Stacey Poole on being a Wildcat: "The fans basically got me up to Kentucky"
By Staff
Even though his dad was a legendary Florida Gators player and he grew up in the shadow of Gainesville, Stacey Poole started a legacy of his own when he committed to UK on September 24. And John Calipari hopes that Poole is just the start of establishing a recruiting pipeline in the Sunshine State. In the course of his recruitment, Poole said that one thing led him to commit to the Big Blue and that was the unparallelled passion of the fans:
“But it really came down to the fans. That’s what got me. I just love the passion and the enthusiasm they have for basketball. They showed us so much love when we were up there.”
Poole’s comments came from the October 3 edition of “The Cat’s Pause” and an article by Jeff Drummond. Of course, knowing the status of Poole’s dad at the University of Florida, the conversation of course had to come to Poole’s dad and his thoughts on the son of a Gator legend going to the hated Wildcats:
“Yeah, he knows that Kentucky has great fans. He told me that would be one of the best things about it. The basketball players up there are treated like royalty”
“He told me all along that I needed to make the best decision for me and to not worry about trying to follow in his footsteps or anything”.
The thing that has impressed me the most about Poole is the fact that he, like Eric Bledsoe, is not scared of the competition. Remember a few months ago when the naysayers said that Eric Bledsoe would never come to UK because of the prospect of riding the bench if John Wall came to UK. Like Bledsoe, there are questions that wonder if Poole will see a lot of time initially on a already talented UK squad that can be made even deeper with the commitment of Doron Lamb or Tobias Hill. Like Bledsoe, Poole is ready for the challenge:
“Yea, I welcome that. Anyone that comes here at my position better come ready to compete because I’m going to bring it every day”
It has not been lost on the BBN that Poole attended UK the same time as fellow Florida prospect Brandon Knight and in hos commitment announcement, it appeared that Poole is also playing the role of a recruiter to bring Brandon Knight to Kentucky, a role that Calipari has encouraged. Poole admitted that he has become friends with Knight and that his goal is to bring titles to UK:
“He (Calipari) wants me to stay in touch with them and see if I can get them up to Kentucky, too. I’m willing to do whatever he needs me to do because I want to win some championships. That’s all I care about. I want to play with the best players in the country so we can win some titles”
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