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Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse can’t get it right, even when he’s trying to correct himself. Reusse admitted he was technically wrong in writing on Dec. 20 that Patrick Patterson and Jai Lucas had given Tubby Smith verbal commitments before bolting Kentucky for Minnesota in March.

But he excused himself by citing the Minnesota sports information director, who asked Tubby himself (a novel idea Reusse should be fired for not thinking of himself), and was told there was no commitment but Tubby “was very confident.” As mentioned last week, I’m sure he was just as confident about Brandan Wright, Tyler Hansbrough, Darius Rice and so many others. And, not sure where else Reusse would have gotten the idea, I suspect he’s only providing a correction because the only logical conclusion is Tubby or someone on his staff made the claim, and Reusse needs to take the blame to divert the blame.

But Reusse littered his correction with more errors than his initial column. For one, Patterson is from Huntington, W.Va., not Morgantown. And his jab at the infamous Chris Mills package, was incorrectly called a FedEx package instead of from Emory Worldwide Express.

WTG, Reusse. We’ll be waiting for another correction, or your dismissal — whichever comes first.

I think too fondly of Tubby Smith to think he’d leak such lies — especially since Smith looks forward to having conversations with sports journalists as much as I look forward to Christmas traffic — but Smith, or someone trying to defend him, has told a reporter in Minnesota that Patrick Patterson and Florida point guard Jai Lucas both had already verbally committed to UK (membership required) and only wavered about their decision once Smith left for the Gophers.

Of course, Lucas chose Florida and Patterson still chose Kentucky.

So, if Patrick Reusse needs a source close to the Patterson recruitment who will actually go on the record, I’m pretty free these days and easy to look up.

It’s as much an attempt to take credit away from UK coach Billy Gillispie, who did in less than two months what Tubby couldn’t in two years — get Patterson’s commitment – as it is to defend Smith. But it’s completely false. First of all, why would Patterson not make his verbal public in order to help support Smith (same for Lucas) if they really wanted to play for Smith?

Not that Patterson disliked Tubby. He may have wanted to play for him, but he most definitely had not made up his mind. He liked Tubby a lot, and his parents allowed Smith and his wife, Donna, to get closer to the family than Mike Krzyzewski, Billy Donovan or any other coach. Tubby was closer with the family than Patterson’s high school coach. So, if Patrick had given Tubby a commitment, then he would have made it public because he knew the coach was potentially in trouble even though the family kept saying they expected Smith to stay at UK.

When I broke the news to Patrick and his mom that Tubby was going to Minnesota, their first reaction was shock that Tubby would do so and not call to give them a heads up. Then, they heard rumors that Tubby was forced out and they were confused. They were close to writing UK off. After they investigated the circumstances and found out that Tubby was never asked to leave they had an even more open mind about UK than before.

From there, Gillispie worked a miracle. UK was fifth among six schools the day after Tubby left and up until Gillispie met Patrick. Yet, with each passing day confidants at his high school hinted that UK was making up huge ground on Florida, who had always been the leader in his recruiting battle.

In fact, there was only about a one-month period (immediately after Patterson’s UK visit for Big Blue Madness) that UK was considered the leader. And that was just because he was so taken aback by 24,000 UK fans chanting his name.

Makes you wonder how many past recruits Tubby thought he had a verbal from that it turned out he never had a commitment from. Brandan Wright sound familiar? Tyler Hansbrough? Darius Rice?

Well, I guess the answer to the question I posed a couple posts back can be answered with a resounding YES. If you hadn’t heard by now, then you must live in Mammouth Cave, but freshman guard Alex Legion has decided to transfer.

Can’t say I’m shocked that a player is bailing on Billy G already. It wasn’t any different under Tubby Smith, who had a much more motherly approach. It was only a matter of time before Billy finally broke a player into quitting with his no excuses style. The players have two choices: submit or quit.

But I am surprised that Legion’s the first to go. I expected somebody like Jared Carter, Mike (sorry, bud, I’m not making the effort to learn how to spell your given name) Williams or Perry Stevenson might break first. I wouldn’t have even put it past a lazy Joe Crawford to wuss out in his senior year.

But I figured Legion and Patrick Patterson would be among the first players to buy into Billy’s style. Find out how this is nothing new for Patterson, after the jump. (more…)

So, as I predicted, Cat Nation moved quickly to its next recruiting object of obsession following Chris Singleton’s decision to attend Florida State. And it’s Leonard Washington, a 6-6 “power” forward from Louisiana.

Based on the reaction of the bluenatic fringe, you’d think any hope of Billy Gillispie returning the Cats to prominence hinges on this KID, and we definitely mean child-like because he’s as immature as they come. Sure, getting a top-notch power forward to complement Patrick Patterson is a must, but no matter how dark a shade of Blue Goggles we wear I’m not sure how convinced I can ever become that Washington is the answer. (more…)

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. (more…)

The first year of the Billy Gillispie Era is going to be fun. If nothing else, that’s a major improvement over the last two seasons and approximately half the seasons of Tubby Smith’s 10-year University of Kentucky basketball coaching stint.

So, we kick off this blog with as much excitement for the UK basketball program as we’ve had since arriving on UK’s campus in Autumn 1998. The name of the blog is a throwback tribute to our childhood era UK heroes who donned the uber-cool sports goggles of the 1980s, especially personal favorite Eddie Davender.

But Blue Googles also has some other symbolic intentions:

1. Ironically, the initials are shared by our new coach.

2. It’s a Web log, more popularly known as a blog, so let Blue Goggles forever be known as Bloggles.

3. Most importantly, we’re going to wear Blue Goggles (read: blue-shaded visors) all the time. No apologizing or excuse-making and little objectivity. I spent four years (covering Patrick Patterson’s high school career, nonetheless) doing the opposite, now it’s time to be a fan again. (more…)