Entries from April 2010 ↓

Terrence Jones, a top 20 national prospect and a seemingly ideal player to replace the departed Patrick Patterson at Kentucky, committed to Washington on Friday. He picked the Huskies over Kentucky, Oklahoma, Oregon, UCLA and Kansas.

“I wanted to be close to home,” Jones said in an announcement made at his Portland, Ore., high school.

Jones also noted that one of his high school teammates, Terrence Ross, had earlier committed to Washington.

“Like I said since the eighth grade, I wanted to play with Terrence Ross,” Jones said.

Having lost star freshmen John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins as well as Patterson to this year’s NBA Draft, Kentucky had already got commitments from big man Enes Kanter and highly-regarded point guard Brandon Knight. The Cats also got commitments from wings Doron Lamb and Stacey Poole, Jr.

Several analysts put Jones’ announcement in the context of UK Coach John Calipari’s eye-opening streak of recruiting good fortune having to end sometime.
“Not everything is going to go according to plan every year,” Dave Telep of Scout.com said. “There are other people recruiting guys.”
Clark Francis of the Hoop Scoop echoed that sentiment in assessing the loss of C.J. Leslie to North Carolina State and then Jones in the last week.
“You’ve gotten everybody you were supposed to get,” he said of Kentucky’s recruiting haul since Calipari became coach. “The law of averages catches up to you at some point.  Every beautiful girl you want to go out with isn’t going to go out with you.
“The more important question is what’s Plan B.”
Kentucky had no realistic hope of adding a player similar to Jones this recruiting year, the analysts said.
“Maybe Kentucky would go with a smaller lineup with (Enes) Kanter,” Francis said.
But even without Jones, Kentucky would be a capable team next season, said Brick Oettinger, a recruiting analyst for Prep Stars.
“It’s not like it would be a team lacking in talent,” he said. “You don’t have the obvious replacement for (Patrick) Patterson. I wouldn’t call it a hole in the lineup. But certainly the lineup would not be as strong as it could have been.”

UK players Josh Harrellson and Jon Hood  have been selected to participate in a Sports Reach basketball tour of China May 14-31. The team will play eight or nine games against local clubs, including the Bayi Basketball Club, traditionally one of the top teams in China, UK announced on Friday.

The Sports Reach team uses the platform of sport to go on cultural exchange trips.

Another Sports Reach team won its first two games this week. The scores were 84-78 and 112-24.
The team with Harrellson and Hood plays later this month.

Marion County named one of its past stars, former Kentucky point guard Anthony Epps, as its new boys basketball coach on Friday.

Epps, who led Marion County to the 1993 state championship, also played point guard for UK’s 1996 NCAA Tournament championship team.

When he finished his high school career, Epps had amassed school records for points (2,044) and assists (728).

He finished his UK career second on the school’s career assist list with 544. He led the Cats in assists in 1994-95, 1995-96 and 1996-97.

Epps said he hoped to lead Marion County High “back to respectability.”

The NCAA Division I Board of Directors formally approved the expansion of the NCAA Tournament from 65 to 68 teams next year.

The expansion will mean a “play-in” game for each of the tournament’s four regions.

A NCAA news release said board members saw the expansion as removing the “stigma” of the single opening-round game. The Board did not discuss expanding beyond 68 teams.
“Expanding to 68 teams gave us an opportunity to involve more teams in the championship, and in doing that, we were able to enhance the experience of the opening-round game,” said Board chair James Barker, president at Clemson. “Expansion enables us to give more exposure to the universities and provide more opportunities for student-athletes.”

Kentucky sent out a news release on Tuesday that said Eric Bledsoe would keep his options open about returning to UK next season.

Saying the update came from Bledsoe, UK said the player had not signed with an agent, would work out for teams and then make a decision about turning pro by the May 8 deadline.

Former Kentucky player Donald Williams committed to Ole Miss, the school officially announced on Tuesday.

Williams averaged 16.6 points per game for a junior college, Antelope Valley, this past season. He shot 56 percent from the field and 45 percent from three-point range in making the all-Foothill Conference first team.

Williams sat out his freshman year as a redshirt for Billy Gillispie at Kentucky.  A native of Baton Rouge, he was a two-time all-state player.
“Donald is a young man who has put in a lot of time and effort in his pursuit to return to the SEC,” Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy was quoted as saying in a news release. “He is a strong, aggressive, big wing who can really stretch the defense with his ability to shoot the ball.”

Senior Mark Krebs made the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll announced on Tuesday. He was the only member of Kentucky’s men’s basketball team to make the list.

A total of 392 athletes were named to the 2009-10 Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll.

