UK Legends vs. Dominicans

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

... and Anthony Davis just blocked you.

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One-and-Done Effect on Calipari's Teams

#1 pick, a coach, #1 pick

You probably think the one-and-done thing is a really big deal that is possibly responsible for destroying college basketball.

It's not. But for this post I'll just focus on the slick-haired Italian not named Pitino who's the lightning rod for all things one-and-done.

John Calipari - Memphis (4), Kentucky (4)
(2002, #6 pick) Dajuan Wagner
(2006, #17 pick) Shawne Williams
(2008, #1 pick) Derrick Rose
(2009, #4 pick) Tyreke Evans
(2010, #1/5/18/30 picks) John Wall, Demarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, Daniel Orton

So Coach Cal is the evil face of this system, right? He's runs an NBA farming squad that fast forwards guys right into the pros, right? Or maybe his first year at Kentucky was simply an outlier. An anomaly. A crazy happenstance. Calipari coached nine seasons in Memphis and churned out an enormous quantity of ... four freshmen NBAers. He also happened to send one early-entry sophomore and one early-entry junior, Darius Washington and Chris Douglas-Roberts, to the professional ranks. How many pros do you think he had spend a full four seasons in college? None or maybe a single random guy, right? This one-and-done recruiter can't have possibly developed players over the extent of their college careers and put them into a positive position maybe even beyond their natural capabilities, right? Five Memphis seniors under Cal have played in the NBA. Robert Dozier, Joey Dorsey, Rodney Carney, Antonio Burks, and Earl Barron.

And what about Cal's success in post-1&Done seasons? Surely if players leaving too early is such a monumental problem then it would create a noticeable correlation to the following season's detriment. Memphis went from 27-9 NIT Champions with Dajuan Wagner to 23-7 making the NCAA Tournament in 2003. They went from the 33-4 Elite 8 with Shawne Williams to the 33-4 Elite 8 in 2007. They dropped from 38-2 losing the championship game with Derrick Rose to dropping 33-4 in the Sweet 16 in 2009. Calipari left Memphis after Tyreke Evans' single season to start over at UK, remolding a team that went straight to the Elite 8 in 2010.

Then there was the 2011 mass exodus. But I've already covered that enough.

So Calipari hasn't won a championship. If that's your end-all-be-all argument, then you win. If all of Derrick Rose, John Wall, and Demarcus Cousins came back for multiple follow-up seasons, then yes, Calipari probably would've claimed a title by now. But then again, maybe not since proceeding recruits might've looked elsewhere for more prevalent playing time. Then there are always freak injuries, chemistry problems, and situational transfers ... so ... there's no guarantee either way. Calipari has milked pretty much every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears out of his roster every year. I honestly think the only underachievement you can mark him for is his first Kentucky squad not at least making a Final Four. But even with that, you're talking about a team with a brand new coach who's starting three freshmen with a single returning contributor from the previous season. So it's strictly off talent and will that they were a favorite at all.

Bottom-line: There have been two seasons where a one-and-done departure has seriously affected a John Calipari team. 2009 without Derrick Rose and 2011 without Wall, Cousins, Bledsoe, and Orton.

The 2008-2009 Memphis starting five could have hypothetically been Derrick Rose/Tyreke Evans/Antonio Anderson/Robert Dozier/Shawn Taggart ... but is that even a guaranteed championship contender in a year with Hansbrough's Tar Heels stomping the field? The 2010-2011 team would've hypothetically been an all-time juggernaut if any two of the four departures would've stayed ... but then you don't know who stays healthy or if Brandon Knight and Terrence Jones wind up here at all. And we made the Final Four as constituted. Sooo ...

Calipari's career in summary
19 years coaching [8 at UMASS, 9 at Memphis, 2 at UK]
509-152 (77%) record [193-71 (73%) at UMASS, 252-69 (79%) at Memphis, 64-12 (84%) at UK]
13 NCAA Tournaments [5 at UMASS, 6 at Memphis, 2 at UK]
9 Sweet Sixteens [3 at UMASS, 4 at Memphis, 2 at UK]
7 Elite Eights [2 at UMASS, 3 at Memphis, 2 at UK]
3 Final Fours [1 at UMASS, 1 at Memphis, 1 at UK]
1 Championship Game loss [Memphis]

... and Free Enes.

