Kentucky Sports Radio

Today I spoke with Nerlens Noel on the telephone to ask him about the national stories that have been swirling these last few days. You may remember that ESPN’s Ryen Russillo went on the Bill Simmons’ Podcast and spoke about those around Noel hurting his NBA Draft stock. According to Russillo, Noel has been surrounded by some people that aren’t looking out for his best interests and are hurting his stock with NBA teams. On my radio show this morning, Russillo joined us and noted that Noel had skipped out on meetings with agents and had seemed to pay no attention to the process of hiring an agent for the NBA Draft. He said this has caused concern for a number of NBA teams that worry that Noel is surrounding himself with people that will do him harm and ultimately has hurt his stock.

When I spoke with Noel today, he seemed genuinely surprised at the criticism. “I am not sure who people are talking about but right now there are only two people around me when I make decisions, my mom and Chris (his business manager).” When I asked him about the reports about blowing off agents he said, “honestly I just haven’t wanted to meet with a lot of agents because I have been worried about my rehab. One of the reasons I am so far ahead on my rehab is while other people have been wanting me to talk to agents, I have been down here working trying to get on the court.” Noel, who is spending his time in Birmingham rehabilitating said, “a lot of those guys have wanted to talk with me and I just haven’t felt like it was necessary. It is more important to get on the court that to talk to a lot of agent type people.” When I asked where Noel thought the source of these stories were coming from he chuckled and said, “probably people mad that I didn’t pick them to work with me.”

The two people Noel is referring to as his “entourage” are both people who have been around him a long time, of course his mother and “Chris” (whose last name I do not know), who has known the family for some time. He was adamant that while he isn’t sure the people being referred to as “bad dudes” by Russillo, unless they are Chris or his mother, they are playing no part in his decision process. While on the phone, all Noel wanted to focus on was basketball, even at one point saying with excitement, “Matt, you would be amazed how far I have come since starting this rehab.” You could hear in his voice the excitement of getting better, and it was a strong reminder how Nerlens is at heart, a kid who just loves playing basketball.

As I have said many times, Noel is one of the best kids off the court that I have seen at Kentucky. While his game needs work (specifically on the offensive end), his character does not and that is why these national reports have had me worried. Russillo and others have been clear that they have no concern about Noel the person, just those around him. Russillo says the source of the worries is from teams, not the agents shunned by Noel. But either way, Nerlens insists that is not an issue and that his inner circle of three people is all that matters to him and his career going forward. I hope that is the case for Noel, as he deserves a chance to showcase his high character in the league at the best pick possible, with no outside distractions.

Big Blue Nation added two new members late this afternoon when the Davis twins announced they’ll be transferring to Kentucky to play football.

Here are 10 things you should know about them…

1.) They were stars at Austintown Fitch High School just outside of Youngstown, Ohio.

Youngstown, of course, is the home of Mark Stoops and Vince Marrow, an area Kentucky is beginning to own in recruiting. Marrow is currently recruiting a running back, Darrin Hall, from Austintown Fitch in the 2015 class, also.

2.) They had offers from Oregon, West Virginia, UCLA, Baylor, Arkansas, Oregon State, Purdue and Vanderbilt.

The twins picked up a little more than 20 total offers in high school, mostly from the same programs. If a school only showed interest in one of them, that school was immediately removed from consideration.

“We knew from Day 1 we were going to go to school together,” Demitrious Davis told ESPN in 2012.

3.) They were top 40 prospects in Ohio and top 40 athletes in the 2012 class, according to Rivals.com.

Demitrious and Chris were the 32nd and 33rd ranked athletes, respectively. They were No. 39 and No. 40 in the state of Ohio.

4.) ESPN Recruiting called Demitrius “a blur of an athlete in space.”

