Gary Parrish predicts Knight to UK

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Permalink Reply by rphelps on July 6, 2009 at 4:56pm

I am convinced that Wall and Bledsoe will be playing together a lot this season. I used to worry about Bledsoe detering Knight from Kentucky. Now I think the Wall/Bledsoe backcourt will be a positive sell to Knight. I know one thing is for sure Knight can fill it up!

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Permalink Reply by C Dogg on July 6, 2009 at 5:21pm

I agree. I assumed that Bledsoe would discourage Knight too but I'm starting to believe that Coach Calipari will get the top PG from just about every class with his dribble drive offense. Gator Fan won't be happy with this news.

rphelps said:

I am convinced that Wall and Bledsoe will be playing together a lot this season. I used to worry about Bledsoe detering Knight from Kentucky. Now I think the Wall/Bledsoe backcourt will be a positive sell to Knight. I know one thing is for sure Knight can fill it up!

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Permalink Reply by rphelps on July 6, 2009 at 9:44pm

We plead the fif Gator!

Gator Fan said:

It is possible but I wouldn't put a lot of confidence in what Parrish says, he's not the most credible writer out there. It is way too early in the recruiting period to make a call where the kid is going but UK is the flavor of the month at the moment and that turns a lot of kids heads. I'll believe it when he signs his letter of intent. WWWes has very close ties to Knights AAU team and that works in UK's favor a lot. WWWes's involvement with the UK program is not going to be an ongoing thing as it was at Memphis. His association at Memphis was not considered to be a booster but at UK it is and Sandy Bell is going to lay down the law to Calipari and tell him to end his association with WWWes. Too many jobs and too much is on the line for this guy to drag down the UK basketball program and that is what is going to happen if he continues in the same capacity as he was in Memphis. I have some very reliable sources telling me that Calipari has already been reported to the NCAA for some minor recruiting violations and we will find out more about them next summer. He could get away with more things at Memphis because he was a big fish in a small pond but now that he is playing with the big boys, more eyes are on him and Roy Williams will turn him in in a heartbeat. He is recruiting against the top programs now and those coaches don't take kindly to getting beat on the recruiting trail if they think they got cheated. Not trying to stir up a big debate, I'm just passing on some info that I was given by a reliable source at a top program.

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Permalink Reply by C Dogg on July 7, 2009 at 7:21am

I thought it was interesting that Parrish reported that Knight has family in the Lexington area. I had never heard that. Wall and Bledsoe this year and Knight and Bledsoe next year. I like the sound of that.

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Permalink Reply by rphelps on July 7, 2009 at 10:07am

It should also be noted that Joe Jackson has said a few times that UK has targeted another Point Guard more than himself. I don't think you would chance hurting your relationship with Jackson unless you were pretty sure you were getting a higher rated prospect.

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Permalink Reply by C Dogg on July 7, 2009 at 6:17pm

GF, your baseless assertions are getting really old. You claim to have inside information but no one's buying it and you shouldn't be selling it.

You claim Bledsoe's high school coach's palm was "greased" based upon no evidence whatsoever. This is the same coach who was obviously upset when Wall committed to UK. If his palm got greased by UK, why did his quotes suggest that he tried to talk Bledsoe out of coming to UK or at least told Bledsoe to wait to see what Wall did? Bledsoe said he wanted to go to a school where the fans loved basketball. I was in Tampa for the SEC tournament and that school isn't Florida.

UK has a shot at Knight because of WWW only? Really? Do you really believe that? I guess in your mind it has nothing to do with Calipari's last 2 PGs going in the the first 4 picks of the draft or Kentucky's tradition or or that Knight reportedly has family in the Lexington area, etc.

Gator Fan said:

C-A-T-S,
Who was it you think greased the palm of Bledsoe's high school coach? Come on man, wake up and smell the coffee. Don't count on Knight just yet. There is a lot of time in his recruitment left. UK has a shot at him only because of WWW and that is a fact, like it or not.

C-A-T-S said:

Add Eric Bledsoe, Daniel Orton, Jon Hood as top 50 recruits that have no connection to WWW.

That makes 27 out of 32 top 50 recruits that have no connection to WWW.

I think Cal is doing a pretty good damn job on his own right.

So don't believe this WWW hype. Knight might be a WWW kid but Cal has still had very few www kids play for him,

So when people try to say Cal would be nothing without WWW. Throw that little stat out to them about top 50 recruits to play for Cal. That will shut them up real quick

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Permalink Reply by Bart Gilliam on July 7, 2009 at 8:17pm

Gator u wake up and smell the coffee UK is back so get over it and quit with the same crap about WWW come up with something else or don't say nothing, dam.

