Billy Clyde Lands First REcruit!!!!!!!!!1

[Guest LeakyBengal]

For the 09 class

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[Bengals_12th_Man]

[size=3][b]Gillespie to UK Made Choice Easy for Vilarino[/b][/size]


Gerry Vilarino says it was only a matter of time before his son was going to play basketball for Billy Gillispie. The only question was where he would be playing.



GJ Vilarino
That question was answered on Friday as Gillispie was introduced as the new head coach at Kentucky. Less than 72 hours later, GJ Vilarino was a Wildcat. The sophomore point guard from McKinney, Texas, has given a verbal commitment to UK, making him the first official recruit of the Gillispie era in Lexington.

"When I found out coach G was being considered for the job, I was incredibly excited because I started thinking about the opportunity that my son may have to still play for him and be at a place like Kentucky, the mecca of basketball," Gerry Vilarino said.

"We've been working with coach Gillispie now for over a year now, and we've always been excited about the opportunity for GJ to play for coach G. We had always intended for him to do that, but one of the reasons we held out for a while was we wanted to make sure that A&M was the place he was going to be. We knew that he was going to be one of the hottest candidates in the country when a job like this opened up, so that's why we were holding out.

"I'm glad we did because it's such an honor for my son to get this opportunity. You're talking about Kentucky. It doesn't get any better than that. I know this is going to push him to work even harder to be the kind of player he wants to be."

Vilarino is a 6-foot, 160-pound player who averaged 20.5 points and 4.5 assists as a sophomore at McKinney High School. He's one of the fastest-rising prospects in the Class of 2009, recently getting named to the adidas Nation team that features 15 of the top sophomores in the country. In addition to Kentucky and Texas A&M, he had been receiving strong interest from Kansas, Florida, Purdue and Baylor.

Rivals.com national basketball analyst Jerry Meyer has seen Vilarino in action and came away impressed.

"He's a highly-regarded kid who's definitely going to be a four-star player when we expand our rankings for the Class of 2009," Meyer said. "He has exceptional ball-handling skills and an inate feel for the position. For a 6-foot kid, he's really long. He plays bigger than he is, although he's probably only 160 pounds at best. He needs to get stronger, but we're talking about a kid who's got two years of high school remaining. He has plenty of time to fill out."

Meyer said Vilarino drew favorable comparisons to a pair of current college basketball stars. "He's sort of like an Acie Law type, which helps explain why Billy Gillispie took so much interest in him early on. He doesn't have the same jumper at this time, but his jumper is improving. The big thing is he's really smooth and good with the ball. He reminds me a lot of (Ohio State's) Mike Conley, too. They share a lot of the same qualities."

Those comparisons excite Gerry Vilarino.

"That's a big compliment," he said. "Acie was probably a better shooter and GJ's probably more athletic and a little more polished at this point in the process. Now, is my son going to turn into a first-round draft pick? I don't know. I sure hope so. If he gets to the point where he's compared to Acie Law at the college level, I'm going to be really happy.

"He's still a work in progress, but nobody's working harder than GJ right now."

Gillispie's ability to evaluate Vilarino as a high-potential prospect even in his freshman year was one of the main reasons why the family was sold on him as their future coach.

"He's the kind of guy who believed in GJ's talent right away," Vilarino said. "You know, we're talking about a freshman who's barely 150 pounds, and coach G could see past that and look at all of his skills and potential. He told us right away he thought GJ could be special, and all the times we spoke with him from that point forward, he never wavered. He just has a way of making you feel special. Whenever someone shows that much trust and that much faith in your ability, that's someone you've got to roll with."

Vilarino says Gillispie's move to Kentucky has already made a big splash among high school basketball circles in the Lone Star State.

"There's a lot of blue-chip guys in this area and Texas in general who would love an opportunity to play for coach G, and now that he's at Kentucky, look out," Vilarino said. "When you talk about Kentucky, you're talking about one of the most storied programs out there. There's only four or five that's even in the same category. Kentucky recruits itself, and now that coach G is there, that's scary."





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[Guest bengalrick]

[i]Kentucky recruits itself, and now that coach G is there, that's scary.[/i]

[Guest #22]

#14 sophomore in the country [i]as per[/i] hoopsreport.net
Top 25 acc. to SI.com

I also hear that UK is strongly being considered by a Top 15 PG from next year's class. Williams was his last name, if I recall.

