Well, the dead period ended a few hours ago, and this open period lasts until Sunday. This weekend the Kentucky Derby Festival Classic takes place, and the Nike Hoops Summit is going down in Oregon. Pretty much every recruiting target will be at one of these two events, so you can be sure there will plenty of talking among players and plenty of news.

Before we get to updates on each target, a quick note. It looks as if former UK national champion and All-American Scott Padgett is going to be the UK connection on John Calipari’s staff, at least that’s the prevailing thought. Padgett is sure to have plenty of NBA connections, and you can’t go wrong with a former St. X Tiger. No word on which position he will fill.

John Wall-Wall will be attending the Hoop Summit, and because of that, the meeting reported to have taken place between UNC coach Roy Williams and Wall looks to have been a phone call in reality. The good news for UK fans is that the ENTIRE Kentucky staff is headed to Oregon or is already there and I don’t think they’re there to watch the Blazers. It’s time for the 8 man blitz, and we’ll see how Wall responds.

However, UK’s most important recruiter may not be a staff member at all, rather UK commit DeMarcus Cousins. DeMarcus needs to be on his game, both on the court and off, so he can try to sell John Wall on playing with him at UK. Really no news has come out in terms of him narrowing his list, according to Wall, he still lists UK, Duke, NC State, Baylor, Kansas, Miami, and Memphis. Notice UNC is still not included, hopefully it stays that way, but if Roy Williams offers, it very well could.

Xavier Henry-Xavier is the other guy that Coach Cal and company will be going after this weekend, as will be Demarcus Cousins. Xavier is an absolute stud, and it appears that it’s down to Kansas and UK.

Obviously, it would be very exciting to get Henry, but if they do, I think it will come at a cost. Xavier Henry and Daniel Orton play on the same AAU team, and it seems that they do not get along all that well. Another thing Orton has in common with Henry is that Kansas is the only other school he would consider by UK. If Henry commits to UK, I think Daniel Orton is gone. If Henry opts for KU, I think Orton will stick with his LOI. I’m glad I don’t have to play the politics in this situation.

Nolan Dennis-A lot of people think it’s a matter of time before Nolan commits to Calipari and UK, I tend to agree. If ‘Cats fans show him the love this weekend, which they are sure to do, I think it will be hard for him to say ‘no’ when he comes on campus on Sunday once Coach Cal returns from the Pacific Northwest and after Jon Hood bothers him the whole weekend about coming to UK.

Eric Bledsoe-Bledsoe will be tagging along when Dennis visits UK on Sunday. He has named Florida as his number one at the moment, but I think that can change quickly if UK decides to make him a priority. I think Coach Cal will have a much better handle on UK’s standing with John Wall after they visit with him, so they may put the press on Bledsoe if they’re not feeling so good about Wall. He’ll be looking to feel some love this weekend as well, so throw a few chants his way.

Also, on a sad note, former Wildcat great Mike Casey has passed away this evening at the age of 59. Thoughts and prayers go out to Mike and his family on this sad day.