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Permalink Reply by rphelps on July 7, 2009 at 9:51pm

To me the best argument for Cal being a great recruiter with or without WWW is the number of recruits in the next three classes that have UK on their list. I am to lazy to do the work but half of the uncommited 5 star talent in the next three classes are considering Kentucky. Do not underestimate the recruiting prowess of this staff. Wayne Newton has a tremendous amount of AAU conectiond from his Nike days. Antiqua's name is mentioned by recruits almost as much as Cal when talking about what they like about UK. Rod Strickland is going to have cred with any recruit because of NBA experience. Robic has been in the game almost as long as Cal and has connections everywhere.
I am not going to deny that WWW does have influence on some of this athletes but he does not have that influence over the dozens of players considering Kentucky right now. The other thing to keep in mind is this is Kentucky. It might not carry the weight that it once did but if Cal can get them to visit the recruit will get to see the benefits of going to a school that has everything a student athlete needs to be successful as well as a fanbase that will treat them like kings.

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Permalink Reply by rphelps on July 7, 2009 at 10:45pm

I appreciate that Gator, I would tell you are right and impose my own personal death penalty on the program by turning in my UK fan card. If they were to go on probation I would be out.

Gator Fan said:

C Dogg,
Come on man, do you really think it was Calipari that made the last two point guards lottery picks? I'm not going to say that he didn't bring them along and make them better players but those guys would have been lottery picks if they had played for Sisters of the Poor. Besides, they only stayed one year in college so how much could he have developed them? WWWes has a heavy involvement in a lot of players for Calipari, especially the very top players. I'm not going to beat a dead horse, time will tell the tale. There are some on this board that are man enough to admit when they are wrong and will say so when the day comes that Calipari gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar and there are some that will say he was framed. Rphelps will be the first to say he was wrong if that day comes because he has that much integrity but I doubt that I will see C Dogg or C-A-T-S admitting anything. I'll say this, if Calipari can stay clean of any recruiting violations for a period of five years I will admit that I was wrong and never say that he cheats again.

C Dogg said:

GF, your baseless assertions are getting really old. You claim to have inside information but no one's buying it and you shouldn't be selling it.

You claim Bledsoe's high school coach's palm was "greased" based upon no evidence whatsoever. This is the same coach who was obviously upset when Wall committed to UK. If his palm got greased by UK, why did his quotes suggest that he tried to talk Bledsoe out of coming to UK or at least told Bledsoe to wait to see what Wall did? Bledsoe said he wanted to go to a school where the fans loved basketball. I was in Tampa for the SEC tournament and that school isn't Florida.

UK has a shot at Knight because of WWW only? Really? Do you really believe that? I guess in your mind it has nothing to do with Calipari's last 2 PGs going in the the first 4 picks of the draft or Kentucky's tradition or or that Knight reportedly has family in the Lexington area, etc.

Gator Fan said:

C-A-T-S,
Who was it you think greased the palm of Bledsoe's high school coach? Come on man, wake up and smell the coffee. Don't count on Knight just yet. There is a lot of time in his recruitment left. UK has a shot at him only because of WWW and that is a fact, like it or not.

C-A-T-S said:

Add Eric Bledsoe, Daniel Orton, Jon Hood as top 50 recruits that have no connection to WWW.

That makes 27 out of 32 top 50 recruits that have no connection to WWW.

I think Cal is doing a pretty good damn job on his own right.

So don't believe this WWW hype. Knight might be a WWW kid but Cal has still had very few www kids play for him,

So when people try to say Cal would be nothing without WWW. Throw that little stat out to them about top 50 recruits to play for Cal. That will shut them up real quick

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Permalink Reply by Blue Blood 00 on July 8, 2009 at 11:26am

I hope for our sake that it is the same sources that you had saying our top three freshmen was not going to qualify. LOL. ( just joking Gator) But today you have to admit, everyone has a "reliable" source. I am going to say that we have not played one second of basketball yet under Coach Cal, and it's already getting old hearing cheat cheat cheat out of everyone. Guess we will have to get used to it. I do agree and have said that Cal being at UK now, he will be watched even closer. But don't think that he wasn't just able to get by with a lot a Memphis. He has been winning recruiting battles against top coaches and programs the last couple of years. That is nothing new to the Roy Williams of the world.