[BengalsCat]

nice.. Glad to see UK might be getting better. Guy kind of looks like Stuart Scott with the wandering eye though

[Bengals_12th_Man]

[size=3][b]Warren Re-opens Recruitment[/b][/size]

Talk about it in The House of Blue
With all the college coaching changes following the NCAA season North Crowley shooting guard Willie Warren list of favorites has taken a hit. In fact, Warren has decided to open things back up as he steamrolls into the AAU season with Team Texas.



North Crowley shooting guard Willie Warren has re-opened his recruitment.
Word has gotten out, and the 6-foot-4, 195-pound Rivals.com five-star prospect is getting bombarded by new potential suitors.

"My mom and I decided to open my recruitment back up," Warren said. "As soon as schools found out that I was back open I got a whole bunch of phone calls from a bunch of different schools."

But one school is really pushing Warren hard. It shouldn't come as a surprise as this coach has been pursuing him extremely hard even if it was at a former address just a week ago.

"I just got off the phone with coach (Billy) Gillispie, and he's making it even tougher on my decision," Warren said. "We've opened back up so we don't really have a list, but it's hard to turn down Kentucky, Kansas and Texas right now."

Gillispie has made one thing clear since taking over in Lexington: He wants Warren to headline his class of 2008.

"He wants me bad," Warren said. "He just went through all the All-Americans that they've had, how much they fill the arena and tomorrow I'm going to be on the ESPN Kentucky radio station. They're coming strong right now."

Two schools that used to be on Warren's list of top favorites were Gillispie's former dig, Texas A&M, and Arkansas. Just because the two programs have gone through a coaching change doesn't mean that they are out of the picture.

But right now both schools are dropping off, at least for the time being.

"I'm not just going to throw anybody off the list because you never know. I could end up at A&M or Arkansas if that is the best place for me. I really don't know what's going on," Warren said. "With Arkansas when coach (Stan) Heath was there that's all I would hear and the same with A&M. But since left I haven't heard nothing, so I don't even know if they want me any more. I haven't heard anything."

But even with Gillispie pursuing Warren from Lexington as opposed to College Station, and Kansas and Texas continuing to put on the full court press, Warren is re-opening his recruitment to make sure he will make the right decision when the time comes.

"I don't really have a No. 1 any more," Warren said. "I just have a list of schools that I'm highly interested in and then another bunch of schools that I'm definitely interested in. I really don't have a list or a top five."

Other than Kentucky, Texas and Kansas a number of schools have piqued his interest enough that Warren is taking them seriously.

"Wisconsin, Indiana, OU, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Arizona, UCLA – those are really the main ones," Warren said.

Warren is currently playing his AAU basketball with Team Texas, and last weekend in Las Vegas they reached the semifinals. An addition it the roster will be infused in time for the Kingwood Classic, which makes Warren believe his team is a legit contender for the prized title.

"It's going great. We just had our first big tournament in Vegas and played well as a team," Warren said. "We just added Olu Ashaolu to our roster for Kingwood and the rest of the summer. I think we have a real good shot at winning Kingwood with our guard play. It's me, Rodney Bazell and Chris Babb, and if our guards play like we did in Vegas regardless of the game we lost to go to the championship game when we lost our legs, we'll be great contenders this year."

Warren is ranked as the No. 13 player in the nation in the latest Rivals Top 150.

[Bengals_12th_Man]

[size=3][b]Gillespie's Recruiting Rep Built on Relationships[/b][/size]

Talk about it in The House of Blue
The to-do list assumed by Billy Gillispie upon being named the new head basketball coach at Kentucky is not exactly an enviable item.


Jeff Drummond/CatsPause.com

New UK coach Billy Gillispie addressed the local media about his first week on the job.
Gillispie joked with reporters on Thursday that he feels like he's been living at the Craft Center since he accepted the UK position. "The office has been fantastic," he said with a wink and a smile when asked if he's had a chance to adjust to Lexington.

The primary culprit in Gillispie's lack of down time? There's major work to be done on the recruiting trail.

"We're hustling," Gillispie said. "We're trying to get everything organized and caught up in recruiting, trying to get ahead in recruiting for the future."

There was almost immediate evidence of that this past weekend when Gillispie received a verbal commitment from Texas sophomore GJ Vilarino, a perfect example of why many national recruiting analysts believe that Gillispie is going to be a force to be reckoned with at Kentucky.

