by Alex Schwartz

This afternoon, I once again caught up with Nolan Dennis '09, one of four players who had signed with Memphis before John Calipari left for Kentucky. A lot has changed since the last time I updated Dennis' status, around a week and a half ago. The swingman from Texas was head to Louisville, Kentucky for an all-star game when we spoke via text message today. The 2009 Boost Mobile Elite 24 Classic participant said the following when I asked him if he has been officially released from his National Letter of Intent to Memphis yet: "Yes, I think so, or tomorrow. [My high school] Coach [Richard] Bacon or my grandpa have all that information." There had been some reports that Dennis would head to Kentucky and follow Coach Cal, but he told me that he will consider "everybody," adding, "I'm opening my recruitment wide-open." He did say that going to Lexington was "one of my options" and that he will indeed consider Memphis, though he has not bee in touch with any of the players who had committed to Memphis (Will Coleman, Darnell Dodson, Xavier Henry, and DeMarcus Cousins, who has since committed to Kentucky). Although as of now, Nolan is "not sure" what school will reach out to him, his family and advisers have "all agreed to open [the] recruitment." Dennis is "not sure" when he will commit, but does feel that he will be able to reach a proper decision, despite his time constraints. So how stressful have these past few weeks been on the talented high school senior? "Real stressful on my whole family, but it's fun being able to [now] go through the [recruiting] process again. I just have a shorter amount of time to make my decision." It looks as though UK has a good shot at landing Dennis the second time around, and he will be in the Bluegrass State for this all-star game. I'll try to keep you updated on Dennis' recruitment.

In other recruiting news, Cameron Badger '09 of APEX Academies (NJ) has verbally committed to Caldwell, a Division II school in New Jersey. I caught up with the speedy point guard yesterday, to discuss his commitment, which he made on Tuesday. Badger, who went to Mercer Christian Academy (NJ) for a year and then Notre Dame (NJ) for two years before heading to APEX this year, said he "just wants to get out there," and added, "I just want to have a good career and set some records." The other schools Cameron considered were Manhattan, VMI, and Chestnut Hill (DII), with the last of the three being his other offer in addition to Caldwell, though Manhattan was his second choice. What led Badger to pick Caldwell? "The coaches have been there for 20 plus years and I feel they can really teach me this game, and it's a nice size school where I can excel in the classroom."