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Sunday, Nov. 08, 2009

Poole Jr. a strong start to class of 2010

Cats aligned for big recruiting haul

This year's November signing period, which begins Wednesday, has a father-son quality for Kentucky.

In Stacey Poole Jr., UK will sign the son of one of Florida's better players of 20 years ago. Father says Kentucky will get the better of the two.

"He's more skilled than I am," said Stacey Poole Sr., who described himself as "a guy who could put up numbers. He brings more to the table than that. He's more refined than I am, a lot headier than I was."

In terms of reputation coming to college, the apple did not fall far from the tree. The son, like the father, is billed as a driver who needs work on his perimeter shot.

Father saw son coming to a better situation to improve. "I didn't improve much as a player," the elder Poole said.

To be fair, Stacey Poole Sr., had the misfortune of playing for three coaches in his four seasons at Florida. Norm Sloan gave way to Don DeVoe who yielded to Lon Kruger. If that wasn't difficult enough, the elder Poole had to overcome more than one serious injury. It's all the more remarkable that he became a 1,000-point scorer.

Kentucky presents his son a high-profile program that guarantees high-quality competition.

"What other program is bigger?" the elder Poole said. "Younger guys have seen Kentucky when they've been down the last couple years. You'd think Carolina, Duke and Kansas (were the best programs). I told him, if you know what I know, there's no better program. No better place to play."

ESPN's recruiting coordinator, Paul Biancardi, spoke highly of the UK-bound Poole during a teleconference Wednesday.

After noting that ESPN rated Poole at No. 50 or 51, Biancardi said, "He could be better than that. He's coming on strong, 6-4, 6-5 and built like a man. He fits the dribble-drive to a T. From 17 feet in, he can really dominate."

Biancardi dismissed the importance of Kentucky having only one commitment in place for the high school class of 2010.

"It's not how quickly (commitments come)," he said. "But that you get who you want."

Analyst Brick Oettinger of the Prep Stars recruiting service said that UK was in good position to sign one or more top prospects. Among them are forward Tobias Harris, point guards Brandon Knight or Josh Selby and wings Terrance Jones, Jelan Kendrick and Doron Lamb.

"He's going after the right guys," Oettinger said of John Calipari. "The best kids and being a national championship contender. It all goes to recruiting the best talent, and it's what they've been doing."

Yankees, UK

Right-thinking UK fans should have been rooting for the New York Yankees to beat the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.

Reader Chris Aldridge explained why. "Did you know that all seven of UK's NCAA basketball titles have either preceded a Yankees World Series title in the fall or followed one in the spring?" he wrote in an e-mail.

Aldridge also sent a list that showed UK's national championships in 1949, 1958, 1996 and 1998 came in the same calendar year as the Yankees winning the World Series. And UK's national championships in 1948, 1951 and 1978 came in the spring after the Yankees won World Series.

Note: The Yankees are so dominant that UK's national championships in 1951 and 1978 came both before and after New York won the World Series.

So Aldridge saw the Yankees beating the Phillies this year as a good sign.

"Former coach Billy Gillispie's 2008-09 Wildcats weren't even in the running last spring, breaking a 17-year streak of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament," he wrote. "So could that mean that John Calipari's No. 4-ranked Wildcats will add an eighth championship banner to the Rupp Arena rafters in the spring of 2010? It'll be fun to watch it play out over the next five months."

Of course, there were many years the Yankees won the series and UK did not win national championships. But let's not confuse the issue.

Aldridge is a 1988 graduate of UK's School of Journalism.

Aldridge lives in Shelbyville, and since 2005 has worked in public relations for Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer at the Department of Agriculture in Frankfort.