I have the second in a series of posts I want to get up today, but after a perusal of the news, there is just too much out there worth commenting on.
First and foremost, is recruiting. With the July "dead period" coming on, college basketball coaches are rushing to get visits and other school contacts done with recruits. That's why we have this flurry.
First off, here is Wildcats Thunder's take on the recent news about Liggins, Clarke and Warren. WT seems to think that if Clarke and Warren wind up committing before Liggins, Liggins will be out. WT also has a rumor or two, if you are interested in that sort of thing.
I don't know if this scenario is accurate or not, but we do seem to be getting into a bit of a log-jam recruiting wise. But a hardship scholly here and an academic scholly there would make room for Liggins, and Liggins is definitely a player.
I think we can be assured that we will find a way to get Darius Miller on scholarship if he wants to come. Darius is a long-time UK target and a Kentucky boy, and word on the street is that UK is firmly in the lead for his services.
Billy Gillispie had some recent comments about what type of player he wants to bring to UK:
But UK's new head coach doesn't recruit that way.
''I want basketball players," Gillispie said. ''Intangibles are what make a special team, you can have a really good team without them, but you can't have a great team.''
I really like this attitude. Obviously, we need to balance our size so that we don't wind up too small, but our current recruiting includes a lot of swing players who can play multiple positions on the court. I think a team like that can be incredibly versatile, allowing you to have a big back court and a very quick front court.
The benefits of such a team? Fast defensive rotations and lots of fast-break basketball. The negatives? Post defense and more difficulty scoring in the half court. But with Patterson, we have at least one good post player and defender, so we won't be completely unfortunate there. As to where his help will come from, well, we just don't know yet.
Don't forget what the SuffoCats were able to accomplish, and that was such a team -- undersized on the front line, but it's versatility and defensive capability which sprang directly from their quickness enabled them to emasculate many opponents very early in games. Could Gillispie be trying to deliberately recreate what Tubby had back in 2003?
Michigan Sports Center tells us that Draymond Green, former UK commit under Smith for 2008, has set a time and place to announce his decision. Very few recruiting watchers think it will be Kentucky. I don't think it will, either.
Coach Gillispie shows once more that he is one of us, and can speak "redneck" very well:
"Speechin'." Man, this guy would be right at home in Scottsville, wouldn't he? (Just kidding, Scottsville dudes and dudettes).
That's it for recruiting, much more to follow this morning.