During his time spent as an assistant coach at Illinois and a head coach at UTEP and Texas A&M, Gillispie has established a reputation as one of the best recruiters in the nation. He had a Top 25 class with the Miners and three straight ranked classes with the Aggies.

So why has the 47-year-old coach been such a hit with recruits? He modestly chalks it up to a combination work ethic, personality and honesty.

"I think I've been at good places," Gillispie said. "You have to have a product to sell before you can be a good recruiter. I think that everyone in college basketball works hard, but we work extremely hard in recruiting.

"One of the things that has been a definite strength is we've been honest with people when you're talking about what their roles are going to be. You can say all those kind of things that you want to, but I think the best thing for our recruiting is, once we have players on campus, the people that we're currently coaching are the best recruiters… I think they can sell players when they're coming here on a visit on relationships. 'This is the way coach is, whatever he tells you is going to be the truth. He's not going to lead you on and do those kind of things.' So I think honesty is a big part of being able to recruit."

Gillispie said former players have been instrumental in helping him spread that message in the past.

"The guys who have played for us year after year after year – after they've completed their playing career – they always speak very, very highly about the people who have been involved in shaping their basketball careers, helping them graduate and get on with their lives.

"We have relationships that last a lifetime. It's not something that's only going to be there while those guys are playing basketball for whatever school I've been at."

HEAD START:

In some cases, establishing that bond begins years in advance. Case in point: the 16-year-old Vilarino who has known Gillispie since he was a freshman and wasted little time in accepting the coach's offer to join him at Kentucky.

Some may question taking such an early commitment from a player who is still developing – note the Adam Williams recruitment during the Tubby Smith era – but Gillispie says that's the way the game is played now.

"In this day and age you have to start recruiting at a very, very early age," Gillispie said. "While there is some gamble, some guys eliminate the risk because of the way you can, hopefully, predict what they're going to be.

"As far as early commitments, I think that we'll be very, very, very, very selective in our recruiting, but we'll also be very, very, very aggressive in our recruiting at a very early age, so hopefully we'll identify the guys we need to be recruiting at a very early age and going after them with vigor."

THE TASK AT HAND:

Gillispie hasn't been afforded that much time with the current task at hand. Kentucky has only eight scholarship players on the current roster and is expected to sign at least three players this spring to go along with fall signees Mike Williams and A.J. Stewart.

"Our roster's definitely not where it needs to be," he said. "We have work to do in that respect, but we're working around the clock to get that completed here in the very near future."

Gillispie is currently scrambling to secure commitments from prospects like four-star Houston (Texas) Bellaire point guard Jai Lucas and five-star Huntington (W.Va.) power forward Patrick Patterson. They are the two highest-rated unsigned/uncommitted players in the country, according to Rivals.com. Lucas is rated the No. 42 prospect nationally, while Patterson comes in at No. 15.

Asked what tactics can be used to level the playing field with such little time remaining to make an impression – the spring signing period opened on Wednesday – Gillispie revisited the "R word."

"Recruiting is relationships. That's what I feel like," he said. "No matter which school you currently coach, you have to have relationships. If you're a parent of a recruit, it's all about trust.

"If you don't know someone, you have to be able to get to know them in a very short amount of time in our situation. That's where we are. We're trying to allow ourselves to be trusted and have relationships and build on those relationships as we go… So far, we've been pretty good about being able to be trusted in a short amount of time."


AP: Jeff Drummond/CatsPause.com

DeAndre Jordan (55) was an ABCD all-star this summer in New Jersey.
THE JORDAN QUESTION:

There has been speculation that Kentucky may consider making a pitch to five-star Texas center DeAndre Jordan, who was the centerpiece of Gillispie's fall signing class at A&M, but the coach has consistently shot down that suggestion.

"No, no, no. You couldn't do that, and you wouldn't do that," Gillispie said. "I'm all for Texas A&M. I want them to continue to build upon the program that we got started, and that would not be the right thing to do."

But Jordan didn't help matters when, upon heading to the Bluegrass State for this weekend's Derby Festival Classic all-star game, opted to leave his college choice blank on a questionnaire the players were asked to complete. The 7-footer also told CatsPause.com on Thursday that he was open to the possibility of following Gillispie to Kentucky should he not feel comfortable with new Aggies coach Mark Turgeon.

