Daily Archives: January 9, 2013
Three-horse race for Wiggins…
Grant Traylor of The Herald-Dispatch (the daily newspaper that serves Huntington, WV) is reporting that, “The race for Wiggins is extremely tight and it seems like a three-horse race between Kentucky, Florida State and North Carolina in no particular order. Wiggins said he is still visiting Kansas, but the odds of him going there are slim to none.”
Here are the factors Traylor lists that Kentucky has laid out on the table:
Kentucky: What makes Kentucky a viable choice is head coach John Calipari’s ability to take an 18-year-old and make him NBA ready in one season.
Calipari has already assembled one of the top recruiting classes in history for 2013 with three of the nation’s top prospects at their position.
Wiggins said fans want him to be the fourth.
“UK has a lot of fans in all of the states we play,” Wiggins said. “I think most of the time I’m hearing from fans about them, but I’m going to go where is best for me to go.”
Regardless of surrounding talent, Wiggins will be the main attraction of any offense, but he’d also have talent around him to help expand his game both mentally and physically.
Read the full article here: Spotlight shines on Wiggins
Read article by Brad Woodcock and why Kentucky in the end will likely get Andrew Wiggins: This thing about Deadlines…
Kentucky’s frontcourt
CatsIllustrated.com writer Aaron Smith (@ASmithRivals) takes a comprehensive look at Kentucky’s front court. In his article Smith shares statistics on Nerlens Noel’s fouling, the efficiency & effectiveness of the “Twin Towers,” Kyle Wiltjer being “one dimensional” and Alex Poythress’s inconsistent motor.
The Alexander Brothers and Deadrin Senat set to visit
In some huge UK football recruiting news (scooped by Justin Rowland of Rivals.com, @RowlandRIVALS on Twitter), MacKensie and MacKenro Alexander, as well as their teammate Deadrin Senat, will all be visiting UK in the near future.
This trio of players all from Immokalee, Florida, and all will be visiting at the same time. MacKensie is largely regarded as one of the top cornerbacks in the nation. Both Scout.com and Rivals.com rate him as the #7 Cornerback in the nation, and a 4* recruit. You know he’s a good player though when you see he’s been offered a scholarship by Alabama. Let’s just say this, good luck getting open against him one on one, James Quick.
MacKenro is slightly less recruited, but still a great get in his own right. He is currently rated as a 3* recruit with offers from Florida State, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Arkansas among others. Rivals has him listed as the #46 Safety in the class of 2013.
Deadrin Senat is a 4* on Rivals.com, and a 3* on Scout.com, listed as the #25 Defensive Tackle and the #35 Defensive Tackle respectively. Deadrin currently holds offers from Auburn, Florida State, Miami, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
Needless to say, getting all 3 would be a major step in the right direction for UK.
Watch ‘em work:
Eye on the SEC
Maybe not the most flattering pic.
CBS.com College Basketball Insider Gary Parrish thinks, “The league (SEC) has three teams capable of making the Final Four. But a fourth team is not assured of making the Field of 68, and the bottom of the SEC is as bad as it’s been in recent years.”
In his “Conference Reset” Parrish projects the Cats to finish in 1st place followed by Missouri and Florida respectively.
Here is what he thinks about the Boys in Blue:
“I realize this ranking flies in the face of our Top 25 (and one) that features Missouri and Florida but does not feature UK. But the Top 25 (and one) is about what’s happened on the court while this is a prediction of which team I believe will win the SEC. What can I say? I’m still a sucker for talent. And Kentucky still has more talent than everybody else.”
Parrish also thinks Alex Poythress needs to step up, well kind of:
“Folks have criticized Alex Poythress for his inconsistent play, and I get it. But the Kentucky freshman is still averaging 14.0 points and 6.3 rebounds. That’s not bad in the grand scheme of things.”
You can read the full article here.
UK, UofL pursue Top Center in 2014 Okafor
Ben Roberts (@NextCats) from the Lexington Herald leader writes that the recruitment of Top 2014 Center Jahlil Okafor could turnout to be a “Battle of the Bluegrass” as both John Calipari and Rick Pitino are in hot pursuit of the 6-foot-11, 270-pound big man from Chicago. Rivals.com and MaxPreps rank Okafor as the No. 1 overall prospect in 2014 and ESPN has him rated No. 2 overall.
You can read the entire article here:
Two Players dismissed
Previous staff had previously spoken very highly of Caffey’s play on the field…
According to a UK spokesperson, Jonathan Reed and Marcus Caffey have been dismissed from the program for a “violation of team rules.” You may remember that last season Caffey had been suspended for the year due to Academic issues.
Neither Caffey or Reed ever played a down for UK. Nevertheless, this points to UK’s need for more defensive backs, to go along with Blake McClain and Jaleel Hythcye, who are already committed.
Go Big Blue!
Countdown to Signing Day: 28 Days
Reese Phillips, who early enrolled at UK today.
Signing day is still fast approaching, and UK is hot on the trail of some very highly rated players in the class of 2013, and class of 2014. Here’s a quick mid-week update:
Reese Phillips has enrolled at UK today. He becomes the 3rd official signee of the current class. This is important because it helps Reese will get to go through Spring Practice with the team and learn the offense earlier, giving him a leg up on any other incoming Freshmen Quarterbacks.
Reese is a 3* recruit on Rivals.com, a 2* recruit on Scout.com, and a 2* recruit on ESPN. Last season for Signal Mountain he threw for over 2,300 yards and totaled 24 touchdowns on the season.
“We’re excited about Reese getting started with us,” Stoops said. “Being able to enroll at mid-year and go through spring practice will greatly help his development.”
Za’Darius Smith and Steven Borden have both also enrolled at UK for the Spring, and will be therefore eligible to participate in Spring Practice.
3* JUCO Cornerback Nate Willis is down to Baylor and Kentucky. The 6’1 corner from Arizona Western Community College also moved up his official visit to UK to January 18th.
3* Running Back JoJo Kemp of Deland, Florida has eliminated Nebraska from his list, according to Jeff Drummond of Ky Scout. Kemp will be in Lexington this weekend.
More to come….
Go Big Blue!
Saturday Down South takes a look at SEC Recruiting Wish-Lists
With National signing day less than one full month away Jon Cooper (@JonSDS) from saturdaydownsouth.com takes a look at where all SEC teams rank nationally and within the conference, and what player tops each teams wish list. The rankings are based on composite team rankings from 247Sports.com.
Kentucky
17 commitments
No. 14 class in SEC
No. 66 class in the country
Headlined by DE Za’Darius Smith, DE Alvonte Bell and DT Jacob Hyde
Wish list: QB Asiantii Woulard – Woulard was set to make a decision at the Army All-American game, and then he decided he wasn’t so sure. Woulard will make a visit to Kentucky this weekend. The Cats will try and close the deal on the star dual-threat QB.
You can read the full article here.
Bracket Watch
Article by: Marcus Owens
Sports Illustrated writer Andy Glockner lists contenders and pretenders in RPI order. In his current bracket watch he lists the Cats as a 10 seed in the Midwest playing Miami (FLA) in the 7 vs 10 match up. Here’s what he had to say about our beloved Wildcats…
Kentucky (9-4, 0-0; RPI: 62, SOS: 48)
The Cats are developing and are probably better than their record, which is good because their profile currently stinks. The season-opening win over Maryland is the only thing of value right now. They don’t play Florida or Missouri until mid-February, so expect the Cats to rack up some wins before then.
As for ESPN, Joe Lunardi currently has UK as a 7 seed in the West taking on Oregon, with Gonzaga as the 2 seed in Salt Lake City.
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