Breakfast of Champions -- Kentucky in the News, the NBA, Etc.

As I slowly return to normal from my lengthy holiday, I thought it was time to return to some commentary on the news from today.  I'll have a post up later looking at more of the returning Wildcats.  Look for that this afternoon.

In the news today, we find first and foremost that Roburt Sallie never quite made it to the Bluegrass before making up his mind to matriculate to the University of Memphis.  This is interesting, but not terribly surprising since many had rumored him to be a Memphis lean.  Sallie explains his decision in this new article over at The Cats Pause (subscription required).  I won't relate all the substance of that article due to TCP's terms of service, but I can say that there was an academic reason, not just a simple preference, that factored strongly into his decision.  If he had made it to Kentucky first, it is possible but not extremely likely things would be different.

Still, that makes us wonder here at A Sea of Blue if Internet legend Hunter McClintock is now likely to wind up a Wildcat.  A new article over at The Cats Pause seems to suggest that the UK coaching staff has cooled considerably on McClintock, so that now looks more and more unlikely, though you never know what will happen now that Sallie is off the table.  The main problem with McClintock, though, is that he looks like more of a shooting guard in a point guard body, and if Ramel Bradley and Tony Delk aren't proof of how hard it is to convert a 2 to a 1, I don't know what to tell you.

Of course, Gillispie could just wait until next year to gather more players, and that certainly isn't out of the question -- John Wall and Daniel Orton loom as potential program changers for 2009.

Continuing with recruting, Matt Jones has a very, very informative post up over at Kentucky Sports Radio about how to look at recruting rankings.  I had meant to do some commentary about that at a later date, but Matt beat me to the punch and did an outstanding job.  If you sometimes feel lost trying to evaluate the conflicting stuff you read about recruiting, this post is definitely for you.

Finally on the subject of recruiting, Mark Story says that Billy Gillispie will regret not snapping up Lexington Bryan Station's Shelvin Mack.  Mack was the subject of much debate on many Kentucky sites and ultimately committed to the Butler Bulldogs.  But as we have seen with Gillispie, he tends to focus on very highly rated prospects or players that have a specific skill set he is looking for to round out a team.  Mack is a 6'3" shooting guard, which is rather small these days for that position.  Think of him as Ramel Bradley's height with Joe Crawford's body.

Personally, I don't worry about it.  You can't take them all.  If Mack turns out to be another Chris Lofton, I guess we'll just have to have that debate when the time comes.

Story also tells us UK is likely to continue its tradition of buying ads in USA Today to congratulate former players for high achievement at the next level if Rajon Rondo and the Celtics defeat the Lakers.

Moving on to the NBA draft, there are numerous good blog posts out there opining about the draft, who is in, who is out, who is making a good decision and who is making a bad one.  I don't follow the draft too closely, so I will be letting others with more knowledge of the subject inform you on it, as follows:

• Who 'Tested the Waters' and Drowned?
• Winners and Losers on Draft Declaration Day
• Biggest offseason winners, losers
• Early Entry Winners and Losers
• Back draft: UNC gets key players to return
• Tar Heels stars staying at UNC; UCLA's Mbah a Moute in draft
• Your final NBA Draft early entry update
• Guys Who Won't Feel The Big Blue Wrath Next Year and More!

Finally, Derrick Jasper.  By now we know that he has decided to leave UK for Lon Kruger and UNLV.  This article at the Las Vegas Review Journal  and this one at the Las Vegas Sun discusses Jasper's decision more in depth.  Jasper will be heading to a UNLV team on the rise, but the question is, will Kruger stay past this year?  He has been the subject of the coaching carosel rumors for a while now.

That's it for now.  More later.