Breaking News: Dodson to UK

It has been officially confirmed, although not a suprise, that Miami-Dade JUCO player Darnell Dodson has signed with UK. He was a 4-star recruit and originally signed with Pitt after high school, but failed to qualify. He will be a good addition to an already loaded Cats roster next year.

Breaking News:UK Has Offered PG Eric Bledsoe a Scholarship

According to an Alabama reporter, Eric Bledsoe has been offered a scholarship by UK. It wasn't certain if he was ever going to be offered, if not after Wall had made his decision. He is the 3rd best guard in the country, and the #23 ranked player by rivals.com. He has been listed has very interested in Kentucky but was never shown much interest back until recently. He has been leaning towards Florida recently, but that could change due to the many transfers and intability of that program. Looks like a decision might be made sooner than later.

Follow Coach Calipari on Twitter!

If you have a Twitter account, you can now follow Coach John Calipari. Not suprisingly, he has nearly 1,000 followers within 1 hour, you can join too.
http://twitter.com/UKCoachCalipari

Wall, Dodson, Among Prospects That Are Interested

As of yesterday, there was a report late that Miami-Dade JUCO player Darnell Dodson was let out of his LOI and was going to sign with UK. Although he is expected to sign, there has been no official word put out by the athletic department. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported earlier tonight that he was going to sign, but hasn't been made official. he was immediately considered after Henry pulled his name out of contention last night. He was nowhere on the recruiting radar from what I know, but he is an extremely talented player. He averaged 29 ppg and is 6'7", which would make a good wing player for the DDM offense. He is a tall slasher, similar to Kevin Galloway and Darius Miller.
News out of the Wall camp were that his trip to Duke would be postponed to next week because Coach Mike Kryzewski was busy on a book tour in New York. Almost coincidentally, Coach Calipari was in Raleigh, NC, Wall's hometown, to visit a 2010 recruit even though he was most likely to have talked with Wall from the information based from my sources.

Henry to Kansas, Who's Next?

After much speculation, I received news from my source on Tuesday night and it was made official that Xavier (prounounced Zah-vee-yay)Henry and his older brother CJ, were going to Kansas, following in their parents' footsteps. For the Henry brothers, the only factor that played into them going to UK was Coach Calipari, who recruited them to Memphis when Xavier verbaled back in November. CJ was already on the Memphis roster as a walk-on. He was drafted by the New York Yankees in 2005 but went back to college to play basketball since he was a 3-star recruit at that time. It is not exactly sure if he will remain a walk-on at KU because the Yankees were paying his tuition, but KU only had 2 scholarships available at the time. The brothers will be good additions to an already stacked KU team next year, who look to contend for a national championship next year. But now is the time for UK to get back in gear and get the next recruit in line.

Recruiting Update:4/11

As of today, Xavier Henry and John Wall are the two top recruits in the country and they both have UK on their list because of new head coach John Calipari. Another top prospect, DeMarcus Cousins, committed to UK this past week, the same day that a scholarship was available due to Michael Porter quitting the team. He left due to personal reasons because he is now married and expecting a child. Cousins was the top rated C/PF, but was put as two different positions on Scout.com and Rivals.com. Daniel Orton is the other UK commit that is a low post player, he is the #3 rated C in the country. He is still of interest to Calipari, but it not sure if he can be used in the fast-paced DDM offense. There are now 13 scholarships for 13 players, for each player that comes, another will have to go. This will be an interesting soap-opera as we will see it play out.

Derby Classic

The Derby Classic was very interesting to watch this past weekend in Louisville. On Friday, there were events such as the 2-on-2 competition and the dunk contest. On Saturday, there was the Derby Festival game, featuring some of the top high school players in the country, not to mention future UK, Louisville, and Indiana players and recruits. Among those in the game were Daniel Orton and Jon Hood, future UK players and sharp-shooters Mike Marra and Peyton Siva from Louisville. Daniel Orton is one of the recruits who remains in limbo at this point. There were conflicting rumors last week about him decommitting. According to the CatsPause website, he had told them that he already backed out of his LOI. The same afternoon, his father had told Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger that he was still committed to UK but was contemplating it. This will be a situation to watch in these next few days and weeks possibly.