An excerpt from his ESPN scouting report in 2012:

“This guy is an absolute nightmare to deal with at the high school level as a dual-threat, run first quarterback that will likely move to cornerback or slot receiver at the next level. He is dramatically undersized or he would be a national recruit as both an ATH and dual-threat QB because he throws the ball surprisingly well. He is a short prospect, but can flat out run. He is a blur of an athlete in space. Displays rapid acceleration, supreme top end speed and moves like a jack rabbit laterally. He has a low center of gravity, can jump cut, shows excellent vision with sharp cuts to exploit the cutback lane. He is the ideal zone runner and could be a spread offense utility back. He explodes through tiny creases in-line and once at the second level he is a homerun threat that can take it the distance. Will win most, if not all footraces at this level.”

ESPN ranked him the 25th best athlete in the class and the 10th best recruit in Ohio.

5.) Demitrious will play offense, Chris will play defense.

Demitrious will be used in the slot and at running back in Neal Brown’s Air Raid offense. Chris will help out on the defensive side of the ball in the secondary.

6.) They both bench 350, squat 450, and run a sub 4.4 40-yard dash.

Wait, what?

Demitrious is listed at 5’10”, 175 lbs. in the Pitt media guide. Chris is 5’9”, 180 lbs.

7.) They announced their transfer from Pitt on May 12, 2013.

The twins cited a change in the offense as their reason for leaving. Former Pitt head coach Todd Graham ran a spread offense before his successor, Paul Chryst, implemented a pro-style offense. Demitrious and Chris were adamant about playing in a spread offense in college during their recruitment. After announcing the transfer, Chris tweeted that he had to put himself in the best position to succeed.

Pitt prohibited them from transferring to an ACC school or Arizona or Arizona State where former Pitt coaches are on staff.

8.) They will walk on this year.

But the opportunity to earn a scholarship in the future is there.

9.) They will have three years of eligibility at Kentucky beginning in 2014.

And they should be more than ready to go when their time rolls around. They will be able to run with the scout team all season and participate in fall and spring camps.

10.) They’re excited.

Your boy is a Kentucky Wildcat!! #UK

— Chris Lamar Davis Jr (@chris_davis22) June 18, 2013

Its official! Im a Kentucky Wildcat! #UK

— Demitrious Davis (@Ddavis_2) June 18, 2013

Welcome aboard.

Despite what you’ve been hearing the past few days about his growth plates and questionable entourage, Nerlens Noel is still projected to go No. 1 overall to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Chad Ford’s mock draft.

Ford writes, “Noel remains on top because he fits the profile of a player the Cavs prefer to draft — the player with the most long-term upside. That’s why they picked Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters at No. 4 the past couple of years and why Noel remains the favorite. Sources say Noel’s strongest competition right now is Len, whom some in the organization favor because he, too, has size and defensive ability, but he’s less raw and should be cleared to play much sooner than Noel.”

Archie Goodwin did not make the first round in Ford’s mock draft. He’s sitting at No. 38 in the Top 100 prospects.

As Ally mentioned in the post just south of this one and originally reported by Rivals.com, Kentucky picked up two new players for the 2014 college football season, and they’re identical twins. Demitrious and Chris Davis will walk on at Kentucky and be eligible to play after this coming season. The Ohio natives signed with Pittsburgh out of high school and sat out last season as redshirt freshmen, then announced intentions to transfer from the program early last month. After a very quiet official visit to Lexington today, they decided the University of Kentucky is where they’d like to continue their college football careers. One is expected to play in the defensive backfield and one will be used as an all-purpose athlete on offense. They will have three years of eligibility at Kentucky.

Watch them work…

Demitrious Davis:

Chris Davis:

We’ll have more later…

 Two twins from Pittsburgh, Demitrious and Chris Davis will transfer to Kentucky. They both confirmed the information via Twitter. Both are wide receivers and both will come to Kentucky as walk-ons. As we learned earlier today, the wide receiver corps heading into this season is very thin right now. Neal Brown even mentioned that Kentucky might have tryouts (h/t John Clay). The Davis twins will likely help fill that void. The two were also considering Louisville and Indiana when they decided to make the move from Pitt.

