SMU's One Fan Wants a Couple of Evening Notes

I searched hard for an attractive SMU fan…it wasn’t easy

It’s late and Saturday night and I have to fly to New York tomorrow, but a couple of notes were in order:

— The Emmanual Mudiay commitment to SMU is a surprise. I became aware last night after he announced he was committing that Kentucky might not have been in as good a spot as people assumed and then later learned the Mustangs would be the pick. It seems as if the folks in Lexington have known for a few weeks that this was possible and it was part of the reason they moved in so quickly and with force on Tyler Ulis. Mudiay chose SMU and that life over Kentucky and this life and those are so distinctly opposite that in the end, you have to say he made the right choice for him. Playing in front of 24,000 fans and a rabid BBN is not the same as 3,444 fans (the average SMU home attendance last year) and a school in a conference that I am not sure I can name. If that is what he prefers, I wish him the best. And I am sure getting to have his brother (who currently is in Junior College) play with him next year at SMU helps as well.

UK moves on and I think Tyler Ulis becomes the likely candidate for the point guard the Cats get in the class. While he is small, he is a great distributor, probably the third best PG in America and (underreported fact) friends with Jahlil Okafor. Many have talked about the Okafor/Tyus Jones package deal…but what if it was another Ty and Okafor? Something to keep an eye on. There may also be a renewed push for Dante Exum, although that remains to be seen. I will write tomorrow night extensively about where UK stands in recruiting for that class, but for now, an odd result. Since Calipari has been here, there have been two top players he really wanted that he lost…Shabazz and now Mudiay. Hopefully for Emmanual, his decision turns out better than Shabazz’s. (EDIT…brain fart here by me…forgot Andrew Wiggins)

— We had the KSR Conference today in Lexington and are ready for another year. The Redesign still has a few hiccups and we hope to have most fixed by Monday (specifically size of text on iPhone, getting rid of the random annoying ads that some are seeing and a couple of other changes…like bringing back Santa Kige.) Thanks for everyone’s comments and I am glad you seem to like what we have done. More will come later and after a week or so, make sure you make the “Funkhouser” blog and the Categories above regular stops…you will like them.

— Need a football fix? Here is my segment from Friday’s WKYT news on the UK football season ahead with Jennifer Palumbo:

— James Young is now in Lexington. He arrived earlier today. The rest of the team will all be here by Monday. The Revenge Tour starts now….everything else is irrelevant.

One week until football…I can’t wait.