I honestly think that people go a little overboard with the Cal gets every big time recruit by cheating. Just don't buy it. Not because thats what I want to believe, I didn't buy it at Memphis either. These days and times you just can't right out blantly cheat or you want last a sec, and that's at any program. I mean Cal has had his program in the top ten in the country and fighting for a 1 and 2 seed every year as of late, so I don't buy that just because he was at Memphis that it was overlooked. I think he deserves a lot more CREDIT than he gets for the fine recruiting he does. Why is it so hard to believe that he posses a great skill of building relationships with kids quickly. It is widely known that there is a lot of kids that want to play in his offense. Especially guards and wings! He has proven that he can get kids to the next level quick and frankly he is a very likeable guy to young kids. For a older Coach he is very current and he is not out of touch with the ways of this youths generation.

I will say that I think the combination of being at a program like UK, that is easy to sale anyway, running a fun offense that kids like to play that showcases their abilities, and his uncanny way of going into a recruits home and making them feel comfortable with him quickly is plenty enough for him to be able and produce 4 and 5 star recruits at Kentucky without just out right cheating!

On the subject it is to early to tell, but it would not surprise me to see Cal land Knight. He's going to land one of the top pg's every year, unless there is a year that he is very deep at the postition and decides to concentrate on other needs and go after a pg in a later class.

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Permalink Reply by Blue Blood 00 on July 9, 2009 at 10:27am

You have to understand gator that I will always drink the blue kool aid. Not because I'am blind to things. I don't have to prove anything to anyone but I was raised by a Dad who always taught me If you say a team is your team then you stick with them through thick and thin and when they win the pay off is much greater, than for a fan who sets back and waits to see what happens before they dive in. I support Cal and root for him whole heartly.I would support Ronald Mcdonald just the same if he was our coach. LOL! If he ever gets in trouble I will not regret that I ever said anything good about him or waived the Cal flag. That is what you suppose to do when you love your team. Would I be dissapointed if that day was to come. YES!! I would be very angry with him. But would not regret pulling for him from the get go.

I think that this conversation is so old that there is nothing left to talk about. There is only speculation of Cal, there has never been one of his teams to get in trouble for recruiting violations. At Umass it was Camby's involvment with a agent, not how Cal got him there. The talk at Memphis right now is over SAT test that were took before they were even commited to a school. And talk of a family member flying and staying with the team, not how he got players there. So I propose that until he gets in trouble for recruiting violations, not suspected by people that he should be given by everyone including you Gator a pass, until and IF that day comes. I know that is not going to happen because that is not the type of world we live in today.

I will make the same point over again, I don't think that in todays day in college basketball that you can just continue to out right cheat to get players without getting in trouble. I actually find it funny that Cal is the poster child for this subject when there is coaches out there who have been in trouble for these things and coaches that are speculated to be involved in this things also and they are not given near the hard time he is. Look at Sampson, I bet if when he starts back coaching he still will not catch it like Cal does. What about Calhoun, at a big time program like Uconn and is even under investigation for recruiting violations and that story lasted about a week and no one talks about it anymore. I will say that I think all coaches do small things sometimes to get a recruit that is hard to uncover. This includes the beloved Billy Donovan!

And the statement that things just magically disappear at UK, I defiantly don't buy. UK has the biggest target of any program to get in trouble. They always have. Outside of the big blue nation the biggest part would love to see UK in trouble. That is the price you pay for being the winninest team in NCAA history! There is a lot of jealousy and pure hate for our program, not just by fans, by people in high places also that would love to sink our battleship!

I'm sorry but I don't buy this whole picture that you do try to paint about the HOLY florida that only concern is to do everything by the book. I guess they don't care if they lose just as long as they got their integrity in the end than they are winners in their book. LOL! I honestly want to ask you this question. Do you really think that Billy D. has never and never will do anything what so ever out of the rules to reel a player into his program?? Just because you have not been caught or your not at the top of people's list for this don't mean it has not happened. I think Billy D. has bended rules along with every coach at a competitive school. I'm not saying paying players and all that. I'm saying I believe that the number of coaches that have slightly bent the rules to get a player is HUGE. I don't buy that there is some that just check the rules on everything they do and if there is something small they could get by with to land a game changing player that they just wouldn't do it. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

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Permalink Reply by 4-5-2010 on July 9, 2009 at 1:36pm

I think I would take K.C. Ross-Miller over Brandon Knight anyday

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