Links for Friday

Billy on TV
WKYT in Lexington and the Big Blue Network will be airing a Billy Gillispie special (Billy Gillispie: Fast and Furious) this Saturday from 10pm-11pm.

Dick Gabriel took a trip to Texas, where he interviewed family, friends, among others.

This should be interesting. If you can, be sure to check it out.

Another Recruit
Jeff Drummond says because of family ties…Kentucky may soon be looking at ($$) Reeves Nelson, a 2009 Five-star forward.

and Another
Looking ahead to the 2010 class. Billy Gillispie and Kentucky have made an offer to Trae Golden.

Golden was offered a scholarship Tuesday after he made a visit to UK, where he took a tour, meet players, and played a few pick-up games last Sunday.

Surprising Analyst
Jerry Tipton has a story about coach Gillispie and Kentucky surprising analyst after the DeAndre Liggins commitment.

Brick Oettinger of the Prep Stars…

That’s what Kentucky always used to do,” he said. “We haven’t seen that in recent years. … Obviously, he (Gillispie) is recruiting better than Kentucky’s got from Tubby (Smith, the former UK coach), especially in the latter years. I don’t think there’s much question of that.”

Looking at the SEC
A Sea of Blue is again looking at The Good, The Bad and The Ugly in the SEC for this upcoming season.

They now take a look at Georgia and Vanderbilt

In case you missed it…here was the look at Alabama and Auburn.

WALTER
Former Wildcat Walter McCarty is expected to replace the departing Louisville assistant coach Marvin Menzies, who is taking over the head job at New Mexico State.

McCarty played under Pitino at Kentucky from 1993-96, where he was a member of the 1996 NCAA Championship team.

He also played under Pitino at Boston from 1997-2001.

DeAndre Liggins: Part Deux

A little more DeAndre Liggins news has surfaced, besides the verbal commitment.

It was also announced that he will be transferring to Brewster Academy for his senior season.

It’s time for me to redefine myself and focus on my academics,” Liggins said. “It’s best to do that at a place like Brewster.”

Reaction
Judging from the reaction across Big Blue Nation most everyone seems happy with the commitment.

Then there’s Billy Gillispie….

There is so much praise and craziness for Gillispie that it wouldn’t surprise me if he could be elected Governor of Kentucky.

He’s signing and getting commits like crazy that it makes you wonder if he’ll have teams already completed for 2009, 2010 and beyond.

Could anyone have ever imagined that in this short time that he would have Wildcat fans going nuts again (in a good way), and also make everyone in college basketball take note?

Donovan Who?

Watch out Duke, Florida, UCLA and down the line. The CATS are back and we’re gunning for 12!

More Reaction from the Liggins verbal:

• Broad implications of Deandre Liggins’ commitment
• Chris Diggs
• From Way Downtown
• Aaron’s Blog
• Hope To Be Winnin’ With DeAndre Liggins
• A Message is Being Sent To Recruits!

DeAndre Liggins a Wildcat

Rivals among other sources are saying that five-star recruit DeAndre Liggins will commit ($$) to play for the Kentucky Wildcats.

Rival notes that his mother is saying that DeAndre has decided to play for coach Billy Gillispie.

Not really much on this yet as it’s breaking, but indeed a nice pickup for the Wildcats.

More info as it becomes available.

Update: It’s now being listed as a verbal commitment.

He must have indeed been very impressed with Kentucky after his visit, as mentioned on my post from Monday. (Enough to commit so soon after visiting)

As noted in Monday’s post was this link on his thoughts of the visit to UK and how he spent his time there.

Another Update: Here are some links covering the verbal commitment of DeAndre Liggins.

• We’re Baaaaack
• A Sea of Blue Liggins to commit to UK and DeAndre Liggins: So what do we have here?
• Gillispie nabs top basketball recruit DeAndre Liggins
• Chris Diggs (He notes that Gillispie is also looking at two big men. The first is four-star player Greg Echenique, a 6-8 F/C from New Jersey. The second being three-star Ian Markolf, a 7-footer out of Texas.

Hump Links Edition

There’s not really a whole lot going on lately in the World of Kentucky basketball. (Except some news on the recruiting front, which is shaping up for a wild ride.)