It appears Gillispie will not approach Jordan about being a Wildcat, but what if Jordan expresses that desire? Can UK afford to turn away such a talented prospect at such an obvious need position? This could prove to be the first tough decision of Gillispie's career in Lexington.

THE SKY'S THE LIMIT:

With or without players like Jordan or Lucas or Patterson, Gillispie is excited about the possibilities now that he's coaching in one of the premier programs in the nation. Making a recruiting pitch with the power of the Big Blue Nation behind him is different than any other situation in which he's been throughout his career.

"Kentucky basketball. You sell Kentucky basketball," he said. "There are so many great things here: the campus; the life in Lexington; the legacy of Kentucky basketball, the legacy of the players who have been here; how many players come back here and make it their lifelong home after they finish their playing careers; the attitude of the players here; the love of Kentucky basketball of the current players; the passion of the fans, that sincere passion.

"You're talking about Rupp Arena and the workout facility. You're talking about a lot of great things. But what you have to do, again, is go back to trust. Can a mother and dad trust their son to you for a time in their life that's going to be very influential?"

What about playing time? The Cats seemingly have major opportunities for newcomers to step into starting roles, especially in the frontcourt after the departure of Randolph Morris, Bobby Perry, Sheray Thomas and Lukasz Obrzut.

"I guess you know the team better than I do," Gillisipie said with a laugh. "I'm not going to tell anybody anything that I don't know 100 percent for sure about. If we have a particular need at a particular spot, absolutely. But I'm not going to sell or relay information or tell people that there's going to be something there that I don't know is going to be there. I'm not a person who likes to have people come in and think they got a different deal than what they thought they were getting themselves into. I'm going to tell guys the absolute truth. I'm not a big promise-maker."

Still, he conceded there is much to offer at UK.

"You sell so many things. There's a ton of things," Gillispie said. "When you're talking about Kentucky basketball, people want to listen. You say sell, but I really don't say sell. I just relay information. I'm not into selling anything. I don't think you have to sell anything here. I think you have to relay information and share information. I think once you start sharing that information you can start developing that relationship that's going to be the most important part."

MORE EXPOSURE:

Gillispie says part of his long-term plans that tie into recruiting is the establishment of more prominent summer camps on UK's campus. Former Kentucky coach Tubby Smith ran an assortment of youth basketball camps during his time in Lexington, but they seldom attracted a wide array of top prospects from across the country. Gillispie thinks that is a realistic goal for a program like UK.

"I don't know what they've done in the past, but I'm going to make it my best effort to have one," he said. "I think it's very important. Some of the things we've talked about the last couple of days is having a national big man camp, try to get the absolute best guys in here no matter how old they are or how young they are.

"We're going to try to have an elite camp. We had a junior elite camp back at Texas A&M where you had fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders where you got them before they got to their ninth-grade year. We'll probably try to expand on that. We'll probably be able to do a little bit more nationally. There are so many players who are close to this area, I think, that you could have something really special."

THE RECRUITING LANDSCAPE:

Kentucky has traditionally recruited nationally, and don't expect that to change under Gillispie's watch even though he's already generated considerable interest from many top prospects in his Texas home. He sees the Lone Star State as an important piece of the puzzle.

"I think we're going to go wherever we have to go to recruit the absolute best players to help win championships here, and that's what we want to do," he said. "Again... it's all about relationships, and I was a high school coach in that state for a long time. I was a junior college coach and we did OK at the upper levels. I think everyone there has been very, very supportive, and there are a lot of kids who know us personally.

"I think that, when you talk about Kentucky basketball, once you identify guys who are going to make a major difference at this level, you have to go wherever. You're always going to go to where the best ones are, but you want to go to where the best ones are where you have relationships with the people, too, so it will be important to us."



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[Bengals_12th_Man]

[size=3][b]Gillespie set for in-home visit with Patterson[/b][/size]

The family of five-star Huntington (W.Va.) power forward Patrick Patterson will finally get to meet the man behind the voice – or perhaps more fitting in this era of recruiting, the man behind the keystrokes.


Jeff Drummond/CatsPause.com

Patrick Patterson dunked against Lexington Catholic in the team's clash this winter at UK's Memorial Coliseum.
Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie will make an in-home visit with the Pattersons on Monday, the first face-to-face meeting between the two parties since Gillispie was hired. The McDonald's All-American has been in contact with the Wildcats' new boss, but only through phone calls and text messages thus far.

