I went to both Pros exhibitions on Monday in Lexington and Tuesday in Louisville. Had an incredible time seeing my beloved UK guys again in person, a few for the first time. I'm still quite the young'n, after all. Starting with our championship year in 1996, every single year of Kentucky basketball, except '03-'04, was represented by one or more legends in these games. Too bad Chuck Hayes couldn't have made it and bridged the gap completely. The eleven returning legends served a collective total of 26 years wearing the blue and white all for our fans' pleasure and allowing us to have argumentative dominance over pretty much every university out there. They've moved on to be drafted by and/or play for 17 of the 30 NBA franchises between them. And there are still and handful of unaccounted for UK players in the last decade that could've bumped that total up significantly. Regardless, here's a quick recap reference of our heroes this week.
#13 Nazr Mohammed Played 1995-1998 (3 years) for University of Kentucky
Drafted #29 overall by Utah. Played for Philadelphia, Atlanta, New York, San Antonio, Detroit, Charlotte, and Oklahoma City
16 minutes in Rupp: 11/6
20 minutes in YUM: 13/10 with 1 block
#32 Tayshaun Prince Played 1998-2002 (4 years) for University of Kentucky
Drafted #23 overall by Detroit
24 minutes in Rupp: 8/4/1 with 2 threes, 1 steal
#10 Keith Bogans Played 1999-2003 (4 years) for University of Kentucky
Drafted #43 overall by Milwaukee. Played for Orlando, Charlotte, Houston, San Antonio, Chicago
23 minutes in Rupp: 3/1/2 with 1 three
#9 Rajon Rondo Played 2004-2006 (2 years) for University of Kentucky
Drafted #21 overall by Phoenix. Played for Boston
33 minutes in Rupp: 3/7/7 with 2 steals
35 minutes in YUM: 14/5/4 with 6 steals
#23 Jodie Meeks Played 2006-2009 (3 years) for University of Kentucky
Drafted #41 overall by Milwaukee. Played for Philadelphia
29 minutes in Rupp: 14/1 with 3 threes, 2 steals
#55 Josh Harrellson Played 2008-2011 (3 years) for University of Kentucky
Drafted #45 by New York
20 minutes in YUM: 4/3 with 1 three
#34 DeAndre Liggins Played 2008-2011 (3 years) for University of Kentucky
Drafted #53 overall by Orlando
14 minutes in YUM: 0/2
#11 John Wall Played 2009-2010 (1 year) for University of Kentucky
Drafted #1 overall by Washington
28 minutes in Rupp: 15/3/2 with 1 three, 1 block
35 minutes in YUM: 26/8/2
#15 Demarcus Cousins Played 2009-2010 (1 year) for University of Kentucky
Drafted #5 overall by Sacramento
29 minutes in Rupp: 28/14/1 with 3 steals
35 minutes in YUM: 20/15 with 2 blocks, 5 steals
#5 Eric Bledsoe Played 2009-2010 (1 year) for University of Kentucky
Drafted #18 overall by LA Clippers
18 minutes in Rupp: 3/2/1 with 1 block, 1 steal
14 minutes in YUM: 4/4
#7 Brandon Knight Played 2010-2011 (1 year) for University of Kentucky
Drafted #8 overall by Detroit
28 minutes in YUM: 5/2 with 1 steal
We made 13 of 26 three-point attempts. What?!?! Hence the 88-65 final score thing we had going for us. Imagine if we hadn't have shot 9 of 23 free throws ... why does Coach still not make any of his guys practice freebies, again?
Top Players:
1. Terrence Jones: 25 points (10-19 FGs, 2-3 3PT, 3-10 FTs), 12 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 2 blocks. How do you miss that many free throws? Oh well. Jonesy put on what was probably up there with the best first game of any UK frosh ever. Especially considering that he could've notched a big 30 if he's just made 5 of those 7 missed freebies. When he wasn't busy getting fouled, he was knocking down threes, finishing off alley-oops, driving past his man to the bucket, and swishing midrange pull-ups that you simply never see college ballplayers even attempt. He looked every bit the tempo-pushing, mismatch-creating enforcer on opening night that most people expected to finally see from him around February. If we get this kind of effort from Terrence on a nightly basis, maybe the 2010-2011 season will be remembered for who was actually on the roster as opposed to the big Turkish-accented elephant in the room who wasn't.