Here are a few “Hump Links”: If any other interesting things should appear…I’ll update the post throughout the day.

Recruiting
Kentucky’s recruiting interest ($$) level is high for five-star Alabama forward Jamychal Green.

Green is rated the No. 19 player in the Class of 2008.

More Recruiting
Chris Diggs looks at a possible “Huge Recruiting Weekend“.

On the heels of a possible visit to Lexington this weekend by Rotnei Clark and Willie Warren. Now, word comes that another 2007 recruit could be coming.

Multiple sources report that Leonard Washington will make an UN-official visit to Kentucky Friday.

Washington had previously committed to USC, but was granted a release when USC thought his test scores wouldn’t qualify for admission.

So may recruits, and so few scholarships. What is Kentucky to do? It’s sure been wild and great since Billy Gillispie came aboard.

Branded
Wildcats Thunder Blog takes a look at the recruits that Kentucky is trying to put their “Brand” on.

Tuesday Updates

Hopefully … we’re going to cut some nets down
Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie made an appearance Monday night at the 13th annual Kicks for Kids.

Gillispie broke through a paper sign when heading on stage, where he received 3 standing ovations.

We’ve been going like crazy from day one. We’re going to go like crazy until the end,” Gillispie said. “And hopefully in the middle, we’re going to cut some nets down.”

UAB-Kentucky
The UAB Blazers are close to finalizing a deal to add Kentucky to their non-conference schedule in 2007-08.

A UAB-Kentucky match-up is tentatively set for a December. 15th date at Freedom Hall in Louisville.

The Kentucky game would only be a one year deal.

UAB is also looking to add Gonzaga for 2007-08.

Monday: Links Edition

Not much going on, but here are a few items to enjoy!

Liggins Update
The DeAndre Liggins visit over the weekend apparently went well.

Among the things: He toured the campus, took a visit to the great practice facility and said he enjoyed the time he spent.

Games of The Week
Over at Wildcats Thunder Blog you can find not one, but two “Games of The Week”.

First, they start off with a 1993 NCAA Tourney match-up between Kentucky and Wake Forest.

Next up is a Kentucky Vs Florida St. contest from the 1978 NCAA Tournament.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
A Sea of Blue is taking an early look at SEC basketball for the upcoming season.

The start it off with Alabama and Auburn.

F.R.U.S.T.R.A.T.I.N.G.
The Wildcat Blog expresses frustration over the continuing injury problems with Jared Carter.

This and That Saturday

UK Update on Jared Carter
Kentucky center Jared Carter had surgery Thursday on his injured shoulder.

He is expected to rehab this summer and be ready for the upcoming season.

Hopefully he can recover well from this and be able to continue his career without any more problems. Time will only tell on this, but I do wish him the best.

No Rush
Brett Dawson says coach Gillispie is in no rush to hire a third assistant.

Billy G the “Caretaker”
The Wildcat blog has a video interview of coach Gillispie up.

He agrees to being a “caretaker” in his role as the Wildcats coach.

DeMarcus Cousins
This one is a few days old, but here’s an interview with UK recruit DeMarcus Cousins. (It includes some UK tidbits)

Cousins attended Kentucky’s Elite Camp earlier this month.

DeAndre Liggins visiting
Kentucky recruit DeAndre Liggins is expected to make a visit this weekend.

Liggins trimmed his list to four schools earlier this month, which include Kentucky, Kansas, Memphis and Illinois. It is said that he currently has Memphis at the top.

Early Morning Tidbits

Farmer Boys
Field Notes has a funny take on the recent commitments from younger players.

He thinks coach Gillispie needs to go after former wildcat Richie Farmer’s sons, who are aged 10, 8 and 5.

Sure, why not?

Coaching Carousel
John Clay has info on former UK associate coach David Hobbs being one of five finalist for the Coastal Carolina (CCU) head coaching position.

Bracketology
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has Kentucky as a 3 seed in the latest bracketology.

Rising Recruit
UK recruit Tyler Zeller’s stock continues to rise.

Zeller hopes to narrow his list of schools to five by September and sign in November.

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