BILLY G. to KY.

[TeamSelig]

I didn't really like the signing at first, but after I listened to what they were saying about him, I bought into it. "tenacious recruiter" is how he was described... sounds good to me

[TeamSelig]

Any idea on who his assistants will be? Will he hire new ones or bring his A&M ones here, what?

Edit: Also, with BG being a great recruiter, is there any chance Patrick Patterson could still come to UK?

[WVRed]

I didn't really like the signing at first, but after I listened to what they were saying about him, I bought into it. "tenacious recruiter" is how he was described... sounds good to me

Problem is, Gillespie's recruiting hasn't extended much outside of Texas. DeAndre Jordan is the best recruit Gillespie lined up, but that was before he left to Kentucky.

I think Patterson is all but gone to Florida, although I wouldn't be surprised if WVU pops up.

[Blimpie]

Problem is, Gillespie's recruiting hasn't extended much outside of Texas. DeAndre Jordan is the best recruit Gillespie lined up, but that was before he left to Kentucky.

I think Patterson is all but gone to Florida, although I wouldn't be surprised if WVU pops up.

Patterson's mom (who gets more media coverage than Ryan Seacrest at this stage) was quoted as saying she was "very pleased" by Donovan's decision to stay put. Take that for what it is worth.

On the other hand, The Jai Lucas Sweepstakes may still be alive for UK. Being from Texas, Lucas said that UK "got a steal" today when they hired Billy Gillispie. Again, take that for what it is worth.

By the way, I agree with WVRed in that Huggins may swoop in and get both of them. Wouldn't surprise me in the least.

[macro]

Problem is, Gillespie's recruiting hasn't extended much outside of Texas. DeAndre Jordan is the best recruit Gillespie lined up, but that was before he left to Kentucky.

I'm not sure that matters, WV. If he can recruit in Texas, he can recruit in other states. Some today have credited him with recruiting the players that made Illinois a powerhouse a couple of years ago. Is there an element to this that I'm not getting?

[KYRedsFan]

Did he get a deal on Donovan's farm that BD bought last week?

[jmac]

I'm not sure that matters, WV. If he can recruit in Texas, he can recruit in other states. Some today have credited him with recruiting the players that made Illinois a powerhouse a couple of years ago. Is there an element to this that I'm not getting?

He was Self's main man at ILL.

[George Foster]

The rules vary from conference to conference, and from school to school.

With a coach change kids have to receive the blessing of the signing school to get a release from the LOI. This happened with UC after Huggins left and the Johnson kid left.

Some conferences won't let players transfer between schools in conference, and stay on scholarship.

Some schools will not release players from LOI or scholarship. The kids would have to sit out the year. Current scholarship players would not be allowed to leave until after the school year ends, and then they would have to sit out the following season. Some schools will release kids to some schools but not others.

The kids have a lot more leverage. If they would not release me from my scholarship, no one says I have to play. I would say I was injured, get a free year of school, and still have 4 years of basketball left. I promise you, once I made my intentions known....I would get released. They don't want to waste a scholarship for a year.

[WVRed]

Is there an element to this that I'm not getting?

I'm not a big fan of the JUCO route, which Gillispie seemed to play off of at TAMU.

We haven't had the greatest success with them either, Rekalin Sims and Antwain Barbour, to name two.

[WVRed]

Here is a summary of Billy G over on Rivals.com. I wonder how well this will sit with Ramel Bradley.

For what it's worth, I've seen numerous practices and every game while Gillispie was at UTEP, and most of his games at A&M. Here is a bit of a synopsis of what UK fans can expect:

Offensively, Gillispie lives by a few rules: play hard, play smart, share the basketball, take good shots, hit the glass, and value each and every posession. If a guy has a propensity to turn it over, he will not play. If a guy takes bad shots, he will not play. Gillispie breaks players of poor offensive habits from day 1 in practice and then turns them into the type of offensive players that their ability allows them to become, all within the structure of his offensive scheme.

Scheme wise, you can expect to see an offensive attack very similar to the scheme run at Kansas. A number of man-to-man sets are identical. Out of bounds plays are designed to score. His zone offenses are very good, whether it be against an odd-man or even-man front, or against a match-up. He insists on the ball getting to the block against a zone, and he usually has at least a couple of guys with good back-to-the-basket skills who make good decisions. He only recruits gaurds who have legitimate range from 20 ft, so teams will not be able to collapse on the bigs. Overall, his offensive style is based on the talent he has. He likes to push it on most posessions, but is more than happy to let his half-court offense produce open looks. I think that will be the biggest difference that you will see between UK of the past few years compared to next year and the years after that. He does not allow for a ton of one-on-one play, as that tends to lead to selfishness, poor shot selection, and turnovers. One other thing: he is a HUGE believer in a pure point gaurd. Iverson types need not apply.

Defensively, he's mostly a man-to-man guy. He'll throw an occasional 2-3 or matchup at teams, and every once in a great while, he'll throw in a little gimmick like triangle and 2, or box and 1 for a couple of posessions. But 90% of the time, he wants to take opponents heads up. His defensive philosophy will start to take place in mid October when practice starts with his "boot camp." Guys will learn to play harder for a longer period of time than they have before.

Recruiting wise, his track record speaks for itself. Your talent level will increase by leaps and bounds compared to the Tubby era.

The best thing that I can say about Gillispie is that he does not have to have the best athletes or the best talent to win. He is a very good bench coach and knows how to put 5 guys on the floor who can play at a high level together. You'll see a couple of role players who will do their job well.

Guys, you have a great one taking over the reigns at UK. With regard to scheme, bench coaching, recruiting, motivation, etc., I'm not sure I would trade Gillispie for anyone. Sorry for the long post. It's nice to have some hoops to talk about even though the tourney is over.

[WMR]

I'm not a big fan of the JUCO route, which Gillispie seemed to play off of at TAMU.

We haven't had the greatest success with them either, Rekalin Sims and Antwain Barbour, to name two.

WV, considering he was a JUCO, I'd call Antwain Barbour's career at UK a success. He was a heckuva player his senior year.

[George Foster]

WV, considering he was a JUCO, I'd call Antwain Barbour's career at UK a success. He was a heckuva player his senior year.

You have to consider who was recruiting the JUCO's the last 9 years....Tubby

There are PLENTY of JUCO players out there who could help make up the loss of Morris. Perry and Thomas was a liability anyway and I am glad they are gone. Stevenson will fill the shows of Thomas very nicely, and Meeks will start as well. I look for us starting 3 guards next year.

[TeamSelig]

Is there a good UK bball website out there?

Whats our lineup looking like for next year?

G Bradley SR
G Crawford SR
G Meeks SO
F Stevenson SO
C Carter JR

Yuck.

[dabvu2498]

I'd heard these rumors before the hire (specifically when Billy G. was linked to the Arky job), but they were confirmed by the C-J this weekend: http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/...TS03/704070505

[macro]

Is there a good UK bball website out there?

TS, I started visiting this site in the past two weeks:

http://kentucky.rivals.com/forum.asp

It's not moderated much, though.