Links for the Weekend
July 14, 2007
Young Guns
Coverage of the Nike Peach Jam on Friday, where some UK recruits were on display, and numerous coaches (including Gillispie) attended.
Some great in-depth notes on Wildcat to be K.C. Miller and his commitment, thoughts on Kentucky and coach Gillispie.
Crazy?
Bob Hill poses the question: Are we too basketball crazy?
I know basketball recruiting stories get heavy hits on our Web site — the way we keep score in journalism these days. But is that broad interest, or the same 50,000 people who have nothing better to do that keep track of 6-foot, 8-inch, 230-pound high school sophomores.”
Update
Wildcats Thunder Blog gives a UK Basketball recruiting update.
Who’s committed? Who hasn’t? and so on. You get the idea, there’s just so many nowadays.
Former Cats
Former Wildcat Jamaal Magloire spoke with some youngsters at the Cummer Park Sports Camp on Thursday.
Also Noted: Magloire said he’s currently in talks with six Eastern Conference teams.
Kelenna Azubuike and the Golden State Warriors have agreed on a two-year deal worth a guaranteed $1.5 million.
Hopefully, he will get more PT and show what he’s capable of doing for the team. I felt the Warriors wasted him terribly last season.
Early Look
A Sea of Blue again takes an ‘Early Look‘ at the SEC. This time around it’s Arkansas and Florida.
Previously looked upon…
Kentucky Basketball: What’s New
July 12, 2007
More recruits you say!
Kentucky is looking at two New York area recruits.
First is…Sylven Landesberg, who has the Wildcats in his final list of five schools. The other being junior Greg Echenique, who recently visited the Blue Grass state and is considering UK.
Sylven Landesberg…
Kentucky was showing me a lot of interest and I liked the school and the tradition.” “So, I added Kentucky to the list. I might take a visit in August. I like the school and my father has talked to coach Gillispie. I like him.”
Greg Echenique…
It was a really long ride from New Jersey but once I got there it was really nice.” “It was a different school for me and I liked it a lot. When I spoke to coach Gillispie, he wants to do some good things in the next few years and I liked him a lot.”
Gillispie ready to start anew
Billy Gillispie, among others are ready to get going with their new programs.
I like expectations, I like passion,” Gillispie said. “That passion has enabled them to win the most games in college basketball history and hopefully that passion is going to help us win.”
Golden shines
Catspause.com wraps up ($$) the ‘Adidas Takes 5ive Classic’, where Kentucky recruit Trae Golden impressed.
Wayback Machine
In Part 1…A Sea of Blue looks at Kentucky finding their way back to greatness.
Hurricane Billy
Ken Davis has a story on Billy Gillispie, the recruiting blitz heard around the world, and how happy Kentucky fans are.
Premature Hoops BlogPoll
FanHouse is taking an early look at the top teams heading into 2007 with a BlogPoll decided on by their college hoops bloggers.
Kentucky came in at Number 14, includes a rundown on reasons why.
Hump Links Edition
July 11, 2007
Not much is happening, but I dug up a few!
Here is this week’s (small) edition of ‘Hump Links’.
Gossip
Rick Bozich has some gossip coming out of the Kentucky HoopFest.
Kentucky is going after Stephan VanTreese, among other top juniors.
According to some coaches…Billy Gillispie is holding the third assistant coaching spot for a coach who can bring a player with him to Kentucky.
Additional link covering HoopFest
Monroe Hunt
Kentucky is in the running for prized recruit Greg Monroe.
Other schools vying for his services are… Georgetown, Louisville, Kansas, Duke, Louisiana State, Texas, Southern California and a few more.
Katz
Andy Katz has an article up talking about the recruiting rivalry growing between Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie and Kansas coach Bill Self.
Coach Gillispie…
We’re trying to get the best players, and they’re trying to get the best players, and the final results won’t always be fun. If you do get the player, you’ll feel bad for your friend, but if you don’t get him then you’ll feel worse. It will be interesting to see how this evolves because it will always be competitive.”
You just hope you recruited the right guys” “It’s all about maintaining relationships.”
Hoops Not Drugs Camp
Former Wildcat star Jeff Sheppard will be at the ‘Shoot Hoops Not Drugs Day Camp‘ at East Ridge High School, July 19th, from 4:00 – 7:00 pm.
Sheppard will teach school-age youth fundamental basketball skills while emphasizing the importance for them to stay drug free.
