Rossi is now an incredible 26-2 this season, and has won a career-best 16 singles matches in a row. He is currently No. 13 in the nation, and has won eight matches against ranked opponents. This is the first SEC weekly award for the Marseille, France native.

Barnett took a visit to North Carolina this past weekend to take in their Junior day. He has visits planned to North Carolina State on March 23rd, and then he will travel to Nashville, Tennessee to visit Vanderbilt on March 24th. As far as UK is concerned, Barnett is planning on attending UK in the spring. “I plan on going up there for a spring practice and probably one of their camps.” Barnett is still learning about UK, so getting him on campus will be crucial in his recruitment.

UK Defensive Line coach David Turner is handling his recruitment. “Coach Turner is a good coach who is staying in contact with me right now. ” Barnett said. Although UK hasn’t had much success in North Carolina, it makes sense that UK would continue to recruit that area since David Turner is a native of the state.

We’ll continue to monitor Chance’s recruitment throughout the recruiting process. Look for another update with him later on this spring and into early summer. Below is the Junior highlight film for Barnett:

During the visit, Jaleel and the other prospects were able to walk out onto the field so they could “visualize” what it would be like to play at Commonwealth Stadium with all of the lights and scoreboards turned on.  He said that he spent most of his time talking with UK DB Coach Mike Cassity, his recruiting coach.  Also, he was able to speak briefly with DC Rick Minter and HC Joker Phillips.  Jaleel also mentioned that he enjoyed hanging out with fellow Cincinnati prospects Shane Jones and Keith Watkins of Moeller and Karon Poole of Winton Woods.

When asked about UK’s intense focus on Cincinnati and Ohio in 2013, he stated that Kentucky is doing a fantastic job recruiting the area and that Jones and Watkins both seemed to enjoy the visit as well.  The visit went better than he expected and he said that he’s surprised UK hasn’t had more recruiting success over the years.

Up next, Jaleel has been invited to Michigan on March 11th and he will try to visit Indiana and Northwestern on his spring break.  In the end, Jaleel says that while he really likes UK, he still isn’t close to making any kind of decision.  “I’m going to wait and explore all of my options,” he said.

Then in the 2011 season Calipari made some comments in the media that he couldn’t understand how Mississippi State guard Dee Bost was eligible after declaring for the 2010 NBA Draft while Enes Kanter was not. That caused Stansbury to fire back at Calipari leading up to their meeting at Rupp Arena. At the game, Mississippi State had a five point lead with three seconds to go heading into the half until Brandon Knight was fouled on a mid-court shot, which led to a wild Stansbury reaction and subsequent technical. Kentucky has won all three meetings in every way possible and boiling dislike for Stansbury has grown.

At the beginning of this season the meeting tonight in Starkville looked to be a top-15 showdown. Three weeks ago it even seemed like we were headed that way, but since that time, Mississippi State has been on a big slide. The Bulldogs have lost three in a row including two games to bottom feeders Auburn and Georgia. Tonight might be Mississippi State’s last chance to impress the Selection Committee and get a signature win.

The Bulldogs are very talented with four potential NBA first round draft picks on their roster: Dee Bost (G), Rodney Hood (G/F), Renardo Sidney (F), and Arnett Moultrie (C). If Moultrie’s name sounds familiar its because he almost became a Cat back in the Summer of 2010. He transferred from UTEP, and his last two choices were Kentucky and Mississippi State. However, the talent has been dysfunctional at best with the attitude of Renardo Sidney and the lack of true leadership from Dee Bost.

There are several keys to tonight’s game for the Cats to win. One, Anthony Davis must be smart, early and often. He cannot get into foul trouble because Moultrie has the ability to do that and the ability to dominate. Two, the Cats must play together in a hostile environment at the Hump. It is a “us against the world” mentality, and that applies to all SEC road games. Third and lastly, the Cats must shoot well from the perimeter tonight. When they shoot well from the 3-point line then they are almost unbeatable.

My prediction for the game tonight is very tough for me to decide on. Mississippi State needs a win in the worst way, and the Cats are young enough to be susceptible on the road. I like the Bulldogs in a close game by 2-4 points. It’s not a favorable pick, but they need the win for the NCAA Tournament resume. I hope I am wrong.

Besides Kentucky and Western Kentucky, he is receiving interest from Louisville and Vanderbilt. He has already visited each of the schools except Vanderbilt. He is hoping to attend camps at each school and was invited to Notre Dame’s camp as well. He will participate at the Nike Sparq camp in Chicago in April. As we have seen before, some recruits really blow up after the camp circuit.

Mike Summers is handling his recruitment for the Cats. It appears UK likes him as an outside linebacker or rush end. I’m not convinced he is quite long enough to play the hybrid position, but he is very athletic. Scott informed me he runs a 4.75 forty-yard dash. He squats 400lbs, bench presses 235lbs and power clean’s 225lbs. He plans to attend UK’s camp this summer. It appears the staff wants to get a closer look at him before extending an offer.

Scott is also teammates with Jonathan Jackson (2013-LB). Scott informed me the two haven’t really discussed playing together. Scott will visit Louisville this weekend for Junior Day and then Western Kentucky the following weekend. Based on our conversation, his grades and tests scores are in order as well.

With that lead, UK Hoops came out in the second half with less focus( it seemed like) as Vanderbilt climbed back into the game even after a 20 point lead for the home Cats.  With 3 minutes left in the game, Vanderbilt went on a run to cut the lead to 8, and they had the ball.  A key Adia Mathies in bounds save off a loose ball rebound allowed the team to run some more time late in the game.  When Vanderbilt got the ball back, after the save by Mathies down 8, the Dores had a huge turnover in trasition.  After some Vandy free throws, the Cats were looking for some offense.  After a long drought, Bria Goss got a huge basket to push the lead back to 8 with a minute left.  Late in the game Christina Foggie turned the ball over for the Dores and sealed their fate with less than a minute left.  The second half was nothing to write home about for the Cats, but they held on for a huge conference win over a ranked team.  UK Hoops is now 22-5 overall and 11-3 in SEC play, and they are tied at the top with the Lady Vols of Tennessee who they split with this year.  

Megan Conwright played well at the point for the injured Amber Smith.  Conwright ran the offense and also played well on the defensive end.  Samarie Walker was huge tonight and constantly active in the paint and on the boards.  Walker ended up with a big double-double posting 15 points and 12 rebounds.  Keyla Snowden pitched in 14 points and some big 3′s on the offensive end, and freshman Bria Goss had 10 points.  Adia Mathies did not have a big scoring night, but the guard did have 7 rebounds and 3 assists to go with her 9 points. 

UK Hoops did a great job on the glass, outrebounding the Dores 40-29.  The team also forced Vanderbilt into 23 turnovers.  The team looks to build a winning streak now as they stay home to take on South Carolina Thursday night at Memorial.  The team can make history Thursday night too.  The Cats are 17-0 at home this season and have won 19 in a row at home overall dating back to last season. The team also now has tied a school record for SEC wins in a single season with 11 and will look for the record breaking 12th on Thursday.