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The Lost Recruits: 2009

I love the heavy months of high school basketball recruiting. Having John Calipari as your head coach will make you obsessive about that kind of thing. So many kids become the most important thing a UK fan could possibly keep tabs on, only to fade from our entire conscious the second they pick the hat of another program. I wanted to bring back our old temporary dudes to give a perspective on if Coach Cal has been making the perfect recruiting pulls that we assume he's been making as our infallible grand puba.

All of the given rankings are according to Rivals and all the stats are displayed as points/rebounds/assists blocks-steals with percentages given as (field goal/three-point/free throw)%.

#8 (SG) Xavier Henry
NCAA - Kansas (2009-2010): 13/4/2 0-2 with (46/42/78)% at 28 MPG in 36 games
NBA - Grizzlies (2010-2011): 6/1/1 0-0 with (44/22/70)% at 21 MPG in 16 starts
In a year where Coach Cal seemed to be picking his recruits straight off the factory line, Xavier was the single one who actually got away. Which is kind of weird because he already had his commitment to start off. X and Demarcus Cousins were the flagship guys that Cal already had signed to play for him at the University of Memphis, marking his first dual superstar class to one-up his Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans recruitments. Once Calipari took the Kentucky job, Henry immediately de-committed from Memphis and proceeded to have one of the most confusingly indecisive recruitments ever. On any given day, Henry was reported to have committed to Kansas or to have switched his verbal to Kentucky or to have been told by either of his parents to attend opposite schools. This went full circle through the media rounds two separate occasions before he finally suited up for the Jayhawks, drawing the ire of UK fans who minutes before were pleading for him. He tore our heart strings out twice and was probably amongst the most hated humans out there last season for the Wildcat faithful. Before we quickly forgot that he existed, of course. After an early bounce from the NCAA tournament, Xavier proceeded to bolt from KU right for the league (as was always expected) and was selected 12th by the Memphis Grizzlies. His NBA career started out with a rough PR patch when he held out from signing his rookie contract for a significant amount of time over the small wiggle percentage that NBA teams are allowed to finagle under the rookie scale. His play on the court was never an issue, but prima dona claims have followed him due to weirdness of his recruiting journey and certain statements he's let slip publicly.

Bottom-line: Miss. Henry possibly could have been the missing piece to a championship season last year as he would have been an immense upgrade over Darnell Dodson and redefined the team as the probable starting shooting guard, relegating Eric Bledsoe to a 6th man role. As an outsider, though, he could have created chemistry problems due to not connecting early with "The Three Amigos" of freshmen John Wall, Cousins, and Bledsoe.

#11 (SG) Lance Stephenson
NCAA - Cincinnati (2009-2010): 12/5/3 0-1 with (44/22/66)% at 28 MPG in 34 games
NBA - Pacers (2010-2011): 3/2/1 0-0 with (33/0/79)% at 10 MPG in 12 games
Lance had his fair share of image issues in high school that left him as the last beauty pageant contestant on the runway. Before Cincinnati accepted him an entire month after the last day of the late signing period, not a single flagship program was willing to take a chance on Stephenson's elite talent after Kansas, St. John's, Maryland, and Arizona all severed ties after he floated them as his "finalists." He was an ineligibility risk at one time due to his involvement in a documentary following his high school basketball exploits. Beyond that, his personal reputation was sullied to begin with due to being suspended as a high school senior for fighting with a teammate as well as facing a misdemeanor sexual assault charge in the same year. Before his first season as a Pacer even started, he was arrest for third degree assault in an incident involving his girlfriend. Lance was always slated as a probable one-and-done guy and he upheld that by bolting for the NBA right away, being selected in the second round by the Indiana Pacers with the 40th pick. Just months earlier he told reporters: "I don't think I have had an NBA season this year so the best choice is for me to stay."

Bottom-line: Great pass. It's undeniably a good thing we skipped giving "Born Ready" a chance. His rap sheet reads as every problem people thought Demarcus Cousins would be. Great talent, but an eligibility risk and would have caused chemistry problems for the single season he would have spent at UK. He also was a mediocre long-range shooter and would have required the ball to be taken out of John Wall's hands.

