5-star UK Recruit, Julian Vaughn Off the Board

[Coldstream]

Made his announcment last night and committed to FSU. Seems like the talk about getting an scholly from us and putting us on top was hogwash. He gave such great vibes about it, some people thought we were the immediate leaders for his services.

[Coldstream]

The First Domino Falls —- Vaughn to FSU (../modules/news/article.php?storyid=1446) by Matt Jones @ 2:51 am. Filed under Blue Blooded Opinions, UK Basketball, News You Can Use

Well so much for my early prediction. I had hoped to grace today’s blog with part 2 of my power forward preview, but then things changed. Julian Vaughn, thought by many to be the first of the Kentucky visits and possibly an early target, committed today to Florida St. Vaughn had long been thought to be seriously considering FSU, but it was assumed that he would take a visit to Kentucky first. Just one week ago, he said he was excited about that possibility and hope to schedule something soon.

The news comes as a surprise to most, including me. Just a couple of days ago, the folks at Kentucky were making plans to schedule the first visit for Vaughn and it was assumed that he would come on campus as soon as possible. Some close to Vaughn had even hinted that Kentucky’s interest in the race for his services could make the decision come quickly. Well it did….just not for the Cats.

--more-- (http://blog.kentuckysportsradio.com/?p=777)

[Wildcat Larry]

Florida State is the Bermuda Triangle of college basketball. More high profile recruits go there never to be heard from again than any other place I know.

http://www.grist.org/advice/ask/2005/03/31/water_drain.jpg

[audacious1]

To begin with, it's very disappointing. I had heard good things about Vaughn but what can you do. I think it does underscore a couple of things:


Don't underestimate the value of good climate
Don't underestimate the value of a good salesperson
Don't believe anything a recruit says until after they've signed the LoI

[RCS]

This is pretty shocking. It is not devistating since Vaugh seems like kind of a plan B guy, but I am very suprised at the timing. Just a few days again he seemed sold on UK and couldn't wait for a visit and then all of a sudden he commits to FSU without a visit. Strange. I thought Vaugh was the most likely of any of the recruits to commit. He seemed so excited to get an offer. Maybe he just wanted the offer for his ego? Who knows. It is way too early to panic, but it sure would be nice if we could get a commitment.

It is amazing how well Hamilton has recruited at FSU despite never going to the NCAA tourney. It is of course also amazing how lousy they have been considering the talent level.

[TOPCAT]

I think Hamilton told him if you visit Ky. i will pull your offer!

[Wildcat Larry]

TOPCAT wrote: I think Hamilton told him if you visit Ky. i will pull your offer!
Pretty bold bluff right there, if true.

[Coldstream]

TOPCAT wrote: I think Hamilton told him if you visit Ky. i will pull your offer!Maybe not in words like that but I do think Hamilton went into overdrive to keep Vaughn away from UK campus.

[matt57]

if that's so, then kudos to Hamilton. recruiting is cut throat anymore, i'm not saying tubby should be more agressive. heck. i haven't the slightest idea how he recruits. but, if that did happen than hamilton is simply evolving with the cut throat recruiting. now, if he could only coach.

[Spanish Moss]

TOPCAT wrote: I think Hamilton told him if you visit Ky. i will pull your offer!

If it works, hey go for it. If you have any contact with Coach Smith, why not ask him to think about doing that with Patterson and Hickson. Let's tell both of them if the y visit Florida, Duke or North Carolina we pull the offer.. I am sure that will work with them if it worked with Vaughn.

Is that how we lost Wright to UNC?

[Grub]

matt57 wrote: if that's so, then kudos to Hamilton. recruiting is cut throat anymore, i'm not saying tubby should be more agressive. heck. i haven't the slightest idea how he recruits. but, if that did happen than hamilton is simply evolving with the cut throat recruiting. now, if he could only coach.

I'll probably get ripped to shreds over this, but Hamilton learned from one of the best...Joe B. Hall.

In Jerry Tarkanian's book, he makes mention of UNLV's recruitment of Sam Bowie. He said that Lebanon, PAonly had one motel...the Rodeway Inn. Everytime he flew into town, he would routinely check to see what other coaches might be there. Leonard Hamilton was always registered at the front desk. Years later, he asked Hamilton how it was possible that everytime he checked into theRodeway that Leonard was also there. Hamilton replied that the coaching staff kept the room booked year round, so just in case they wanted to fly in they would have a place to stay. He goeson to say thathe also found outSam had a copy of the room key...just in case he needed a place to party or study or do whatever he wanted to do.

I don't believe everything Tark wrote in his book, but I expect this is more true than not. Recruiting is a cut throat business indeed.

[katfever]

Off the UK board? Boy, thats a stunner. :rolleyes:

[ukcatfan]

There we go losing another player to a national powerhouse---FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY SEMINOLES.

