Poole could be a Cat soon
September 21st, 2009 | 
Author: By LARRY VAUGHT
Jacksonville standout Stacey Poole seems ready to make his college choice and don’t be shocked when it is Kentucky. In fact, several sources at Kentucky seem to think the decision could be made tonight when Poole picks UK over South Carolina.
He made an official visit to Kentucky over the weekend along with highly-touted point guard Brandon Knight. Poole, who is ranked No. 58 overall by Scout.com, got to spend a lot of time with the UK players and was at the football game.
The four-star forward told Scout.com recruiting analyst Evan Daniels that it was “one of the best visits that I’ve had to be honest with you.”
That’s going to be hard for South Carolina coach Darrin Horn to offset. The Gamecocks might have a lot to offer, but they can’t match UK in history, talent or fan following. And UK’s current players are great recruiters because they all are John Calipari-backers.
Apparently Poole was close to making a commitment before he left Lexington but decided to wait until he got home to make his final choice, which is probably what he should have done.
Still, from all I’ve heard, I’ll be shocked if UK is not his choice and if he doesn’t make it known in the next 48 hours.
Posted in UK Basketball
14 Responses to “Poole could be a Cat soon”
Leave a Reply
[...] Posted in Kentucky Basketball | September 21st, 2009 Per Larry Vaught of VaughtsViews.com, “Jacksonville standout Stacey Poole seems ready to make his college choice and don’t be shocked when it is Kentucky. In fact, several sources at Kentucky seem to think the decision could be made tonight when Poole picks UK over South Carolina.” Read article. [...]
You said earlier this summer that Knight and Payne were going to commmit to UK.
You told me some bad news was coming out & I went & sold it. What gives?
Come on now guys. Knight and Payne are both clearly going to be Tarheels. The only person who might ever be a better college basketball coach than Roy would be jesus himself.
I already bet my weekly entertainment budget of $5.17 on this happening with my banker. So you might as well stamp it as a done deal.
TFP. I’ll take a chocolate graze with sprinkles and a medium black. Cha ching.
LexHeel tell me you are kidding, neither of those two kids are even condiering the Tarheels.
Better get out of that bet, wouldn’t want you to lose the kids college fund.
My sources were convinced Knight and Payne were both ready to commit, then each decided to wait for only reasons they know. And I said a national story was in the works that would not be flattering to UK. All that was true, but outlet decided not to go with story. But Poole certainly seems solid based on what he is telling folks and what sources were saying. And I would not rule Knight out, either
So you’re saying that “outlet” decided not to go with an unflattering story on UK or Calipari? Never heard of such fantasy. Trust me, if there is a story out there that is the least bit “unflattering” for the BBN, it’s gonna run and run and run and run. Dontchathink?
Larry,
I would take the information that they aren’t going to run the story as an indication that it had nothing to do with potential violations. Is that a fair assessment? Because I have to agree with deej…these national writers will take every shot they can at UK. Almost every story I have read about Cal and UK, over the last few months, has focused on how “gray” the activities of Cal have been over the years. Even when writers are complimenting him it is in a backhanded way, where they are really saying “but I know he’s really cheating, just wait until he gets caught”. This is all getting so old. Let’s just toss the ball up at mid-court and get on with it. GO BIG BLUE!!!!
Of course Knight and Payne backed off of committing for now. Don’t know if anyone noticed, but there was a little bit of drama over the summer which would make anyone sit back and delay a decision until it played out. These same kids are still taking home visits from Cal and making campus visits to UK, so I’m pretty sure they are still strongly considering UK. All these elite recruits know that playing time will be limited on UK, for many years to come, because of the talent being brought in. Once they see how Cal handles the situation they will start to sign. However, Cal has a huge job ahead of him. He will have to replace a minimum of 6 (Patterson, Harris, Stevenson, Krebs, Wall and Cousins) and maybe a few more, depending on how well they play.
Could be the outlet didn’t go with story because it couldn’t verify info or decided there was no story. But that doesn’t mean an outlet wasn’t working on a story.
As for the recruiting, I agree. Kids could just be waiting to see how everything starts out at UK, but I think there will be some commits coming very, very soon and once one or two come, more will likely follow to make sure UK doesn’t run out of room.
[...] Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger reports that Stacey Poole could be a Cat soon. [...]
Wow impressive. Now land a few more and win a few national championship and you will be like UNC. Heck Roy has 2 five stars in this class, 2 five stars in next years class, and is in the final 2 for the number one player in the nation. With 2 national championships in 5 years and 3 final fours all together, the machine known as UNC just keeps rolling. Heck the only players Cal can get are the ones Roy wont go after. Character wins national championships and there is a reason Cal has no rings.
Heelsownuuk, Win a few more natinal championships? What? You need to catch us 1st and then we’ll talk. You have 5 or maybe 6. Regardless, your still behind our 7. UNC is rolling along, I give you that, so we’ll wait and comment on the rest of your story after we see if coach Cal is for real.
North Carolina is the team to beat in college basketball today. No argument there. But I have to agree that it will be interesting to see where Cal and UK are in five years, too