Archive for June, 2009

Doron Lamb to visit UK today according to Chris Diggs from the Courier Journal.  Lamb has been I have talked about a lot because he is a great player with a lot of upside as well as attending Oak Hill Academy next year.  Lamb has been getting a lot of attention from the blogs around Kentucky as he has UK listed as one his tops.  Kentucky Sports Network has an interview with Lamb as he talks about his recruitment.

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Video Provided by KSN

This is unrelated to UK sports 100% but Shaq just posted on twitter that he wants to find this guy and play him in horse.  Check out this video…

uksportsinfo.com has not been able to keep up with updates lately due to an illness. I am back and will be making regular updates again. There is a lot of catching up to do as the recruiting trail seems to be getting hot right now. We are also continuing our contest that I posted a couple of weeks ago. We have had some good videos rolling in so far. Here are the details of the contest.

We have only received on video for the contest so far….I have decided what we are going to give away this time around. Get your videos in because you will not want to miss the chance to win this one. All you have to do is submit your favorite highlight video from UK basketball or football. Dig deep, find some highlights from the 1950’s, 60’s or 70’s.

1st place – UK tickets, 2 Calipari t-shirts, Calipari Autographed basketball
2nd place – UK t-shirt

Please send the videos to info@uksportsinfo.com….

Most of the news this week will surround recruits scheduled to visit in the coming days and weeks as well as what will be happening with Meeks and the draft.  There are a ton of AAU tournaments going on right now and camps as well so there is a lot of recruiting news available right now.

Kentucky Sports Network is covering some of the recruits right now.  Here is their latest video and interview of CJ Leslie….

DeAndre Daniels took a visit to UK this weekend. He is a 2011 forward that some people think is going to be a big time player. Here is a DeAndre video…..

Also this week Mychal Parker is going to be visiting UK on Thursday. So, look for some news and posts about Parker this week.

Jody Demling spoke with Doron Lamb and it seemed to be a very good interview noting that he has a good relationship with Rod Strickland and Orlando Antigua.  Doron’s stock is sure to rise as he continues his carreer at Oak Hill.

UK has made the short list for CJ Leslie, which I think is huge as he will continue to develop his game.

Adreian Payne has said that he will make his college choice later this summer.  It is assumed that UK has to be a leader and maybe the favorite to land Payne.  Much like Barton we probably all assume that Payne will commit to UK, but you never know till they actually do it.

Next week UK will receive a visit from Mychal Parker next week, and I am sure he will see plenty of good basketball as John Wall will be on campus for good.

Kentucky Ink is showing their support of Jarmon with this petition.

More and more you see that players are being discussed and considering the option of going to Europe to play ball instead of college. Brandon Jennings is probably the most notable to date that decided to go to Europe over college. Going into the 2008 basketball season most people believed Brandon Jennings to be the best player out there and a definite lottery pick in the 2009 draft. As the draft nears we are seeing his stock dropping. As I have said before the mock drafts are not 100%, but it is very clear that his status has dropped.

So, what does this mean? Everyone that thought he was the best player around and probably the best player that was going to be in the 2009 draft. Is there a big difference between the development of player who plays one year overseas as to a player who players in college for a year or two? Does it say anything about the player that he chooses to skip college for probably an easier road of going overseas? I am a firm believer that a kid who chooses to go overseas is opting to skip college for a reason. Does school offer a more strict schedule with more responsibilities than playing overseas? I would argue that it does. While saying that, I have to say that college basketball players have it pretty easy. You go to class, you eat, you practice, people worship you(at least at UK), you play games and girls throw themselves at you. To me that does not sound hard, but it does take some discipline, hard work and dedication to attend college.

So, is overseas the easy road? Does it impact your position in the draft? Those are the big questions players should be asking themselves before deciding to play overseas.

CJ Leslie is a 2010 player that I talk about a lot but I like his game and think he has tremendous upside.  Recently CJ spoke with highschoolhoop.com and talked about his recruitment and why backed out of his commitment to N.C. State.  Here is the full interview.

Rod Strickland a NBA veteran of which most all basketball fans know or at least remember his name. Strickland as I have mentioned in previous posts attended Oak Hill Academy before playing college ball and then NBA ball. Strickland played for Depaul University and made a great name for himself there. As a junior, he was a First Team All-American after averaging 20.0 points and 7.8 assists. A 1987 and 1988 All-America pick, Strickland helped lead the Blue Demons to four-straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 1985-88, including Sweet Sixteen showings in 1986 and 1987. The four-time Blue Demon letter winner ranks among the program’s career leaders in scoring average (8th; 16.6 ppg), assists (3rd; 557) and steals (2nd; 204). He also averaged 3.4 rebounds while shooting 53.4% during his college career. In Strickland’s NBA career he scored over 14,000 points and neared 8,000 assists. Strickland was a very talented guard who was very exciting to watch and should be a great mentor and coach to all of the incoming players especially the point guards.
As UK has most likely taken the place of Memphis now being considered “Point Guard U”, Strickland will have a lot of talent to work with. I am very interested to see how much of an impact he has on the players basketball abilities as well as how much his presence will matter in recruiting. Coach Strickland is a great person to have as a member of the University of Kentucky and we should look for a lot of positives to come out of this.

Here are some interviews and highlights of Strickland as UK Assistant and while he was in the NBA…..

Darius Miller has made the USA U19 Team and will represent UK beating out Florida’s incoming freshmen Boynton. Congrats Darius and good luck this summer! This is a big statement from Miller who will be a player that UK will rely on this upcoming season to score some points. Here are a couple of articles on Miller and his achievement making the team.

Miller U19 Team….

ESPN Final Cuts….