As most everyone knows by now, word has come that Marcus Thornton has eliminated Kentucky from consideration and that Terrence Jones, while not having signed a Letter of Intent, seems to be leaning toward sticking with his choice of the Washington Huskies. 

A few days ago, I said that it was unlikely that Calipari would strike out on C.J. Leslie, Terrence Jones and Marcus Thornton, but it looks like that has actually happened, as remarkable as that seems.  That leaves Kentucky with nine scholarship players (assuming the return of Darnell Dodson) and one walk-on.  If the rumors about Dodson are true and he moves on, then UK will wind up with an eight-man roster if nothing changes between now and August.

But as you might expect, Coach Cal has not given up on the 2010 class just yet.  Comes now a new and previously unknown player, a certain Remi Dibo of West Virginia's Mountain State Academy.  Originally from Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Dibo is a 6'8"/230# power forward who is said to possess a very good perimeter shooting touch.  He is not at all a post up threat, at least not yet, and is considered more of a Rashard Lewis sort of player, for those who follow the NBA.  But he is said to be quite skilled as a shooter, even though word from Jody Demling, who has seen him play, that he is not really an SEC caliber player.

But the fact that UK is struggling to find players to fill the roster to an acceptable level at this point in the season just underlines the difficulty of having eight or maybe even nine players leave a program for whatever reason.  It is very difficult to recruit that many replacements, and John Calipari would have had to achieve unprecedented success to replace them all (which he very nearly did).  As it is, Kentucky is in a bit of a scramble mode to try to assemble a team for next year, even though the 'Cats will have a substantial amount of young talent and should challenge again for the SEC East.

I think it's safe to say that never in his wildest dreams did Calipari expect to lose this many players to the draft, or he would have done more, earlier.  Unfortunately, Kentucky is a victim of its own success last year, as we sometimes see, and that looks to make 2010-11 a bit more of a rebuilding year than we might have otherwise expected.

The good news is that the 2011-12 team is looking like world-beaters with the coming matriculation of Marquis Teague and Michael Gilchrist.  Gilchrist in particular is going to be devastating.  Take a look at this blog from Jody Demling in a conversation he had with Clark Francis of Hoop Scoop:

In doing some work for the Super Five, I asked Hoop Scoop editor Clark Francis about junior Michael Gilchrist. Francis told me more than a year ago that Gilchrist (right) was "the best player in high school basketball." Anyway, when I asked him about the 2011 Kentucky commitment Francis simply said: "An NBA All-Star for a long, long time."

That's positively Wall-esque, and we know how John Wall worked out.

In the news, here are a few items of interest:

• Winston Shepard: Texas Power : Box of M.E.S.S.
  Some interesting comments on Kentucky and Coach Cal.

• UK TE signee Alex Smith talks about playing roundball against Brandon Knight | Vaught's Views
  This kid is sharp. Glad to see us get a player like this.

• Danny Jett's Inner Circle: John Calipari To The Chicago Bulls 'Imminent' Says Clairvoyant
  Danny Jett has reportedly spoken to a "clarivoyant", and says that Karma is a bitch.

• Postups: Wall breaks ranks with LeBron - CBSSports.com

  John Wall played at Kentucky for John Calipari, a key player in the nexus of basketball power that also includes William "Wes" Wesley, LeBron James and LeBron’s agent, Leon Rose. So it was a huge upset when Wall broke ranks with Rose’s Creative Artists Agency and signed this week with agent Dan Fegan.

  Wait ... this doesn't fit the narrative!

  We all know that WWW, Calipari and other shady dealers are putting players where they want them, right?  You mean the conspiracy theorists might be wrong?  I'm shocked!

• Daily Herald | Bulls watch: Give up the Calipari stuff

  On the wrong path: Can everyone please stop writing about John Calipari and the Bulls? It's not going to happen and these stories exist only to coax Kentucky into giving him a raise. The guy is an excellent recruiter of high school talent, not an NBA coach.

  Finally, somebody gets it right.  Maybe not about the raise part, though.

• Rick Bozich | Task keeps getting harder for Pitino | courier-journal.com | The Courier-Journal

  Even on a day when it was confirmed that Samuels is departing two years early and Justice is arriving with a scholarship, the question that keeps bouncing around the Yum! Center is simply this:

  Can Pitino overcome the string of hits he has taken the past 13½ months and still deliver the prize that was supposed to be unwrapped by now: a national championship?

  My sources say no.  At least, not for a while.

• Starting Five: Will lure of NBA overcome John Calipari eventually? - Mike DeCourcy - College Basketball - Sporting News

  Departing Kentucky after one season — which would, effectively, make him the fifth one-and-done Wildcat from the 2009-10 team — would be disastrous for his coaching legacy. Calipari did not promise Kentucky a couple more SEC titles when he accepted this job. He promised to make it Kentucky again. Leaving behind one Elite Eight and a freshman-dominated roster wouldn't get that done.

  I think DeCourcy has this right, as usual.

• Sorry haters, Cal will not be leaving Kentucky anytime soon
  Heh. I like it.

• Lots of Talk, But Seemingly Little Truth Around Kentucky Rumors - Chris Littmann - The Sporting Blog - Sporting News

  Bogus Rumor No. 1: Brandon Knight (left) is going to Italy. This one came up while I was asleep and was dead by the time I woke up.

  Probably started by a Louisville fan who is still drunk from seeing Calipari miss out on Jones and Leslie.

• Calipari is not going to Chicago, he's negotiating with Kentucky - ProBasketballTalk - Basketball - NBC Sports

  John Calipari is not going to be the next Chicago Bulls coach.

  There.  Someone else said it.