Nerlens Noel expects to be ready by Christmas after undergoing surgery for a torn ACL. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Kentucky center and top NBA draft prospect Nerlens Noel is expected to be ready to play by Christmas, reports Keith Langlois on Twitter.

Noel tore his ACL in his left knee in February and underwent surgery in March. The freshman decided to declare for the NBA Draft and is expected to be a top pick. Noel was named SEC Freshman of the Year, SEC Defensive Player of the Year and received first-team honors from the Associated Press. Before the injury, Noel was averaging 10.5 points, 4.4 blocks and 9.5 rebounds per game.

If Noel did make his debut on Christmas Day, it would mean that he would miss approximately seven to eight weeks of the season.

Nerlens Noel says hopes ready to go by Christmas. Says injury a blessing, working on other aspects. Will be a bettter player for it, he says—
Keith Langlois (@Keith_Langlois) May 16, 2013

Kentucky forward Alex Poythress is returning for his sophomore season. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Kentucky freshman forward Alex Poythress is returning to school for his sophomore season, head coach John Calipari announced Tuesday.

Poythress averaged 11.2 points and six rebounds per game this season for the Wildcats and some scouts saw him as a first-round selection in June’s NBA Draft had he chose to leave school.

The Wildcats went 21-12 this season missing the NCAA Tournament a year after winning the national title. They lost in the first round of the NIT to Robert Morris.

“This year didn’t end like we wanted it to,” Poythress said. “I want to come back and do what we said we wanted to do and that’s win a national title. I want to develop more as a player and the competition coming in next year should help me do that.

Kentucky brings in a loaded freshman class next year, including six McDonald’s All-Americans.

Apparently, last night’s first-round exit by Kentucky in the NIT hasn’t stopped another five-star recruit from committing to the Wildcats, according to SB Nation. 

Julius Randle, a 6’9″ power forward out of Plano, Texas, made the announcement Wednesday that he will attend Kentucky next season. Randle had visited Kansas, Texas and Florida. The Wildcats will now have six McDonald’s All-Americans in this recruiting class on the roster in 2013, already getting commits from Top 20 recruits Aaron Harrison, Andrew Harrison, and James Young.

Randle is considered the top power forward in the Class of 2013, and he is rated third by ESPN, fourth by Scout and the top overall recruit by Rivals and 24/7.

Kentucky basketball has reportedly secured another Top 15 recruit into the fold for the Class of 2013.

Marcus Lee, a 6-9, 205 pound forward will commit to the Wildcats on Wednesday, joining three other Top 15 recruits, reports KentuckySportsradio.com. Lee is rated as a five-star recruit and the 15th overall prospect, according to Rivals.com.

Lee, who averaged 13.9 points, 14 rebounds and 9 blocks a game at Deer Valley High School in Antioch, Calif. last season, was also considering the California Golden Bears. He cancelled his visit with the Bears and instead visited Kentucky last weekend, attending the program’s “Big Blue Madness”. Lee also tweeted a photo of the practice facility and wrote, “No filter can make it any better. It’s just perfect.”

The defending national champions have already received commitments from top prospects guards Aaron and Andrew Harrison and James Young.

No live coverage of Marcus Lee decision. H-Leader reports hold-up is due to "UK documentary production crew" from ESPN coming. UK it will be—
Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) October 17, 2012

The rich get richer. In this case, it is Kentucky basketball securing another highly touted prospect.

James Young, a 6-foot-6 guard/forward from Rochester, Mich., committed to the the defending national champions on Thursday, reports ESPN.com after averaging 25.1 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game last season. Young will be a senior this year and is rated as high as No. 5 by some recruiting services.

“Kentucky has always been my dream school,” Young said, “Once I went up there to visit, I just fell in love with the place. I’m not just looking for the NBA. I’m looking for an education and a national championship and that’s about it.”

Young is the third player, all top-five recruits, to commit to Kentucky in the past seven days. He joins the Harrison twins, Andrew and Aaron, to form what is quickly cementing itself as the No. 1 recruiting class in the country for 2013.

Young said he was excited about playing with the Harrison twins and has watched them play over the summer.

The Kentucky Wildcats and the University of North Carolina Tar Heels could each have a record four players selected in the first round of the NBA Draft. (Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

The Kentucky Wildcats and the University of North Carolina Tar Heels could each have a record four players drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft on Thursday, marking the first time since the NBA switched to a two-round format in 1989 that two schools have accounted for eight players in the first round of the draft, according to NBA.com:

Kentucky “brought in a lot of guys, but what was great about the talent was the way they were able to play with each other,” said Ryan Blake, senior director of NBA scouting operations. “I think that’s what’s so valuable – not just the physical skill side, but the ability to play the roles in the team format.

“North Carolina also brought in enormous talent and they were able to work on their games for a number of years. It’s just unusual. I don’t know if it’ll be done again.”

