Happy Derby Week everyone! This is my second favorite time of the year, behind the entire month of March. Locals have been pushed from Derby, to Oak, and now we're pushed to Thurby, Thursday's festivities at Churchill Downs. I'll be out there on Thursday. If you're out there I'll trade some horse racing advice for a drink. I'm horrible at betting horses.
I'll never forget Derby Weekend a few years back when Jaylen Brown randomly announced he would be committing on Oaks night. We could have a similar situation with Knox, and knowing my luck it will be Thursday.
Also, have you all been keeping up with the UK baseball team? Derek Terry has had great coverage this season. Nearly all their games are on Watch ESPN and even if you're not a baseball fan they're a fun team to watch. One of the best offensive teams in the country. They're as high as No.4 in some polls and top 10 in every poll I've checked out this morning.
Three SEC series remain, home against Georgia and Tennessee, and then they will finish on the road at Florida. That Florida series may determine the SEC winner and the SEC East winner. If UK can sweep Georgia and Tennessee then maybe it won't matter. The Vols and Bulldogs are two of the worst teams in the conference.
UK has non-conference games against IU and NKU, too. Both are at home. IU is nationally ranked and obviously everyone loves it when the Hoosiers lose. So, if you haven't been out to the Cliff this year you're missing out.
Let's get to the notes
Knox: It would be a major surprise to hear Knox pick Kentucky this week. Also, as I type this Knox Sr., hasn't confirmed that the announcement will actually take place this week. If that changes I'll be sure to update this.
There are rumors floating out there that Knox likes UK but his dad prefers Duke. I haven't heard anything from UK's end or my AAU sources that can confirm that to be the case. I think Knox Sr. really likes UK's staff. Is it his favorite? I don't know, but I don't think he loves one staff significantly more than another. Or at least enough to really push his son in one direction.
There's just no positive UK momentum at this point. We've seen recruitments where this has happened and Kentucky ended up being the choice and the lack of momentum was staged, but I don't find that to be the case here.
Cam Johnson: He starts his visit to Ohio State today and will visit Arizona this weekend. Ultimately I think with UK those are his top three schools. Ohio State is offering a lot of playing time and being close to home, while Arizona's Sean Miller has a nice relationship with Johnson and his family.
These visits didn't come as a surprise for UK. They were OK with him taking visits and knew that they were taking place.
Johnson is in no rush. He's going to take his visits and it also allows him to also see who stays and who goes.
Unless something wild happens on one of his visits or he falls in love, I still think he ends up at UK.
Bamba: There's nothing new. Nothing. Only that some people think he's going to Texas, and I'll share why.If there is I haven't heard it but this has officially become the recruitment with the least information. There's been several that have been quiet but Bamba's is crazy. So, with that being said, I still check in with my sources and it doesn't appear anything has changed. I still like UK. Some Duke folks like Texas. Texas staff, I'm told, like their chances but they don't know for sure.
I did find out the info that the Duke guys have that made them change their picks. Basically, it's that people close to Bamba think it's going to be Texas. Do those people know for sure? I don't know. But it came off as gossip to me.
Diallo: I'm officially flipped to thinking he stays in the draft. Last week I was 50/50, two weeks before I was 70/30 he was staying. It's funny how quickly these things can change. NBA teams are just very intrigued by the mystery surrounding Diallo and think they could be stealing a top 5/10 pick next year.
He was invited to the NBA Draft Combine but that's not a surprise and honestly could be a good thing for UK. It doesn't seem like he's going to play in the five-on-five sessions, although I haven't heard officially (feel free to post here if I'm missing a link). NBA teams will want to see him play so that may be a mistake on Diallo's part, but if he plays he struggles then he has no chance of going.
Diallo has played this entire process incredibly conservative. Smart on his part because the mystery is getting teams worked out. And as I reported last week, Diallo would be OK with not being a first rounder as he's close.
I still think there's a chance he comes back, but I'm 55/45 he's gone.
