Loge Level

Lost to Gardner-Webb. Jodie Meeks broke his butt (literally). Ramel Bradley has a foot injury of some kind, according to Adny Katz, although UK denies. Chris Singleton spurns the Cats for Florida State.

It’s hard to imagine things getting worse.

But North Carolina and Louisville are looming.

So, yes, things can get worse. And they probably will get worse before they will get better with Meeks missing more than a month.

But I’m still happier now than I was nine months ago. I want more than this team is capable, but as long as they make the NCAA Tournament and advance past the first round Billy Gillispie will have accomplished just as much as I would have expected from Tubby Smith.

The blue lining is that the future is so promising. Sure, Singleton’s decision puts a damper on this signing period and the immediate future. With Singleton playing along Patrick Patterson next year it might have speeded up the acsension to Final Four contender and the Cats might have been 2009 contenders.

But Billy G will just move along to the next target whether that is Teeng Akol, our last reamining 2008 prospect, or 2009 prospects DeMarcus Cousins, Colin Borchert, Kenny Hall and Stephen Van Treese.

And indications are Billy is loading up for 2009:

“This is big-league recruiting,” said Scout.com recruiting analyst Dave Telep. “Look at North Carolina, Duke and Kansas. They have all missed on guys this year. UK went out and got two national guys who are going to complement each other very well.”

Gillispie didn’t get everybody he wanted, though. Chris Singleton, a 6-foot-8 small forward, chose Florida State over UK yesterday. UK and FSU were the final two schools on Liggins’ list, but the 27th-ranked recruit on Scout.com chose to become a Seminole.

The NCAA prohibits Gillispie from commenting on recruits who have not sent in their Letter of Intent, including players who commit to other schools. Gillispie was also noncommittal about recruiting somebody for UK’s frontcourt.

Gillispie might have trouble finding a big man for the spring signing period, (Scout.com’s Dave) Telep said. But (Scout.com’s Jeff) Goodman said if a player does emerge during the course of the high school season, UK will be on him.

“Their staff is the type that will turn over every stone to find the player,” Goodman said.

And with the early signing period lasting until Nov. 21 before a second signing period in the spring, many recruiting analysts aren’t ready to sleep on UK.

“Keep an eye on 2008 and especially 2009,” Telep said. “It looks like in 2009 (Gillispie) will really try and load up with a huge class.”

Don’t sleep on UK coming out of nowhere to get a player that might decommit, either. There are already rumors that University Heights guard Scotty Hopson is hedging on his Mississippi State commitment, delaying his signign until at least Friday.

And there always exists the possibility that a top 2008 post player will do the same between now and May’s signing period. Who would have guessed Eric Gordon would be playing at Indiana or Alex Legion would be playing at Kentucky a year ago?

I know patience isn’t one of Cat Nation’s greatest qualities, and losses to UNC and UofL will be hard to take, but it’s a little less painful knowing we’ll kick their asses in a year or two.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 15th, 2007 at 1:37 pm and is filed under Blue Goggles, College Basketball, UK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.