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UK Basketball: Gillispie goes for 'intangible qualities' in recruiting

January 25, 2008|HAL MORRIS

LEXINGTON - Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie says "beauty is the eye of the beholder" when it comes to recruiting.

Gillispie was half-joking when he told a crowd at the Kentucky Press Association convention here Friday that UK wants "the best, tallest player that can pass handle, shoot, compete and be a great teammate, and be a great potential college student."

Gillispie looks for intangible qualities as well.

"I think we always try to recruit a player that has a distinct advantage at his position in a certain way. It may be toughness. It may be basketball IQ. It may be size. It may be quickness. It may be a skill," he said, "I think it's important to recruit intangibles. I like to recruit spirit. I think spirit means a lot. I like to be around people who want to go about their daily task in a positive way, and who want to embrace hard work and embrace daily challenges.

"I don't like duds. A dud is a firecracker that won't pop. I like people that want to be around and have fun. I understand there are going to be tough times, and tough times are what's really going to define your legacy as a player and coach and a worker. I don't want people that are going to run from these kind of things.

Gillispie said recruits DeAndre Liggins and Darius Miller have those intangibles.

"They have eagerness, they have spirit and they have toughness. They're great teammates. They're totally selfless players. They've won at the highest level you can win at, and they're very excited about coming to Kentucky," Gillispie said. "That means a lot.

"I love Darius Miller. Every single second I've been around him, he's one of the most unique young men I've been around, in every aspect. And Liggins has the intangibles it takes. He can score six points in a game and b totally dominate, and that's hard to do. But he affects players in a positive way."

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