Pardon me, I thought we were talking football.

PAR FOR THE COURSE.

[CatFanInTheBathtub]

katfever wrote: Off the UK board? Boy, thats a stunner. :rolleyes:

Credit to this thread for going 12 wholeposts before the first sarcastic UK sucks rolly-eyes comment.

RegardingVaughn's choice, I gotta agree with Tre Pryor. Especially his first point about climate, which is even more true when you're dealing with a guy who might be one or two years and gone. And the babes matter too.

[Spanish Moss]

CatFanInTheBathtub wrote: katfever wrote: Off the UK board? Boy, thats a stunner. :rolleyes:

Credit to this thread for going 12 wholeposts before the first sarcastic UK sucks rolly-eyes comment.

RegardingVaughn's choice, I gotta agree with Tre Pryor. Especially his first point about climate, which is even more true when you're dealing with a guy who might be one or two years and gone. And the babes matter too.


Kentucky is not the North Pole. If climate matters, how does any school north of Valdosta recruit anybody? And babes? I was born in Florida and married a Kentucky girl. Kentucky has plenty of "babes".

Our recruiting problem is much deeper than 80 degree weather in January and 40-20-36 babes. UConn has terrible weather and girls that look like Frankenstein's mother but they can sign players. How about Ohio State? Ohio is cold and their women wear big fur coats, yet they signed the best player out of high school. We could go on with this game but I made my point.

Beforel Billy Donovan arrived it was 80 degrees in January and the girls in Florida were as hot as they are today. But UK could out recruit Florida any day of the week. We need to get to the root as to why we are having problems recruiting. Weather and good looking girls is not the answer.

[katfever]

CatFanInTheBathtub wrote: katfever wrote: Off the UK board? Boy, thats a stunner. :rolleyes:

Credit to this thread for going 12 wholeposts before the first sarcastic UK sucks rolly-eyes comment.

RegardingVaughn's choice, I gotta agree with Tre Pryor. Especially his first point about climate, which is even more true when you're dealing with a guy who might be one or two years and gone. And the babes matter too.

LOL UK does not suck at all- however Tubby's recruiting of a top power forward arguably falls in that catagory. The excuses get more lame by the minute.

[audacious1]

TOPCAT wrote: I think Hamilton told him if you visit Ky. i will pull your offer!
And you know this how? I'll assume you're just joking.

[matt57]

Tre Pryor wrote: TOPCAT wrote: I think Hamilton told him if you visit Ky. i will pull your offer!
And you know this how? I'll assume you're just joking.


c'mon man, that's on of the oldest tricks in the game. it may or may not have happened this time. but, it has happened before.

[DCWildcat]

Let's put this in perspective. First, until a few weeks ago we had no contact with Vaughn at all, while Florida St has been following him coast to coast since he was a freshman in high school.

It sucks to lose him, but to lump him in with our other "big" failures that we were in with (Werner, Wright, Young, Cook, Hansborough) is pretty bad.

[CatFanInTheBathtub]

katfever wrote: CatFanInTheBathtub wrote: katfever wrote: Off the UK board? Boy, thats a stunner. :rolleyes:

Credit to this thread for going 12 wholeposts before the first sarcastic UK sucks rolly-eyes comment.

RegardingVaughn's choice, I gotta agree with Tre Pryor. Especially his first point about climate, which is even more true when you're dealing with a guy who might be one or two years and gone. And the babes matter too.

LOL UK does not suck at all- however Tubby's recruiting of a top power forward arguably falls in that catagory. The excuses get more lame by the minute.

I swear sometimes it's like talking to a brick wall with some of you. Can't you see that guys like this and Oden would be going to the NBA if it weren't for the age rule ? Can't you see that recruiting is different now than it was in the past. Five star recruits basically have their choice of 300 teams to play for and if UK's not the one than you'd have to be pretty snot-nosed to get upset about it.Until you can get into the brains of these kids to find out why they are picking the colleges they do I'd say you'd be making a huge ASSUMPTION when you blame the coach for being "out-recruited"

So, let me ask this question, If you, and by you I mean anyone here, had a choice of working in the state of your choice for a couple of years, maybe just one, would weather be a factor to you ?

By the way, Katfever, the first time I make an excuse for anything, you can call it lame. What I present are "reasons" from an open mind. Sometimes you gotta think about things before boarding the bandwagon.

[Spanish Moss]

If I were a big time recruit basketball player and I knew I had the talent to make the NBA, weather would not be a factor as to where I went to school for a couple of years.

These young men will be multi millionaires if they continue to improve their game. They will be able to live anywhere in the U.S. they want to. Most have several homes.

I would want to go to a basketball school and play for a coach I am confident would give me every opportunity to win an NCAA title and move me to the next level.

