Harrison Barnes does not have nice things to say about us...

The local schools may benefit from that wish. His Mom really likes the coach in Minnesota.

Anyone who’s ever followed the recruiting process in any detail should not be even mildly dismayed by Barnes’ response and even less so by the tactics, even strategy, of opposing programs. It is, has been, and will continue to be, the effort of competing programs to portray their organization in the best possible light and to do the opposite to foes. Barnes’ comments obviously reflect information given him, much the same as Will Barton’s comments after he committed to Memphis. Neither should UK, Calipari or we fans expect to escape the excessive negative publicity associated with Rose, Dozier, scholarships, etc. The best for which to aspire is a net PR positive, and to this point IMO it is hugely so, but the slings and arrows will continue to be launched toward Lexington. Forewarned is forearmed.

I’ve been thinking, and I have been as hard on Porter as almost anyone, but He would be a great asset to the team this year. When he was having all his turnover woes it was usualy in the first 5 minutes of the game. You take a team that’s played hard, had to double team people, and ran their buts off for 25 + minutes, Porter is going to be alot more of a threat without the pressure, and the atleticism isn’t going to play as much of a factor. He would probably be the best shooter on the team. He has experience that is key in winning a title; he would be playing SG which is his natural position. He would be a valuable tool to help pratice, and if nothing else to come fresh off the bench and play pressure defense and wear the other team out a little for 5 minutes. The defense has to concentrate on him because he can shoot. The positives outweigh the negatives in this situation, and the chance to win a title would be something he wouldn’t turn down!

one thing about being a high school teenager, there is no consequence for shooting off you mouth-hopefully they learn a lesson in tact when going to college

I agaree with you, 6 in 1 year is more than normal; however, changing from what 98% of college coaches use as an offensive means of coaching basketball to the DDMO is ALSO more than normal, when there is a coaching change.

There are just a select few kids that have the agility to play in the DDMO. Many of the kids at UK when Cal arrived were not of that vain.

There are a couple things many of us are missing here.

NO BASKETBALL PLAYER AT ANY DIVISION-1 SCHOOL HAS EVER RECEIVED A FOUR-YEAR SCHOLARSHIP. Not at Kentucky, Puke, UNC, Louisville, Indiana…you name it. IT DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY. (Our best friends son just completed his fourth year at Huntington University, which is a NAIA school, and the NAIA schools do not give four-year scholarships!)

If a player plays ball for ANY school for four years, IT IS ONLY BECAUSE THEY RECEIVED FOUR (4) ONE (1) YEAR SCHOLARSHIPS. Now, take P Pat for example. If he wanted to play four years, he would be welcomed by JC to do that, and to many it would look as though he had received a four-year scholarship….but he didn’t. He too is getting his third one year deal.

So, the bottom line is this: NOTHING WAS TAKEN AWAY FROM ANY OF THESE PLAYERS. Rather, the ONE YEAR scholarship was NOT RENEWED for another one year period of time.

It is a VERY important difference. One that makes all the difference in the world.

The second thing that I do not understand is why you all want to punish the player, by MAKING him stay at Kentucky, AND SIT AT THE END OF THE BENCH FOR THE NEXT ONE, TWO, OR THREE YEARS JUST SO WE CAN PROUDLY SAY WE DID NOT GIVE HIM THE SHAFT.

Well, excuse me, but THAT is giving him the shaft. At least we have a coach that is honest and man enough to sit down with these kids, and explain where they are and what they can expect, playing-time wise, and helping them realize they can go some place else and ACTUALLY play on the floor during a game, NOT JUST FOR WARMUPS.

As Coach gets the players HE needs for HIS system, I am confident we will not see the mass exodus we are having this year. Once he has a player that can play his system, why would he send him down the road? Of course there could be non-basketball related issues that could cause that, like grades.

Some of you even think that kids go to a school because of the school, not the coach. I will grant you that occasionally that can happen with an instate school like UK for Kentucky kids, but it is a rarity otherwise. THEY COME TO PLAY FOR A CERTAIN COACH?

Don’t think so? Then answer me this question: Is it the Dean of Students that does the recruiting of these kids? Or the coaches?

I rest my case.

GO BIG BLUE!

KSR reports these Barnes comments:

I asked Barnes specifically about his comment from BoxofMess.com, which at first he didn’t seem to completely recall, but eventually he assured me that whatever was said wasn’t meant to be knock on Kentucky or Coach Calipari, who is still involved in his recruitment. He went on to deny even making the comment about the scholarships being taken away from players and said that, if anything, he might have said the part about Calipari leaving Memphis, but only in the context of whether or not he left Memphis and continued to recruit him at Kentucky. All in all, if the comment was said, it was probably just another classic case of kids talking and wasn’t meant to be as "earth shattering" as it was taken to be. Barnes was pretty adamant about denying the comment though, especially the part about the scholarships being taken away, so I’ll just allow you to make up your own mind on what you wish to believe. In terms of rumors that Kansas and Duke are leaders, he said "that might be a bit premature at this point," mainly because he hasn’t had the opportunity to see other schools, giving North Carolina and Kentucky as examples of campuses that he plans on getting a better look at.