2. Doron Lamb: 20 points (7-10 FGs, 3-5 3PT, 3-5 FTs), 5 rebounds, 3 assists. We all knew TJ had that kind of potential in him, but Lamb was the real opening night eye-opener. He only hit 70% of his shots, including three triples, and filled in valiantly in his first duty as falling down the position ladder as the resident back-up point guard when Knight takes a breather. My favorite shot was his late-game 18-foot pull-up jumper. Nobody does that in college basketball (as previously noted a paragraph up). Doron can get a little lazy with his handle, but when he's going full force he's bound to cross his opposition something hard. Be sure and double-knot those laces. He nearly dropped an ETSU guy who had tracked him down on a fast break runout, but instead settled for leaving him stapled to the floor and scoring on an uncontested lay-in. If we can get high-teen to twenty-point nights on a regular basis from our resident New Yorker, we've got a potential monster on our hands between all these stellar wing scorers.
3. Brandon Knight: 17 points (6-13 FGs, 4-7 3Pt, 1-4 FTs), 4 rebounds, 5 assists. In what easily could have been Knight's statement opener, our resident point guard sensation relinquished ball-dominating duties to the hot hand. Knight spent all of his time effortlessly setting the tone early by dropping jumper after jumper, and pretty much just handed over the keys after that. He could've gone for 30 and easily gotten it like he did pretty much every single game in high school, but Knight is taking the Cal-induced facilitator thing seriously. If he can be this efficient while trying to develop and understand his role on the squad, imagine how deadly he'll be once he figures everything out. I promise you that this is going to be considered quite tame in comparison with future college games by Knight.
4. DeAndre Liggins: 14 points (5-10 FGs, 2-4 3PT, 2-3 FTs), 3 rebounds, 6 assists. Dre was perfect for all intensive purposes. He tried to get his long-range stroke going a little late in the game, and if it wasn't for those jacks then he might've gone 100% on the floor. He got to the rim at will and showed off his superb vision and team-oriented nature in donating out a team-high 6 dimes. He was aggressive without ever forcing the issue, only attempting 10 shots, but look for that number to creep up and he figures out that he's mistakenly one of the last Wildcats that opposing defenses will be specifically be paying attention to. This game was a great sign of things to come from the new statistically adept DeAndre. Last year he fell into the category of impact players with no actual discernible box score contribution. Not now. Look for this man to be the Tayshaun Prince/Andrei Kirilenko-type stat filler as the team's most aggressive wing defender.
5. Darius Miller: 8 points (3-9 FGs, 2-5 3PT), 10 rebounds, 1 assists, 1 steal, 1 block. While he looked a little timid on offense (which I only hate because that was the egregiously regurgitated story line on the dude), but the truth is that UK really didn't need Darius to assert himself this game. All you really need to know is that he put in 2 threes and got double-digit rebounds. That'll definitely be the Miller stat to keep track of this season as he's our pseudo power forward. The guy needs to pull boards. Pat barely even did that with any consistency his junior year (only 11 double-digit rebounding games).
Maybe I'll make this a recurring thing too, but here's a post on all 10 of our current Wildcats in the NBA at the start of the season.
Eric Bledsoe - Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, and Randy Foye took up all but 39 seconds of the guard rotation in the Clippers debut. But Bledsoe showed up in a nice suit, so what's it really matter? He missed his only attempted 3 in those 39 seconds, but that's it. He increased it to 16 legitimate minutes by the third game and is trying to figure out what to do with his small windows of floor time. His big early season break came in the form of Baron Davis and Randy Foye both coming up lame with injuries for the fourth game of the season. Being the only other lead guard on the roster, Bledsoe got the starting spot and a monstrous 40 minutes of playing time. He was aggressive early and often, dazzling the Clipper crowd with his fearlessness and sense of purpose on the floor. The second half caught up to him a little bit, though. Moving into the next game against the Thunder, he outplayed his own 9/5/3/4/2 line against the Spurs to go for 17/4/8 plus 2 more blocks while notching 2 threes with great shooting from the floor. Eric's made a complete turnaround from the preseason already and this production bodes perfectly for his career that some (including me) were projecting shakily around draft time. We'll see if Vinny Del Negro has that same kind of trust in him when the full rotation's healthy moving on.