#19 (SF) Royce White
NCAA - Minnesota (2009-2010): did not play, left team
NCAA - Iowa State (2010-2011): did not play, sat out due to transfer
Royce was originally a Tubby commit who never suited up for Minny due to a mall arrest because of shoplifting and misdemeanor assault on a security guard. This was followed up with him being mentioned in the case of a stolen laptop from a dorm. White left the team after the hard stance Minnesota took with him, though he claimed to know nothing about the laptop. All of this has temporarily stymied the basketball career of a McDonald's All-American who was renowned as a monster rebounder who can score from anywhere on the floor as a combo forward. White originally vowed that he was quitting basketball altogether because of the way he was treated at Minnesota, but Coach Cal highly considered adding him to UK's 2010 class once he reneged and started looking for a school to transfer to. In later interviews, White said that he felt Iowa State was a better fit than Kentucky even though Calipari offered him a scholarship. However, it's contrastingly been reported that Kentucky pulled back on its pursuit of White before he committed to the Cyclones.

Bottom-line: To be determined. White could have been an invaluable frontline addition to create a legitimate big man trio with Terrence Jones and Josh Harrellson in 2010-2011, but his ability has yet to be shown against collegiate competition and his possible character issues could have plagued the team through media scrutiny. Once he hits the court and stays out of trouble, we'll see if we actually missed out on a ball player.

#58 (SG) Nolan Dennis
NCAA - Baylor (2009-2010): 2/1/1 0-0 (44/29/50)% at 8 MPG in 25 games
NCAA - Baylor (2010-2011): 2/1/0 0-1 (41/23/50)% at 8 MPG in 15 games
Dennis was supposed to be great slasher with a solid shooting stroke coming into the collegiate ranks. Calipari obviously agreed by making Dennis part of his broken-up Memphis class (along with Cousins, Henry, Darnell Dodson, and Will Coleman). Everyone out of that class except for Coleman bounced to another team, with Dennis heading to Baylor. He's barely made a ripple of an impact since, only hitting his career high of 10 points in two separate games and not even stepping on the floor for a large percentage of the games beyond that. There's always room for him to carve out his role as an upperclassman, but he simply hasn't shown his talent as of yet.

Bottom-line: Irrelevant. Maybe Baylor's just the wrong system for Dennis and he could've made a bigger impact under Calipari, but the evidence is that he's just not that good yet. He probably would've never seen rotation minutes at the off-guard position over Bledsoe/Miller/Liggins in his freshman season, nor Liggins/Lamb/Miller this season. He might've been an all-world bench cheerer a la Stacey Poole, though.

If you can think of any other 2009 guys, let me know. I don't expect there were many more since Cal had to completely gut his inaugural UK roster just to fit in the six newcomers of (#1) John Wall, (#2) Demarcus Cousins, (#22) Daniel Orton, (#23) Eric Bledsoe, (#40) Jon Hood, and (#130 in 2007) Darnell Dodson. Next time I'll tackle the super-messy class of 2010 ... where Cal pretty much swung for everybody in the top 15.

... and Free Enes.

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Opening 5 Games for UK NBA Guys

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.

L vs. Blazers: 1 minute, 0 points (0-1 FGs, 0-1 3PT)
L @ Warriors: 5 minutes, 1 points (0-1 FGs, 1-2 FTs), 1 assist
L vs. Mavericks: 16 minutes, 6 points (3-5 FGs, 0-1 3PT), 3 rebounds, 2 assist, 1 steal, 4 TOs, 3 fouls
L vs. Spurs: 40 minutes, 9 points (4-11 FGs, 1-1 3PT), 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals, 2 blocks, 3 TOs, 5 fouls
W vs. Thunder: 38 minutes, 17 points (7-10 FGs, 2-3 3PT, 1-2 FTs), 4 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 blocks, 3 TOs, 3 fouls

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.

