Hello,
I’m Jon and I’m from the sunny (yeah, right) town of
I have just spent the second year of my degree studying abroad in America at the University of Kentucky, this is why when you take a quick look back through my articles there are a couple of UK articles and nothing else on college sports. My knowledge is getting there slowly and I hope to be able to branch out soon! On a related note, there is always time for a bit of “Wooooooooooooah, C, A, T, S, CATS, CATS, CATS”, I’m sure everyone will agree? Well maybe not fans from
I have always loved my sports, my all time number one passion is for Formula One racing and motorsports, my hero as a kid was Nigel Mansell, to the point where I wanted my name changing to have Nigel as my middle name, though my Mum never did come around to the idea and so to this day I still don’t have a middle name, much to the confusion of Americans everywhere.
These days I find myself supporting Lewis Hamilton in the Formula One and British drivers in other categories around the globe, I was really happy to be able to be at the Indy 500 to see Dario Franchitti triumph in May, even despite the rain interval.
Other than that I follow Hartlepool United and Middlesbrough in football (soccer if you like), the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL, the University of Kentucky in every college sport ;) and the New York Rangers in the NHL, which may seem quite random but I went to see them on my 21st birthday after getting the last seat in the house!
My writing has come on leaps and bounds since I joined the site but every now and then I lapse and had in an article short of time and effort, if you see one let me know. This season I will mostly be wishing I was at Commonwealth stadium or Rupp Arena while sat in a flat in
Tubby Smith's recruiting at Kentucky didn't win him many fans, and the program floundered over the past few seasons. But as Atomic Sports columnist Jon Bellwood writes, Smith's weaknesses are new head coach Billy Gillespie's strengths, and the fans in Lexington are already reaping the rewards.
Gillispie has only been with the Wildcats for a few months and already things are changing in Lexington. Tubby has gone to the Golden Gophers, and it doesn’t look like he will be missed.
The incoming class was looking like another average, uninspired group until Billy the Kid came into town and managed to get his hands on Parade All-American Alex Legion and McDonalds All-American Patrick Patterson.
Those two recruits are vitally important. With blue-chip recruits heading to Lexington Billy can toss his hat into the ring with any recruit and receive at least the chance to let them know what he’s trying to do.
It didn’t escape the hordes of Wildcats fans that there were no Kentucky players piquing general managers’ interest in the NBA in the draft, though the likes of Eastern Washington had a player go in the lottery and Rice and Colorado State had players go in the first round.
It might be that players like Legion and Patterson only stop for one season in Lexington, but if they’re putting up bigger numbers than the likes of Lukasz Obrzut and Sheray Thomas did in their senior seasons, no one is likely to care.
Gillispie has admitted that his life is unbalanced and he plows all his time into basketball, which can only be good news for the Wildcats. Gillispie already has commitments from high school seniors-, juniors- and sophomores-to-be who are ranked high in their respective classes.
Recently the Lexington Herald-Leader reported the commitment of senior-to-be DeAndre Liggins, a 6-6 swingman from Chicago who was expected to visit the schools on his list before making a commitment. But Billy won him over without the need for further window shopping. Liggins is expected to be a top-30 player this coming season, and Prep Stars has him at No. 25 currently.
It seems quite obvious that it was time for a change in Lexington and that the Tubby Smith era had to come to an end. He may have won the Cats a title in 1998, but that’s been long forgotten in Lexington where they have now gone their longest stint ever without a trip to the Final Four, something all the banners hanging in Rupp Arena keep reminding them.
It’s about time they hung another banner in Rupp, and it might just happen with Gillispie hitting the recruiting trail hard and bringing in blue-chip recruits. The new $30 million practice facility that is the envy of all colleges won’t hurt either. It might just be party time in Lexington again soon.