Kentucky Assistant Coach Jeremy Cox delivered a message this week to the junior college coach of two UK recruiting targets: Don’t believe the speculation about Billy Gillispie going to Oklahoma State.
“He wanted to reassure me that nothing was going on,” said Barret Peery, the coach at Southern Idaho.
Rumor for months had Gillispie possibly going to Oklahoma State. CBS fueled the flame by mentioning that scenario during its Final Four telecast.
Two of Peery’s players are making recruiting visits to Kentucky this weekend. One, wing Kevin Galloway, committed to the Cats earlier this week.
The other is Juan Pattillo, a 6-foot-7 player.
“He’s an athlete,” Peery said of Pattillo. “An ultra athlete. A big, strong athlete. He can play above the rim. He’s one of the best, if not the best athlete in junior college.”
Pattillo, who averaged about 17 points and seven rebounds, is considering Oklahoma State. He plans to visit Oklahoma the weekend of April 17-19 before making a college choice.
Archive for April, 2008 Page 3 of 5
Former UK Coach Joe B. Hall will be signing commemorative Maker’s Mark bottles on Friday morning at Keeneland.
Here’s the news release from Keeneland:
Coach Joe B Hall will be joined by Maker’s Mark president, Bill Samuels Jr, and Keeneland Race Track president, Nick Nicholson, in signing the special bottles that honors Coach Hall and his biggest fan, his late wife Katharine, who died of cancer last year.
Friday, April 11 starting at 6:30 AM
Trackside of the Keeneland Race Track, Lexington, Kentucky
The unique partnership between Keeneland Race Track, University of Kentucky and Maker’s Mark Distillery will have raised over $3 million in three years for important cancer research in Kentucky.
This is the 30th Anniversary of Coach Hall’s 1978 NCAA Championship, and when Hall was also named college basketball’s Coach of the Year.
Made of blue glass and dipped in “Kentucky Blue” wax, the 18,000 numbered limited edition bottles, that were sold only in Kentucky, were sold out within hours on Friday April 4, 2008.
The signing will be for first 1300 people in line with each person limited to two (2) bottles and only this year’s 2008 bottle will be signed (no other bottles or memorabilia will be allowed).
Among Southeastern Conference basketball teams, only Alabama placed more players on the league’s 2007-08 SEC Winter Academic Honor Roll than Kentucky.
Kentucky had five players make the Honor Roll: Mark Coury, Derrick Jasper, Mark Krebs, Jodie Meeks and Dwight Perry.
Alabama led the league in men’s basketball with the six. Tennessee tied Kentucky with five. Florida had three. Vanderbilt, Auburn, Mississippi State and Arkansas had two. And Georgia, Ole Miss, South Carolina and LSU had one.
With former UK player Travis Ford taking himself out of the running for the LSU job, who does LSU turn to in its search for a coach?
Four coaches appear in the running:
– Butch Pierre, who took over as interim coach when LSU fired John Brady in early February. Pierre turned heads by leading LSU to a victory over Florida, and then won four straight against Ole Miss, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama).
– Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy. Kennedy breathed new life into the Ole Miss program. He’s won more than 20 games in each of his two seasons in Oxford. That’s happened only a few times in school history (1937 and 1938; 1997 and 1998 and 1999; 2001 and 2002).
– Notre Dame Coach Mike Brey. He’s been rumored as a candidate for jobs for several years.
– Southern Illinois Coach Chris Lowery. He’s young, African-American and, by all accounts, dynamic. That would fit the bill of a coach who can excite fans, which former LSU Athletic Director Skip Bertman set as a quality he saw as a necessity.
Alabama guard Ronald Steele announced on Tuesday that he will enter his name in the 2008 NBA draft. He will not hire an agent so he can keep open the option of playing for Alabama next season.
Steele was one of the Southeastern Conference’s best guards. However, a series of injuries hobbled him in 2006-07 and forced him to sit out last season as a medical redshirt.
Here’s the news release from Alabama:
Alabama point guard Ronald Steele officially announced on Tuesday that he will explore his options by submitting his name into the 2008 NBA Draft, though he has no plans to hire an agent and is leaving the option open to return to the Alabama team.
“I want to thank all of you for your attendance today, and I especially want to thank Coach (Mark) Gottfried and his staff for the support and guidance of my career,” the redshirt senior from Birmingham said in a prepared statement to media gathered in Coleman Coliseum. “Today I am formally announcing my intention to enter the 2008 NBA Draft. I will not hire an agent or do anything to jeopardize my eligibility here at Alabama. Every underclassman has one chance to explore an NBA Draft without risking their NCAA eligibility. This is my time to do so.
