Fire Tubby?

We try to be original around here and not just a link dump, but today is an exception. It was announced that UK has picked up it’s first verbal commitment for the 2008 season. He is none other than Draymond Green. Ta Da! No, don’t worry, I’ve never heard of him either. Not that it’s a bad thing because I’ve never heard of him. Not at all. I couldn’t tell you the name of one high school junior anywhere in the US. So it would make no sense for me to pretend to know anything about this kid. Please go to these other places that seem to have an obsession with underage high school basketball players. Just kidding, take it easy. But I can say that I don’t have notes on random basketball player’s laying around that say “Impressive frame….nice jumper….decent low-post moves….knack for the ball.”

Kentucky Sports Radio - So just who is this Draymond Green kid anyway?

The Courier-Journal - Cats get commitment from Michigan junior

Wildcats Thunder Blog - UK gets its FIRST 2008 Commitment

There has been some excellent coverage of Big Blue Madness around the internets (even some from our very own Gimel Martinez) so I though I would bring that high quality reporting down a notch to show you how it looked from my seat alllllll the way up in row Z in the upper arena.

Below are a couple for you to check out and click here to view the full set.

Player Intros

Scott Rigot kicked back and some recruits in the first row.

Bobby’s dunk prop was this kid who kept trying to kick it to the corner for the open 3

Check out the rest if you feel like it.

Oh, and it is so hard to not get pleasure from other people’s pain sometimes.

AJ Stewart has verbally committed to UK. Let me quote Matt from kentuckysportsradio.com here:

In the rush for news about other prospects, lets not overlook what happened here. This is a kid who basically wanted Florida forever…..they ignored him. UK swooped in and got him, over other powers such as Illinois. And at the end, Florida wanted back in and AJ said no dice. […] AJ is a great kid and a great get. And oh yeah, he told me that he would be spending the next few weeks, “trying my hardest to get Jai and Pat to come with me.”

Jai Lucas and Patrick Patterson had a great time bonding with AJ during their time in Lexington this weekend, Matt also reports. Let’s hope that AJ’s committment gives Jai, Patrick, Chris Barnes and Marshall Moses one more reason to wear Kentucky Blue next year.

I’m not for sure how badly Illinois wanted AJ. Couple this with Illinois losing Eric Gordan’s verbal committment to Indiana, and I’m sure Illinois boosters (Illini Alumni?) are mighty whizzed.

Edit: Thanks to the Concerned at dynastydefenders.com, here’s a YouTube link of the AJ Stewart chant during Big Blue Madness.

Edit 2: Thanks, Mr. Clay. Also, in case you folks don’t know about the Concerned, here’s our somewhat biased assessment.

It was a most interesting event, as viewed from the rafters. If you want a complete summary, Matt Jones over at kentuckysportsradio.com liveblogged the event. Let me take a few moments commenting on what I noticed.

(more…)

Rekalin Sims has notified Tubby that he wishes to transfer. This wasn’t really a big surprise since his playing time all but disappeared after he had some injury problems last season. This will also free up another scholarship for another freshman. Read more about it here:

ESPN article
Courier Journal article

It appears that incoming freshman Jodie Meeks has his very own website. I have to say it’s actually pretty nice. He didn’t design it himself though. Checking out the source code of the site it was designed by a company called Athlete Web Services, Inc. Hmm.

He does update it though; he has a news section where he posts articles about himself and his team(s). He also has a journal where most recently he discusses his experience at the Derby Festival. He really does seem like a nice guy, this being my first impression of him.

Now as always here on firetubby.com we try to have a little fun. Let’s compare an excerpt from Jodie Meeks’ site to a selection from all-world basketball star O.J. Mayo’s myspace page. I’ll let you guess who each quote came from.

Quote #1

Well today is game day. I have had a wonderful time. This morning we heard a motivational speaker named Jim Fannin. He was VERY good. He talked about getting and staying in “The Zone”, both on the court and in life.

Quote #2

I am just a guy from redacted that loves sports and to hangout with friends. There isnt nothing better than home cooked meals. My favorite food is Fried Chicken. I hate school.

As I’m sure you could easily guess, the first quote was from possible new fan favorite wildcat Jodie Meeks. Hmm, which player would want to play for Bob Huggins at Kansas State? I wonder.

Here is the firetubby.com interpretation of the HL article by Chip Cosby covering the Derby Festival Basketball Classic.

Louisville recruits
“Both U of L signees were impressive. ”

“Derrick Caracter, a 6-foot-9, 295-pound manchild with uncanny perimeter skills…”

“Flashy New York point guard Edgar Sosa, another Rick Pitino recruit…”

Kentucky recruits
“Meeks struggled with his outside shot…”
But he finished with 17 points and showed his moxie by knocking down the game-tying free throws.

Jasper: “Not overly flashy,…”

“Perry Stevenson, scored 10 points, grabbed five rebounds and had a block in 26 minutes.”
———————————-
The only picture in the online version of this article is “UK signee Perry Stevenson had his shot blocked by Tennessee recruit Wayne Chisim”.

So to further deduce this article the incoming Cardinals looked exciting, flashy, uncanny, and even manchildian (ha, let’s see Dick Vitale or Jay Bilas use that in a sentence).

The future Wildcats struggled, weren’t overly flashy, displayed a complete floor game and a willingness to play defence, and (wait for it) showed his moxie.

That’s right it breaks down as Pitino = EXCITING!!!
Tubby = boring

By the way the final score in overtime was White (with UK signees) 118 - Black (with LOU signees) 106. Let’s hope they become accustomed to losing to the big blue.

All emphasis by me - Thanks for the tip CE