Dakari Johnson is a reclassified 2013 recruit from New York. Johnson stands at a solid 6’10” 250 lbs. and has been on the UK recruiting radar since last summer. Georgetown, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio State, and Syracuse are all vying for his letter of intent to be sent their way. Johnson’s high school teammate, Kasey Hill, as already committed to the Florida Gators. Syracuse would have the home-court advantage because of their location in New York. Johnson is currently ranked as the #12 in the 2013 class by ESPN.

In the recruiting world and mostly in life, where there is smoke there is fire. A very interesting announcement occurred during the introductions of Dakari Johnson’s high school game last night against American Heritage. The announcer shouted Johnson had committed to the University of Kentucky? Johnson quickly jumped on Twitter to shoot down the rumor. Afterwards, a UK fan tweeted to Johnson that she wishes he would still come to UK even though he DID NOT pull the trigger last night. Johnson retweeted the UK fan for all of his followers to see. He also retweeted another UK blogging site, is this a sign?

Johnson put up 16 points and 7 rebounds in Montverde Academy’s 79-46 win over American Heritage. While Julius Randle seems likely to head to Texas, will Johnson head to Lexington? It’s a little known fact that Johnson played with former UK star Michael Kidd-Gilchrist at New Jersey’s St. Patrick’s Academy before the school had to close it’s doors due to financial troubles. Don’t forget about California native and dunking machine, Aaron Gordon who has Kentucky still on his list. I would think that Gordon would be a bigger target for the ‘Cats. If Calipari misses on Gordon, Johnson could jump at the chance to be Kentucky’s big man for 2013.

Late last night and into early this morning, rumors of Tennessee Wide Receivers coach Darin Hinshaw would likely join Mark Stoops in Lexington. Early reports are very promising that he can be another spark on the recruiting trail for the ‘Cats. He supposedly specializes in recruiting guys in Florida, Ohio, and Kansas. He has been a big part of Tennessee’s successes on the recruiting trail, and now he’ll look to make a new home in Lexington, Kentucky.

Hinshaw was important to the development of Matt Simms and Tyler Bray when they were making their debuts in 2010 for the Vols. The duo combine for over 3,000 passing yards and 26 TD’s in 2010. Bray eventually became the starter as the Vols went 4-0 behind him. Bray was also named SEC Freshman of the Week 3 times in that span. With a trio of quarterbacks with SEC experience coming back for the ‘Cats, Hinshaw looks to be a nice piece to add to Stoops’ staff because of his ability to teach quarterbacks.

Hinshaw is a 1993 graduate of UCF and played quarterback for the Knights. During his time, Hinshaw threw for 9,000 yards, 82 TD’s, and finished as the leader in every passing category. Following his college days, he had a brief stint in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns and then spent two years in the Arena Football League with the Orlando Predators. As a coach, he started his duties at UCF as a graduate assistant in 1999, and then moved to quarterbacks coach in 2000. Afterwards, he landed at Middle Tennessee State as a running backs coach for 2 years before being promoted to co-offensive coordinator in 2003. Under Hinshaw, MTSU was always at the top of the Sun Belt Conference in nearly every statistical category. In 2003, MTSU was the highest scoring offense in the league at 27.7 points per contest. In 2006, he landed at Georgia Southern for a season as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach. Under his guidance, Georgia Southern ranked 27th in the nation in total offense with 359.9 yards per game. He then went on to Memphis, and then to Tennessee.

Bradley Dale Peveto was born in Beaumont, Texas but was raised on Orangefield. He played his college ball at Southern Methodist University between 1982-86. He began his coaching career at Trinity Valley Community College in 1987. Since then, he has had stops at Stephen F. Austin, Southern Miss., Arkansas, Northwestern State, Houston, Middle Tennessee State, and LSU. During his time at Houston, he was co-defensive coordinators with new UK football head coach Mark Stoops under Dana Dimel. While at Middle Tennessee State, he served with fellow new coach Darin Hinshaw. During his time at LSU, he coached special teams/linebackers from 2005-07. He was apart of LSU’s 2007 National Championship team. In 2008, he was promoted to co-defensive coordinator and stayed for one year before leaving to be the head coach at Northwestern State.

