Today was a big day in college basketball.  National Signing Day brought a lot of action across the board.  Kentucky only has one commitment for the 2010 class and that is four star small forward Stacey Poole.  That's not meant to slight Poole in the least.  The kid is the #11 ranked small forward in the class (as ranked by Scout.com).  The thing is, some UK fans have been a bit down in the dumps due to the lack of top 100 talent coming into the 2010 class.

For example, my buddy Aaron sends me the following text today, "...u surprised only one bball player signing today?"  To begin with, no, that's not a surprise.  Kentucky pulled one Hell of a recruiting class last year.  Getting John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins (two guys that everyone expects to be one-and-dones) was a major coup for first year coach John Calipari.  With Eric Bledsoe sitting in the driver's seat for being the point guard of the future (once Wall exits), I would assume many of the major PG prospects decided to take their services elsewhere.  The ones that have Bledsoe's competitive streak (he has said on many occasions he wanted to come to UK and play with/against Wall) may wait for spring to sign.  Why wait for spring?  To see if Coach Cal will play Wall and Bledsoe in a pseudo-two-point-guard system.  That's a shout-out to you Brandon and Josh.

The other thing Kentucky fans need to be reminded of is that Kentucky is in the top five for 7 of the top 40 recruits in the nation (again, according to Scout) for the 2010 class.  There are a lot of kids still on the market and waiting to make Spring decisions.  Kentucky is sitting pretty good at the guard positions.  Bledsoe will be back leading the team next year and Darnell Dodson looks to be a solid scoring option at the two guard.  Darius Miller will develop into a solid wing player, so that leaves UK with only a couple of questions at the big positions. 

Daniel Orton will be back in one of the big man positions, but that leaves a significant spot for a big man to come in and contribute (assuming preseason All American Patrick Patterson leaves for the NBA after the year).  UK is in good position for five star PF's Tobias Harris, C.J. Leslie, and Terrence Jones.  Jones is the only one with UK currently at the top of his list according to Scout, but Harris and Leslie both have UK listed second among their choices (behind Georgia Tech and Florida, respectively).

UK graduates three players this year and will likely see three more leave for the NBA (Wall, Patterson, and Cousins).  That only leaves seven players for the 2010-2011 team.  I can understand how that can concern fans, but have a little faith in the guy who brought you amazing players in his first recruiting class.  At the same time don't expect two one-and-done kids in every class.  There is only so much talent out there, and no matter how good a recruiter and coach you are you will only get so much of that talent.  Hang in there UK fans, enjoy this season, and wait until Spring before you start exclaiming that the sky is falling because Josh Harrellson will be your starting power forward next year.

Photo courtesy: ESPN

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