“This decision may come as a surprise to some,” continued Steele who had his coach, Mark Gottfried sitting by his side in the front of the room. “While I did not participate in any games this year, I did practice fully with the team. Since January I have felt as good physically as at any time during my career. I also believe my basketball skill has never been better. It is my hope that the NBA will invite me to the NBA Pre-Draft camp. If they do, I plan to attend and use it to show NBA staff that I am a healthier, better playing than I have ever been. After attending the camp, I will sit down with my parents and Alabama coaches and review the information from the NBA teams. Again, to be clear, I intend to keep all my options open, including playing at the University of Alabama next season. I support the coaching staff and know that they are supporting me through the process.”
Tide head coach Mark Gottfried says he supports his point guard in his decision and his ability to make smart choices now and later in the process.
“I’m going to support him 100 percent. He knows that,” said Gottfried of Steele’s decision. “I think what you have to remember in Ron’s situation, that he’s had a difficult year-and-a-half. It’s been hard for him. And right now he feels great. I’ve talked to people in the NBA about how well he practiced and physically as he got in condition and there was no issue at all with his knees, he started looking great. So he feels good right now. I support him. I’ve visited with his family. I think that Ron and his family will go about this as well as you can. He’s got a great support system with his mother and father, and we’ll just learn in the future here in the next few weeks exactly those steps that can happen.”
The Derby Festival announced rosters for its April 19 high school all-star game.
One team includes Kentucky signees Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins, plus three possible new signees: Paul McCoy, Maurice Sutton and Ater Majok.
Miller’s coach at Mason County High, Chris O’Hearn, will coach the team.
Basketball Classic tickets are $15 and $10 and are available at TicketMaster locations (www.ticketmaster.com), the Freedom Hall Ticket Office, or by phone (502) 361-3100 or (800) 487-1212.
Tyler Hansbrough was also named The Associated Press national Player of the Year in college basketball on Friday.
Earlier in the day, the United State Basketball Writers Association also named him its national Player of the Year.
North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough won the Oscar Robertson trophy, which goes to the United States Basketball Writers Association Player of the Year.
Here’s the news release:
Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina’s 6-9 junior All- American from Poplar Bluff, Mo., has been chosen winner of the Oscar Robertson Trophy by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association as the nation’s top college basketball player for the 2007-08 season.
Hansbrough received the trophy at the USBWA’s annual college basketball awards breakfast this morning in San Antonio. Drake coach Keno Davis was presented with the Henry Iba Award as the USBWA’s Coach of the Year and LSU-Shreveport’s Josh Porter was presented with the USBWA’s Most Courageous Award at the breakfast as well.
Selected by the USBWA two years ago as its national freshman of the year, Hansbrough was a dominating force for North Carolina this season, leading the Tar Heels to the NCAA Final Four in San Antonio, a No. 1 ranking in the national polls and a school-record 36 wins.
He was the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year and led the league in scoring and rebounding with averages of 23.1 and 10.5, respectively.
Hansbrough is the fourth player from North Carolina to receive the USBWA player of the year award. The others are Phil Ford (1978), Michael Jordan (1984) and Antawn Jamison (1998).
This is the 50th anniversary of the USBWA player of the year award. First presented in 1959 to Oscar Robertson, it is the nation’s oldest and only one named after a player.
The USBWA named its player of the year award the Oscar Robertson Trophy in 1998 in honor of “The Big O,” named “College Player of the Century” in 2000 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
Father Ed Bradley, the unofficial UK team chaplain when Rick Pitino was coach, was scheduled to lead the memorial service for Bill Keightley Thursday night.
Pallbears were 11 student managers who worked for Keightley. The 11 were Jeff Bergstrom, Craig Callihan, Will Campbell, Terrance Commodore, Jeremy French, Will Herschleman, Dustin Marr, Luke Mason, Zach Murphy, Chad Sanders and Jeff Sturm.
In preparation for the service, Rupp Arena workers laid down the court. A grand piano was set up at one foul line near UK’s bench. Flowers and a podium were set up at the opposite foul line.
Dr. Everett McCorvey, who annually sings “My Old Kentucky Home” at Senior Day, were listed as the vocalist. Nan McSwain was listed as the pianist.
At least two SEC coaches are expected to attend the Thursday memorial service for longtime UK equipment manager Bill Keightley. Both have Kentucky ties.
Florida Coach Billy Donovan, who began his coaching career at UK as a Rick Pitino assistant, is expected to attend.
So is Mississippi State Coach Rick Stansbury, a native of Brandenburg.
Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald- Leader has covered Kentucky basketball since the 1981-82 season. That time includes five coaches, five Final Fours, four athletic directors, two interim athletic directors and many memories. Before coming to Lexington, Tipton worked eight years for the Huntington (W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch. He covered Marshall’s basketball team for two seasons before coming to the Herald-Leader.