What an awesome weekend this is turning into. Beautiful spring weather, the Kentucky Derby is truly starting to dominate the sports talk. Spring has sprung, and summer is on its way.
What this means for Kentucky basketball news is usually "the doldrums". But today, I found a couple of interesting things to relate.
First, Jody Demling at the Louisville Courier-Journal has an article about G.J. Vilarino turning into a recruiting asset for UK. G.J. is working on teammate Shawn Williams, a highly-touted 6'6" wing forward. Quoting Vilarino in the article:
Attaboy G.J. You scratch our back, and we'll scratch yours.
Then, we have this article from the Huntington Herald-Dispatch (hat tip: Matt Jones at KSR) that talks about how much Patterson is apparently enjoying all the attention in the recruiting process.
Pat, I am going to talk to you like a Dutch uncle. You are a glutton for attention and accolades. You're like one of those Hollywood starlets, spoiled rotten by success and attention and full of your own glory. Face it, Pat -- you are trying to stretch your 15 minutes of fame into four years.
Florida is a football school, and unless you suddenly start playing wide receiver at the high D-1 level, you will have to get used to second-class attention there. Virginia? Please. Nice school, but not even in the same solar system as the others on your list. Duke is better, but let's face it -- their fans have only a tiny fraction of the breadth, depth and passion of the only school you should be seriously considering -- the University of Kentucky.
That's right, Pat, UK. Our fans are everywhere, and we think about our basketball team every day of the year. We revere our players, and more attention is showered upon them than any group of athletes in any college sport in the entire USA. All you have to do is look at the online presence of the Big Blue Nation, and the hundreds of thousands of hits per day they get just to find another scrap of meaningful insight into next year's team.
Pat, you may think us pathological, or obsessed -- and in the view of many, you would be right. But what a marriage that makes for your shameless desire for attention. You not only get to play for a storied program ready to return with a vengeance to the national scene, but all that comes with just what you seem to crave the most.
So, Pat, when you finally decide to matriculate, keep in mind just how much you have apparently enjoyed the recruiting process. Then multiply it times a factor of 10 or so, and add 100 for good measure. That is where you will be if you actually show up on campus here.
Sound good? I thought so. Enjoy the remaining three weeks or so of attention, then come to the only place that can keep it alive.
Update [2007-4-29 13:20:54 by Truzenzuzex]: Speaking of scraps of meaningful insight, how about a whole banquet?
Also, you might want to check out this thread at the Duke Basketball Report where they fret about our recruiting. Priceless. Hat tip: Wildcat Maniacs.
Jared Bonshire at Kentucky Ink has a very interesting article comparing UK's two three weeks with Gillispie and Minnesota's time to date with Tubby Smith.
Update [2007-4-29 14:5:10 by Truzenzuzex]: Kentucky has offered a scholarship to 2009 prospect, Tony Woods, according to this Rivals article.
Update [2007-4-29 14:56:5 by Truzenzuzex]: K.C. Miller, class of 2010, is a fan of Billy Gillispie.
Larry Vaught interviews Randolph Morris. Hat Tip: Aarons UK Basketball Blog.