Keith Bogans - Until Ronnie Brewer or Kyle Korver prove to Coach Thibodeau that they can play defense, Bogans has the starting shooting guard spot for the Chicago Bulls. He played a monster 36 minutes in the season debut against the Thunder contributing in every way across the boards besides buckets. With Rose putting up 31 shots, Keith didn't have much of an opportunity to do so, but defense is his calling card so he did nothing to hurt his starting status. He's had a rollback in floor time ever since and consistently puts up bland numbers. Hopefully he can notch a few more three pointers going forward so he actually is looking like he contributes on that side of the ball. I haven't read anything saying that Bogans is in danger of losing his starting role, but it sure is a head-scratcher to say the least when you see him pretty much non-existent numbers.
Demarcus Cousins - Who'da thunk it? Demarcus got in foul trouble immediately but still produced a monster debut effort against the hapless Wolves. Then his preceded to foul out the next game in 21 minutes against the Nets. But still, Cousins has shown off the whole offensive package, including some nifty wing jumpers. Hopefully he can adjust to the foul calling (not likely) and stay on the floor. His stat lines so far look eerily UK-like, but we'll see if he can keep up with some higher quality front lines that don't involve Darko. He notched his first double-double in only his third game, so now the floodgates are open for him to produce like that on a nightly basis. He followed that up with a much rougher game of (*ahem*) foul trouble against the Raptors where he only managed 17 minutes and 4 boards, though he made up for it by putting up 10 quick points in the fourth quarter to fuel a Kings comeback win. No such luck the next night as Pau abused him (as he abuses everyone) and held him to 3 of 13 shooting with night-long foul trouble. I think we all know what Cousins has to work on ... but hey, at least he swished a spot-up 3-pointer!
Chuck Hayes - Chuck got limited run against the Lakers since you definitely don't want him out on the perimeter against Lamar Odom. But against the Warriors' Lee-Biedrins front court tandem, Hayes did work. He started center in Yao's second half of the back-to-back sit-out. Even though the Rockets had to suffer through a legendary Monta Ellis night, you can't fault Hayes for it. His teammates have always raved that he has a hidden offensive game that he hasn't shown the world, so maybe Yao's off-nights will finally bring that out of him. With Yao back in the line-up against the Nuggets, Hayes once again disappeared in limited run. But he's one of the few role players in the league who knows exactly what's expected of him when he does get in there, and Rick Adelman knows his contributions to the squad have nothing to do with his numbers, even though it was pretty sweet he pulled 13 boards against the Spurs. The Rockets just gotta start winning games. That's all that really matters.
Jamaal Magloire - The former All-Star, who somehow fell all the way down to being Joel Anthony's back-up, only gets spot minutes for the LeBron/Wade show and he's only responsible for doling out a few bruises in those minutes. It's pretty much been that way ever since he left New Orleans. I just don't understand what happened. He'll show his worth though in potential playoff match-ups against Dwight Howard, the O'Neals, or Pau/Bynum. Those are probably the only teams Magloire will get extended run against.
L @ Celtics: DNP W @ 76ers: DNP W vs. Magic: 5 minutes, 1 point (1-2 FTs), 1 rebound, 1 foul W @ Nets: 3 minutes, 0 points (0-2 FTs), 1 rebound W vs. Wolves: DNP
Nazr Mohammed - The starting center on UK's last championship winning team has had a rough early go. He's simply not getting minutes in favor of a Boris Diaw/Tyrus Thomas front court. He's started all the games but is consistently getting pulled early. Nazr's always been hit-or-miss for his entire professional career, but hopefully he can get his game on track to be a more reliable contributor for the ill-fated Bobcats this season. They look really ugly so far. His highest point production was netting 6 of 8 shots in only 14 minutes in a win against the Nets. If that doesn't tell ya how things are going, I don't know what will.