L @ Thunder: 36 minutes, 3 points (1-4 FGs, 1-2 3PT), 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block, 1 steal, 1 TO, 2 fouls
W vs. Pistons: 23 minutes, 2 points (1-5 FGs, 0-4 3PT), 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 fouls
W vs. Blazers: 16 minutes, 3 points (1-2 FGs, 1-2 3PT), 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 fouls
L vs. Knicks: 25 minutes, 4 points (2-4 FGs, 0-2 3PT, 0-1 FTs), 1 rebound, 1 assists, 1 block, 1 TO, 1 foul
L @ Celtics: 22 minutes, 4 points (1-3 FGs, 0-1 3PT, 2-2 FTs), 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 2 TOs, 2 fouls

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!

W @ Timberwolves: 27 minutes, 14 points (5-10 FGs, 0-1 3PT, 4-6 FTs), 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 TOs, 5 fouls
L @ Nets: 21 minutes, 12 points (3-8 FGs, 6-6 FTs), 4 rebounds, 6 fouls
W @ Cavaliers: 28 minutes, 14 points (5-10 FGs, 0-1 3PT, 4-6 FTs), 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 5 TOs, 3 fouls
W vs. Raptors: 17 minutes, 16 points (6-10 FGs, 4-4 FTs), 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 steal, 5 fouls
L vs. Lakers : 20 minutes, 11 points (3-13 FGs, 1-4 3PT, 4-6 FTs), 6 rebounds, 1 block, 1 TO, 5 fouls

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.

L @ Lakers: 15 minutes, 0 points (0-0 FGs), 1 assists, 1 block, 3 fouls
L @ Warriors: 39 minutes, 16 points (8-12 FGs, 0-2 FTs), 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 3 TOs, 5 fouls
L vs. Nuggets: 16 minutes, 2 points (0-1 FGs, 2-4 FTs), 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 3 TOs, 2 fouls
L vs. Hornets: 12 minutes, 4 points (2-3 FGs), 2 rebounds, 1 foul
L @ Spurs: 27 minutes, 8 points (3-7 FGs, 2-2 FTs), 13 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 TO, 3 fouls

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.

L @ Mavericks: 18 minutes, 10 points (3-8 FGs, 4-4 FTs), 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 TOs, 1 foul
L vs. Pacers: 13 minutes, 5 points (2-4 FGs, 1-2 FTs), 4 rebounds, 1 block, 1 TO, 4 fouls
L @ Bucks: 22 minutes, 3 points (1-4 FGs, 1-2 FTs), 3 rebounds, 1 block, 2 TOs, 3 fouls
W @ Nets: 14 minutes, 12 points (6-8 FGs), 1 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 TO, 1 foul
L @ Pistons: 9 minutes, 6 points (3-5 FGs), 3 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal, 2 TOs

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.

W vs. Heat: 41 minutes, 4 points (2-9 FGs), 5 rebounds, 17 assists, 2 steals, 3 TOs, 1 foul
L @ 76ers: 38 minutes, 18 points (8-12 FGs, 1-1 3PT, 1-2 FTs), 4 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals, 4 TOs, 1 foul
W vs. Knicks: 45 minutes, 10 points (4-12 FGs, 0-1 3PT, 2-6 FTs), 10 rebounds, 24 assists, 1 steal, 7 TOs, 1 foul
W @ Pistons: 36 minutes, 9 points (3-7 FGs, 1-1 3PT, 2-2 FTs), 3 rebounds, 17 assists, 4 steals, 1 foul
W vs. Bucks: 47 minutes, 17 points (7-10 FGs, 3-4 FTs), 8 rebounds, 15 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 6 TOs, 3 fouls

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.

L @ Magic: 35 minutes, 14 points (6-19 FGs, 2-3 FTs), 1 rebound, 9 assists, 3 steals, 3 TOs, 3 fouls
L @ Hawks: 42 minutes, 28 points (9-17 FGs, 2-3 3PT, 8-10 FTs), 5 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 TOs, 1 foul
W vs. Sixers: 45 minutes, 29 points (9-16 FGs, 0-1 3PT, 11-14 FTs), 2 rebounds, 13 assists, 9 steals, 8 TOs, 5 fouls
L @ Knicks: 35 minutes, 13 points (4-11 FGs, 0-2 3PT, 5-6 FTs), 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 9 TOs, 2 fouls
L vs. Cavaliers: 43 minutes, 13 points (5-14 FGs, 0-1 3PT, 3-4 FTs), 4 rebounds, 10 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 6 TOs, 4 fouls

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

... and Free Enes.