"We're excited about it," said the player's mother, Tywanna. "It will be our first chance to sit down and get to know coach Gillispie and find out what his vision is for Patrick at Kentucky."

Patterson (6-8, 228) is the highest-rated player remaining in the Class of 2007 who has yet to commit to or sign with a school. He's been locked at six schools – Kentucky, Florida, Duke, Virginia, West Virginia and Wake Forest – since the fall signing period.

"It's still the same," Patrick Patterson said. "I'm trying to get it cut down to two or three, but I need to give coach Gillispie and coach (Bob) Huggins a shot to come in and talk to me before I do anything. I have a couple more in-home visits left, then I'll go from there."

Asked what he's looking for during his in conversations with the new UK and West Virginia coaches, Patterson said: "Basically, I'm trying to see if I can build a relationship with them."

And is that a difficult task based on such a short amount of time? Many coaches develop relationships with recruits over months and even years.

"It may seem like it's hard, but it's not as hard as you might think," Patterson said. "You can actually learn a lot about someone in that situation. I just want to see if I feel comfortable around them, find out what they have to say about the way they're going to use me."

Gillispie has already given Patterson an idea of what his role will be on next year's team if he chooses to become a Wildcat. Kentucky lost four post players from last year's squad, including top-scorer Randolph Morris and starting power forward Bobby Perry.

"He told me before that I'd be a big focus of their offense," Patterson said of Gillispie. "He said they really need a player like me to come in right away and be an important part of the team, that I could get 40 touches a game and 15 to 18 shots. They see me as more than just someone to come in and rebound and play defense."

Patterson admits he doesn't know much about Gillispie's style of play.

"I really haven't heard that much about the way his team's play," he said. "I know that he took Texas A&M to the NCAA tournament and they went pretty deep into it. I know a lot of people thinks he's a really good coach, but I don't really know much about the man.

"I just want to sit down with him and find out where he sees Kentucky now and where he's going to take them. What made him decide to make the move (from Texas A&M)? What kind of style of play is he going to use? Stuff like that."


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[Bengals_12th_Man]

[size=3][b]Jordan Admits Bond Is Tight With Gillespie[/b][/size]




Regardless where DeAndre Jordan plays his college ball, his situation has made one thing clear – the appeal of Billy Gillispie to top high school prospects.



DeAndre Jordan signed with Texas A&M when Billy Gillispie was the coach.
Having signed with Texas A&M a few months ago, Jordan, a 7-footer from Houston, Texas, seems likely to honor his letter of intent, but Gillispie's departure to Kentucky has made that decision a little harder.

When Jordan speaks of Gillispie, it is easy to hear how much he wanted to play for him.

"He's a real intense coach," Jordan said. "He's just intense. He's kind of a family person, I'm not saying he has a family, but he turns his team into a family. I like that the way he coaches is inside out and defense first. He's real active and intense."

When talked turned to the Aggies' new coach, Mark Turgeon, Jordan was diplomatic, but he reserved his compliments for Gillispie.

"Stuff like that happens all the time," Jordan said of the coaching change. "Hopefully Coach Turgeon is good, but Coach Gillispie is a great coach. I just want to find out what Coach Turgeon is all about."

That will take more time than the few minutes Jordan spent on the phone with him last week. A face-to-face meeting was set to take place once Jordan returned to Texas after the Derby Festival Basketball Classic. With Gillispie, however, Jordan has a relationship that goes back to his early days in high school.

"Coach Gillispie recruited me all three years, so it's hard that he left," he said. "You just have it get used to it. He's gone. You can't go back."

Last week, Gillispie seemed to dismiss the idea of bringing players he recruited to College Station to Lexington.

"That's the deal that they have to do," Jordan said. "I can't say, 'Well, Coach, take me,' because I don't think that's right for Texas A&M, but if it's my choice to consider Kentucky, then it's my choice."

Still, Jordan would not have signed that letter if Gillispie had not been the one recruiting him.

"He was real big factor," Jordan said. "He's a great coach. He's real family-oriented, trying to get the players all family. He's hard on them to try to make us hate him so we are all closer together. He recruited me for three years so I was really close to him. That's the person that recruited me since I was a sophomore, so we have a real nice bond."

Clearly, Gillispie knows how to connect with talented high school players, and those bonds have been paying off when it comes to signing them.




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