Monday, May 4, 2009

UK Recruiting Update On Bledsoe And Wall

As I have stated several times, I am not a big fan of reporting on college recruiting.  I think it's often way too much about possibly very little.  Only a handful of 5-star recruits go on to be top-level talent in the college ranks, and even fewer carry that pedigree to the NBA.

And since it's almost like a crap shoot trying to figure out which kid will be ultimately live up to and eventually exceed his recruiting hype, I don't go out of my way to follow the decision-making process of the nation's top recruits.  

Plus, they're kids!  They change their minds more often than Lindsay Lohan changes her sexual orientation!!

However, when I first started this blog, I promised to give my readers as much inside information as I could share.  Thus, here's what I know about a couple of UK recruits.

Let's start with Eric Bledsoe.  As most of you have heard, he is expected to announce his college choice Wednesday.  I read somewhere that it's down to either Memphis or Kentucky.  I can tell you that the UK coaches are feeling rather confident that Bledsoe will choose UK.  Maybe it's because the only reason Bledsoe is even considering Memphis is because John Calipari was recruiting him when he was coaching there, and former Calipari assistant, Josh Pastner, is the new coach of the Tigers.

Adam Zagoria quoted Bledsoe as saying that he will not base his decision on whether John Wall chooses UK or not.

"I’m going to play my position either if he do go or he don’t," said Bledsoe, who is fully aware that Wall is Kentucky's top choice.

Bledsoe thinks he and Wall would be great together on the floor, and believe me, UK would love to find out and happily sign both of them.

The other big UK recruiting news involves Wall being charged with misdemeanor breaking and entering after police found him walking out of a vacant house in his hometown of Raleigh.  I have been assured that the incident sounds a lot worse than it really is.

Wall did something he shouldn't have done, but I am told that his intentions going into the house were not malicious, and perhaps more importantly, it will not stop UK from recruiting him.  However, that may not be the case for Wall's other pursuers.

There are those within the Kentucky program that are actually hoping this incident will cause Duke to back off its recruitment of Wall.  The thought being that Mike Krzyzewski wouldn't want to do anything to call into question his program's squeaky clean image.

As far as North Carolina is concerned, Roy Williams hasn't exactly seemed eager to sign Wall in the first place.  He hasn't even offered him a scholarship.  Williams and Wall's AAU coach Brian Clifton do not get along at all.

However, it is believed that Wall is not willing to distance himself from Clifton in order to get an offer to UNC.  Clifton has filled a void in Wall's life since the passing of his father.  

If it were not for Wall having grown up in Raleigh, some UK insiders believe that he would have already signed with Kentucky, calling it "a no-brainer."

As far as their confidence level of signing Wall is concerned, it's about 50/50.  If Calipari has a feeling either way, he's not tipping his hand, and considering how his Derby picks turned out, that might be a good idea.

7 comments:

Duckhook said...

Mike, thanks...good stuff

Anonymous said...

just an fyi...Coach Cal was not recruiting Bledsoe hard...in fact, he was barely on his radar in Memphis...the more likely reason Bledsoe is looking at memphis is because Cyprien (ala gillespie aka UK) was recruiting him hard and Josh had been talking to him for some time.

Bledsoe didn't really come into the picture until after the Mcdonald's game.

You should also know that Bledsoe's grades are less than average which could spell trouble for UK, which has a much higher requirement as far as education is concerned.

Unknown said...

Actually...JC did not recruit Bledsoe. JP was recruiting him for JC. JP had the established relationship with him.

Anonymous said...

Mike, Hey I just wanted to say I really enjoy reading your blogs on the Cats. i know you write about other topics as well and rightfully so. I just happen to be one that's a big Kentucky fan and you are a really good writer. Thanks a lot for those updates and even though I'm a big Reds fan (obviously a different division), break up the Dodgers out there...

Unknown said...

No doubt about the Lohan comment my man.

jdbarr said...

well with bledsoe comeing to uk i think it will help liggins alot. also it sounds good that we may have a good chance to land wall as well. hopefully we can get back to being a final 4 team in the neer future.

Unknown said...

Mike, are you hearing anything on the speculation (from ZagsBlog) that Wall is quietly down to UK and Miami?