Never a quiet week in UK basketball

Outside of the beginning of the July recruiting period, I figured this past week wouldn’t be the worst to go MIA because of a trip down to South Florida for work. Well, it turned out that there wasn’t any earth shattering Kentucky news, but we did get a pretty steady stream of stuff going on with the Big Blue. Let’s take a look at the happenings:

July recruiting in full swing – John Calipari and his staff were all over the place this week, evaluating many of UK’s top targets for the class of 2010 and beyond. Calipari has made his opinion of summer recruiting well known and he used Twitter to restate his views. Calipari takes part in summer recruiting only because he would lose ground to his competition if he did not.

Calipari says that eliminating the summer evaluation period would allow the power in recruiting to shift back to high school coaches instead of AAU coaches. The AAU system is responsible for so much of what is wrong with amateur sports. It is conducive to the culture of hangers on that so many athletes fall prey to. Additionally, freeing up coaches during the summer would allow coaches more time with their current players instead of future players and more time for family as well.

However, John Calipari takes full advantage of his opportunities to see top high school talent and to be seen by top high school talent. Perhaps the most intriguing development of the week was the fact that Calipari was seen rubbing shoulders with one LeBron James. Cal is not afraid to point to and take advantage of some of his high profile relationships to help himself in the recruiting game, and there’s really no better name to be associated with than LeBron.

UK is being mentioned by such a ridiculous volume of top names right now that it’s really not even worth it to run them down. Really, just look at any list of the top 50 in the country and you’ll have a pretty good idea who UK is after.

Jodie Meeks and the NBA – One piece of news that particularly excited me this week had to do with a player who won’t be on the roster next year. The man who made UK basketball remotely watchable in 2008-2009 signed a 3 year deal with the Milwaukee Bucks, 2 years of which are guaranteed.

This is really excellent news for a guy who was assured nothing after being passed over by every team that had a pick in the top 39 of the NBA Draft. Getting a deal like Jodie did as a second rounder is not too commonplace, so congrats to Meeks for getting this done.

Jodie promptly played a very efficient first 27 professional minutes in the Vegas summer league, scoring 14 points on 6-9 shooting in an ugly 65-59 game between the Bucks and Dallas Mavericks. He and Joe Alexander led the Bucks in scoring, but Joe Alexander needed twice as many shots to get his points.  Juan Palacios played 10 minutes but only put up one shot and did not score or get a rebound. The Bucks have 4 more summer league games and we will keep you updated on Jodie’s and Palacios’ play. 

Patterson and Orton bust it in California – Patrick Patterson and Daniel Orton still have about 2 weeks left of their workouts with Hell’s Trainer, Frank Matrisciano.  Accounts from the families of Orton and Patterson have been 100% postive to this point.  The two were already close and they should come back even closer…and without an ounce of fat on their frames. Also, neither the troublesome ankle of Patterson or the balky knee of Orton have presented any problems, which is great news.

Darius Miller grabs the gold – Darius was a key member of Team USA that won its first U19 World Championship since 1991. Darius wasn’t the go-to scorer and he didn’t get to play as many minutes as I’m sure he will this season, but he made a bunch of big plays, including 2 steals early in the 4th quarter of the gold medal game to help seal an 88-80 victory.

This is such a great experience for Darius. It’s an experience that will help him mesh well with a UK team next year that will be similarly talented. Darius did exactly what you would expect of him. He found a role and filled it very well. When he needed to get a basket, he got it. When his team needed a big rebound, block, steal, or assist, he got it. Miller got great reviews from his coaches and you always hear players talk about what a great experience it is to play for their country. Very few get the opportunity, so you have to feel good for Darius.

The next step for Miller will be bring that confidence he has built back home and also to use that confidence to grow into a more assertive scorer, because he is going to be UK’s best option as a wing scorer. I know I can’t wait to watch him play.

Darnell Dodson – Dodson is the one member of UK’s six man recruiting class that has not yet arrived on campus. There has been some speculation that he is facing some academic obstacles, but Calipari has said that Dodson will be in Lexington for the next summer session. Also, he was included on UK’s officially released roster, which should alleviate concern. This video has also been making the rounds this week, which shows Dodson in an excellent 32 point performance in which Dodson seems to be a very diverse scorer with a solid stroke, which will be a welcome addition to the roster.