Tayshaun Prince - Who even knows why he's still on the Pistons? Tayshaun's game becomes unimportant with surrounding players such as Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, and Tracy McGrady. This team has no identity so Prince just has to be content with going out there and trying to fill in wherever he can. He'll always be a great one-on-one defender, but his true value was made through the team's defensive system. It doesn't have one anymore, so he'll just continue to do what he does until some other team appreciates him enough to trade for him. His play has been pretty inconsistent besides his point production in the teens. This Pistons squad sucks and is in total disarray. #FreeTayshaun
L @ Nets: 31 minutes, 14 points (5-10 FGs, 4-7 FTs), 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 2 fouls L vs. Thunder: 38 minutes, 12 points (6-11 FGs), 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 3 TOs, 4 fouls L @ Bulls: 42 minutes, 15 points (7-17 FGs, 1-2 FTs), 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 TO, 3 fouls L vs. Celtics: 32 minutes, 10 points (4-8 FGs, 2-2 FTs), 1 rebound, 1 assist, 2 TOs L @ Hawks: 37 minutes, 17 points (8-14 FGs, 1-1 3PT), 5 rebounds, 1 TO, 1 foul
Rajon Rondo - Rondo may very well be the first week MVP based on a single stat. If it weren't for his ungodly assist numbers, everyone would instead be talking about how terrible Rajon is shooting from everywhere on the floor. And that's even with him putting up a far more efficient game in game 2, albeit in a losing effort. Rondo has dropped 17, 9, 24, 17, and 15 assists so far, the third one being part of a Jason Kidd-like triple double of 10/10/24. It's completely nuts and I refuse to believe that somebody didn't mix up an NBA 2k11 video game box score with the real one. Rondo's only cementing his reputation as a top-3 point guard from here on out. He's blowing league records out of the water and it looks like there's no stopping him from keeping it going. He's a legit MVP candidate from here on out and I think he's actually unquestionably the frontrunner for the award in these first 2 weeks. He playing that crazy.
John Wall - So let's just mark it down now ... second halves in the NBA now belong to John Wall. He single-handedly almost brought his team back against the Hawks in every way he could. He swished in two 3s, got fouled at will, hit multiple mid-range pull-ups off screens, consistently finished directly at the rim, and through perfect lead passes on the go. What's simple consensus is that Wall is prolly the fastest thing with a basketball, period. That's all the commentators could talk about. Even though he took a beating to the Magic and got his fair share of rejections by premier swatters Dwight Howard and Josh Smith, John's picked the NBA pace up easily. What's sick is that his beastly effort against the Hawks was surpassed in nearly every single way the very next game. Wall led his squad to their first win in an overtime session with a Wiz-record 9 steals to tack onto his 28/13 points-assists double-double. He hit all of his big shots, he made all the right passes, and he swished every late free throw. It was great to see how perfectly that aspect of his game has already transitioned to the pros. John's simply a forceful creator, as shown by his assist numbers and shot attempts early on. When he's out of the game, nothing happens for the Wizards. It'll be really interesting to see what effect Gilbert Arenas will have on Wall's production when he gets back on the floor. Everyone's let out a collective sigh since his turnover numbers skyrocketed after two pretty alright games in that category to start the season. It wouldn't be such a big deal if the Wiz were winning their games ... but they're not. So John has to stop saying he's gonna cut down on them and actually cut down on them.
Yet to play: Kelenna Azubuike - recovering from knee surgery Daniel Orton - rehabbing left knee Jodie Meeks - out of the rotation Patrick Patterson - out of the rotation
UCLA was the original school who sent players en masse to the pros, led by the incomparable Bill Walton and Lew Alcindor. Then you had North Carolina with Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Brad Daugherty, Kenny Smith, and other elite talent throughout the '80s. Then Kentucky was an NBA floodgate institution, sending nine players from their 1996 championship roster alone to the next level. UNC reared its ugly head again, sending four players apiece from each of their '05 and '09 championship squads, led by Marvin Williams and Tyler Hansbrough, respectively. Well guess who's already pre-ordained to dominate year in and year out in the 20-teens? It's UK again. And if you didn't realize that after this year's draft ... I don't know what to tell ya.
Kentucky Colonels (our hypothetical 2010-2011 NBA roster) Center: Nazr Mohammed/Jamaal Magloire/Daniel Orton Power Forward: Demarcus Cousins/Chuck Hayes/Patrick Patterson Small Forward: Tayshaun Prince/Kelenna Azubuike Shooting Guard: Jodie Meeks/Keith Bogans/Joe Crawford Point Guard: Rajon Rondo/John Wall/Eric Bledsoe
Head Coach: Pat Riley Lead Assistant Coach: Dwayne Casey Assistant Coach: Walter McCarty General Manager: Rex Chapman
That's a pretty sick collection. And it only looks to get ridiculously sicker in the coming Calipari years. As Nazr and Jamaal (the only remaining players from the '90s championship squads) head to their career twilights, future potential pro Cats Enes Kanter, Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones, Darius Miller, DeAndre Liggins, Doron Lamb, Mike Gilchrist, Marquis Teague, and Anthony Davis will be making their grand entrances into the league. Five years from now, Rondo and Wall might be two of the best three point guards in the entire league. Cousins and Kanter might be vouching for 2nd place for the rebounding title behind Dwight Howard. Meeks might be the best three point marksman in the league. All these scenarios are legitimately possible.
