Saturday, December 29, 2012

SURPRISE!!! 2 of the countries top 5 recruits choose same school giving them the new #1 ranked class of 2013 recruits

ESPN.COM article link

John Calipari has a reputation around college basketball as a smooth, big time recruiter, a players coach who doesn't have a problem recruiting the high profile "1 and done" college basketball players that are looking for someone to get their game ready for the next level. While some coaches shy away from players that are in the spotlight regularly before even stepping on campus, garnering national attention sometimes before even becoming a teenager.

Whether they reason that its more detrimental to their program to bring guys in for only a year and then have to go through a constant rebuilding process year after year, teaching their system to a whole group of newcomers year after year as opposed to just filling in a few holes after graduation. Graduation is something that they can easily plan for, knowing the # of scholarships they will have open to make offers, with players that are teenagers having to make life altering decisions, pushing it off until the last minute possible, it makes recruiting that much more difficult. 

A job that is already time consuming, often frustrating, complicated, and difficult in general becomes something equivalent to guessing what your girlfriend heard about after the weekend bachelor party in Las Vegas. Coaches want an honest answer just as badly as that girlfriend, but players are young men, forced to choose where to possibly spend the next 4 years of their life, usually on their own for the first time, it's confusing.

Here are a few facts that are pretty straightforward and if your someone who follows sports, is being recruited by the top college basketball programs not only in the country today but also the most wins and championships in the history of college basketball, and have aspirations of lacing em up against the likes of Lebron James, there are very few programs that can compete with powerhouse recruiter/coach John Calipari and Kentucky.

Who Am I?

ESPN.COM ARTICLE LINK

I was diagnosed with testicular cancer during my career and instead of "giving up", "throwing in the towel" and feeling sorry for myself I fought Cancer like it was an Ali vs. Frasior fight. In the end I had the resources, doctors with the skills, knowledge and expertise to come out not only alive but gaining a new mindset and focus. I was able to push myself through a near death experience and lived to tell the story of how I beat a deadly disease that kills thousands and thousands of people across the world every year. There was a cost though...

I didn't tell the doctors, nurses, kids, or even my parents that I had in fact made a deal with the devil right before I went in to get my first treatment. I sacrificed a few not so important things in order to survive and be all I could be.....the rewards far outweighed the consequences though. Who really needs BOTH of their testicles? Think about how many children, men, and women were motivated and inspired to fight because of the story....whether he used steroids, HGH, cream, clear, cocaine or Heroine, the fact of the matter is that he survived CANCER. HE WON THE BATTLE AGAINST THE BIG C. 

DO I LIKE HIM AS A PERSON? NO. DO I RESPECT HIM AS A MAN? NO! HE LIED TO ME TOO MANY TIMES. MUCH MUCH TOO OFTEN. AM I IMPRESSED WITH HIS RESILIENCE AND DETERMINATION? YES