Marshall Mathers...er Moses' Wednesday News and Views

Ok I will be the first person to admit that I am an NBA fan. Not necessarily because I love the way basketball is played in the NBA (I dont), but because I am such a huge basketball fan that I do enjoy watching the best players in the world playing at the height of their skills. Thus I often find myself defending the league to the "haters" because folks dont agree with me that it is good basketball entertainment. Having said that, everything that is bad about the NBA was on showcase tonight. The defending NBA Champs, the Miami Heat were beaten on the night that they got their rings, at home by 42 POINTS!!!! As Charles Barkley said afterwords, "I thought my bookie was crazy when he gave me Miami tonight +40, but it turns out he knew what he was doing." Poor, poor NBA. Also a little housekeeping. We begin our ESPN Radio show on 1570 AM in Louisville on Friday at 6-8 pm. Please call into the show (I will put the number up tomorrow), even if you are not in the area. We want to have lots of callers and help make the show interesting. Gregg Doyel will be joining us and will be taking calls and has asked that we get callers who "will come after him." Dont let him down. Also if you are interested in competing Saturday in the Kentucky Sports Radio White Castle Challenge which will pit fans against Hubby in a White Castle eating contest, email me at [email protected]. The winner will recieve some prizes, including the opportunity to come on the show and gloat. So if you are interested, please let us know and get the notoriety you need. And also, go ahead and listen (if you havent) to EPISODE 12. Beginning tomorrow night, our focus here will shift somewhat into basketball season mode. We will begin our tradition of previewing every game, providing audio clips from games and news conferences and basically giving the best UK basketball coverage that you have ever had on the internet for free. Expect audio like you havent heard it and continued insight into the season. We are going to attempt to cover UK sports like no one else has....in an interesting and fan-centric way.....giving people what they WANT (entertainment) rather than what newspapers THINK THEY WANT (like controversy). We welcome all suggestions and have lots of great stuff planned. The recruiting news wont go away, but as you have seen from the last few weeks, the news will be heavy next week and then will really go away for a while. When that happens, this site goes into UK basketball mode. But until then, a couple of tidbits.... TIDBIT 1: William Buford the young star from Toledo, Ohio announced his commitment this morning to THE Ohio State University. For those of you that dont know Buford, he is a member of the 2008 class that Tubby and the staff were high enough on to have come in for Midnight Madness in order to try and gain access to a player that had always wanted to make an early decision. Buford is a great player and his loss, coupled with that of Bud Mackey and Scotty Hopson, makes the staff's goal of securing at least one early commitment (from what will likely only be a class of 2 or 3 players) for 08 more difficult. The goal now is to get Darius Miller and the staff hopes to make that happen soon. TIDBIT 2: If you havent read the Intern's post below, we have multiple reports of a John Lucas sighting on the UK campus today with Coach Smith. All I can say about this is that I have NO personal knowledge of this, but I do know one of the two sources and think he is likely reliable. I am of course hestitant to say anything more than this and I urge all to take it with a HEAVY grain of salt. Having said that, if true, this would obviously be positive. The Lucas saga will be over soon either way, and as I said yesterday, John Lucas is likely the major mover and shaker of this class. TIDBIT 3: This is a very interesting few days coming up in the saga of Marshall Moses. For those of you that havent heard yet, Moses dropped FIFTY POINTS in his first high school game of the year, playing on a team that includes 8-9 Division I prospects. Needless to say, that is quite impressive. Moses DESPERATELY wants to visit UK this weekend. I spoke to him earlier in the week and he said to me that he literally was "praying" that he would get to visit. However by NCAA regulation, he must have a standardized test score before he can come and he expects his results in this week, thus allowing him to make the trip. For UK and Marshall's sake all UK fans should root for the score to arrive. Moses is about to blow up this year folks.....he was a top 50 player in the 2008 class and now that he has moved to 07, he has yet to be ranked until the new rankings come out. That means he is under the radar.....and Moses is the TRUTH. If Kentucky gets this kid on campus, they may end up having him commit....and the Cats will steal one of the most exciting slashers/leapers in the class without any real competition. But if Moses keeps dropping 50 a game, then other schools will begin stepping up their attention. From a UK fan's perspective, this needs to get done soon.....which means Marshall needs to take his visit.....which means this test score needs to come in the next few days. That is it for tonight. I have heard no definitive source, but my assumption is that the James Anderson visit to UK this weekend will not take place. I have not spoken with any in the Anderson camp today, but as of now no one says it is on, and I was told the decision would be made today. Maybe contrary news will trickle in tomorrow, but I dont expect it. Anderson is a super talent, but if the Cats get Moses, losing him is not the end of the world. However watch and see where James commits. If it is Kansas, then Jai isnt going to end up at Oklahoma St. If it is Oklahoma St, then I think the Cowboys are a better possibility for Jai.....although I STILL think that as of today, UK is the leader. Until next time.....