Web Wednesday: 7.1.09

There are a lot of things happening with the University of Kentucky program as of late. Xavier Henry came and went, then came and went again, Doron Lamb has a clear favorite, and John Wall has a new mixtape video.

Henry to UK picking up steam

On a Kansas City radio station today Carl Henry, the father of Xavier and CJ, stated he and his family felt betrayed by a newspaper article that made the Henry’s look like “prima donna’s” and that they were questioning their commitment to Kansas even further.

Carl stated that Daniel Orton and John Wall, two players who chose Kentucky over Kansas among others, have been talking to Xavier about how great it is in Lexington and how they want him to join them in the pursuit of an NCAA Championship.

Many Kansas message boards have been calling the Henry family “slime” amongst other things for the way they have handled their displeasure with the Kansas program.

So what will the UK program look like if Henry joins as the fifth five-star player this season?

Potential Starters

PG: John Wall – Top five player in the nation right off the bat

SG: Xavier Henry – Deadly shooter who has a complete offensive game

SF: Darius Miller – Will be one of the most improved players in the SEC and fits DDM offense perfectly

PF: Patrick Patterson – Decision to come back was the right one. May be the top big man in the country

C: DeMarcus Cousins – Rated as the #2 high school player in the nation behind Wall and is a bigger, more talented Patrick Patterson at the same stage

 

Potential Key Bench Players

Eric Bledsoe – Would be starting for most teams in the nation. A really strong and powerful guard.

Jon Hood – Very athletic wing with an old school game. Will not cry about getting limited minutes and should pick up the offense quickly.

Daniel Orton – Coming off an injury he should be ready to prove himself. Great body who should play very aggressively.

Darnell Dodson – Another deadly shooter who can get into the lane. Will cause teams not to double the great post players.

New Xavier Henry News

 

Henry to UK? Europe? Still KU?

Remember a few weeks ago when it looked like there was some problems with Bill Self and Xavier Henry?

 

Well it looks like there may be some more smoke to the Xavier Henry fire.

In an interview with a Kansas athletics website, Carl Henry, Xavier’s father, stated that Xavier wanted to go to Kentucky but he and his wife said they would not move to Lexington and advised him to stay home and go to Kansas.

But that’s not it.

Xavier is not enrolled in summer school and Carl Henry has met with advisors about Xavier maybe playing in Europe rather than KU. Carl Henry stated that Coach Self knew about these meetings but one has to wonder why he would even be meeting with people about these things.

More to come later.

Web Wednesday: 4.22.09

Lets get to the links:

• UofL commit and consensus top 5 junior Jeremy Tyler has decided to forgoe his senior season and go overseas.
• Multiple sources, including ZagsBlog, reporting Henry’s to Kansas
• Wall meeting with Coach K, Calipari meets with Leslie
• UK to meet UCONN in the Garden, Dec. 9, 2009
• Orton 100 % committed to Kentucky
• Calipari visits 5-star Barton

Rumor Mill

One rumor/fact is that Calipari has visited with numerous five star prospects over the past week already. Harrison Barnes has recieved two visits in the past five days. John Wall, Will Barton, Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Knight, Joe Jackson, and Adreian Payne are just a few.

Darnell Dodson, a JUCO player formally signed to Memphis, appears headed to UK. He was a JUCO All-American last season and is a known shooter. He originally played at Pitt before transfering to JUCO.

Henry’s to Kansas

Expected to be announced officially tomorrow…

Recruiting Trail/NBA Update

A few things from the recruiting aspect over the past couple of days:

•  Coach Calipari has already met with Harrison Barnes, a top player from the 2010 class, once this period but is scheduled to meet with him again today
•  It looks as though Xavier Henry and CJ Henry will NOT be visiting UK before making a decision. Many people believe they are UK bound and are waiting until the end of this week or next week to make a decision
•  Speculation is that Patrick Patterson may stay in the 2009 draft because of his draft stock currently. One site has him going 22nd to the Dallas Mavericks. I believe if he is a top 20 pick he will leave, if not he will come back and spend a year in a pro-style system before leaving.
•  Jodie Meeks appears to be coming back. I believe he realizes that one year under guard-master Calipari could benefit him tremendously and it would only help his draft stock.
•  John Wall still has not hinted at cutting down his list even though he stated he would after the Jordan Brand Classic. He does seem to be favoring a few schools. I believe his final three is: UK, Duke, & NC State.

Kentucky

Kentucky is in a very good position for Wall because the system that will be implemented there will fit his style perfectly and will help him have a Derrick Rose/Tyreke Evans-type season. Wall has also built a tremendous relationship over the past year or so with new UK head coach John Calipari, which is one of the selling points according to Wall. Also, the facilities and distance from home are great too.

Duke

Duke has made up a considerable amount of ground over the past two months. After a meeting with Coach K a few weeks ago, Wall came away very impressed and sold on the idea of running the point for a potential national title contender like Duke. Duke is also very close to home and would allow him to be near his mother, who is sick. Duke also has two fellow Jordan Brand Classic participants attending there next season who have been on him about coming.

North Carolina State

NC State has always been close to the Wall recruitment. They were actually the first major D-I school to start recruiting Wall and he has been on numerous visits to their campus in his high school career. He is from Raleigh, NC, the same city as NC State which is also a selling point. He has built a very good relationship with the NCSTU staff and loves the community.