Demitrious and Chris are originally from Austintown, Ohio. Demitrious was the nation’s #32 athlete and Chris was #33 in the class of 2012. Not too bad. 

Lost in all the Matt Elam excitement last night was a 247 Sports rankings climb from Adrian Middleton, another talented in-state defensive lineman who has already committed to Kentucky. Middleton jumped up to the 36th best defensive tackle in the country and Kentucky’s fourth best commit, according to 247. His new 89 overall rating is one point shy of earning him a fourth star beside his name.

The new rating seems a bit high in comparison to the other recruiting services but, hey, we’ll take it.

Go Cats.

Kentucky’s new offensive coordinator Neal Brown took some time today to meet with the Louisville Quarterback Club.  Some of the talk was much of the same, with Brown once again letting everyone know that the quarterback race for next year will likely continue a few weeks into the fall practices. John Clay of the Herald Leader was on hand to relay some of Brown’s messages from the speaking engagement.

Here are 5 of the best tidbits from his talk:

1) The Kentucky staff’s message to the recruits is that everyone remembers “the first.”

If you’ve been wondering what the coaching staff has been selling the latest “big gets” on the recruiting trail (besides the opportunity for early playing time and a chance to compete in the SEC), the vision of being a part of the first group to turn Kentucky football into a championship contending program is clearly a top selling point. The staff has been able to build upon that idea,  putting the pieces together for a class worth talking about, which has created a palpable buzz in the college football world. While some kids are looking for a chance to be a part of an already established program, where winning and competing for championships is the norm— some kids relish in the opportunity to pave their own path. That seems to be the idea Brown and the staff are focusing on at the moment.

2) Brown thinks the UK fan base is the most active fan base in social media.

We’ve seen the good and the bad of this effect over the years, especially with Kentucky basketball. If someone writes a piece about Kentucky basketball, they know it will be read by the masses. For decades, Kentucky basketball fans swarm polls, support their team, travel across the country, etc. The Kentucky fan base hasn’t had much reason to reach that level of excitement and passion for the football program, but now that Stoops has given them a reason– the fans are all over it. The recruits are feeling the love on Twitter on a daily basis. The coaching staff not only notices, but seems to believe it’s helping with the momentum and recruiting process.

3) The wide receiver picture for next year is… interesting to say the least

With some of the recent departures from the program, the fact that the receiving corp is very, very thin should come as no surprise. Brown says the team might have a tryout just to increase the numbers to see what they can find. Luckily Brown likes the depth and talent at the tight end position, which might help to plug some of the receiver holes. Brown also said that the recruiting process for wide receivers in the future is going well. The staff will be picky about the position, but Kentucky is already “in” on some big-time targets.

4) Ashely Lowery is recovering well

Following a very scary car accident earlier this summer, Lowery is recovering well. The staff is cautiously optimistic about his return for the fall.

5) Current commitments understand the challenges ahead this season

One general concern that has been floating around as of late is that while the 2014 class is so strong right now, it might be hard for the staff to keep all of the commitments in tact following what could be a tough season with a brutal SEC schedule. The results on the field may not be pretty, and certainly may not match the excitement and enthusiasm created by the nation’s current top 2 recruiting class for 2014. Brown says that part of the conversation with the new commitments though is that this season may not be smooth and the challenges will be huge. Brown doesn’t believe the results of this season will have an effect on the incoming recruits. Phew.

And last but not least, Neal Brown was quoted by John Clay as saying that “Coach Calipari has made Kentucky cool. We’ve got to make Kentucky football cool.” 

I think this staff is well on the way…

The Joker Phillips approach

During his time at the Louisville Quarterback Club luncheon today, Neal Brown hinted that UK might have to rely on tryouts to fill up the depth chart at wide receiver. The position is incredibly thin and is by far the biggest concern heading into Season 1 of the Mark Stoops Show.

We’ll have more from the luncheon in just a moment, but for now, #ComePlayWRForUK???

