Thursday....One Day Away

Two days away from the biggest recruiting weekend in quite some time as Midnight Madness brings recruits from all over the country into Lexington to see what the Wildcats have to offer. Couple of quick things....just heard from someone at UK that a couple of players who originially were planning on coming to Madness may now not be arriving. Having talked personally in the last three days with Stewart, Lucas and Patterson, my assumption is that this means the Morris twins. I will contact their coach tomorrow to see if I can get any confirmation and (more importantly) an explanation. Tidbits for the day.... (1) Had a nice conversation today with Patrick Patterson's mother who got me caught up on the recruiting scene for her son. The biggest tidbit of news from the conversation is that as of now, Patrick IS PLANNING on visiting Virginia and Wake Forest after his Kentucky visit. She said that they have no plans not to take those visits unless, "he just decides after the Lexington visit that there is no reason to go anywhere else." His mother laughed at all the comments coming out recently about who was in "the lead" for Patrick saying, "what does that even mean, in the lead? I live with Patrick and I am not even sure I know what he wants to do." She did say that the family was very excited about the trip to Madness and she said that everyone she meets tells her "it is going to be crazy." She also said that Patrick, AJ and Jai have been talking this week about the trip and that they are "excited to see each other again." She mentioned how fond she was of Jai's family and how nice they had been this summer. Apparently Jai, Patrick and AJ have talked and have been looking forward to this weekend for the past couple of weeks. What did I take from this conversation? Well, I certainly think UK is still in this completely....I think mom is very excited about the trip and I think this weekend is the chance to lock up all three guys. We shall see. (2) I am hearing that Kentucky is really putting a major press on Chris Barnes. Barnes announced today that he would be making his decision on October 19....an interesting time if you ask me. After Midnight Madness has happened and some shakeout may have become clear. (3) Jai Lucas originally told me that he was visiting Maryland and Oklahoma only after Kentucky because he "had already been to Oklahoma St a lot." However a story came out this week that he has scheduled a visit for Oklahoma St as well.....on the same day he told me that he was going to visit Oklahoma. What does all this mean? Who knows....your guess is as good as mine....but I think it does say that the visits after UK are.....shall we say, a bit more fluid. (4) UK visited Stephon Pettigrew at home this week. I am not sure how UK is handling these in state guys (Pettigrew and Brooks), but if the Cats arent careful, both "backup" plans will have other options that they may take quickly. In Brooks' case, it could be a loss that the Cats truly regret long term. We should have a final list of guests for Madness Thursday night. This Blog will be rocking throughout the weekend with news. However, I will be covering Madness for Kentucky Sports Report, providing stories and audio for those premium subscribers. This will include interviews of the players and others at the event.....look for that. Plus I will be blogging on here during the event for those of you who are our fans. I expect the potential for good recruiting gossip..... Until tomorrow....