ESPN’s College Gameday is Coming Back to Rupp Arena and John Calipari is a “Recruit Whisperer”
By Wayne
Feb 23, 2013; Lexington, KY, USA; The ESPN Game Day crew prepare for their show before the game against the Kentucky Wildcats and the Missouri Tigers at Rupp Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports
Mark your calendars for 2/15/2014 as Rupp Arena and your Kentucky Wildcats will be hosting ESPN’s College Game Day! This is always fun and our fans always outdo themselves, and every other venue for that matter, with passion, heart and crazy. Our reputation precedes us everywhere we go and ESPN better be ready.
"ESPN College GameDay will return to Kentucky for the second consecutive season and fifth time in program history during the 2013-14 season. The eight-week pregame college basketball show has selected UK’s home game against Florida on Feb. 15 as one of its eight stops during the upcoming season. The show will originate from Rupp Arena. The Southeastern Conference game between UK and Florida is set for a 9 p.m. tip on ESPN. College GameDay will air live on ESPN at 11 a.m. and again later that day at 8 p.m. The second airing will lead into the opening tip of the game. Since its inception during the 2004-05 season, College GameDay has featured the Wildcats eight total times, including this year’s upcoming appearance. GameDay visited Rupp Arena last season when the Wildcats hosted the Missouri Tigers. In one of UK’s games of the year, the Cats charged past the Tigers for a 90-83 overtime win. UK owns a 4-0 record on days when it is featured by the GameDay crew under John Calipari’s direction and has been selected for the show in each year of Calipari’s tenure at UK. A crowd of 15,087 attended the morning GameDay show last season, the second largest ever. UK also holds the record for the largest crowd in GameDay history of 22,144, set on Feb. 13, 2010. This season’s GameDay show will start Jan. 18 with a split show. The morning airing will take place at The Palestra in Pennsylvania for the Temple-La Salle game and conclude in the evening with the Louisville-Connecticut game."
Ever wonder who is college basketball’s best recruiter?!?! Hahaha! Trick question. Really, who wonders anymore at this point? You don’t have to read the story to know the answer (but I did anyway). Coach Calipari won this going away and what makes this story relevant is that coaches did the voting.
"There are certain coaches who could recruit well anywhere, a handful of schools that would enroll elite players regardless of the circumstances. You probably know who’s who. You probably know which is which. But what about on a level playing field? Today’s question: All resources being equal, who is the best recruiter in the sport? John Calipari (Kentucky): 49 percent Bill Self (Kansas): 8 percent Mike Krzyzewski (Duke): 6 percent Billy Donovan (Florida): 5 percent Buzz Williams (Marquette): 5 percent Others receiving multiple votes: Scott Drew (Baylor), Leonard Hamilton (Florida State), Sean Miller (Arizona), Paul Hewitt (George Mason), Josh Pastner (Memphis) On Calipari: “He’s just that good. It’s unfair and generally a waste of time to go up against him. People can speculate all they want about his practices or say that anyone can recruit to Kentucky. They are all signs of jealousy. You have to have skills as a recruiter, a marketer, and a leader to get that many elite-level kids to put aside their egos to play with other great players. It’s not easy when they all want playing time and the spotlight. He gets them to trust his process and to focus on winning. And he has to do it all over again, year after year. That’s not an easy task. He would be a great recruiter at any level of our business. As a matter of fact, he has been.”"
Need proof? Check out this video of Julius Randle tearing down some rims:
The Chicago Cubs did what they always seem to do, suck, and yesterday it cost former Bat Cat Chris Rusin a shot a victory against my Redlegs He pitched 6 innings of 2 run baseball and lowered his ERA to a touch over 3 while leveling his record out at 2-2.