Wrapping up a random busy news day

You have to love the John Calipari era. UK news breaks in the offseason no matter what, but it sure seems like it’s been happening more often since John Calipari came to Lexington. You wouldn’t think much would be going on July 27, but that was not the case today, because there was plenty to talk about.

-First and foremost among today’s happenings was the viral debut of the YouTube video of a pickup game in Lexington during UK basketball camp. In it, John Wall and Eric Bledsoe looked great, playing very well together. The reports are out there that the two are getting along very well, which is great news.

DeMarcus Cousins also looked solid in the video, although he was guarded by Perry Stevenson, a guy who he outweighs by probably 50 pounds. However, Cousins ball skills were the most impressive. part of his game.

Neither Stevenson nor Harris looked very good at all and Darius Miller was quiet but solid.

Joe Crawford also reminded us how good he really is, as he torched Eric Bledsoe for much of the first 4-5 minutes of the video.

-The other news (well, not really news) was the emergence of Larry Vaught’s report of a source indicating that commitments from five star rising seniors Brandon Knight and Adreian Payne were forthcoming. The report first appeared on the Kentucky Sports Report Premium message board before being grabbed by basically everyone.

I’m not going to be holding my breath, but UK is definitely strong with both players. The speculation about Knight, in particular, is interesting to me. Knight has just seen a fellow top ranked player in his class who plays a very similar game to him get a bunch of attention for decommitting from Tennessee. The player I’m referring to, of course, is Josh Selby and you can hardly read an article about him without seeing UK or John Calipari. Knight may be motivated slightly to commit to UK if he indeed favors the ‘Cats knowing that Selby is out there.

-The final piece of basketball news of the day was Matt Jones post saying that UK had finalized its basketball schedule at long last and would announce the schedule in a made for TV special on the Big Blue Sports Network.

Calipari has been said to be pursuing a marquee opponent for the last open spot on the schedule (Andy Katz mentions neutral site games against Kansas and Duke). That has been the delay in the announcement and apparently Calipari has now either landed that game or decided to move on and settle for a smaller name.

-Believe it or not, there was some football news that grabbed a headline or two today as well. UK has scheduled a four year series with Western Kentucky. Two of the games will be played in Lexington and two of the games will be played in the Tennessee Titans home, LP Field in Nashville, as home games for recently promoted to Division I Hilltoppers.

Games in Nashville bring back fond memories for me of UK’s two recent Music City Bowl wins over Clemson and Florida State. I’m sure UK fans will make the trek and it should be a good time.