(H/T John Clay)

NCAA President Mark Emmert is building a band of athletic directors and Mitch Barnhart is one of the band members. Emmert recently announced that he and some of his staff members will meet regularly with a council of athletic directors, beginning next month. Barnhart is one of 10 athletic directors who will make up the council, formed to shift decisions like recruiting rules from college presidents to the people who deal with coaching staffs and athletic programs directly.

The other nine members of the council come from San Jose State, Arizona, Kansas State, Central Michigan, Connecticut, Clemson, Ohio State, Division I-AA Montana State, and Division I-AAA Denver.

[NCAA President to Form Council of Athletic Directors]

Clay Travis and Kige Ramsey. Oh yeah.

There’s been a lot of “I never thought I’d see the day” going around here lately when it comes to Kentucky football, but I’ve got a new one fore you: I never thought I’d see a Clay Travis article praising UK for anything, especially football. Yet, one day after Kentucky football momentarily kissed the sun with a #1 recruiting class, Travis penned a piece about how Mark Stoops is using the SEC brand in Ohio to turn UK football recruiting around. Travis says that by focusing on Ohio, Mark Stoops has opened a channel to a whole state of players Kentucky (and the rest of the SEC) pretty much ignored before, and because of the SEC brand (and Stoops and Marrow’s connections, close proximity, etc.), it’s working:

So Kentucky has found a fertile new recruiting region that welcomes its SEC pitch without having to compete against very many SEC schools. Instead of being a second rate option in much of the South, the Wildcats are a premium product north of the Mason-Dixon line. As if that wasn’t enough, Kentucky is beating Louisville for recruits in Ohio because even though Louisville has a stronger team right now, the SEC’s brand is infinitely stronger than Bluegrass dominance.

While we’ve known about the staff’s connections and success in Ohio for a while now, Travis does bring up some good points. Right now, Kentucky doesn’t really have a lot of SEC competition for players from Ohio, and as a result, can sell the SEC brand and stand out from Big Ten schools. By looking north outside of the SEC footprint, Stoops has given the Cats the advantage in a state that churns out quality football players like it churns out…well, whatever Ohio is really famous for.

Read more over at Outkick the Coverage. It might be the last time we ever encourage you to do so.

[OKtC: KENTUCKY EXTENDS SEC'S BRAND INTO OHIO]

Former Louisville center Gorgui Dieng respects Kentucky basketball but thinks Louisville is ‘more of a team.‘ The soon-to-be first round draft pick acknowledged Kentucky’s star-studded 2013-14 lineup during an interview with sNY.tv, then questioned if the Wildcats will be able to play together.

He said, “They always have the best players and always, I don’t want to say best players, they always have the chance but are they going to be a team? We don’t know. You can have a lot of pieces but it’s tough to have a team.”

“We always have a team. we always have a team,” he added. “Thats what Coach ‘P’ is all about — team. He doesn’t care who you are . You can be the best player but if you do something wrong, he’s going to sit you down. If you’re body fat is over nine percent, you won’t play.”

Dieng also said he believes this year’s Louisville Cardinals will be better than the group he won an NCAA championship with just a few months ago.

Is it December 28 yet?

[Gorgui Dieng Says Louisville Will Be Better Next Year]

UK’s lone 2014 commitment Karl Towns played in the NBAP Top 100 Camp this past weekend and had the opportunity to go 1-on-1 against former NBA player Jerome Williams. How did he do? Check it out in the video above.

H/t to Dan Bodner

On today’s radio show, Matt spoke to ESPN radio host Ryen Russillo, who expanded on his comments during a recent podcast with Bill Simmons, in which he raised concerns about Nerlens Noel’s “handlers” and how they’re negatively impacting his draft stock. Russillo said that Nerlens’ entourage goes back to before his time at Kentucky, and teams are worried about the longterm impact they may have on the talented shot blocker. Along with uncertainty about his injury, this is causing teams to think twice about drafting him in the top three.

