Busy Senior Day Weekend at UK

There has been a bit of intrigue this week leading up to UK’s Senior Day on Sunday regarding whom will be honored and who will be leaving early for the NBA. During UK’s media availability today, we got some clarification about plans for the big day.

Four players will be officially honored. Obviously, the guys who are listed as seniors in the program, Perry Stevenson, Ramon Harris, and Mark Krebs will get to walk through big rings with their picture and number. Additionally, Patrick Patterson confirmed today that even though he has a remaining year of eligibility that he may still use, he will take the opportunity to be honored in case he does not return.

John Calipari also confirmed that all four of those guys will get to start the game, meaning that the lineup at tipoff against Florida will almost certainly feature Patterson, Stevenson, Harris, Krebs, and John Wall.

The players who were available to the media were asked about their former coaches, including Billy Gillispie. They had some funny comments and Patterson had a strange one, saying he would not be surprised if Gillispie showed up for the game. Now, I don’t think that’s realistic at all unless Billy G plans on scalping a seat.

It’s going to be an interesting game for many reasons, but I am particularly fascinated by how UK will be honoring the past with Senior Day festivities and simultaneously hosting guys that could turn out to be the future of the program. UK has had some impressive visitor lists this season in terms of big name recruits, but if scheduled work out, this weekend could trump them all.

-Josh Selby, consensus top three point guard prospect in 2010, is tentatively scheduled to visit. His team needed to lose in the playoffs in order for the visit to happen, which they did, but the trip is not yet confirmed. By most accounts, Kansas is the leader here with UK focused intently on Brandon Knight, but this is a guy you don’t say no to.

-Enes Kanter, Turkish import and projected top 20 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, is en route to Lexington as I write. There is a lot of talent in this weekend, but he may be the most intriguing player to me. I think he is good enough to step in and start right away at the four or five and I don’t think you’ll see much dropoff from DeMarcus Cousins. There are concerns about eligibility since he played with professional players in Europe, but Sandy Bell is on the case, because UK looks to be the leader for this Washington decommit.

-Michael Gilchrist (SF), Marquis Teague (PG), and Quincy Miller (PF) are three of the top five players in the class of 2011 and they are scheduled to attend.

Gilchrist is thought of as the best high schooler in the country regardless of class and UK is in excellent shape, with Villanova as the prime competition.

Teague is from Indianapolis and is notorious for cancelling scheduled trips due to a very busy family schedule. He had targeted a decision for this spring, but it looks more like he will wait until official visits during his senior year. UK and UofL are the main players and he is VERY important to the Cards program.

Quincy Miller

Miller (@qmillertime) is a loudly professed fan of the ‘Cats and particularly John Wall.  No decision is imminent, but another UK visit is great news for the ‘Cats.  He will also be at the UofL home game Saturday along with fellow 2011 prospect Deuce Bello, who will also come to Lexington.

What an insane list that is. UofL has a similarly deep list for the last game being played at Freedom Hall tomorrow, so the Bluegrass State will be hosting some SERIOUS young talent this weekend.