You can read the story on Stacey Poole making a verbal commitment to the University of Kentucky men’s basketball program here at this link.
But here are a few other excerpts from my interview with Poole, who picked UK over South Carolina, this evening:
- In June, I interviewed Stacey Poole for a piece in early commitments and he said there was a chance during his sophomore season of high school that he might have committed to Clemson. But he said his father, Stacey Sr., played a huge role telling him “there will be other options come along, so wait and see them all.” Tonight he said about his father that “he played a huge part in all of this. He was right there for me.”
- Poole said he was shocked the way the UK fans acted towards him during last weekend’s visit saying, the “fans got me. They blew me away.”
- Poole’s father, Stacey Sr., played for the University of Florida and the younger Poole said he “grew up a Florida fan.” Poole’s friend and AAU teammate Patric Young has already committed to Florida but he said the Gators “were not an option” for him. But he noted he “can’t wait to play them. We’re going to get in them now. Patric and I are friends but when we play them, we’re going to go at it.”
- Poole’s parents own a private school in Jacksonville called the North Florida Educational Institute. His mother, Shelley, was a high school track and field star.
- Poole also has a younger brother – Solomon – who is 15 and in the Class of 2013. Early indications are Solomon Poole is a future big-time Division I player or as his older brother put it “he might already be better than me.”
- As far as other members in the ’10 class, Poole said he would now try and turn into a recruiter for the program. Brandon Knight also made his visit to Lexington during the same time Poole was there and he said Knight was “a cool dude.”