Actually it's not....Wright was quoted in an interview stating that his final three were UNC, Vanderbilt, and Duke. His interest in UK dropped for whatever reason about a month or two before his decision. Most UK fans are either blind to, or refuse to believe this though.

Hindsight is a beautiful thing....

UK fully expected a verbal the Sunday after the UNC visit.

Why would they expect that...they were getting positive vibes from someone.

The biggest problem in UK recruiting stems from a few things.

It all started when OTS was gone for a large portion of the summer when he was the Olympic team.

Another issue, was when he lost George Felton as his lead recruiting assistant. Then AD Larry Ivy refused to give OTS a pay raise for his assistants. I firmly believe Ivy did very little to support OTS and was hoping he could lure his good friend Rick Pitino back from Boston, if and when he floundered.

Felton was an excellent recruiter who had a great network.

Furthermore, the staff before this year was not a good organizational staff...organizing priorites of who they wanted. Shawn Finney is good at that and will help and already seeing dividends from it. They have already had a couple of juniors on campus.

Reggie Hanson is a dog of a recruiter...he simply doesn't work hard enough.

UK was in great shape with the Morris twins, but they reclassified to the 08 class and Reggie dropped the ball, boom they are making an announcement early and head off to Memphis.

Rigot is a little better.

Hobbs is more of a bench coach type...and he is a key component of the staff that handles a lot fo the scouting and tape breakdown.

They lack of organization has hurt UK because they haven't gotten in with players early enough.

UK has been on Patterson the second longest outside of Wake Forest. They had him on campus last year as well. They have done everything they can to get the kid. Lack of effort will not be a downfall in his recruitment.

One other item. Lexington rarely hosts AAU tourneys that attract kid from all over the country. Partly, because Sandy Bell is so anal in compliance.

UNC and Duke receive huge benefits from getting kids to their campuses with the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions.

UK can not blame lack of effort in trying to get the signatures of Patterson and Lucas.

Hopefully, that aspect will improve.

I have heard that OTS and Barnhart do not have the best of relationships.

Barnhart wanted OTS to make some changes on his staff.. OTS did everything he could to move Hanson to a job, but couldn't and still retained him.

MB has gotten on OTS about being more in the public eye, selling the program more.

Evidently, this hasn't sat well with OTS. he may still feel he has a mandate because he won the title in 98, and still likes to cite total victories and SEC titles, but that rings hallow when you look at the FF drought and second round knockouts.

To his credit MB essentially railroaded through a soon to be state of the art practice facility.

This will be interesting to watch.

As for Lucas and Patterson.

Some other schools are looking at Lucas, particularly NC State and Indiana. I dont see IU because they already have so many guards locked up for 07 and 08.

Many feel it is still a 2 horse race between them and Duke. What is Patterson waiting on? Maybe to see where Smith and Donovan will be next year. A lot of rumors out there about Billy D and the Knicks. He didn't sign an extension.

UNC beat UK for TH, fair and square.

Actually, UK had Hansborough in for a unofficial during his junior year. UK made a great run at TH. UK had also just gotten Randolph Morris and UNC didn't have much in front of him.

Now Wright is probably a different story. However, Wright's high school coach was telling people, particularly Hanson that BW told him that UK was his leader.

UNC was in better than many have thought, as was Duke. UK prolly loosened up a bit when they received that information from the hs coach.

They didn't close the deal.

I agree with you. I don't think UNC did anything wrong. We just didn't seal Wright up. They may have misled Reggie. I don't know. But, this kid did not get the final push from UK. Hypothesizing, SWAT, Morris, Wright, and Hansborough on the same team. What a front line. Realistically, probably would never have happened.

True, but how did UNC get Hansborough, then turn around and get Thompson, Stepheson and Wright?

True, but how did UNC get Hansborough, then turn around and get Thompson, Stepheson and Wright?

I don't know. But, with all of them on the same team, that was why I was thinking aloud about Hansbrough and Wright, along with Morris and Stevenson. It works for the Heels, could have for us , also. Other posters have said it wouldn't work. I feel it would have.

Well, after reading the quote in the Lexington Herald on Saturday(maybe Friday), Wright finally said publicily what we are all knew to the be the facts. The grind it out style of play is what made Wright pick UNC over UK. That was the main factor. So, where does UK go from here? UK has steadily declined to the point where we can not get the top kids because of style of play.

Well, after reading the quote in the Lexington Herald on Saturday(maybe Friday), Wright finally said publicily what we are all knew to the be the facts. The grind it out style of play is what made Wright pick UNC over UK. That was the main factor. So, where does UK go from here? UK has steadily declined to the point where we can not get the top kids because of style of play.

I don't know if OTS is willing to change his style after all these years. I prefer up tempo, but the style I like best, is WINNING!!!

I don't know if OTS is willing to change his style after all these years. I prefer up tempo, but the style I like best, is WINNING!!!

 

:thumb: Absolutely.