But, when it comes down to his game, Nerlens is better than the field, according to Sports Illustrated’s Andy Glockner. Glockner compared Noel to the rest of the NBA Draft field in terms of talent, immediate impact, longterm impact, and trade possibilities. Glockner said that Noel may not be the most complete player in the draft, but his shot-blocking abilities make that category a push. Obviously, since he’s injured, he won’t have an immediate impact on whatever team chooses him, but in the longterm, Glockner says he can become a “solid rebounder who can block several shots a night while being a general deterrent around the rim,” which, in a weak draft, is worthy of the number one selection. And while trade rumors run rampant, they are just that right now–rumors. Glockner feels that Noel’s potential and the lack of another standout player in the draft will ensure that he goes number one next Thursday:

Noel’s situation is a mix of two old adages — timing is everything and good things happen to those who wait. Noel mixes enough raw upside with enough added value in terms of next year’s draft position to make it worthwhile to take on the moderate risk he poses at this stage of his career. It will be interesting to see if anything happens between now and late June to change this picture, but as of now, Noel is the choice.

Now, just surround yourself with the right people, big guy.

[SI.com: NBA draft 2013 Toss-up: Better pick at No. 1 overall: Nerlens Noel or the field?]

Future UK linebacker Ryan Flannigan was a guest on Kentucky Sports Radio radio this morning to address a Twitter rumor that he’ll soon leave Big Blue Nation to join Vol Nation down in Knoxville. Kameel Jackson, a JUCO teammate of Flannigan and current Tennessee commit, tweeted yesterday that he believes Flannigan will flip to the orange side.

Not so fast, Mr. Jackson.

Flannigan made it very clear to Matt Jones, Ryan Lemond and thousands of KSR listeners that he isn’t going anywhere. He said he has a good relationship with Chad Scott, who originally recruited him to Texas Tech out of high school, and he loves the idea of playing under Mark Stoops.

“Let it be known, we are coming to turn things around,” he said of the 2014 class.

Let it be known.

Let it be Known !

— Ryan Flannigan (@RFlannigan5) June 18, 2013

Late last night, news broke that Kentucky had offered another 2015 player, Charles Matthews. Here’s a little bit more about him.

CHARLES MATTHEWS
Shooting guard

6’4″, 180 lbs.
Chicago, Illinois (St. Rita)

Rivals: 9th
ESPN: 9th, #3 SG

Offer list: Kentucky, Arizona, DePaul, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Providence, SMU, Wisconsin

Twitter: @CMATTHEWS_1

Latest offer! #Kentucky #BBN #Blessed

— Charles Matthews (@CMATTHEWS_1) June 18, 2013

Matthews on UK:

Matthews played in the NBAP Top 100 Camp this past weekend and had nothing but great things to say about Kentucky, from whom he was hoping for an offer. He told Rivals’ TJ Walker:

“Kentucky is Kentucky. Coach Cal is a legendary coach and he does great things with his player getting ready for the NBA.”

On Cal visiting him at his school recently: “It was nice, it was him letting me know he’s recruiting me but he couldn’t really talk to me. My coach let me know that Kentucky is on me now.”

Matthews says he’s interested in Kentucky because of the dribble drive offensive and the aggressive defense, both of which he says matches his style. What does he want in a school?

“I want to go somewhere where I can learn, I can grow from, somewhere I can win a lot of games and hopefully a national championship.”

Sounds like UK to me.

Watch him work:

Yesterday, it was Stanley “Boom” Williams who made a special appearance on Kentucky Sports Radio radio to discuss his commitment to Mark Stoops and Kentucky. Today, Ryan Flannigan will call in to chat with Matt and Ryan.

Flannigan is currently feeling pressure from a teammate to flip his commitment to Tennessee, but #BBN has something to say about that. Tune in to hear his thoughts on the matter.

Also, ESPN Radio’s Ryen Russillo will stop by to let us know more on Nerlens Noel’s draft slippage.

Join in on the fun by calling (502) 571-1080.

Topics include:

– The Wildcat Code

– 2015 center gets an offer

– Matt Elam adds another star

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