With Stoops adding Hinshaw and Peveto to his staff, this could be a dynamite group for the ‘Cats. Because of their recruiting ties alone is enough to make you get excited about the future of UK Football. Hinshaw has ties to Kansas junior colleges, Ohio, and Florida. While Peveto has ties in Texas and Louisiana. Those lands are extremely rich with talented guys that can help UK get to the top of the SEC.

No other words have come about the possible additions of FSU’s James Coley or Texas Tech’s Neal Brown. Coley is said to be staying with Jimbo Fisher at FSU, and Neal Brown is looking at head coaching opportunities. Brown is the most likely to join the UK staff over Coley at this point. Brown is already packing his bags after Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tuberville left for Cincy, and TTU was not interested in him as their head coach.

James Young opened his senior season with 29 points and the win. Young is a apart of the monster 2013 recruiting class coming to Kentucky. Check out the video below for some highlights. He also talks about UK and how he fell in love with Lexington.

YouTube Credit: NextLevelVideo

The Wildcats were back in action today to take on the Portland Pilots. Everyone must remember last year’s game with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist putting the Pilots on a poster late in the game. As if this Kentucky team needed any more comparisons to last year, right? The Pilots come into Rupp with a 3-5 record, and the ‘Cats are coming off of a 1/2 game win against Samford. The big story through the week has been coach John Calipari putting his team through “Camp Cal”. A series of 7:00am workouts and mental toughness exercises. Would the ‘Cats show any improvement?

Much like they have done all season, the ‘Cats struggled early. If the noon tip-off was a problem, the ‘Cats may have been sleepwalking through the first few minutes. Alex Poythress tried to set the tone early by battling inside and scoring the game’s first 2 points. Nerlens Noel was noticeably limping and appeared limited to begin, it was later reported he has a leg contusion but did play the entire game. The big story of the first half was the lack of transition defense and the mental errors on the ‘Cats. Kentucky jumped out to a 16-5 lead by clamping down the Pilots offense in the half-court sets. However, the transition defense left a lot to be desired.

Ryan Harrow did not start, but was solid early. Harrow played great defense against his man and made some smart decisions with the basketball. John Calipari had to plead with Harrow to speed up the game a little. He was tired of watching Harrow walk the ball up the court, and wanted to run Portland out of the gym. Poythress scored early and often mostly down low. He only attempted 2 three-point shots, and made one of them. He’s definitely not known for his outside game, but he has a sweet stroke. Julius Mays was also impressive. Mays made a living off of faking his guy in the hair, going around, and nailing a mid-range jumper.

Kyle Wiltjer was looking to shoot himself out of a slump, and he showed the first signs of that today. He was able to catch and shoot a sweet three ball during UK’s 14-0 run that gave the ‘Cats some breathing room. Not everything was gold for the ‘Cats as they continued to turn the ball over. Some plays would be lost after a pass should have been caught. A bad pass to the wrong guy in transition would cause another turnover. Archie Goodwin also reverted back to his “bull in a china shop” mentality and got called for an offensive foul. After the ‘Cats 14-0 run, the Pilots started a little run of their own. After a 3-ball in transition, and then a lay-up between 2 Kentucky defenders, John Calipari was livid. The ‘Cats lead the Pilots 35-20 at the half behind a solid defensive effort. Poor transition defense and turnovers kept the ‘Cats from putting away the Pilots early. As you can see from the video below, the first half was very frustrating for UK head coach John Calipari:

Youtube Credit: Brian McMurtry

Some stats from the 1st half could easily point why UK had it’s 15 point lead, and why Portland was still in the game. The ‘Cats shot 44% from the field while holding Portland to only 26%. Portland only lost the rebounding battle by 2, and held the ‘Cats to only 2 fast-break points in the 1st half. The ‘Cats dominated with 7 blocks, 4 steals, and scored 11 points off of Pilot turnovers. Even though Portland wasn’t really beating the ‘Cats in any major statistic, the ‘Cats were not exactly overwhelming except for blocks and steals.

After the halftime break, the ‘Cats came out slow, sluggish and not as focused. Haven’t we seen this story before? After Kentucky’s first two possession’s end in traveling violations, the Pilots scored 4 points on the other end. Portland reeled off 7 unanswered points while the ‘Cats were still dazed and confused. With the score 46-29, Kentucky had committed 12 turnovers  and most of them unforced errors. The mental lapses that cause these turnovers are what lead to Portland being able to hang with the ‘Cats for much of the game. While limited, Noel played a great game that continued in the 2nd half. The alarms were sounding for a triple-double alert as Noel racked up 7 blocks in the game.