Quick Hits
July 10, 2007
Just wanted to drop a few items for today.
Tomorrow is the weekly ‘Hump Day’ edition. More items to follow then.
Keepin’ up with the recruits
Over at Aaron’s UK Blog….he links to some stories on a few recruits.
A possible re-opening, a new target, and a injury.
Road to Kentucky
WKYT has a video segment up ‘Gillispie’s Road To Kentucky Started In Small Texas Town‘.
Robbed again
Former Wildcat star Antoine Walker was robbed at his Chicago home on Monday.
A vehicle, cash and jewelry were taken during a home invasion.
No injuries were reported.
Back in 2000, Walker, along with another former wildcat, Nazr Mohammed, were robbed of cash and a $55,000 watch outside a popular Chicago restaurant.
Monday: Hits and Misses
July 9, 2007
Potential Problems?
Kentucky recruit Willie Warren is cooling on
the Wildcats.
Warren is apparently worried by all the commitments Kentucky has been receiving.
I want to get in and make an immediate impact,” Warren said. “I don’t want to go to a school where if I don’t play well right away, I can be substituted for.”
I was kind of afraid of something like this happening.
Gillispie Talk
Mike DeCourcy looks at Billy Gillispie’s recruiting and the commitments.
Gillispie Love
Mike Scogin of the Georgetown News-Graphic has a nice article on Billy Gillispie. ‘Gillispie’s taken to job quickly‘
Hitting the Road
Billy Gillispie and the other Division 1 coaches hit the road for The NCAA summer evaluation period.
It started with the ‘Adidas It takes 5ive Classic‘.
Wildcats Thunder Blog has a rundown on the event, including notes from some UK recruits.
New strength and conditioning coach
July 5, 2007
Kentucky announced that Todd Forcier was hired as strength and conditioning coach for the Kentucky basketball program.
Forcier spent the past five seasons as Syracuse’s assistant strength coach for both men’s and women’s basketball.
Other titles on his resume are:
- Dayton - Strength coach (4 years)
- UNLV - Assistant strength coach (1997-98)
- Seattle Supersonics - Assistant strength coach (1993-96)
I’m excited for the opportunity to work for Coach Gillispie and such a storied program as Kentucky basketball” “I believe in what Coach Gillispie is doing here and what he can do with such unbelievable resources along with the fan support. I relish the opportunity to help the players participate in a championship environment and as well as prepare them for the next level of professional basketball.”
Hump Links: You Guessed It
July 4, 2007
I guess the theme lately has been about Billy Gillispie and all the recruiting buzz that’s been going around.
This weeks edition of “Hump Links” continues on with, what else…you guessed it! Billy Gillispie.
First…
Here are a few more items on yesterday’s Billy Gillispie link theme:
Tru over at A Sea of Blue also covers the “Hysteria” with his “Beat ‘em in July, and February will take care of itself” post.
Here are a couple of items from Larry Vaught:
Larry Vaught says dominating the SEC won’t be easy for Gillispie because of Billy Donovan and Bruce Pearl.
In this one…Vaught talks about Billy Gillispie’s recruiting, and how Kentucky fans have been pleased.
One rival Southeastern Conference coach noted that Gillispie and his staff must never rest because they are seemingly involved with almost every top prospect in the 2008, 2009 and 2010 recruiting classes.”
Brett Dawson looks at things “We Don’t Know“, which includes what the availability of scholarships, or lack thereof will be.
The Kansas City Star has a nice read “Kentucky’s Gillispie has instant recruiting success — at the expense of KU’s Self“.
Bill Self warned Billy Gillispie…
Billy,” Self said, “this is not going to be a lot of fun.”
Wes Grandstaff, UK recruit Rotnei Clarke’s AAU coach with Team Texas…
They’ve given one of the hottest young coaches in the country a machine gun or an atomic bomb to work with”, “I don’t see any kid that’s a basketball junkie visiting that place and leaving there not wanting to go to school there.”
Links Edition: Billy Gillispie
July 3, 2007
With all the hysteria over Billy Gillispie and Kentucky Basketball.
What are others saying?
- So far, Gillispie worth every penny of his lucrative deal
- Billy G is committing Kentucky to hysteria
- Early commitments can be a very good thing
- Trying to break down recruiting
- In recruiting, they just keep getting younger
Are you as giddy as most Cat fans? What’s your excitement level for the upcoming season and beyond?
