Waiting on Jodie Meeks

As Carl spelled out so well in covering for me while I was traveling in the home state of Eric Bledsoe and DeMarcus Cousins, we now know who will NOT have a scholarship next year.  All that’s left to determine now is whether Jodie Meeks will be lucky number 13 on the roster or whether UK will save some money this year on basketball scholarships.

I don’t think anyone at this point would tell you 100% that Jodie Meeks is going to return, but most of what you hear points toward Jodie returning to Lexington for his senior year. I think this is the 3rd time I have written this, but even though Jodie Meeks has shown every indication that he wants to go pro right now, he’s smart enough and he has good enough people around him that he will make the best decision for his future now matter what. Jodie knows who he needs to listen to and what he needs to hear to stay in the Draft and I don’t think he will be afraid to do the right thing for him.

Let’s take a look at some of what people are saying about Jodie today:

-Gary Parrish wrote about how Jodie Meeks decision will impact the national college basketball scene and had this to say:

“For what it’s worth, multiple industry sources — some close to the Kentucky program, others on the NBA side of things — have told CBSSports.com that Meeks will probably withdraw by Monday, if only because he’s projected by most to go somewhere outside of the first round.”

-Andy Katz broke down the decisions of the players who have yet to make a decision about staying in the Draft and wrote this about Meeks:

Meeks won’t get into the first round, but he is a likely second-round selection. UK coach John Calipari doesn’t know for sure, but he was confident earlier in the week that Meeks would return. If he does, that only enhances the prospects for a team already expected to compete for the national title.

Jodie has said all along that he would have no problem coming back to school if he did not get a first round guarantee and based on this, it doesn’t sound like he’s getting that. Also, this drives home the point I brought up on Wednesday: John Calipari got some “strong indication” this week that Meeks would return, which allowed him to make a final decision to not renew the scholarships of Matt Pilgrim and Kevin Galloway. He may have gotten that indication from his NBA sources or maybe from the Meeks camp.

-Dave Baker Tweeted on the subject Friday evening:

“‘Solid’ source tells me Jodie cancelled his workout in Portland. As Pete Rose would say “if I was a betting man…” I’m betting he’s back!”

Jodie worked out Thursday with the Bulls and today with the 76ers so he has taken full advantage of this process, but if this is true it would seem that he has enough to make a decision.

John Wall made us wait until the signing deadline to make his decision and it appears Jodie Meeks may at least wait until a day or two before it. I know I have no problem waiting a little while longer if it means we get to watch Jodie join Wall in UK’s back court.

Another piece of interesting news today was Matt Jones’ revelation that Patrick Patterson will join Daniel Orton for 8 weeks this summer in San Francisco to train with the very well known Frank Matriscano. Orton and Patterson developed a very close relationship during Orton’s recruitment and it now appears that bond will grow stronger.

Orton and Patterson are going to come back to UK in the best shape of their lives, which will demand that DeMarcus Cousins step up his work ethic and his game to keep pace. This could be an excellent thing for Cousins, who has never really had to push himself on a consistent basis to succeed. Some of the best competition he will face all year will be in practice at UK, which will demand that he bring it all the time if he wants to play the kind of role his talent warrants. I don’t need to tell you, but this bears watching.