John Wall Makes it Official, Signs with the Kentucky Wildcats

John Wall held a press conference at his school on Wednesday to officially confirm that he was on his way to the Bluegrass.

When John Wall narrowed down his schools’ list a short while ago, it seemed to be between Kentucky, Duke, Miami, and Florida.  Sources close to Wall say that it was just between Miami and Kentucky.  In the end, Calapari won the top 2009 recruit over (per Rivals.com) even though Kentucky had already signed a 5-star point guard in that of Eric Bledsoe.

Kentucky now has a complete roster…actually, Kentucky has too many players!  One would assume that once Jodie Meeks decides whether or not he is staying in the NBA draft, the roster will be looked at and four players will have to find a new school, play as a walk-on, or just not play basketball for the University of Kentucky at all.  The only ones that seem to be safe at the moment are Patrick Patterson, Eric Bledsoe, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Darnell Dodson, Jon Hood, and Daniel Orton.  And of course, Jodie Meeks if he decides to return for his senior season.

Slam Magazine Reports John Wall has Committed to Kentucky

Slam Magazine has reported that #1 2009 recruit (per Rivals.com), John Wall, has committed to the University of Kentucky.  If this holds to be true, UK will have the Number 1 recruiting class of 2009 and may have one of the best recruiting classes to ever be drawn to Kentucky in the same season.

Once again, there has been no official word, just unconfirmed reports thus far.  If John Wall is going to be a Wildcat, Kentucky basketball should be considered to have the luster of what it once was and will be considered a national powerhouse this upcoming season.  GO BIG BLUE!!!

Eric Bledsoe is Kentucky’s Newest Signee

According to several reports, the Kentucky Wildcats basketball recruiting class of 2009 is ranked at number 1 in the country with the addition of Eric Bledsoe on Wednesday (May 6th, 2009).  Eric Bledsoe is ranked as the number 3 point guard in the country and ranked as 23rd overall in the class of 2009 recruits (per Rivals.com).

Eric Bledsoe is a 6 foot 1 inch point guard weighing in at 185 pounds and hailing from Birmingham, Alabama.  He is the fourth top 40 player (per Rivals.com) that the Kentucky Wildcats basketball program has been able to sign from the 2009 recruiting class.  John Wall looks to be the last player on the Kentucky Wildcats radar for 2009.

Once the Wall situation is over, the Cats will have to determine what to do about the lack of scholarships and who will be leaving for the NBA, transferring, etc.  It’s not a good situation to be in, however, it is always better to have too many good players to decide who stays and who goes than to not have enough good players at all.

Kentucky Signs 2009 Junior College Transfer, Darnell Dodson

The University of Kentucky men’s basketball program has signed Miami-Dade Community College standout Darnell Dodson, Coach John Calipari announced on Friday.

Dodson, originally from Greenbelt, Md., attended Miami-Dade Community College last season where he helped guide the Sharks to a Southern Conference Championship and a 26-2 regular season record.  The 6-7 small forward averaged 15.7 points and 5.6 rebounds while shooting 76.7 percent from free throw line in route to “First Team All-Southern Conference” honors.

Dodson joins DeMarcus Cousins (Mobile, Ala.), Kentucky Mr. Basketball Jon Hood (Madisonville), and Daniel Orton (Oklahoma City, Okla.) as members of UK’s 2009 signing class.  Dodson is rated as a 4-Star recruit according to Rivals.com.

Nolan Dennis Chooses the University of Baylor

Nolan Dennis was a “backup to Xavier Henry” prospect for the University of Kentucky until he announced his verbal commitment to the University of Baylor.  According to Rivals, Dennis signed his Letter of Intent (LOI) with Baylor on April 22nd, 2009.  Nolan Dennis is a ranked guard in the top 60 of the 2009 recruiting class.

Xavier and C.J. Henry Choose Kansas

The wait is finally over from the Henry duo as they announced that the University of Kansas is their school of choice.  Xavier is rated as one of the top players in the 2009 recruiting class.  C.J. was a professional baseball player before coming back to college.  He sat out last year at Memphis.

Although this is somewhat of a blow to our 2009-2010 season, it really doesn’t hurt Kentucky that much because the Cats will be pretty set at the shooting guard position with Jon Hood coming in.  If Jodie Meeks decides to stay, then there shouldn’t be any problems at that position.  It would be very interesting if the Kentucky Wildcats were to play the Kansas Jayhawks this upcoming season.

Nolan Dennis May Have Interest in Playing at Kentucky

It was reported by several internet sources on Wednesday, that Nolan Dennis wants out of his “Letter of Intent” at Memphis and may have the Kentucky Wildcats on his radar.  Nolan Dennis is ranked #46 overall and ranked as the #11 shooting guard in the country for the 2009 recruits by ESPN.

Carol Dennis (Nolan’s Mother) has been quoted as saying that Dennis and Calipari’s relationship was “Close”.  Carol Dennis was also quoted as saying, “We would love to go to Kentucky”, which is very good evidence that Kentucky will be one of the top schools on his list when he re-opens his recruitment.

The question that “Big Blue Nation” might ask is “Do we have room for Nolan Dennis?”.  Best guess would be , “Yes”.  Yes, since there are a lot of player’s futures at Kentucky currently up in the air.  We will just have to wait and see how everything unfolds.  Updates to come when they become available on this developing story.

Daniel Orton has not Decommitted from Kentucky

According to Daniel Orton’s father “Larry”, Daniel Orton has not decommitted from Kentucky and still plans to attend Kentucky.  There were earlier reports that after DeMarcus Cousins verbally committed to Kentucky, Orton decided he wanted out of his LOI to Kentucky, but was later reported as being an untrue statement.

There is probably a big question of playing time since the verbal committment by DeMarcus Cousins, but the Ortons plan to speak with Coach Calipari in the near future to see what his outlook would be with both Orton and Cousins playing side-by-side.  My guess is that Orton would turn out to be the full time center while Cousins and Patrick Patterson (if he stays) switch off at the power forward position.  Another option would be to move Cousins to the small forward position.  I’m sure Coach Calipari doesn’t want to lose Orton and will give him an approach that should be motivated in keeping Daniel Orton at Kentucky.  It will then be up to Orton to decide if Kentucky is still right for him.

Also, I have noticed a lot of fans on many blog posts just giving Daniel Orton HELL when they thought he had decommitted from Kentucky.  This is really unacceptable and those certain persons should be ashamed to call themselves a part of the “Big Blue Nation”.  Daniel Orton is a teenager who needs to make a big decision that might affect the rest of his life.  Show some respect and if Orton does decide to leave Kentucky, wish him well.

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