The Wildcats’ Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is projected to go in the top three, shortly after his teammate Anthony Davis is selected as the consensus No. 1  overall pick. Terrence Jones and Marquis Teague are also probable first-rounders.

For the Tar Heels, Harrison Barnes will likely be a lottery pick, and John Henson and Tyler Zeller are projected to be chosen in the top 20 of the first round. Kendall Marshall is expected to be chosen in the middle of the first round as well.

Kentucky could see Darius Miller and Doron Lamb chosen in the first round, too. If the projections are correct, it would give the Wildcats six players drafted in the first round, and 10 overall between the two schools.

The last time two schools came close to doing what UK and UNC have the potential to do was in 2007 when Ohio State and Florida each had three players selected in the first round, highlighted by Greg Oden, Al Horford and Joakim Noah.

According to the report, Kentucky head coach John Calipari said that four of his six players are guaranteed to be drafted in the first round but that he’s hoping for more:

“My hope is all six, but I don’t know,” Calipari said earlier this month. “I would be surprised if four are not. I would say four are locks and the other two have to go work out.”

Kentucky Wildcat sophomore forward Terrence Jones is headed to the NBA draft, according to Dan Rieffer of WTVQ in Lexington.

Not that we don't already know, but ABC 36 has confirmed Terrence Jones will declare for NBA draft. Announcement could be as early as tmrw.

—
Dan Rieffer (@drieffer) April 16, 2012

Jones chose to return after his freshmen year in hopes of winning a national championship.  His decision and superb level of play this season paid off, as the Wildcats defeated the Kansas Jayhawks to be named the 2012 NCAA Champions.

This season, Jones averaged 12.5 points and seven rebounds.  He is projected to be the 11^th overall selection in the upcoming draft.

University of Kentucky coach John Calipari said he is not going to coach in the NBA anytime soon, according to ESPN.

“Kentucky is the best job in basketball coaching,” Calipari said.  “Why would I leave? We just won the national title.  We’re chasing UCLA.”

Kentucky, capturing its eighth national men’s basketball title in the win over Kansas on Monday, is three titles short of UCLA’s all-time record of 11.

After taking UMass to final four in 1996, Calipari coached the New Jersey Nets for three seasons.  He then worked as an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers for one season.

Even though the New York Knicks may have a potential opening with interim coach Mike Woodson stepping in for Mike D’Antoni, Calipari has said no NBA team has contacted him.

The rivalry between Kentucky and Louisville was taken to a new level on Tuesday when two fans started a fistfight at a dialysis clinic, according to WYMT.com.

“I think this is a first at a dialysis center,” Lt. Robert Swanigan said.

The fight started when the fans began arguing about which team would win Saturday’s Final Four match-up.

“He just happened to think UofL would beat UK and he started to run his mouth,” said dialysis patient Ed Wilson, who is a Kentcuky fan. “That’s what started it.”

Charles Taylor, a Louisville fan, was waiting to get hooked up to a machine and was talking to another fan when Wilson intervened.

“I didn’t talk to him about the ball game; I was talking to another guy about the game,” Taylor said. “He was meddling. And told me to shut up and gave me the finger!”

Wilson added: “I went up to him and I hit him. Didn’t hit him that hard, but I hit him.”

There are no charges filed and the case is now closed, according to WYMT.

University of Kentucky linebacker, Ridge Wilson was suspended from the team after being arrested for felony drug charges over the weekend, according to WDRB.com.

Wilson was charged with “trafficking in a controlled substance,” early Sunday morning after police found Wilson laying down in the driver’s seat of his car, which was pulled over on the side of the road. WDRB.com reports that police say Wilson was nervous when he spoke with officers. When he granted them permission to search his car, the officers on the scene reportedly found  a bag of Xanax in a pair of jeans in the back seat, they also found nearly $2,000 in the jeans he was wearing.

This past season, Wilson started eight games for the Wildcats. The junior tallied 47 tackles, two sacks, and recovered one fumble. In 2010 he had 30 tackles overall as a sophomore.

University of Kentucky basketball players Stacey Poole and Terrence Jones were involved in a late night car accident last night, according to a blog post by Kentucky head coach John Calipari.

“At approximately 2:30 a.m., Stacey Poole and Terrence Jones were involved in a car accident at the corner of Euclid Avenue and High Street, Calipari wrote. “They were struck by a vehicle driving on the wrong side of the road. The driver of the oncoming vehicle has been charged by police with driving under the influence.”

Neither of the players were injured in the accident.

Jones, a star sophomore for the team, left the scene of the incident shortly after the crash. According to Calipari, he did so out of fear of an altercation with the driver of the oncoming vehicle. He was later questioned by police about the accident.

Poole and the driver of their vehicle remained on the scene and answered questions to the reporting officers at the time.

Calipari says that as a result of the incident, the team will have a curfew for the remainder of the season.