UK Boosters Going After Pitino

It has been leaked by various reports that the "big money boosters" are hot on the trail of Rick Pitino to return to the University of Kentucky. Rumor has it that two of it's highest boosters went to Louisville today to talk to Pitino about returning to the job where he had so much success in the past. Nothing has been confirmed, but tied with the rumors is the fact that if this were to go down it would be without Mitch Barnhart remaining as the school's athletic driector. Again this is nothing but a rumor at this time.
Would I love to have Ricky P back? OF COURSE!!! Are you kidding me, he's getting it done at Louisville and has proved he is still as good of a recruiter as ever. Rick belongs at UK. It just fits as if he was born for the job.
Don't get excited yet, it's just a lot of speculation on my part...guess you could say im anxious to get this time in UK basketball "history" over with so we can be dominant again like we should be.

Konnor Tucker, Point Guard of the Future?

6'4 Juco PG, Konnor Tucker committed to the Cats today fresh off of his visit to Memorial last night to watch the cats in NIT action defeat the Runnin' Rebels of UNLV. So far from what I've heard about Konnor, he is a pretty good shooter. Kentucky obviously needs a point guard and looks like the coaching staff is confident that Konnor can fill that roll. Him being able to shoot sure doesn't hurt matters at all either. Sad news here is that with Konnor comitting it probably ended all hopes of 4-star PG Eric Bledsoe chosing the cats now that we have 2 coming in next year's recruting class.

So, Will He Be Back?

First things first, You absolutely cannot find a Kentucky Basketball fan, including myself, that is 100% happy with the coach. The fans have been as critical of him as any other coach at this school, which they should be. He is simply not getting it done here and it is a really bad situation.
Since I've been away for quite some time, let me just tell you my opinion on Gillispie. The man is simple too stubborn to change. Whether it be substitution patters, defensive schemes, or even practice regimens he just will not change his ways. He is going to do it his way and that's it. No matter if it works or not. (which it never does) We have the talent on this years team that should have won us the SEC Title outright, and possibly went 2-3 games deep into the NCAA tournament, and when those expectations can't be followed there is no where else to look but the coaching staff.
Billy simply does not put his players in a position that makes them feel like they can win a game when it's close, and that destroys these young guys confidence. All year it has been about what all of the players have done wrong...and boy is there a lot of that. Never do we hear from the coach about a good play a player made, or a good performance.
In my opinion moving on without Billy Gillispie as the coach next season is the best move Mitch Barnhart and Dr. Lee Todd could make right now. There are other coaches in the nation better suited for this job that would take it in a heartbeat. Though I've never met him, I'm sure Billy the person is a great guy, but he just isn't getting the job done at the University of Kentucky and it's starting to wear thin on the faithful True Blue fans.

Don't Call It A Comeback!

Things are getting very, very, interesting in the UK basketball world here of late and it has been way to long since I've posted on here so I have decided that I am going to start posting on a normal basis on here again. It is something I really enjoy doing. So with that being said look forward to me posting on things such as the Billy Gillispie controversy going on, and the potential "will he stay, or will he go talk" referring to Patterson and Meeks with the NBA. I'm extremely excited about being back and my first basketball-related post will start right about...nowish!

John Wall likes 3, Including Cats

The new #1 player in the nation for the '09 class according to rivals updated rankings, John Wall, a point guard out of Raleigh North Carolina named 3 schools that he has the most interest in right now. Those 3 being Kentucky, Memphis, and Oklahoma State. Some say that right now Memphis is the leader but Kentucky's stock is rising. Also UK commit Jon Hood is now a 5-Star player and the #19 player in the nation on rival's new rankings.

Williams Leaving UK

Freshman Morkinyo "Mike" Williams has been granted his release and will be leaving school at the University of Kentucky. This in my opinion was the best thing for both sides, Mike and Kentucky. Mike now gets an opprotunity to find somewhere that will have playing time available for him, and it also frees up a scholarship for Billy Gillispie to use on a future player.

Jon Hood Commits to Cats

As Taylor Maze told you a few days ago, Billy Gillispie wasn't going to stop at 13 commitments so far as UK's basketball coach. Today he landed a huge instate prospect for 2009 in wingman Jon Hood. Hood is a 6'6 Small Forward from Madisonville. He is a 4 star for the 09' class according to Rivals.com and the #39 player in the nation. Kids are commiting left and right, something that wasn't of the norm under former coach Tubby Smith. But I'm sure Wildcat fans everywhere like Coach G's style.

Verdell Jones

Three star UK recruit Verdell Jones chose Indiana over Kentucky and Minnesota today. Minnesota was rumored to be his favorite, and he has family in Kentucky but I guess you just can't turn down playing time. Verdell is 6-4, 160 and is the 127th ranked player in the 2008 class.

Vinny Zollo Commits To Cats

2011 recruit Vinny Zollo committed to Kentucky today on his visit to Lexington. Right now he stands at 6'7 and 215 pounds but is projected to be around 7 foot by his senior year. He has been compared style wise to Dirk Nowitzki because of his inside-outside game. He picked the Cats over Tennessee and West Virginia. Vinny is an extremely hard worker and very intelligent. This gives Kentucky a committed recruit for the next 5 years, 2008-2012. Zollo is the fourth recruit to commit in the last week and the twelfth recruit Billy Gillispie has landed in his short time in Lexington. He is likely going to move to the Lexington area to attend high school.

