[Batpuff]

How the mighty have fallen.


Kentucky coach Tubby Smith was at the Eastern Invitational the first day of the recruiting period. Eastern Invitational is a camp about an hour down the road from the ABCD event in New Jersey. While you find the heavy hitters (Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, etc.) at ABCD, Eastern is known as a breeding ground for mid-major talent, as evidenced by the plethora of mid-major coaches that come through the doors.



[Image: http://msn.foxsports.com/id/5782036_36_2.jpg]Tubby Smith and Kentucky don't look like they can lure Tyrone Nash to play for them. (Jim McIsaac / Getty Images)

Smith was at Eastern to catch his first glimpse of Tyrone Nash, a 6-foot-6 forward debating between Kentucky or heading to prep school (Northfield Mount Hermon) in the fall.

Believe it or not, Nash is leaning toward turning Smith and the Wildcats program down in favor of a prep year. He's an outstanding student and while he wouldn't come out and say it, the former Lawrence Woodmere (N.Y.) star realizes the instability of the Kentucky program these days and also the fact that Smith only saw him play for the first time this past week.

"It's a nice campus and a good team," Nash said. "But I don't have a great comfort level with them because they didn't start recruiting me until recently."

Nash is smart. In fact, he's too smart for Smith and the Wildcats staff.

"If the ball stops bouncing, I need to think about life after basketball," Nash said. "It's not that a degree from Kentucky isn't good, but other schools such as Stanford and Georgetown have a better academic reputation."

Nash also knows that he'd just be a body for Kentucky and while he appears to be leaning towards spurning the Wildcats in hopes of attending a big-time academic school such as Stanford a year from now, his father is trying to persuade him to accept Smith's offer and head to Lexington. "I'm still in the middle of deciding," Nash said.