Will Rapport Make The Difference With Patterson

[Spanish Moss]

From the article:



But to say UK leads the other five schools (Duke, Florida, Virginia, Wake Forest and West Virginia) apparently would be misleading.
"Everybody is the same to me," Tywanna Patterson said.
She added, "I don't know if there is such a thing as a leader."
So we move to the in-home and on-campus visits stage of this recruiting battle. Patterson and his parents plan to visit Florida on the weekend of Sept. 8-10. And, to the puzzlement of the player's mother, Florida Coach Billy Donovan plans to make an in-home visit five days later. The long-time-no-see visit might be a good idea in building rapport since Tywanna Patterson said the family was "still getting to know Billy."

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/sports/colleges/university_of_kentucky/15372152.htm

[audacious1]

This is the stuff that will drive the avid recruiting fan nuts because all we can do is piece together a nugget here and a morsel there to form our opinions. In the end, we either have to trust Tubby to get the job done or we don't.

To me the biggest issue in the recruiting of Patterson is playing time. At Kentucky he'll have it in spades, at Florida?... I don't think so.

[Will Lavender]

It does appear that Patterson is looking for someone to treat him like a human being and not a commodity.

Most of the quotes from him and his mother have been about how coaches and players have related to him.

[audacious1]

All the more reason that if we can get Lucas, Patterson should come as well.

[DCWildcat]

Tywana was initially leery of Dook. I wonder how she feels about Dook now.

For some reason, my hunch tells me this is between UK and Dook. Of course, my hunch has no validity to it, but it just seems that way to me.

[audacious1]

Mike Jones feels the same way but for the life of me, I can't understand why Patterson would feel good about Florida given that they've already got verbals from:


Adam Allen (SF)
Nick Calathes (PG)
Gary Clark (SG)
Chandler Parsons (SF/PF)
Alex Tyus (PF)
And! They're still running around after more! Including J.J. Hickson, James Anderson, Alexis Wangmene, and more! Talk about your wide-net?!? Patterson shouldn't feel special to be recruited by Florida... he should feel like everyone else in the Top 100.

Plus! There's no guarantee that Joakim Noah (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/player/profile?playerId=22154)and/or Al Horford (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/player/profile?playerId=24424)will be leaving. Patterson could come to UK and start on Day 1.

Kentucky has been recruiting PP longer than anyone except West Virginia. If it's rapport, then it should be between those two schools. Duke is the Johnny come lately... after PP rocketed up the rankings like Kentucky's staff always thought he could.

This really is an easier decision that many think. The playing time is there. The proximity to home. The relationship with the Head Coach. Top program in currently the top league. If I were Patrick, it would seem prettyclear to me.

Go Cats!

[poodoo]

Will Lavender wrote: It does appear that Patterson is looking for someone to treat him like a human being and not a commodity.

Most of the quotes from him and his mother have been about how coaches and players have related to him.


I sense the same, Will. Too,Mrs. Patterson'spositive comments about Coach K concern me a bit, for I have read that Patrick's dad is a Duke fan, and we do not want Coach K impressing Mrs. Patterson, whowe know likes Tubby a lot.

I join DC Wildcat in thinking that our strongest competitor is Duke. Coach K, unfortunately, can be quite convincing as a coach interested in a player's well-being. Don't we all remember that American Express commercial! :(

Also,losing a player to Dukehas too often been a problem forUK, particularly when Coach Pitino was here, actually. Duke scares me on Patrick Patterson. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.