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My 2011 Fantasy B-Ball Roster

All of my hopes rely on that loose ball

We got the league together a little late so my fantasy basketball season commenced this morning with a 5:00 A.M. auto-pick draft. I absolutely skewered my draft board, though, so none of these picks were accidents. I'm in love with my roster. Last year my consistent headliners were LeBron, Steve Nash, Monta Ellis, Amare, Russell Westbrook, Al Jefferson, Tyreke Evans, Marc Gasol, and Joakim Noah in a 6-person league, but this year we upped it to 10 players (all close friends). So obviously than nearly cuts my elite options in half and I have to go with more specialists than last year, but I gotta a killer base to build around.

PG: Chris Paul
SG: Monta Ellis
SF: Brandon Roy
PF: Danilo Gallinari
C: Andrew Bogut
G: John Wall
F: Luol Deng
Util: Kevin Martin
Util: Eric Gordon
Util: Yao Ming
-----------------------
Bench: Jose Calderon
Bench: Anthony Tolliver
Bench: Taj Gibson

Only transactions so far are picking up Tolliver and Gibson by dropping my last two automated picks, Jameer Nelson and Wes Johnson. I had all the multi-faceted point guards I needed already between Paul, Ellis, Wall, and Calderon, so Nelson was superfluous. And I'm stocked on scoring wings too between Roy, Gallinari, Deng, Martin, and Gordon, plus I just don't think Wes Johnson's gonna be that good in general.

The only guys I'm completely sore about not getting are Blake Griffin, Demarcus Cousins, and Russell Westbrook. I had all these guys skyrocketed up my draft board even before all of their impressive debuts. I actually drafted Griffin last year an entire day before he was announced a scratch for the entire season. That blew. My friend Jarod must've bumped them up even more than I did because he got Cousins and Griffin. Oh well.

I'm actually the league manager this season and I kept the same categories and rules we were under last season. It's a weekly head-to-head match-up with 10 categories: points, rebounds, assists, FGs made, FG%, FT%, 3-Pts made, steals, blocks, and turnovers. The only place I see myself legitimately struggling on a weekly basis is in rebounding and blocks. Since pretty much all of my forwards are of the small instead of power variety, I gotta rely on my monster guards to each collect those extra scrap rebounds to build on Bogut and Yao's production in that area. But if I can win the other 8 categories every single week I think I'll be content. Ha.

Last year I was the runaway regular season champion. I think it was something crazy like 23 wins ahead of second place. I never lost in points on the entire season, which made up for the fact that I only won the TO category a single time. But I actually went down in the playoffs in the championship round to my friend Ethan. He beat me 5-4. And there were three categories that were entirely and grossly winnable on my side. I'm pretty sure we tied on assists, I was literally .001 behind him in FT%, and he had 2 rebounds on me. For a basketball junkie/enthusiast/freak like myself, I couldn't have been more pissed off. But I still made some money off it since we agreed before the season to put half the pot on the regular season and half on the playoffs, even though I should've had all of it.

I don't know if it'll be interesting enough for me to throw up a bunch of updates on here, but I'll consider it. I definitely will be on here bragging if John Wall kills, Monta keeps spewing out 46-pointers, and Paul keeps dropping 16-dimers.

... and Free Enes.

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2010 Blue-White Notes

What do we take from the UK-on-UK basketball tune-up for the 2010-2011 season? Terrence Jones and Brandon Knight are gonna be better than whoever you think is gonna be good from another team.

Everyone always gets in a tizzy whenever you attempt to extrapolate information from a practice/scrimmage/exhibition, but I'm just telling you what I see out of these guys' skill sets and level of performance in this Blue-White game. So ... don't tell me I'm looking too much into a game that doesn't count. Because I am looking too much into it.

