PuddingTime
10-13-2006, 12:43 PM
By Jerry Tipton
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
Kentucky basketball officially launches a new season tonight with its annual Big Blue Madness celebration.
This year's hoopla (pun intended), which marks UK's 25th annual ode to basketball, has a distinct forward-looking flavor.
Earlier this fall, UK Coach Tubby Smith embraced this upcoming season as a rejuvenating tonic after the dysfunctional 2005-06. He emphasized the possibilities of a new season rather than rehashing the problems of the old.
"I wouldn't be coaching if I didn't look forward to a new challenge, a new season," he said. "The past is the past. Now we have the present, and the future is what we're concerned about at this point."
UK fans can glimpse at the future during tonight's Big Blue Madness in Rupp Arena. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. with the program set to begin at 9. The UK women's team will be at center stage for the first hour, then the men's team gets introduced beginning at 10. UK officials expect Madness to end by 11 p.m. All of the 21,000 tickets available for the event were distributed last month.
Kentucky hopes its freshman class can play a significant role in the immediate future. Fans figure to form first impressions of those players: guards Jodie Meeks, Derrick Jasper and Michael Porter, plus forward Perry Stevenson.
"That group is going to have to grow up quickly to help us," Smith said.
In a throwback to yesteryear, Big Blue Madness will serve again as a marquee recruiting night. Three players believed high on UK's wish list are scheduled to attend Madness. The three are forward Patrick Patterson of Huntington, W.Va., point guard Jai Lucas of the Houston, Texas, area, and wing A.J. Stewart of Jacksonville, Fla.
Of the three, Stewart seems most likely to commit to UK during the weekend. He chose to visit UK's Madness over invitations from the other three schools on his list: Illinois, Kansas State and Clemson.
"I think that leads a little bit to favoring Kentucky," his high school coach, Rex Morgan, said.
Now Stewart is down to Kentucky or Illinois. With Stewart coming to UK's Madness, Illinois asked the player to come to its campus later this fall. The player agreed, although Morgan added a qualifier: "Unless Kentucky impresses him so much, he doesn't (visit Illinois)."
Lucas, the son of former pro star John Lucas, is scheduled to visit his father's alma mater, Maryland, later this fall. However, he did not rule out a commitment to UK this weekend.
"Oh, it's a possibility," he said. "Anything can happen if I feel it's the right place. It's a big possibility."
At least two in-state prospects expect to attend UK's Madness: senior Steffphon Pettigrew of Elizabethtown High and junior Scotty Hopson of University Heights in Hopkinsville.
Three other in-state players who have been linked to UK do not expect to attend Madness. Those three prospects are senior Jeffrey Brooks of Doss, plus juniors Bud Mackey of Scott County and Darius Miller of Mason County.
Mackey accepted an invitation to Indiana's Madness before UK asked him to come. "Bud's really, really interested in Kentucky ... ," Scott County Coach Billy Hicks said when asked if the choice had deeper meaning. "I don't think he's anywhere near making a decision."
Miller turned down invitations to attend several Madness celebrations, Mason County Coach Chris O'Hearn said.
Former UK star Kyle Macy and Christie Thomas, the weekend sports anchor for Lexington television station WKYT, will serve as masters of ceremony at Big Blue Madness.
WKYT sports anchor Rob Bromley and Martin Newton will serve as announcers on a telecast of Madness that will be picked up by eight stations serving Kentucky (9-11 p.m. EDT).
WKYT-27 plans to repeat its telecast on Sunday (3-5 p.m. EDT).
Besides the traditional introduction of teams, Madness will also include a performance by the Paris, Ky.-based clogging ensemble "All That," which was a finalist on NBC's America's Got Talent show last summer.
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
Kentucky basketball officially launches a new season tonight with its annual Big Blue Madness celebration.
This year's hoopla (pun intended), which marks UK's 25th annual ode to basketball, has a distinct forward-looking flavor.
Earlier this fall, UK Coach Tubby Smith embraced this upcoming season as a rejuvenating tonic after the dysfunctional 2005-06. He emphasized the possibilities of a new season rather than rehashing the problems of the old.
"I wouldn't be coaching if I didn't look forward to a new challenge, a new season," he said. "The past is the past. Now we have the present, and the future is what we're concerned about at this point."
UK fans can glimpse at the future during tonight's Big Blue Madness in Rupp Arena. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. with the program set to begin at 9. The UK women's team will be at center stage for the first hour, then the men's team gets introduced beginning at 10. UK officials expect Madness to end by 11 p.m. All of the 21,000 tickets available for the event were distributed last month.
Kentucky hopes its freshman class can play a significant role in the immediate future. Fans figure to form first impressions of those players: guards Jodie Meeks, Derrick Jasper and Michael Porter, plus forward Perry Stevenson.
"That group is going to have to grow up quickly to help us," Smith said.
In a throwback to yesteryear, Big Blue Madness will serve again as a marquee recruiting night. Three players believed high on UK's wish list are scheduled to attend Madness. The three are forward Patrick Patterson of Huntington, W.Va., point guard Jai Lucas of the Houston, Texas, area, and wing A.J. Stewart of Jacksonville, Fla.
Of the three, Stewart seems most likely to commit to UK during the weekend. He chose to visit UK's Madness over invitations from the other three schools on his list: Illinois, Kansas State and Clemson.
"I think that leads a little bit to favoring Kentucky," his high school coach, Rex Morgan, said.
Now Stewart is down to Kentucky or Illinois. With Stewart coming to UK's Madness, Illinois asked the player to come to its campus later this fall. The player agreed, although Morgan added a qualifier: "Unless Kentucky impresses him so much, he doesn't (visit Illinois)."
Lucas, the son of former pro star John Lucas, is scheduled to visit his father's alma mater, Maryland, later this fall. However, he did not rule out a commitment to UK this weekend.
"Oh, it's a possibility," he said. "Anything can happen if I feel it's the right place. It's a big possibility."
At least two in-state prospects expect to attend UK's Madness: senior Steffphon Pettigrew of Elizabethtown High and junior Scotty Hopson of University Heights in Hopkinsville.
Three other in-state players who have been linked to UK do not expect to attend Madness. Those three prospects are senior Jeffrey Brooks of Doss, plus juniors Bud Mackey of Scott County and Darius Miller of Mason County.
Mackey accepted an invitation to Indiana's Madness before UK asked him to come. "Bud's really, really interested in Kentucky ... ," Scott County Coach Billy Hicks said when asked if the choice had deeper meaning. "I don't think he's anywhere near making a decision."
Miller turned down invitations to attend several Madness celebrations, Mason County Coach Chris O'Hearn said.
Former UK star Kyle Macy and Christie Thomas, the weekend sports anchor for Lexington television station WKYT, will serve as masters of ceremony at Big Blue Madness.
WKYT sports anchor Rob Bromley and Martin Newton will serve as announcers on a telecast of Madness that will be picked up by eight stations serving Kentucky (9-11 p.m. EDT).
WKYT-27 plans to repeat its telecast on Sunday (3-5 p.m. EDT).
Besides the traditional introduction of teams, Madness will also include a performance by the Paris, Ky.-based clogging ensemble "All That," which was a finalist on NBC's America's Got Talent show last summer.