July 4, 2007

Brother, can you spare a recruit?
Billy Gillispie instantly gets basketball commitments to Kentucky -- at the expense of his friend, KU coach Bill Self.

By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH
The Kansas City Star

LAWRENCE | Days after Billy Gillispie accepted the head coaching job at Kentucky, Bill Self warned his close friend and protégé.

"Billy," Self said, "this is not going to be a lot of fun."

At first, Gillispie didn't get what Self meant. But now, he fully comprehends. In less than three months on the job, Gillispie has embarked on a recruiting rampage, and Self's Kansas program has been right in the thick of it. Gillispie has gained commitments from two players whom the Jayhawks coveted, incoming freshman guard Alex Legion of Detroit and rising senior point guard DeAndre Liggins of Chicago.

And this is only the beginning. The two friends -- Gillispie says they're more like brothers -- are in the running for several other blue-chippers in the class of 2008.

"I have a much better feel for it now than I did two to three months ago when he said those things," Gillispie says. "Because we've been recruiting some of the same guys the last three months, I better understand now what Coach was talking about. There's a sense of sadness."

It's hard to feel bad for Gillispie, though. His early recruiting victories have been swift and fierce, leaving minimal room for feelings of grief. Along with Legion and Liggins, Gillispie signed five-star incoming freshman Patrick Patterson, who had been considering Billy Donovan's Florida. So even Billy D. knows what Billy S. is feeling.

"I don't like it at all," says Self, who brought Gillispie along as his top assistant at Tulsa and Illinois. "Our paths will cross more now. We're both trying to recruit nationally and trying to recruit guys where we both have contacts. The one thing I do know is that recruiting isn't something that will jeopardize our friendship in any way, shape or form."

Gillispie's plundering hasn't been limited to the classes of '07 and '08. In point guard G.J. Vilarino ('09), guard K.C. Ross-Miller ('10) and forward Dakotah Euton ('10), Gillispie has received oral commitments from three talented players. Euton, like Patterson, chose Billy G. over Billy D.

Just last weekend, Gillispie secured the commitment from Ross-Miller, while also entertaining KU recruit Rotnei Clarke, a guard from Claremore, Okla., on an unofficial visit. Clarke left Lexington smitten by the Kentucky experience.

"They've given one of the hottest young coaches in the country a machine gun or an atomic bomb to work with," says Wes Grandstaff, Clarke's AAU coach with Team Texas. "I don't see any kid that's a basketball junkie visiting that place and leaving there not wanting to go to school there."

That's certainly how it went for Ross-Miller. One of the top players in his class, he had spent the previous days on an unofficial visit to Indiana. Ross-Miller heard that Clarke, his AAU teammate, was in Lexington, so he decided to join him.

This was no random stop, though. Gillispie had been recruiting Ross-Miller since he was an eighth-grader in DeSoto, Texas. One time during Ross-Miller's freshman year, Gillispie stopped by one of his games. That left an impression on Ross-Miller's father.

"He comes to town, stays about 20 minutes and says, 'The only reason I'm here is to see your son,' " Tim Miller says. "Why in the world would he go by and visit a freshman'"

There are different theories on that, most of them including the word "hungry." One theory floated around concerns Gillispie's lack of a wife and children to occupy his time. Basketball, the theory states, is all he has. Gillispie laughs when he hears this but can't deny the truth in it.

"I think that balance is really, really key to life," he says, "and I don't have a lot of balance. I know that I should, but I don't. So I'm a good talker, but I'm not a very good actor on that."

While heralding Self's and other coaches' family lives as a blessing, Gillispie still prefers to do his acting on the recruiting trail. It only took a day with Gillispie and his staff at Kentucky, and Ross-Miller committed on the spot, with three full years ahead to make a decision.

"He believes in me," Ross-Miller says, "and I trust him. I talked to him all the time, and we just got really close."

Gillispie has many methods in recruiting -- many of them learned from Self, he says. Clay Euton, Dakotah's father, says Gillispie asked Dakotah to promise that he wouldn't commit on his visit to Florida. Gillispie at least wanted a chance to see Euton face-to-face again before Euton committed, and that passion meant a lot in the end.

Clarke says that Gillispie often sends him text messages with motivational quotes or messages. Clarke, a lights-out three-point shooter, almost followed Ross-Miller and committed on the spot, but he resisted the urge.

"When you go to Kentucky," Clarke says, "you're not going to want to leave."

Grandstaff, who joined Clarke on the visit, says the only school that can compete with Kentucky in what it can offer a player is Kansas.

"It's just odd that Billy Gillispie is at one and his best friend is at the other," says Grandstaff, who has known Gillispie since his days as a high school assistant in Killeen, Texas. "It's a war between two friends, and it's always going to be a war."

Judging by Kentucky's facilities, it might not even be a fair fight. The Wildcats boast a $30 million practice facility that is, according to Grandstaff and others, by far the nicest in the country. Then there's the rabid fans and the beautiful new dorm where the players stay. Gillispie's early success has Kentucky fans in hysterics, refreshing Rivals.com every other second, waiting on the next big name to commit.

Hubert Hall, a Kentucky booster and class of '78, is one of the many excited Wildcats. A dentist, he has worked on the smiles of former Kentucky coaches Eddie Sutton, Rick Pitino and Smith. He says Smith, a good friend, put more of a priority on coaching than recruiting.

"Tubby had all the confidence that he could coach anybody," Hall says. "He thought he could make any player a great player."

Hall says that Gillispie hasn't come in for his first dentist appointment yet.

"Billy's been recruiting so much," Hall says, "he's never in town."

Billy S. and Billy D. can attest to that.

To reach J. Brady McCollough, e-mail jmccollough@kcstar.com

J. Brady McCollough - jbrady@coveringsports.com (email) - 816-868-2621 (cell)