Eric Bledsoe signs with Kentucky

Eric Bledsoe is the latest signee for the recruiting class of 2009 for the University of Kentucky Wildcats. He's the 3rd five-star player to sign in the class of 2009.

Bledsoe, whom the recruiting service Rivals.com ranks as the third best point guard in the high school class of 2009, picked Kentucky over Memphis.

Bledsoe’s commitment is not expected to adversely affect Kentucky’s pursuit of another point guard, the celebrated John Wall.

Bledsoe, a native of Birmingham, Ala., cited new UK Coach John Calipari and Kentucky’s love for basketball as factors.

“When Alabama recruited him at the end, he said, ‘Coach, it’s pretty much football, football, football all the time,’ ” said Maurice Ford, Bledsoe’s coach at Birmingham’s Parker High School.

“ ‘I’m a basketball player. Every time I pick up the paper, they’re writing about football. Coach, I want to go where basketball is important, where everyone knows and loves the game.’ ”