I really do love four day work weeks like the one I have heading into the 4th of July this weekend. It’s only Monday, but since I have Friday off, it’s really Tuesday already. I hope you all have big plans this weekend and that this week is as painless as possible.

I’ll try to start your Monday off as well as I can with a quick look at what’s going on in the world of Kentucky basketball:

-We entered this weekend thinking about three players who could potentially fill UK’s 13th and final scholarship: Elliot Williams, Matt Pilgrim, and Xavier Henry. It now looks like we’ll end the weekend with 2 of those 3 now off the board with Pilgrim and Williams reportedly headed to Memphis and a Kansas City writer telling Kansas fans not to worry about Henry playing anywhere else.

Add to that John Calipari’s comments that next years roster will include only 11 or 12 players and I think it’s about time we put dreams of adding another stud to the roster for next year behind us. As Cal said, most of his rosters don’t use the full 13 scholarships.

We also were linked on Sunday by a couple different Memphis sites or message boards, who had a bone to pick with me saying Calipari was doing a good thing by helping Pilgrim find a new landing place. Reader Jon P had this to say:

It doesn’t matter because Elliot Williams is a Tiger and was NEVER going to Kentucky. Pilgrim will be welcomed and valued as a Tiger. And please don’t get it twisted.This is not an attempt for Cal to make things right with Pilgrim. It is purely to save face and get a little positive p.r. out there after all the negative p.r. the school has had since he started dumping kids right and left. That, my friends, is the real rub.

Fellow reader WWW (not sure if World Wide Wes is a reader or not, I’d like to think so) responded by saying this, which I point out because it sums up the way I feel as well:

Regardless of the motivation, Cal is doing a good thing for Pigrim now and hopefully he will be the “beast” that he was said to be in so many pickup games as a Tiger. As for a schollie being available for Williams but not Pilgrim, it was Williams, not Cal that mentioned UK as a possible destination. No one even knows if it was ever a possibility. Cal says he usually does not use his full allotment of rides and he has no plans to use them all this year. He would rather have a talented kid who won’t play on his team happy playing on another roster instead of unhappy not playing on his.

Maybe Calipari is just being nice to look nice, but I doubt it matters much to Matt Pilgrim or Josh Pastner what the reasoning is. Let’s just wish the best for all parties involved and move on.

-Another name that has sort of floated around in the ether as a possible addition to the roster, despite the fact that it’s never been a remote possibility, is Lance Stephenson. However, it now appears Lance has finally found a home and the chances of him being a ‘Cat have dwindled from very, very slim down to none. I, for one, say thank goodness.

Anyway, Lance is headed to the Big East to play for Cincinnati according to ZagsBlog, and it could be official on Tuesday.  This will conclude (for now) one of the craziest recruitments in recent basketball recruiting memory.  Lance Stephenson has to be the most talented unwanted player of all time.

-The word that’s circulating tonight in the “it was a matter of time” department is that Vinny Zollo (aka the last of the Mohicans, and by Mohicans I mean Billy Gillispie commits) has decided to decommit from UK and reopen his recruitment. Nothing official as of yet, but this will surprise no one when it does become official.

Calipari is going to get players and there’s no room for “projects” or players of questionable talent. Speaking of getting players, I think it’s a matter of time before UK nails down its first 2010 commitment. With Doron Lamb having just visited last week, he would be the logical number one contender.

-Finally, Eric Crawford from the Courier-Journal wrote a good article on Sunday about the suspension Darius Miller is likely to face for unwittingly having his picture advertise for Reggie Warford’s basketball camp. I especially liked this little blurb:

Muhlenberg County coach Reggie Warford included University of Kentucky player Darius Miller’s picture on a flyer and in an advertisement for his basketball camp.

And that, of course, violates NCAA commandment No.1: No one shall profit from the student athletes (except for the NCAA, its member schools, rights-paying broadcast partners and corporate sponsors).