Vilarino and Gillispe: Still Committed
Vilarino was Coach Gillispie’s first commitment as the WIldcat’s coach. Over the past year Vilarino was supposed to evolve into a more complete player according to Van Coleman and others. Well, the expectations have been tapered for the prodigy’s game. As he still needs to develop physically and improve his inconsistent jump shot. Despite that, Coach Gillispie has remained firm in his belief in Vilarino and McKinney High coach, Lee Watson spoke of Vilarino’s belief in Gillespie:
“He was really high on A&M with Gillispie down there, and I think he likes coach Gillispie a lot,” said Watson, who has been one of the major intermediaries between the schools and Vilarino during the recruiting process. “
“The fact that [Gillispie] has coached and recruited some great point guards, [Vilarino] sees this as a great opportunity,” added Watson. “Kentucky’s about as good as it gets, and this was one of those things that it was the perfect storm.”
As a sophomore Vilarino averaged 20 points and 4.5 assists per game. Vilarino is solid. The Wildcat nation should be proud to have the probable 4 year player as a commit.
The national perception seems to be (for obvious reasons) that Kentucky has gradually fallen off over the last decade. The pride of the fan base has not wavered but, players around the country clearly took notice because ( insert any number of reasons here). A comment by Vilarino’s father, Gerry Vilarino, regarding his son’s decision to commit early. Left me feeling good about the Cat’s chances of a quick recovery from recent inconsistent spurts:
“Well, if Coach Gillispie had stayed at A&M, G.J. might have waited a little longer,” Mr. Vilarino explained. “But, the combination of Kentucky coupled with the chance to be coached by Coach Gillispie was just too much to pass on.”
According to Scout’s Inc. Vilarino was also being recruited by Kansas, Illinois, Memphis and Baylor before committing to UK. One of the most respected men in the recruiting business Van Coleman had Vilarino ranked as one of the top 30 sophomore’s in the nation at the time of his commitment. Although the expectations have been tapered for the Texas prodigy. I remain confident that he will develop into a consistent SEC caliber player while at Kentucky. Hopefully he will reassert himself while on the Adidas Nations team this summer.
On a side note, Josh Dickinson has reported that there is at least a little interest on both sides, with talented 2009 PG Mfon Udofia, however Udofia will not trim his list until July: click here for more
“The University of Kentucky continues to recruit a point guard from the 2009 class and Mfon Udofia has their attention. KentuckySportsReport has an exclusive update from Udofia and his interest in the Kentucky Wildcats.”