Web Wednesday: 4.15.09

Links

• John Calipari was on ESPNU discussing the DDM offense and the Kentucky brand and tradition
• Some UK questions popped up in ESPN’s Five Burning Questions
• Patrick Patterson will test the NBA waters, but will not hire an agent
• Calipari is quickly winning over Wildcats, according to SI.com
• Cousins officially signs with Cats
• Final 2009 Rivals.com player rankings are out. Wall #1, Cousins #2, Henry #8, Orton #22, Bledsoe #23, Hood #40

Rumor Mill

• SLAM wonders if John Wall will skip NCAA for NBA

Since it is WEB Wednesday, I would like to take some time to discuss something maybe a bit off topic. UKmadness is considering becoming a full website, not just a blog. We are looking for a good web host but would like a package that has a forum, blog, and website capability, along with a good web builder with FREE templates if we sign up. Also, if we do in fact make this leap we would like some writers as well, so if anyone out there, experienced or not, wants to try just email us at: ukmadness1@yahoo.com.

Xavier Henry Update

Henry will visit UK before making decision

According to JayhawkSlant.com, Xavier and CJ Henry will both visit Kentucky after the Jordan Brand Classic and BEFORE they make a final decision on where to go to school. Xavier Henry is a consensus top 5 player nationally and would be the third 5-star commitment to Kentucky in the 2009 class and the second one under John Calipari. CJ, Xavier’s older brother, is a walk-on who is having his tuition payed for by the New York Yankees, by whom he was drafted.

It looks as though the Henry’s recruitment will be down to Kansas and Kentucky and a decision will come in the coming weeks.

Kentucky Prospects Update: Nike Hoop Summit

John Wall: Down to Kansas, UK, Duke, UNC, NC State, & Miami

Xavier Henry: Down to Kansas, UK, and Memphis

DeMarcus Cousins: Future Wildcat

The 2009 Nike Hoop Summit was played tonight in Portland, Oregon and many of the UK prospects played and played well.

• DeMarcus Cousins probably played the worst out of the bunch but still showed glimpses of why he is rated a topo 5 prospect in the nation. Cousins has an NBA-type game, meaning he has matured passing abilities and has a rare combination of inside and outside abilities. Cousins used his pure strength to muscle his way to the rim a couple of times, but besides that he did not seem to be involved scoring wise too much. He displayed many high-low passes that would have been really brought to the fore front under Billy Gillispie, but can still be utilized by Coach Calipari.
• Xavier Henry showed his elite scoring ability tonight, leading the game in scoring overall.  Henry probably has the most diverse offensive game amongst all high schoolers in the U.S., although Avery Bradley could probably make a case, by showing off his slashing abilities, mid range jump shot, and super silky three point shot. Henry has a quick release as well, making it very difficult to block, and he is able to beat his defender off the dribble if played too closely. Henry named off his school list at halftime, listing Kansas, Kentucky, and Memphis as the only three left for his services.
• John Wall played by far the best of anyone on the U.S. team, and probably should have won MVP even in a losing effort. Wall displayed his ability to get into the lane literally any time he wanted and showed off his fastbreak game, which is second to none. Wall showed that he is also a lockdown defender when he sets his mind to it, and was able to finish with contact many time. Wall also is the next coming of Dominique Wilkins because he too is a human highlight film. Wall had one play where he stripped the ball from a lackadasical World player, went left to right on a behind-the-back dribble, and then crossed to his left and proceeded to whip a behind-the-back pass to a teammate for a layup. He also had a sick double pump dunk in transition.

Kentucky Prospects Update: Derby Festival Classic

The only two players to have signed their Letter of Intent this year both played tonight in the Derby Festival Classic in Louisville, Ky. Here are the notes UKmadness collected while attending the game.

• Daniel Orton seemed to play as if he were disinterested or with any sense of purpose tonight. Yes it was an all-star game but many of the players seemed to be enjoying themselves more than he was and were trying noticeably harder. Orton showed off his elite finishing ability by doing many spins into dunks and finishing with authority many times. He also will be a Patrick Patterson-type player in terms of his hands, not many balls are thrown in his direction that he does not catch.
• Jon Hood played very well in the game. Hood showed off his array of offensive moves as well as his uncanny ability to pass from all situations. He passes very well in transition, in a crowd, and always makes the right pass. Hood is one of the more fluid players I have seen in some time. He has a flawless jump shot and finishes well with both hands. Hood’s only shortcoming seems to be on the defensive end where he seems to be about one step behind.
• Eric Bledsoe, a Kentucky recruit, also played very well. Bledsoe is built like someone who is on the football field but has the sort of finesse game that is necessary for the top level. Bledsoe does not play finesse all the time though, he is a bull around the rim and is the best finisher from the point guard spot I saw tonight. He can dunk with ease even though he is only 6 foot which surpised me and he picked the pocket of a number of players as well. He is  a very good ‘backup plan’ for John Wall.
• Nolan Dennis was disappointing tonight. He played perhaps the least amount of minutes out of anybody and his perimeter jump shot looked horrid. I will give him some what of a mulligan because it was an all-star game but he did not impress. He was sloppy with the basketball, and actually airballed a jump shot.

Stay tuned to UKmadness, later tonight or tomorrow we will have a Prospects Update from the Nike Hoop Summit, including a Xavier Henry school list.