Jamal Magloire's Monday News and Views

Who is your favorite UK player? At some point I will produce a list (those are always great for conversation), but I will give you a hint as to one of my top 2, the Big Cat, Jamal Magloire. In many ways, Magloire was the perfect type of player to me. He played hard, was extremely physical, lacked some talent but always gave 100% effort. However what I really liked is that he shared the traits I had in the very limited basketball I have played in my life...he played smart and found a way to get under the other team's skins. Add that to the fact that he produced two of my favorite ridiculous UK moments (putting Wojo in the rack and knocking Miami (OH)'s mascot out at halftime of an NCAA game) and he is my kind of guy. I knew Magloire a bit in college (we will leave out how) and my email address became at that time, [email protected]. (his name and my high school number). That also was (and is) my message board name and thus I keep a piece of Magloire with me everywhere. Why do I bring this up tonight? I was watching my NBA League Pass (a stellar purchase) and noticed that Magloire plays for the Heat. They did a feature on him and during it, he talked about his love for UK saying, "there is no better place to play college, and for that matter, NBA basketball in the world." Mags loves UK and that is why he is a KSR favorite. With Finals week causing a bit less basketball and football news, here are some recruiting tidbits for a Monday: --- Last night saw a big game between Scott County and Holmes in which Billy Gillispie was on hand to watch Dakotah Euton. Euton of course was one of Gillispie's first commitments and now finds himself a Junior at Scott County High School. He has moved closer to Lexington and tried to expand his game by playing at a better school. But there is no doubt that at this point, Euton is struggling. Much of Dakotah's potential was based in a belief that he would grow....the thought was that he was 6'3" at 15 and that if he grew to 6'10", he would be a force, especially with his shooting ability. But he really hasnt grown, only getting another inch or two. Thus he has struggled, including last night when he had 12 points and didnt get a rebound until the second half. Euton is very unlikely to be ranked among the Top 250 Juniors in America when the ranking comes out and he is barely one of the Top 5 in the state. It will be interesting to see what his future holds. --- While Gillispie saw Euton, he also saw two other guys on UK's radar. Ge’Lawn Guyn from Scott Co. had 29 and is an explosive scorer, who is rising quickly up the charts. UK definitely also has interest in Covington Holmes' Ricardo Johnson, a player who made a name for himself in the postseason last year. Gillispie spent the entire 4th quarter talking with Ricardo Johnson's dad and it is clear the interest is there. For both of these guys, playing at UK may depend on what the Cats do with guys like Euton, Vee Sanford and others, but the talent in-state has more depth than we have been used to in recent years. --- I talked this weekend to a college assistant who I respect a great deal and asked him about UK's commitments in a sentence or less. Here is what he said: Daniel Orton --- "If Gillispie can get him to work, he will be a star" Jon Hood --- "The perfect college player....likely plays four years and contributes early and stars late" GJ Vilarino --- "I gave up on him a few months ago, but he got better this summer. Potential is there." KC Ross-Miller --- "Opposite of Vilarino....was high on him, now think he may be overmatched at UK." Dominic Ferguson --- "If he takes his development seriously over the next year, can be a college star" Dakotah Euton --- "Not good enough for UK in my view" Vinny Zollo --- "Dont know a ton about him, but he has good size and after a year, we will know more." Micheal Avery --- "Dont know one person who has seen him play" --- I hope you saw the news about Terrence Boyd on here over the weekend. His comments about DeAndre Liggins dont bode well for the young man or his future at UK. He insists that Coach Cyprien is still recruiting him hard and it is clear he wants to go to UK. But if that is what he wants, his decision to make those comments was moronic. --- Finally, UK special teams Coach Steve Ortmayer was with Bell County kicker Monte Merrick this weekend at his state championship game. He sat with Merrick's father throughout and saw his son have another great performance. The folks in Bell County believe that UK ultimately will offer. But with more schools calling (Tennessee just recently), the Cats really cant delay. We will have more throughout the day, including announcing the Blogger contest winner this afternoon, beginning the ECU preview parade and getting you ready for the Bowls. Stay tuned.....