2018 point guard: I lean towards Smart being the preference over Quickley. I really love Devon Dotson's game but UK hasn't shown much interest. Reached out a year or two ago but nothing since then.
I'll never forget Derby Weekend a few years back when Jaylen Brown randomly announced he would be committing on Oaks night. We could have a similar situation with Knox, and knowing my luck it will be Thursday.
Also, have you all been keeping up with the UK baseball team? Derek Terry has had great coverage this season. Nearly all their games are on Watch ESPN and even if you're not a baseball fan they're a fun team to watch. One of the best offensive teams in the country. They're as high as No.4 in some polls and top 10 in every poll I've checked out this morning.
Three SEC series remain, home against Georgia and Tennessee, and then they will finish on the road at Florida. That Florida series may determine the SEC winner and the SEC East winner. If UK can sweep Georgia and Tennessee then maybe it won't matter. The Vols and Bulldogs are two of the worst teams in the conference.
UK has non-conference games against IU and NKU, too. Both are at home. IU is nationally ranked and obviously everyone loves it when the Hoosiers lose. So, if you haven't been out to the Cliff this year you're missing out.
Let's get to the notes
Knox: It would be a major surprise to hear Knox pick Kentucky this week. Also, as I type this Knox Sr., hasn't confirmed that the announcement will actually take place this week. If that changes I'll be sure to update this.
There are rumors floating out there that Knox likes UK but his dad prefers Duke. I haven't heard anything from UK's end or my AAU sources that can confirm that to be the case. I think Knox Sr. really likes UK's staff. Is it his favorite? I don't know, but I don't think he loves one staff significantly more than another. Or at least enough to really push his son in one direction.
There's just no positive UK momentum at this point. We've seen recruitments where this has happened and Kentucky ended up being the choice and the lack of momentum was staged, but I don't find that to be the case here.
Cam Johnson: He starts his visit to Ohio State today and will visit Arizona this weekend. Ultimately I think with UK those are his top three schools. Ohio State is offering a lot of playing time and being close to home, while Arizona's Sean Miller has a nice relationship with Johnson and his family.
These visits didn't come as a surprise for UK. They were OK with him taking visits and knew that they were taking place.
Johnson is in no rush. He's going to take his visits and it also allows him to also see who stays and who goes.
Unless something wild happens on one of his visits or he falls in love, I still think he ends up at UK.
Bamba: There's nothing new. Nothing. Only that some people think he's going to Texas, and I'll share why.If there is I haven't heard it but this has officially become the recruitment with the least information. There's been several that have been quiet but Bamba's is crazy. So, with that being said, I still check in with my sources and it doesn't appear anything has changed. I still like UK. Some Duke folks like Texas. Texas staff, I'm told, like their chances but they don't know for sure.
I did find out the info that the Duke guys have that made them change their picks. Basically, it's that people close to Bamba think it's going to be Texas. Do those people know for sure? I don't know. But it came off as gossip to me.
Diallo: I'm officially flipped to thinking he stays in the draft. Last week I was 50/50, two weeks before I was 70/30 he was staying. It's funny how quickly these things can change. NBA teams are just very intrigued by the mystery surrounding Diallo and think they could be stealing a top 5/10 pick next year.
He was invited to the NBA Draft Combine but that's not a surprise and honestly could be a good thing for UK. It doesn't seem like he's going to play in the five-on-five sessions, although I haven't heard officially (feel free to post here if I'm missing a link). NBA teams will want to see him play so that may be a mistake on Diallo's part, but if he plays he struggles then he has no chance of going.
Diallo has played this entire process incredibly conservative. Smart on his part because the mystery is getting teams worked out. And as I reported last week, Diallo would be OK with not being a first rounder as he's close.
I still think there's a chance he comes back, but I'm 55/45 he's gone.
2018 point guard: I lean towards Smart being the preference over Quickley. I really love Devon Dotson's game but UK hasn't shown much interest. Reached out a year or two ago but nothing since then.