Bill Keightley "Mr. Wildcat"

I'm sure that has most people throughout the BBN were as excited and giddy on Tuesday waiting for Coach Calipari's arrival like kids opening presents on Christmas, people forgot about exactly what date Tuesday was. It was March 31st. It has been exactly one year since the passing of Bill Keightley, commonly referred to by everyone as "Mr. Wildcat". Mr. Keightley was the beloved equipment manager for the men's basketball program since 1962, until 2008. But he was much more than what his title was. He was a very caring and charismatic person; he was always behind the scenes helping with everything that needed to be done. He loved his job and had a passion for it, but most importantly he had a passion for the University and for the Commonwealth. He was the first one at UK in the morning, and the last one to leave at night. He was there to comfort both players and coaches in the good times and the bad ones. He is a true representative of the UK fanbase and of all Kentuckians; he is also a good example of how a person should enjoy their life, as he did.


Born in Lawrenceburg, KY in 1926, Keightley was a former player for Kavanaugh High School. The Anderson County native also a Marine Vet from WWII and had been a former worker for the US Postal Service. He had been apart of 3 National Championships at UK, he had been apart of 57% of the games played in the 100-year history of the program, and witnessed 1,103 victories of the winningest program in college basketball. He was moved to the front of the bench by Coach Rick Pitino in the early-1990's and in 1997, he had his jersey retired. He was one of two non-UK players or coaches to have a jersey retired, other than Cawood Ledford, the legendary broadcaster for UK sports. An award for UK Athletics was created in his name in 2002 because of the character that this great man presented. During this past season, the Cats played in black uniforms in his honor, not to mention that for the entire season the K in the uniforms were outined in black. The first seat on the bench was also left empty in his honor for the entire season from beginning to end, thus implementing his place in UK basketball forever. I had the pleasure of meeting him 2 years ago and I was in complete shock, yet at the same time it was an honor to be in the presence of a great and respectful human being, not to mention an iconic figure in UK history that will forever be remembered.

Recruting Update: 4/2

A mass exodus in recruiting began today as a total of five players decommited from UK. GJ Vilarino, KC Ross-Miller, Michael Avery, Konner Tucker, and Dakotah Euton all decommtitted. They were all recruits of Billy Gillispie's, 3 from Texas, and one from Eastern KY, and another in Avery from Califronia. At the time he was offered a scholarship he was in 8th grade. BCG received much criticism for this from the NABC and NCAA. For some, if not most of them, it was a dream to play for Kentucky, to have that name on your jersey and represent the Commonwealth with pride. Now, Coach Calipari will be opening up more spots and it is believed that he will bring players more suitable to run the DDM offense. 3 of the top 10 recruits comprised CJC's class of 2009 at Memphis. It is now believed that they will follow him to UK in hopes of using it as a stepping-stone for the NBA. Xavier Henry and DeMarcus Cousins, McDonalds All-Americans, and John Wall, the #1 recruit according to rivals.com, all have UK on their list and if they were to join Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson, along with Darius Miller, Daniel Orton, and Jon Hood, it is believed that they willbe able to contend for the SEC championship and be able to make a deep run next March.

Evny Our Past, Fear Our Future: Welcome Coach Calipari

After amid speculation throughout the past month, Coach Billy Gillispie was fired from the University of Kentucky because he "was not a right fit for the job" according to AD Mitch Barnhart, and also because of some so-called off-the-court issues, which are all based off of rumors. After checking with my sources over these past few weeks, I figured out Sunday morning that a deal had been reached between UK and another party, but no names were released. It became obvious after Tuesday night that my sources who had been contacting me all week had been right all along: John Calipari was going to become UK's new head coach. He is UK's 22nd head coach, and the seventh one in the past 70 years. He is now the highest-paid college basketball coach in the country. He will bring his trademark dribble-drive motion offense, along with some potential recruits. It looks like more exciting times are still to come for the BBN.