It was basically the expected starters for the season versus the back-ups with a few minor trade tweaks throughout the game, which accounted for the Blue team winning 101 to 74. Even though Knight had an insanely efficient night of a sick 37 points (reinforcing his astronomical scoring potential that has now become an expectation since the Canada games), it was TJ who had me the most excited. He (don't kill me for saying it) reminded me of a 6'9" John Wall. If Jones got the ball on the run, no one had a chance to stop him from advancing the ball wherever he wanted. His speed and handle will leave no chance for anyone at his position to compete with him in open-court scenarios. He's ridiculously quick off his feet for on-ball blocks and aggressive on the boards. Once Jones got into the painted area, he consistently found a creative way to get the ball in the rim. He utilized pump fakes well (which you rarely see from young players) and showed a deft touch on close-range jumpers. He finished off three separate alley-oop lobs with the full-body flair and excitement that Wall exhibited on every dunk last year and tossed in a 3-pointer to boot. And to finish off the number-one-pick-in-the-2010-NBA-Draft comparison, Terrence pulled of a slick behind-his-back maneuver off a low-post catch that completely freed him for a vertical dunk. Terrence had the crowd at his beckoning with every amazing play and you could tell by his body language that he was feasting off of it. UPDATE: He had 29 points.

But now to the silent assassin who's prolly gonna match Jodie Meeks for UK's all-time single game scoring record at some point in the early season. If a box score becomes available then I'll update, but I'd venture to say that Brandon Knight made close to 70% of his shots tonight for those 37 points (UPDATE: 14 of 20 FGs). And he did it every way imaginable. He showed off the spot-up three point stroke off an interior pass as well as when coming off a pick and receiving the inbounds pass. He swished a rhythm step-in 18-footer with a hand right in his face. He showed his amazing ability to absorb contact in the paint despite his wirey frame and finished on both sides of the bucket with either hand. The game's almost too easy for him. And we saw both sides of Knight in this scrimmage: the facilitator of the first half who only scored 9 points while content to simply run the offensive sets and the unstoppable attacker of the second half who took every opportunity to create a great look for himself. With this year's team extensively lacking the depth of their '09-'10 predecessors, Knight will be needed to frequently channel his second-half mentality for us to have any hope as a top ten team nationally. It was only fitting that Brandon was also the alley to T-Jones' monster oops and that he finished off his own fastbreak jam in astounding fashion as well. Brandon won't have the SportsCenter coverage that our own John Wall had last season, but I'll be damned if he doesn't average over 24 points this year. Mark it. And I might still be underestimating the man.

Off course, all of these assessments and predictions come at the cost of Enes Kanter's assumed ineligibility. If he's cleared somehow, then this team's potential shoots up exponentially. But as of now, our only reliable big men are Jones and Darius Miller. Yes, you heard me right ... Darius the two-guard is our second best big man. Eloy and Harrellson are going to be contributors, but coming off a season where we had a trio of first round NBA bigs with a senior shot-blocker behind them, this year's going to be tough to watch in the paint. I expect Jones and Miller to fill in at the 5 spot quite a bit this season unless the opponent just has a big plodding Zydrunas Ilgauskas-type center that Harrellson could match up against perfectly. But Dexter Pittman's in the NBA now, so there aren't any guys like that left in college ...

He couldn't get a jumper to fall in the game, but trust in DeAndre Liggins' long range shot. In warm-ups, he was an absolute machine. He was dropping 22-footer after 22-footer after 22-footer with absolutely no effort. His form is still slightly jerky and erratic-looking, but he'll prove over the course of the season that his 66-threes-in-5-minutes drill wasn't a fluke. Beyond that part of his game that we can expect to skyrocket, Dre has shown that he'll be relentless in attacking the basket. He is making himself the prototypical Dribble-Drive athlete with his ability to force his way to the hoop and contort himself in a way to either finish or get fouled. But where his real bread and butter will continue to be is with his hyper-defensive instincts. I don't know if I've ever seen anyone else in college basketball who takes such visible passion in hounding his opponents. He's a scrapper who actually has other skills, which is innately rare. We're not talking Bruce Bowen, we're talking Ron Artest in his prime. (UPDATE: He had 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists.) That's why Liggins is going to be a proud UK alum in the National Basketball Association either this year or next.