If I was not a UK fan then by all means I would look at Florida and look hard at Florida. But not because of weather, but because they proved they can win it all and the coach who did it is still there.

Maybe these players would like to play for Billy Donovan. I think most all of the players would like playing for the fans who fill Rupp Arena. It is Tubby's job to convince them to play for him. They have to understand and be sold on the idea that Kentucky is the place to play college basketball. We all know that it is the place to play college basketball. Coach Smith must get this across to them during the recruiting process. If not, he will strike out again and again.

Weather becomes a factor when you are reaching retirement age. Most of us don't want to scrape ice off of our windshield in the morning or slip on ice on the sidewalk. We like the sunshine and blue skies all year round. An 18 year old kid wants to play ball.

[chworld22]

CatFanInTheBathtub wrote: katfever wrote: CatFanInTheBathtub wrote: katfever wrote: Off the UK board? Boy, thats a stunner. :rolleyes:

Credit to this thread for going 12 wholeposts before the first sarcastic UK sucks rolly-eyes comment.

RegardingVaughn's choice, I gotta agree with Tre Pryor. Especially his first point about climate, which is even more true when you're dealing with a guy who might be one or two years and gone. And the babes matter too.

LOL UK does not suck at all- however Tubby's recruiting of a top power forward arguably falls in that catagory. The excuses get more lame by the minute.

I swear sometimes it's like talking to a brick wall with some of you. Can't you see that guys like this and Oden would be going to the NBA if it weren't for the age rule ? Can't you see that recruiting is different now than it was in the past. Five star recruits basically have their choice of 300 teams to play for and if UK's not the one than you'd have to be pretty snot-nosed to get upset about it.Until you can get into the brains of these kids to find out why they are picking the colleges they do I'd say you'd be making a huge ASSUMPTION when you blame the coach for being "out-recruited"

So, let me ask this question, If you, and by you I mean anyone here, had a choice of working in the state of your choice for a couple of years, maybe just one, would weather be a factor to you ?

By the way, Katfever, the first time I make an excuse for anything, you can call it lame. What I present are "reasons" from an open mind. Sometimes you gotta think about things before boarding the bandwagon.


UK is not the only team in the nation that plays on TV on a regular basis and goes to the NCAA's on a regular basis? Come on Catfan you have got to be joking.

I agree with everything you had to say. There is so much parody in college basketball these days that these kids can go to almost any school and have a good chance that after one year if they want the can go to the NBA and make millions. Why on earth do they care if it is UK or FSU? The tradition ok I'll take that answer.But, what is our tradition as of late? Not that great as far as NCAA championships and we all know that is what really counts.

I am a UK fan for life. I am a huge Tubby fan. But until we start winning NCAA championships this is what we can expect from recruiting for awhile. We will get some talent because we are still UK but the top notch talent is going to go to teams that are either Duke, UNC, or the flavor of the month.

Just my opinion.

[RaleighCat]

chworld22 wrote: UK is not the only team in the nation that plays on TV on a regular basis and goes to the NCAA's on a regular basis? Come on Catfan you have got to be joking.

I agree with everything you had to say. There is so much parody in college basketball these days that these kids can go to almost any school and have a good chance that after one year if they want the can go to the NBA and make millions. Why on earth do they care if it is UK or FSU? The tradition ok I'll take that answer.But, what is our tradition as of late? Not that great as far as NCAA championships and we all know that is what really counts.

I am a UK fan for life. I am a huge Tubby fan. But until we start winning NCAA championships this is what we can expect from recruiting for awhile. We will get some talent because we are still UK but the top notch talent is going to go to teams that are either Duke, UNC, or the flavor of the month.

Just my opinion.


I think you ment "Parity," but sometimes I view our recruiting results as "Parody."

I've reminded folks very often that the kids we're recruiting today were roughly 8-10 years old the last time Kentucky won the national championship/played in a Final Four. Let that sink in for a minute and it will scare you to death. Unfortunately for UK other elite programs like UConn, Dook, UNC, Michigan State and FL have had greater success on the national stage more recently. All those banners in Rupp Arena might as well be in a museum to some of the players we're battling for. Sometimes it boils down to the here and now.

Also, despite our fomer Cats' success in the NBA (Prince, Nazr, Bogans, etc.), Tubby Smith has yet to develop an NBA lottery pick. The elite HS kids we need to sign expect to be a high draft pick. Some of them don't make it, but they do expect to be NBA lottery material. Tubby has ZERO track record in this department. And by all accounts his first UK lottery pick isn't on campus yet.

Maybe Tubby & Co. can work their way out of this. Jasper and Meeks have the potential to be outstanding players (and maybe become lottery material). Our work is cut out for us no matter how you look at it.