Welcome aboard, backcourt of the future
It's official, Kentucky has a become guard U.
OK, so it remains to be seen how good/successful both the current crop of Cats guards and any future ones, too, will be, but Tubby -- the coach who "couldn't recruit" guards -- had the golden touch this year.
On Friday, the university made it official, announcing that the four early commits had inked Letters of Intent, putting their names to their pledges to be decked out in blue and white come next fall (and/or summer, hopefully).
The list of November signees is an interesting one. It contains several rising star combo guards, a sturdy former quarterback point guard and a wild card defensive big man, all of whom have the rough edges and big upside that Tubby likes and has had success with. Rivals.com rates the class as is #11 overall, certainly short of some fans' expectations, and definitely lower than it would have been had Reggie Hanson and Co. landed their big fish: Brandan Wright or Thaddeus Young. There is little compensation for being in the final three.
However, count me as one of those who feel the best is yet to come for these recruits, a fact that is often overlooked by Tubby's detractors. Very few of his recruits don't pan out, and almost all of them -- even those who simply weren't all-world talents -- get better during their stay in Lexington. The list of those who haven't under Tubby is short: Marvin Stone, Brandon Stockton, J.P. Blevins and Antowain Barber come immediately to mind.
My personal favorite, based on nothing but heresay and some grainy, Zapruder-like film clips, is Derrick Jasper of Paso Robles High. Tall and strong, the 6'6" Jasper played point guard in high school, and projects as a combo or swing guard in college. He reminds some of a more athletic version of Keith Bogans, without perhaps the hype and/or outside shooting touch.
Another Californian, 6'2" Michael Porter of Modesto Christian -- Chuck Hayes' alma mater -- gave up a PAC 10-caliber football career to devote himself to the Cats full-time. Porter visited the campus with prep teammate Adrian Oliver, who will attend Washington, and some wondered why Kentucky offered the steady but unspectacular Porter a scholarship so early in the recruiting process. Whether Tubby believes Porter is the sort of all-around good citizen-player he needs, a diamond in the rough, or simply payback to Coach Porter, Michael's dad and Chuck's coach, none of us will ever know. But he's a Cat now, and for all we know, he's the next coming of Kyle Macy.
The other backcourter to sign this week was Jodie Meeks, an athletic freak and big-time rising guard out of Norcross High in Georgia. Meeks wowed scouts and coaches at the summer camps, and may be the hidden gem of the class, much as another former Georgian and UK standout, Gerald Fitch, once was. Meeks is much more athletic than Fitch, and has a good, if not great, outside shot. But he's got excellent body control, and should push any upperclassmen for playing time (with Jasper).
The lone frontcourt player to sign in the early period is a guy I targetted early on as having a good chance to end up a Cat. Perry Stevenson, a rangy 6'9" forward-center from Lafayette Northside High in Louisiana, was the least hyped of the big men to visit this fall, but made the best choice(!). Stevenson will be a fan favorite, a do-it-all player who reminds me at this early stage of an Emeka Okafor-type, underdeveloped offensively but dynamite defensively. We'll see. He may not be in the NBA in two years like Young or Wright, but he may help Kentucky more.
There they are, the class of 2010. While Tubby may yet work his usual spring recruiting magic, I happen to like this class. It's athletic, still improving and, most of all, unlike some of the higher profile misses this recruiting season, these guys wanted to be Kentucky Wildcats. And there's no scouting report for that.
OK, so it remains to be seen how good/successful both the current crop of Cats guards and any future ones, too, will be, but Tubby -- the coach who "couldn't recruit" guards -- had the golden touch this year.
On Friday, the university made it official, announcing that the four early commits had inked Letters of Intent, putting their names to their pledges to be decked out in blue and white come next fall (and/or summer, hopefully).
The list of November signees is an interesting one. It contains several rising star combo guards, a sturdy former quarterback point guard and a wild card defensive big man, all of whom have the rough edges and big upside that Tubby likes and has had success with. Rivals.com rates the class as is #11 overall, certainly short of some fans' expectations, and definitely lower than it would have been had Reggie Hanson and Co. landed their big fish: Brandan Wright or Thaddeus Young. There is little compensation for being in the final three.
However, count me as one of those who feel the best is yet to come for these recruits, a fact that is often overlooked by Tubby's detractors. Very few of his recruits don't pan out, and almost all of them -- even those who simply weren't all-world talents -- get better during their stay in Lexington. The list of those who haven't under Tubby is short: Marvin Stone, Brandon Stockton, J.P. Blevins and Antowain Barber come immediately to mind.
My personal favorite, based on nothing but heresay and some grainy, Zapruder-like film clips, is Derrick Jasper of Paso Robles High. Tall and strong, the 6'6" Jasper played point guard in high school, and projects as a combo or swing guard in college. He reminds some of a more athletic version of Keith Bogans, without perhaps the hype and/or outside shooting touch.
Another Californian, 6'2" Michael Porter of Modesto Christian -- Chuck Hayes' alma mater -- gave up a PAC 10-caliber football career to devote himself to the Cats full-time. Porter visited the campus with prep teammate Adrian Oliver, who will attend Washington, and some wondered why Kentucky offered the steady but unspectacular Porter a scholarship so early in the recruiting process. Whether Tubby believes Porter is the sort of all-around good citizen-player he needs, a diamond in the rough, or simply payback to Coach Porter, Michael's dad and Chuck's coach, none of us will ever know. But he's a Cat now, and for all we know, he's the next coming of Kyle Macy.
The other backcourter to sign this week was Jodie Meeks, an athletic freak and big-time rising guard out of Norcross High in Georgia. Meeks wowed scouts and coaches at the summer camps, and may be the hidden gem of the class, much as another former Georgian and UK standout, Gerald Fitch, once was. Meeks is much more athletic than Fitch, and has a good, if not great, outside shot. But he's got excellent body control, and should push any upperclassmen for playing time (with Jasper).
The lone frontcourt player to sign in the early period is a guy I targetted early on as having a good chance to end up a Cat. Perry Stevenson, a rangy 6'9" forward-center from Lafayette Northside High in Louisiana, was the least hyped of the big men to visit this fall, but made the best choice(!). Stevenson will be a fan favorite, a do-it-all player who reminds me at this early stage of an Emeka Okafor-type, underdeveloped offensively but dynamite defensively. We'll see. He may not be in the NBA in two years like Young or Wright, but he may help Kentucky more.
There they are, the class of 2010. While Tubby may yet work his usual spring recruiting magic, I happen to like this class. It's athletic, still improving and, most of all, unlike some of the higher profile misses this recruiting season, these guys wanted to be Kentucky Wildcats. And there's no scouting report for that.
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