Darius Miller inherited Patrick Patterson's "favorite child" status amongst UK fans this season. His cheers took it to another decibel level between Madness and this game. If Darius had shown this level of confidence last season, you would have seen him knocking down threes left and right against West Virginia and we would've been in the Final Four. But alas, now that he has the shadow of last year's freshman class off his back and two years of NCAA experience under his belt, this is his breakout season. Even though there will prolly be other guys surpassing in most all statistical categories, this is Darius' team. (UPDATE: He had 20 points and 6 rebounds.) When he gets rolling and controls the ball on certain possessions, you can just tell. He's a guard with the size of a forward who can score from anywhere and rebound against anyone. Between this, Madness, and the open practice last week, you can tell there's a great personal competition between Jones and Miller. They are almost always matched up against each other and are close to the same size. The both shared in moments of trying to force it against the other on the offensive end and getting blocked, but they also showed each other up on quick-trigger jumpers and blow-by drives. It's great to watch and will probably continue on over the season in a similar fashion to the way Daniel Orton and Demarcus Cousins continually made each other better. In a lot of cases, that practice match-up may be significantly tougher than the weekly game opposition.

To sum everyone else up ... Vargas showed off a nice interior passing touch but still can't absorb contact, Polson can't bring the ball up against NCAA defenses but he can surprisingly finish at the rim pretty well, Harrellson is confident with his hook shot from either hand but still can't seal in rebounds with consistency (UPDATE: hard for me to believe from watching it, but he apparently had 26 rebounds), Lamb will be an effortless scorer from day one but often attempts to be too creative and over-dribble (UPDATE: 16 points and 6 assists), Hood still has no stand-out skill and will likely see little playing time (UPDATE: shot 6-20), and Poole simply doesn't know where he can contribute to the team yet since he has a miserable long-range shooting stroke. There ya go.

... and Free Enes.

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UK-Associated Celebs

Ever since Coach Cal rolled into town, the University of Kentucky basketball squad has extensively added to its celebrity rolodex. Whether it's the fact that he's simply reignited the dormant part of the fan base or he just brought along a sizable bandwagon behind him, a lot of people have suddenly claimed UK as their own. I wanted to take some time to highlight those people.

1. Ashley Judd - She wins out because she's been the vocal celeb endorsement since day one. She was a French major at UK and found time to collect minors in anthropology, art history, theater, and women's studies. Well crap. And she's been hitting up basketball games ever since (whenever she could fit 'em in between filming Kiss the Girls and Double Jeopardy and getting her masters degree at Harvard and being a Global Ambassador for YouthAIDS and little stuff like that. Even though there's been intrapersonal fan squabbles amongst the mostly conservative fan base and her outspoken liberal support, she's still majorly beloved for the fact that she's always and will always claim UK as her home. Half the restaurants in Lexington have her risque hockey poster hanging on their walls, so I think pretty much all is forgiven when you're an attractive woman who wears nothing but a jersey in support for one of your college's obscure sports clubs. And she killed it with The Rock in that Tooth Fairy movie last (... which I haven't seen).

2. Drake - Canada's half-Jewish rapper son spent every free moment in his April 27, 2010 Memorial Coliseum concert shouting out Lexington as his "second home". It must be true then, right? Hip hop's newest poster child, between his So Far Gone mixtape and Thank Me Later album, made sure to be the head coach opposite Tayshaun Prince at 2009's Big Blue Madness and then attend four additional contests, including the Wake Forest NCAA tournament game, throughout the year. He started his relationship with the ball club through a chance hook-up with John Calipari through their mutual friend LeBron James. Yeah, that LeBron James. In the aforementioned concert, Drake brought all of Coach Cal, John Wall, Demarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, Ramon Harris, Perry Stevenson, Mark Krebs, and even former star Ramel Bradley out as "his family" for his performance of "I'm Goin' In". This relationship made its rounds on MTV and every major newspaper publication in the world. One of the world's biggest rap stars with the world's greatest basketball university? That's a big deal.