The ‘Cats were able to answer Portland’s 7-0 run to begin the half, with an 11-2 burst of their own. Kentucky’s lead had now grown back to 15, and they were looking to lay the hammer on the Pilots. Kyle Wiltjer caught the ball down low and hooked a shot over his defender. Anyone who has played basketball knows the best feeling in the world is to see your shot go down after a slump. With the hook falling for Wiltjer, I think we may have seen the last of that slump.

Kentucky continued to stretch their lead as the time ticked away on the Pilots. With 4:16 to go in the game, Kentucky lead Portland 60-39, and the Big Blue Nation was headed for the exit rows in Rupp Arena. Maybe they regret not sticking around for the Archie Goodwin show. Goodwin got the ball on a fast break and threw the hammer down hard over a couple of Portland defenders. You’ll be seeing that dunk on Sportscenter tonight, guarantee it. Not done, he came back the very next play and soared again for another slam. Kentucky finally finishes out a game and wins 74-46.

There is definitely plenty of good points you can grab from this game if you are John Calipari. The team as a whole played as much of a full 40-minute game as they have done all season long. You had 4 guys (Wiltjer, Mays, Goodwin, Poythress) all score in double figures. The ‘Cats shot the ball 49% and held the Pilots to only 29%. The ‘Cats dominated the paint, had 12 blocks, and 7 steals. The 14 turnovers will be something to clean up and work on. Overall, a very promising effort from these ‘Cats.

The SEC offices announced on Thursday that UK freshman punter Landon Foster was named to the All-SEC Freshman Team voted on by the SEC’s coaches. Foster was one of the best weapons in the fall for the ‘Cats, and I’m glad the league recognized his superior first season.

Foster ranked 27th nationally, and 8th in the conference with a season’s average of 42.9 yards per punt. Foster ranked 4th nationally among freshman. He punted a total of 2,617 yards this season for the ‘Cats and 13 of his punts were directed inside the opposition’s 20-yard line. Foster booted kicks longer than 50-yards in nine of Kentucky’s 12 games, with a season-long 58 yarder against Arkansas.

During the season, Foster was placed on the National Freshman Performer of the Year Watch List by the CFPA, and was named Honorable Mention Punter of the Week 4 times by the College Football Performance Awards. Did I mention that he is only a freshman? Foster proved that the basketball freshman are not the only ones that can get some notoriety. Congratulations Landon, we look forward to seeing you dominate next year. #WeAreUK

The 2013 NBA Draft looks to be as wide-open as anyone can imagine. The crop of players doesn’t seem to be very deep in potential, and there is not a clear cut #1 pick. As of now, who would be picked? In the preseason, most felt that Indiana’s Cody Zeller would be taken #1 overall. #2 was Kentucky’s Nerlens Noel. According to the latest mock draft projections, the feelings are the same.

First Round:

#1 Cody Zeller (Indiana/Washington Wizards)

#2 Nerlens Noel (Kentucky/Cleveland Cavs)

#8 Archie Goodwin (Kentucky/Orlando Magic)

#12 Alex Poythress (Kentucky/Indiana Pacers)

#14 Willie Cauley-Stein (Kentucky/LA Lakers)

No other SEC players were projected in the 1st round, Florida’s Patric Young was projected in the 2nd round/33rd pick to Toronto. And Texas A&M’s, Ray Turner is projected in the 2nd round/56th pick to Washington.

While NBA Draft stocks will fluctuate rapidly, Kentucky looks to add another impressive crop of freshman into the league. Keep in mind, some of those players could return to school and injuries can effect when or if players are drafted. After a full season with John Calipari, will the rising draft stock of any Wildcat push them to #1?

Arguably the best decision Michael Jordan has ever made in an executive position, was drafting Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. The former Kentucky Wildcat is now proving his worth in the NBA. The league released a statement today declairing MKG as Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month. Here are his stats through October/November:

MKG was the only rookie to rank in the Top-1o in scoring  (10.9 ppg, fifth), rebounding (6.5 rpg, sixth), assists (1.5 apg. eighth), steals (1.2 spg, fourth) and blocks (1.3 bpg, second). In November against the Mavericks, he posted career highs in points (25) and rebounds (12), and lead his Bobcats to the victory.

Congrats to MKG on the award, there are much more to come. The kid is a winner! #WeAreUK