK. Then followed lots of bickering on message boards, shots taken at rival fan sites and the general conclusion that there will probably be no commitment in the immediate future, but that Knight and Payne are definitely leaning towards UK.
It’s still amazing to see where we are as opposed to just a year ago. It’s common knowledge that the top four point guards in the country are extremely in coming to Lexington to play for Calipari and UK and according to various reports, all four are “in the bag”. While that is not a reality, it is starting to be a foregone conclusion that UK will land one of the big four. It just boils down to which recruit is going to pull the trigger and commit first.
Zag’s Blog is posting some comments from Josh Selby’s mom where she says that UK is definitely in the mix. “Anybody with a basketball brain knows what Calipari has done — you have to consider Kentucky. It doesn’t mean it’s a done deal, but you have to consider Kentucky”. Maeshon Witherspoon also continued to downplay the perception that WorldWideWes had anything to do with the recruitment. All the big names are getting in on the re-recruitment of Selby, involving Donovan, Self, and Coach K, among others.
Joe Jackson has named his list of schools to 5, and there is no shock that UK made the cut. UK, UConn, Memphis, Tennessee, and Kansas are the options that Jackson is considering. Jackson will be visiting UK presumably for March Madness and he has said that he is Calipari’s top target. “You know whoever commits first is going to be the main guy. If they want me, they’ll wait. Calipari says he wants me real bad and I’m his top guy — and I’m just going on what he tells me”. It appears that Jackson can be timing his announcement for shortly after his visit to UK. He says he will decide “Probably by the half way point of the high school basketball season — or late spring”.
While there has been no real news on Kyrie Irving lately, the fact that Indiana and Duke were eliminated by Joe Jackson means that Irving just moved up on those team’s radar. Crean has been following Irving for a while and has made it clear that he is IU’s top prospect. Duke has also offered and getting shut out by Jackson makes them more likely to refocus on Brandon Knight and Irving.
So as of now, it’s still neck and neck but the rumor mill is pushing Knight into the lead by a head, to keep up the horse racing analogy. It’s going to be a long and trying race, it appears, but UK fans learned the virtue of patience with John Wall.
**********
Apparently the UK hoops schedule has been finalized and will be announced in the next two weeks. UK is planning out a roll out of the schedule in a TV special on the Big Blue Sports Network. I got to say that I love the pomp and circumstance surrounding the announcement of the schedule. In a related story, Rick Pitino announced that the UL had inked a deal with the “Louisville Penny Pincher” magazine and it would be released at fine coin laundries and bus stops around the Ville on the second Tuesday of the month. It’s got prime exposure in the mag after the oil change coupons.
With UConn appearing on this year’s schedule, Cal is looking at more big names for future years. His goal is to play Duke in front for 40,000 in Atlanta, but stopped short of saying Coach K would wuss out. Calipari is also trying to get Kansas to play in St Louis for future years.
**********
Kentucky and WKU have just signed a four year contract to play football starting next season. The 2010 and 2012 game will be at Commonwealth and the 2011 and 2013 game will be at LP Field in Nashville, home of the NFL’s Titan’s. Due to scheduling, the Nashville games could be played on a Thursday night. This is great exposure for WKU, which recently became a BCS school. UK beat WKU 41-3 last year at Commonwealth but the Toppers have not been shy in scheduling BCS schools to boost their exposure (and bank account).
**********
Finally, I have been trying to find some Lexington based “correspondents” to help with the site and to give this more of a Lexington feel. Today around 1PM will mark the WildcatBlueBlog debut of Andrew Hardison, a recent UK grad. He will be taking a look at the grand scheme of UK’s football recruiting and the heightened expectations. Check back around 1PM for that post…
Keep following www.http://wildcatbluenation.com for the best in Kentucky basketball and football news, rumors, and opinions. By Kentucky fans for Kentucky fans