Alabama topped the list with 56 athletes on the winter academic roster. Florida was next with 53 winter athletes honored. Georgia added 42 athletes to the list.

Kentucky had 41 athletes on the list.

The 2009-10 Winter SEC Academic Honor Roll is based on grades from the 2009 Spring, Summer and Fall terms. To make the team, an athlete must have a 3.0 grade-point average in that time.

Freshmen are not included in this SEC honor roll. The league plans to announce a freshman honor roll this summer.

Junior forward Patrick Patterson announced Friday that he will enter his name in this year’s NBA Draft. He said he would hire an agent, meaning his career at Kentucky is finished.

Patterson said he considered returning to UK for his senior season. “Because I love the University of Kentucky so much,” he said.

“I just felt it was time for me to go, time for me to start a new chapter in my life.”

Patterson’s announcement came several weeks after UK announced that he would be among five players who would enter their names in this year’s NBA Draft.

Patterson came to UK as the answer to a fan prayer. He was the long-sought-after power forward that had slipped away year after recruiting year.

To get him, Kentucky had to overcome a coaching change. Tubby Smith laid the groundwork to sign Patterson. Then Billy Gillispie finalized the recruitment.

Patterson, who committed to UK on the last day of the spring signing period, was worth the wait. He gave the Cats a reliably productive low-post player and a team leader.

Gillispie made him the anchor of his two UK teams.

An ankle injury prevented Patterson from playing in the NCAA Tournament as a freshman. His sophomore season ended in what he called a “tragedy:” participation in the National Invitation Tournament.

After entering his name in the 2009 NBA Draft, Patterson withdrew before working out for a single team. He said he decided to complete work for a degree and improve his perimeter skills under new coach John Calipari.

When asked if he had any regrets about returning to UK for his junior season, Patterson said he was “fully satisfied with the decision to return.

The return to UK for a junior season was worthwhile, he said.

“Definitely,” Patterson said. “Last year I wasn’t really confident in my jump shot (or) things on perimeter, guarding perimeter players. I was pretty much post oriented. . . . I improved tremendously.”

Patterson said he hoped to be remembered as a “great ambassador” for UK basketball and a player who “put teammates ahead of himself.”

When asked if he believed he had been part of returning Kentucky to elite status in college basketball, Patterson said, “I hope so.”

An influx of star freshmen helped Kentucky post a 35-3 record and No. 1 ranking this past season.

“The first two years were not the true Kentucky years,” he said. “To be part of a team that got Kentucky back to its rightful place is definitely part of history.”

As Marquis Teague neared decision-time in his recruiting process, North Carolina Coach Roy Williams tried to get involved. Williams called Teague’s father, Shawn, to express interest after Teague had narrowed his choices to Kentucky, Louisville and Cincinnati.

“It’s hard to turn him down,” Teague said of Williams. “He coached the greatest player ever (Michael Jordan). It’s hard to tell him no.”

When asked if the call from the UNC coach caused him to waver, Teague said, “By the time he started calling, I was deep in my process. He called. That kind of made me want to re-think things.”

Ultimately, Teague said thanks, but no thanks to UNC.

Earlier in the recruiting process, Marquis Teague twice felt ready to commit to Louisville. One of those times was after watching Louisville beat Kentucky in Freedom Hall in the 2008-09 season.

“I felt that was where I wanted to be,” Teague said after committing to Kentucky on Thursday. “My dad told me to wait. He felt I was rushing into it.”

At that time, Kentucky was not recruiting him, Teague said. Plus, U of L Coach Rick Pitino had coached his father at Boston University.

“I had a great relationship with Coach Pitino,” Teague said, “and I felt he was the guy to coach me the best.”

Teague’s father, Shawn, said he did not want his son rushing into a commitment.

“I’d always say things like are you sure?” the elder Teague said. “Coaches leave. I just thought it was too early (to commit).”

Teague’s parents did not want him changing his mind and re-opening the recruiting process.

“I wanted to make sure he was truly, truly sure,” Shawn Teague said. “A lot of times kids commit early. Then all the rah-rah dies down and it’s like ‘I’m ready to get back in the limelight.’

“We didn’t want that for Marquis.”

Shawn Teague said he tried to speak to Pitino about Marquis’ decision, but had not reached the U of L coach. The elder Teague acknowledged the difficulty in telling his former coach about the decision.

“Very, very difficult for me, personally,” Shawn Teague said.

Shawn Teague said Pitino never tried to use that player-coach history between father and coach in recruiting Marquis.

“That was genuine,” Shawn Teague said, “and I appreciate that.”