Xavier Henry out of the picture, enter Darnell Dodson or Eric Bledsoe?

So, it looks like Xavier and CJ’s mother is going to win out and her boys will play in Lawrence, Kansas next year and it seems that Xavier will announce it at a 12:15 press conference tomorrow.

With the roller coaster ride that the last two weeks have been in Xavier’s recruitment, it shouldn’t surprise anyone if one more change happens in the next 18 hours. Even still, I wouldn’t bet on it.

It is disappointing to lose out on the Henry’s, but pretty much everybody recognized from the get-go that UK was facing an uphill battle with the way their parents felt. Add that to the Orton-Henry issue, and you can’t really be that upset that UK lost out. By the way, I’m not sure it’s was a coincidence that Larry Orton said Daniel was a 100% commitment the same day the Henry-to-Kansas buzz started to generate.

Henry is a great player, an NBA player, but UK’s biggest need remains at the point guard spot, more specifically John Wall. Wall reportedly visited Duke today, which doesn’t exactly make me happy, but Coach Calipari also visited with Wall in Raleigh. Wall is an ACC kid, but I think he’s an NBA kid first…with John Calipari, I still like where UK stands, as long as no more Senior Proms interfere!

Presumably, Xavier Henry’s decision makes it much more likely for Calipari to pursue another guard or small forward in this year’s class. It looks like the two guys Calipari is targeting are Darnell Dodson and Eric Bledsoe.

Darnell Dodson

I briefly brought up Darnell Dodson last Tuesday as a possibility for UK, but now it seems that Dodson will be visiting UK this weekend with Henry going to KU.

Dodson was a Calipari signee at Memphis. He plays small forward and signed with Jamie Dixon and Pittsburgh (while UK assistant Orlando Antigua was there) with offers from Boston College, Georgetown, and Virginia Tech in hand. He is originally from Greenbelt, Maryland.

He decided to go the junior college route, honing his game at Miami-Dade College. He has always been a shooter, but he grew to about 6-8 during his two years in Miami. More good news is that Dodson has three years of eligibility remaining because he redshirted in 2007-2008 after transferring from Pitt in the pre-season. Dodson’s coach had this to say about his player:

“There may be 2-3 people in the country that have a clue how good this kid is,” Miami Dade JC coach Matt Eisele said. “We think he’s really underrated. He was 6-5 out of high school and he’s a legit 6-8. He’s toned his body and can almost play anywhere on the floor. He’s one of the best scorers in that class.”

I am honestly not sure if Dodson has been released from Memphis, but he must be if he’s planning on visiting this weekend.

Here’s a link to ESPN’s profile of Dodson: they give him a grade of 95!

UPDATE: Matt Jones is reporting that Darnell Dodson will commit to UK and that he in fact has been released from his Memphis LOI. I should know better than writing these posts. As soon as I post them some kind of news breaks!!

Eric Bledsoe

UK fans should be much more familiar with Alabama PG Eric Bledsoe. Billy Gillispie was pursuing Bledsoe before going on permanent Keeneland vacation. He’s an academic question mark, but has skyrocketed up the recruiting charts (currently the #6 PG and #37 overall).

Bledsoe backed out of his visit to UK after the KDFC to visit Mick Cronin in Cincinnati. At the time, he listed Florida as his first choice because he felt like a “second round pick” behind John Wall. Well now Billy Donovan is also pursuing Wall, would that make Cincinnati his new first choice, or would UK be able to jump in the fray?

Kentucky Sports Radio thinks that may be the case with Calipari visiting Bledsoe tonight. Even so, I don’t see Bledsoe coming to UK. I really don’t think he’ll qualify, and even if he does, he’ll be at Florida or Cincinnati.