Cats in 09 Prospect's Top 3

Kentucky has been named as one of the 3 remaining schools on the list of 09 big man Andrew Fitzgerald. He is a 6'8 240 pound post player from Baltimore Maryland. The Cats have yet to offer Andrew a scholarship.

Evan Anderson Commits to Wisconsin

Accoring to his AAU coach Evan Anderson who was being recruited by Kentucky for the 2010 class commited to the Wisconsin Badgers on Friday night. He was the #5 player overall for his class according to rivals.com

A Pro In The Game

Billy Gillispie, the master recruiter we all know and love, is reeling in recruits left and right, but don't think he's done just yet. Reports are that there will be a couple more players commit within the next week, most notably Jereme Richmond (left) and Evan Anderson (right). Both Richmond and Anderson hold scholarship offers, but Richmond has to first decommit from Illinois. Both players are also ranked in the top 10 for the 2010 class by Rivals.com, Richmond being 4th and Anderson 5th. 2011 recruit Vinny Zollo might commit next week when he meets with Billy Gillispie. Kentucky could have up to 7 scholarships to give out for the 2010 class. Below is a video of Jereme Richmond.

Cats Get Commitment From 8th Grader

14-year old Michael Avery from Torrance, California has committed to play for the Kentucky Wildcats. He is the youngest player ever to commit to Kentucky, and right now he is 6'4 as an 8th grader. In an interview with Marc Maggard, Avery's father William said that it has always been Michael's dream to play for the Wildcats. He is expected to be within the top 10 of the entire class of 2012. Fullctpress.net said this about Avery, "He is a very skilled 8th grader with a tremendous feel for the game at this stage of his basketball career." Michael played last weekend with the Indiana Elite team last in Akron, Ohio. That's the same program that 2010 UK commitment Dominique Ferguson plays for.

Paul McCoy

Class of 2008 PG Paul McCoy has committed to play for SMU. He was originally down to two schools, UK and Virginia, but recently took an official visit to SMU and decided to commit.

Vinny Zollo

Marc Maggard had a conversation with UK recruit Vinny Zollo today and there were some pretty interesting things said. Vinny said that he had visited Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Syracuse and that he loved to visit Kentucky because of the facilities and tradition. He said he and his parents have both been Kentucky fans their whole life but he shouldn't let that decide where he is going to play. He said both he and Billy Gillispie were hard nosed and would go well together. Lastly he said that he and some of his family members will have a sit down conversation with Billy Gillispie sometime in the next couple of days.

Arrez Henderson to Louisiana Tech

Covington Holmes senior All-State guard Arrez Henderson committed to Louisiana Tech earlier today. When asked why he chose Louisiana Tech, Arrez said "I should be able to play there and I won't have to ride the bench." He was considered to be a candidate for a walk-on spot at Kentucky.

Ferguson=McCarty

Recruiting guru Bob Gibbons recently talked to ESPN about future wildcat Dominique Ferguson, "He is reminiscent of a former Wildcat star. He reminds me of former Kentucky star Walter McCarty as a high school player," Gibbons said. He also mentioned that if Dominique kept improving then he would be an All-American.

Recruits Visiting

Vinny Zollo a 6' 7" freshman from Greenfield, Ohio will be visiting UK this weekend. Rumor is that he might commit during his visit. Another visitor who will be coming the weekend after next is Bobby Maze (photo). Maze a 6' 3" guard from Hutchinson Community College averaged 20.7 ppg and was named NJCAA. He played his freshman year at Oklahoma before transferring to Hutchinson. St. John's, Kentucky, Cincinnati and Southern Cal are considered to be the schools he is interested in the most.

Jon Hood Update

On this very busy day of recruting KSR's Evan Hilbert interviewed 2009 Madisonville guard Jon Hood and managed to get some interesting quotes from that interview. He stated that UK was his leader and that everyone else was together in 2nd. He also said that he loved UK and that their fans were the smartest college basketball fans.

Dominique Ferguson Makes It Two In A Day

According to Evan Daniels of scout.com 2010 standout power forward Dominique Ferguson has commited to play for the Cats. He is 6'9 200 pounds and is the 8th best player in the nation according to Scout. Probably the most amazing thing that I have heard about him is that he has a ridiculous 7' 5" wingspan! I will try to have more later on. At least tonight the big blue nation will have something to be excited about.

Harrellson Commits To Cats

Well on my first day on the blog something good happens for a change. 6'9 265 pound JUCO Big Man Josh Harrellson has commited to play for Billy Gillispie and the Kentucky Wildcats. Harrellson should be able to earn good amounts of playing time and will be able to help Patterson and Stevenson in the paint. He commited and signed his LOI on Tuesday afternoon. He chose the Cats over St. Louis. This is finally some good news since Roderick Flemings chose Hawaii over UK on Saturday, and Ater Majok chose to be a Huskie at UCONN over the Wildcats.