Emmitt Smith's Friday News and Views

Well tonight was the first night that I actually felt like college basketball season was in full effect. I come home, sit back and watch Michigan St-Texas in a good, tight game that goes down to the end. Both teams are young and thus there were more freshman on the floor than in Mark Foley's office, but it was nevertheless an exciting game, with lots of energy. One thing that did stand out however was a young man named Kevin Durant. Folks if you havent seen Kevin Durant....do it quickly, cause he aint gonna be in college long. When you watch Durant, you see what Perry Stevenson can be if he develops more offensive moves....long arms, huge leaping ability and tons of energy. Durant is where Stevenson CAN be his junior year, and that is very exciting. But as for Durant, after seeing him in this game, I am not ready to name Greg Oden Freshman of the Year just yet. In other news, this is a big sports weekend here in Kentucky. We got the Friday night basketball game against Mississippi Valley State that will be the FIRST game that Kentucky Sports Radio will be covering live. Thus late tomorrow night, we will have audio interviews with the players on this site.....all in the offbeat Kentucky Sports Radio style. Should be fun....and if isnt, just act like it is. Then we got the big slobber-knocker against Louisiana-Monroe in football at Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday. The game gets the Cats to seven wins (assuming of course a victory) and will have the entire radio crew in attendance....with our newest SIGN. If you see us, come introduce yourself and say you are a fan. We would love it. And if you dont know what we look like, here is my Myspace Site (since the girls put their's up, I guess it is only fair). There are other Kentucky Sports Radio folks on there.....see if you can find them. Finally, our latest ESPN Radio show should FINALLY be on here this afternoon. Check back in and you can hear us interact with the great callers and tell stories about Michael Bradley.... Now enough blabbering.....onto the news.... (1) With the Lucas and Patterson shows moving to the Spring, the focus now shifts to what may be the new "most important" recruit, Marshall Moses. Moses has received his qualifying test score (according to him) and is now ready to begin his visits. Kentucky asked him to hold off visiting this week and wait for after the Maui Invitational to come for a weekend visit.....likely to be December 9th for the Indiana game. Moses has stated he will visit the Cats and NC State and then make a decision soon after. I will say that I think the Cats played their cards wrong here. Moses was DESPERATE to get his test scores because he wanted to visit and sign with the Cats during the fall period. The Cats could not help that he got his scores on a Tuesday before the last day of the signing period. But Moses wanted to come visit that day....and likely would have signed. The coaching staff suggested, understandably, that a weekend visit is better, but in so doing they have opened up at least the potential of another school (NC State) sneaking in. Let me be clear here.....Moses is a HUGE UK fan....he loves the school and has said both on our show and off that UK is the place he wants to be....but in this game, you never know. And getting him locked up in the fall would have been nice. As it is, the Cats hope to have a December commitment from a kid that I think may end up being the best COLLEGE (as others will be pro-bound) player UK has looked at in this class. (2) Think UK is not trying to make some good news happen in recruiting? Rumors abound that Kentucky is bringing in the ENTIRE Mason County basketball team on Friday night for the game at Mississippi Valley State. IF we are able to get the ESPN Radio show up here today, you will here me RANT about the ways in which UK is behind the times on recruiting tricks of the trade.....falling way behind the more tech-savvy and creative schools. But this is a good idea. You have some bad blood in MAson County based on Lofton, so bring in the Mason County team to get in strong with Darius Miller. A Miller commitment would do a lot to ail the current recruiting malaise. (3) So lots of folks are asking me, in the Spring, are we gonna get Patrick Patterson and Jai Lucas? At this point, I have no idea. If I were a betting man, I would say that Jai Lucas is still a good shot for Kentucky and Patrick Patterson is a big of a longer shot. But there are two things to watch for in the next few months. First of all, I suspect Florida will make a push for Lucas (as they did in the fall) and attempt to pull of the Patterson-Lucas combo in Gainesville. While Jai wasnt receptive to it then, now with more time, he might be. Second, I wonder to what extent UK will begin pursuing other options vigorously....especially over Patterson. UK is understandably frustrated with what has happened with these two, and we may find out that, at least in the case of Patterson, the ship may have sailed by the time a decision has been made. We shall see....... (4) Want a name that hasnt been talked about a lot but that might be on UK's radar screen? How about Malcolm White, a four star power forward from Louisiana who is, depending on who you ask, in the Class of 2007 or 2008 and has been called the next "Tyrus Thomas" by his coaching staff. Folks are raving about White's athleticism and he has been getting attention from schools ranging from USC to Mississippi State. There is talk that UK is looking for power forward prospects for 07, but even 08 if Patterson falls through. May I suggest White to the UK folks? HE is a good one. Here is a Rivals.Com Profile on him which gives more information. (5) It should also be mentioned in a little bit of football news that TE Jacob Tamme was named a finalist for NCAA Academic All American this season. Tamme is of course known by UK fans for his on field abilities, but his talent in the classroom is also significant and it is great to see him honored in this way. We often see the worst in athletes....so we should also celebrate the best. Check in tomorrow for the ESPN show and check around tomorrow night....I will have game reports on this here computer during the contest and sound bites afterward....should be swell....