It's gonna be an unprecedented run. Regardless of if every recruit is a one-and-done jumper, Kentucky will be the absolute go-to school for every uber-talented high school player out. It'll be to the point where the encyclopedia's gonna have to include that as a fact. The combination of Wall with Calipari made an instant transformation of our school where we went from being the historic program with the greatest tradition in college basketball to the cool program affiliated with Drake, LeBron James, and Ashley Judd. And that even affected everything to the point that, in edited retrospect, world champion Rajon Rondo is a beloved child and major representative of the University. Everything's almost too good right now. The Elite Eight loss was tough and having to lose our top five players to the draft hurt, but we reloaded without a skipped heartbeat and our 2011 class is already preset. As long as Calipari can resist a second bout of NBA temptation, UK is guaranteed to be the program of the next decade. And with LeBron now secured in Miami for the next seven years with Pat Riley looming over the organization, I say it's a safe bet that Coach Cal stays put. Within the next two year, we'll have finally unveiled banner number eight and it can only feasibly get even greater after that. I'll getcha back in five years if UK's reign hasn't already ended the world by bringing on the Apocalypse.
I can't wait to go back to school. Only time in my life I've ever said that. Besides the obligatory paranoia of feeling cooped up whenever I'm in Louisville, I just need to be around Lexington people. That city's the kinda place where you drop something and as someone bends down to help you pick it up, you can start and finish an entire dissertation on the state of college basketball with this total stranger by the time you've been handed back whatever you dropped. The people are so insanely passionate about the sport in a way that can't be said about other large groups I've been around. And I don't believe there are other people like that at such an inordinate level besides like certain foreign countries with their soccer teams. And UK fans can be painted in whatever light anyone wants to put them in, but I just really enjoy being around people who genuinely cared and are dedicated to something. Anything, really. It's the simplest human emotion, yet one that way too many people guards themselves from. Unconditional dedication. Lexington folk were brought up living for and singularly representing for these young men in the blue and white jerseys. And not dirty Duke blue. Kentucky blue. Like the grass. Except the jerseys are ... actually blue looking. And you know what's got me super psyched even more than I have been since just days after we were booted from the NIT and hired our grand Poo-bah of a coach? John Wall dunking all over Jerry Stackhouse.
While it's true that he's yet to even don a UK uniform or drive into the teeth of a collegiate defense strictly aimed at halting him, I feel comfortable saying right now that Wall is the best player in college basketball. I hold no ill feeling about declaring it. I'm confident that every single game this season that he plays will back that up. Time and time again you will see him cramming over guys twice his size, getting into the paint with ease, improving his jump shot, making perfect passing decisions, and just overtly dominating in a system that plays off all of his immense strengths. If you don't believe me, I don't care. Cuz you're the one who's going to be wrong.
To me it's like last year right when the NBA season started up, I bet a dude $35 on the championship. Lakers vs. the field. Guess who I chose. And I'm stingy with money, too. Only other thing I've ever for real bet on was poker. Cuz I'm a fiend at poker. But that's beside the point. All I'm saying is that John Wall will destroy every defender in his path this year and play off of guys that are also ridiculously talented. We're not losing more than 5 games next year. It's just not happening. I'm not guaranteeing a championship like I did with the Lake Show or like how a lot of the UK faithful are with this squad, but I'm just telling you not to bet against it. Kentucky fans are confident for a reason. It's infectious. When I stepped foot on campus and walk the same paths that Dan Issel, Jamal Mashburn, Tony Delk, Tayshaun Prince, and Chuck Hayes walked, I was immediately adopted into the culture. I've been a UK supporter all my life, but now I actually am the University of Kentucky. I never felt like there was ever an actual reason to take pride in any of my primary education schools. But when I'm on campus, I'm a part of a unified goal with like-minded individuals who truly and genuine care. It's special and just simply one of those things you have to experience to understand.
Our fan base, when inspired, is the best there is in sports. Even in a mentally grating season like last year's, I wish everyone could have felt how the building shook during our defining home game against Florida. Summoning our entire history into defending three free throws by a guy who had shot 11-for-12 on the night, we succeeded. Three times. The difference is that, this year, we'll have the players and a coach who could succeed regardless of us. We're just the intimidating and overflowing icing on the cake that will throw this party over the hump. I mean, I'm getting a great education in the insane field of engineering to set up the rest of my life and all ... but let's not kid ourselves. This joint is about basketball. The tag line is undeniably for real this season. "Respect our past. Fear our future."
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