Ed Leslie's Wednesday News and Views

Well, hello again.  It looks like we're going to be doing this little News and Views post for the second night in a row and, though I wish you would have cleaned up after you spent the day eating my Doritos and watching Spongebob, I couldn't be happier about us getting to do this together again.  Today, let's get the back half of your week heading in the right direction by wishing a happy 53rd birthday to Ed Leslie, a man better known as Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake.  Just like Matt Jones and Rob Gidel, Leslie took the world by storm with childhood friend Hulk Hogan and, like your friends here at KSR, took great pleasure in making fun of people's hair and showing a little too much thigh.  Though none of us have accomplished anything nearly as impressive as ending Mr. Perfect's undefeated streak, Matt does routinely offer 19 year-olds at Two Keys the opportunity to wrestle him and "The Hammer", whatever that means.  Leslie is likely remembered by all of you casual wrestling fans for his feuds with The Honky Tonk Man and The Million Dollar Man, as well as his short-lived "Mega-Maniacs" tag team with Hogan.  However, all of you hardcore wrestling fans probably remember him for returning to the ring after having 100 plates placed in his head and for causing an anthrax scare at the Boston metro station he worked at after he left some cocaine laying around.  Today, though, we'll all remember Ed Leslie as the guy who wasted some of your valuable time when all you wanted to hear about was Marquis Teague.  Or, at least something on his nephew, CJ. Now onto some UK news...  - The entire internet continued to erupt with tons of Marquis Teague rumors.  His status appears just as wide-open as it was the day before, but not for lack of rumor-mongering.  This time of year is usually the most exciting in all of the UK internet world as new sites and cleverly named sources appear, looking to cash in on some Google ad money or engage in some online guessing and flexing, only to disappear by the end of summer, allowing others to replace them the following spring.  Depending on where you took your internet browser, Marquis Teague either did or did not talk to Cincinnati coaches and either did or did not tell him he was coming to UK and U of L.  But, most credible places say it's still very much up in the air and the decision is as tightly-guarded as could be.  Larry Vaught said late Tuesday that he's hearing that Teague is bound for the Cards, but everyone else seems to be uncertain and the only guarantee appears to be that Wednesday is the last day that you'll have to wonder if it's going to be Cats or Cards.   - But, having said that, Coach Cal will make a final push by visiting Teague Wednesday in Indianapolis.  It appears that Teague's decision, when cut down to black and white, will be between a business decision (Kentucky) and a relationship (Louisville).  Everyone with any expertise on the situation (if there is any), will readily admit that Teague has a great relationship with Pitino, who has been recruiting him for two years and hired one of his high school assistants, and is likely only swayed to the Cats based off of the Rose-Evans-Wall-Knight legacy.  - Speaking of the whole relationship aspect of Teague's recruitment, the goobers over at InsideTheHall.com Tweeted out Tuesday that Cal has never seen one of Teague's high school games.  The UK fan in me doesn't seem to think it's that big of a deal since so much of recruiting occurs in the summer time at camps and whatnot, but it seemed to create some buzz on Twitter.  So, make of that what you would like.  - Obviously, UK would benefit from landing Marquis Teague.  That's a no-brainer.  But, it would seem that Teague's decision carries a much bigger impact for Rick Pitino.  Pitino, just a few months ago, appeared to have the city of Indianapolis, including Teague, on lockdown.  Since then, he's had Indianpolis native Justin Martin decommit and sign with Xavier and five-star big man Michael Chandler decommit this week.  Even worse, should they lose out on Teague, who was expected to announce for the Cards last summer and at several points throughout the past 12 months, the highly regarded class of 2011 that had earned Pitino so much slack the past few months through losses and legal drama might not be as much of a juggernaut as Louisville fans had hoped.  With the decommitment of Chandler and Teague's decision looming, Pitino faces the possibility of losing two of the three five-star prospects he was thought to have in the bag.  And, though the 2011 class is still pretty good, it might not have the on-paper power to keep the fanbase from getting restless in what will likely be another rough season thanks to a weak Jeremy Tyler-less recruiting class.  Pitino needs this commitment more than Cal does, which will, of course, make it sweeter to you if Teague heads to Lexington.  - Being the tireless worker that he is, Coach Cal will also visit four-star 2011 center Amir Williams in Detroit on Wednesday.  Williams is a 6'9", 220 pound big man from Detroit Country Day, the legendary school that has produced Chris Webber, Shane Battier and Mark Coury.  According to Rivals, he has offers from nearly every school on the planet and will likely narrow the list to ten by the end of the summer.  He is ranked as the #52 player in the class.  - Calipari spent his Tuesday in sunny Wisconsin visiting super sophomore JP Tokoto.  According to Jody Demling, Calipari was scheduled to be joined by Bill Self, Tom Izzo, Roy Williams and Johnny Dawkins, as well as representatives from Marquette and Duke.  Tokoto is ranked as the #4 player in Rivals' class of 2012.  - Another interesting development for the class of 2010 could be the statement from Terrence Jones' mother, who said Kansas is not one of her son's final five schools, according to an Oregon radio host.  Jones has said he plans to announce on either the 23rd or the 30th and Kentucky, Washington, Oregon and Oklahoma seem to be the favorites.  Given the disaster of the coaching search at Oregon (who has tons of cash and advantages) and the Titanic-like sinking going on at Oklahoma, it makes you wonder why the Ducks wouldn't just throw that cash at Jeff Capel, who has developed a strong relationship with Jones and try to land his commitment and save face for their program too.  You don't have to say it.  I know I'm smart.  - In other recruiting news that I don't think was posted here, Calipari visited three-star wing Marcus Thornton on Sunday, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  Thornton, who was previously committed to Clemson, has placed the Cats in his top three along with Georgia and Memphis, according to Scout.com.  However, according to Thornton's dad, Memphis is no longer in the picture.  Another name to keep an eye on.  - So, now that we got all that basketball stuff out of the way, how about celebrating a football commitment?  As The Man, The Myth, The Gidel posted earlier, California quarterback Max Smith gave his verbal to UK and will enroll in January as a grayshirt.  Smith becomes the fourth commitment in Joker's 2011 class and it's first cool story.  Smith, who was not highly recruited after transferring from a school where he ran the option to a school with a passing offense his senior year, contacted UK coaches via email and sent them videos, which ultimately landed him an offer.  In his only season as a starter, he threw for 2,500 yards and 22 touchdowns and 2 interceptions, while running for four more.  He's ranked as two-star by Scout.com, but appears to have to potential of being worthy of a much higher ranking according to those who make their living doing these things.  An interesting prospect and a potentially solid pickup for "Operation: Win". That's it for now.  Stay tuned throughout the day as we do our best to make sure you get all the goodness fitting of that lifetime KSR membership you signed up for.  We'll see you in a few...