Andrew Wiggins, Julius Randle will not attend Kentucky Wildcats BBM
By Paul Jordan
Here we are, about 60 hours until Big Blue Madness and BBM will go on without an appearance from the two top players in High school. Andrew Wiggins had planned to attend, but he is a late scratch and will head to Canada for a three day weekend. Despite this, I don’t think this affects either players chances at coming to UK. Wiggins attended BBM last year and you can speculate that the long weekend home will be a chance to sit down with his family and decide whether he wants to reclassify into the 2013 class Wiggins has said that he will attend a game at UK soon . Randle was in Lexington recently for the alumni game and there was a buzz he would attend BBM, but apparently his high school homecoming takes precedence. The good sign is that neither player will be attending another schjool’s BBM event.
The official list of visitors for BBM is Derek Willis, the Harrisons, Marcus Lee, Cliff Alexander and JaQuan Lyle.
Wiggins’s high school coach, Rob Fulford of Huntington Prep talked to Cats Illustrated recently and he had some quotes that will reassure the minds of BBM about where UK stands with Andrew:
"“With our fall break this weekend and practice starting next week this might be the last chance that he’ll have to come home until the season ends. He hasn’t given me any indication yet that he’s going home this weekend, but obviously he wants to see his family.” Whether Wiggins visits for Big Blue Madness or not, Fulford assured Cats Illustrated that the 6-foot-7 five-star wing would be making a visit sometime during the regular season for a home game at Rupp Arena. In fact, Fulford said that if Wiggins takes a visit to Kentucky this weekend for Big Blue Madness it will be more to enjoy the experience, rather than to use the visit as a judgment point for his college decision. Either way, Kentucky staff stands right where they want to be right now with the recruitment of the superstar Wiggins. “I’m sure he’ll be there soon if he doesn’t make it this weekend. If Kentucky fans don’t see Andrew this weekend there is absolutely no reason to hit the panic button. There’s no doubt that Andrew will get down to Kentucky for at least one game this season.” *************** “Kentucky is definitely at the top of the list along with Florida State. Those two schools are doing by far the best job of recruiting Andrew,” said Fulford, “North Carolina is involved but not to the extent that the other two are. “It’s kind of a little unfortunate, but a lot of other schools have already given up on Andrew. Everyone seems to think that it’s a lock that it will come down to Florida State and Kentucky. A lot of these schools want to move on to guys that they think they can get, but that doesn’t make sense to me with it being so early in his recruitment.”"
Mar 28, 2012; Chicago, IL, USA; McDonalds High School All American west team guard Archie Goodwin (24) lays the ball in during the 35th McDonalds High School All American Game at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock
The other day, we pointed out CBS’s picks for the Final FOur and National Champion in which just one person, Gary Parrish, picked UK to make the Final Four and cut down the nets. Now, CBS is out with their All American list and three Wildcats were featured. Nerlens Noel was named as a second team All American:
"It’ll be all about the flattop this season in Lexington instead of the Unibrow. Noel isn’t quite Anthony Davis, but as far as shot-blocking is concerned, he’s not far off — if at all. Noel may not be as polished on the offensive end as Davis, but he could be on par with AD as far as a defensive presence in concerned."
Noel and Poythress were featured on the first team All freshman:
"Poythress is among the reasons Kentucky probably won’t miss all those early entries to last June’s NBA Draft. He’s one of three Wildcats who could earn First Team All-American honors."
Archie Goodwin was selected as second team All Freshman:
"Goodwin is a big and strong guard who is usually in attack mode. He’s a better prospect than the two guards — Darius Miller and Doron Lamb — that Kentucky placed in last June’s NBA Draft."