3. LeBron James - I'm pretty sure Coach and LBJ are simply BFFs. They meet on recruiting trips, summer camps, facility visits, playoff games, and one can only assume for $100 million buy-in poker nights switching back and forth between Jay-Z and William Wesley's houses. Once The King made his way to Lexington for the summer to hang out with the newly assembled ball club and tour the Joe Craft Center before they ever even had an official scrimmage, the "LeBron Watch" was on. He was supposed to make it for Big blue Madness ... but he missed it. And this isn't openly known, but I dead serious know for sure that it's because he stayed too late at a crazy Jay-Z party off on some tropical island the night before. Quote me. And then LeBron was supposed to make it for the big North Carolina game ... but he missed it. That one was during the regular season of the NBA, though, so it's a little more understandable. There were a few more false starts, but James finally made his way to Rupp Arena's front row for a publicity shoot during our Vanderbilt game, which completely (non)coincidentally coincided with the debut of the basketball team's official new kicks, the custom blue Air Max LeBron VIIs. I'm sure he didn't even know. Though Cal didn't quite leave to any random team that LeBron was randomly gonna sign with, they're insanely close and that sense of family extended down to Wall, too. I have a guess who the second-most called person on Wall's cell phone is after his mom. Drake's prolly third.

4. Magic Johnson - We'll pretend this one was strictly about basketball even though it wasn't. He was Kentucky that afternoon supporting a bill raising the HS dropout age from 16 to 18 in the Commonwealth and came to our home game against South Carolina as Governor Steve Beshear's guest. Magic's history of collegiate run-ins with UK is what makes this visit so intriguing. In his freshman year at Michigan State in 1978, the Spartans lost to UK (the eventual champions) in the Elite 8. What makes that sting even further is that just a month later, Magic was relegated to second string status to those same UK players on a team coached by Joe B. Hall in the amateur World Invitational Tournament. In Magic and Larry Bird's book When the Game was Ours, both speak very scathingly about Hall's neglect of reaching out to them and their lack of playing time whatsoever during that summer tournament. But that just shows you Magic's love of the game and maturity level at this point in his life. He spoke glowingly of John Wall after this game as "the best player in the country."

5. Mike Tomlin & Ben Roethlisberger - Even though the Cincinnati Bengals hold the hearts of the majority of locals, Calipari's Pittsburgh roots have brought around a friendship with that particular faction in the NFL. Tomlin may have been upstaged by Ashley Judd at the Georgia game and Big Ben may have been upstaged by Magic at the South Carolina game, but they still let their friendship to our Coach be known. And the best part? Both guys were halfway cheered and openly booed when they made it onto the Jumbotron. Big Ben may be the one guy moreso than LeBron that Kentucky may want to distance themselves from in the public's eye ... but oh well. Americans forgive everybody who's slightly famous, so it'll all be good. With Cal's recent visit to Bengals training camp, maybe he'll pull Ochocinco and other more locally favored footballers this upcoming year.

6. Josh Hopkins - Though I've seen a single YouTube clip of it, Hopkins stars in the ABC sitcom Cougar Town. He's a career TV film, short film, and guest starring actor who's finally been given his major break on the Courtney Cox-led major network show as a major character. He was born in Lexington and is the son of a former Kentucky Congressman. He's most famous for actually incorporating the "John Wall Dance" into an episode of Cougar Town, the aforementioned YouTube clip. And then he took it a step further and got a picture out in the world of Cox doing the signature arm move as well. But his highest form of UK fandom came when he followed Kyle Wiltjer, one of our 2011 recruits, to a high school Elite 24 game "just in case" he committed to UK that day at the event. Kinda creepy. Kinda awesome. Either way, the guy's a rising star who's got local roots, which makes him a big deal. I'll never watch the current show he's on, but I'll still vaguely care about him anyway.

7. Irv Gotti - Who even knew this guy was still alive? The guy who composed "Can I Get a ... **** You?" The guy who started Murder Inc. The guy who originally shoved Ja Rule, Ashanti, and Lloyd down commercial radio's throats. The Hollis, Queens producer donned his John Wall jersey and sat front row for College Gameday against Tennessee. Even though Irv got arrested and such on crack-related money laundering ... it's kinda cool that he's close with assistant coach Orlando Antigua, right? That's some heavy street cred. Sure, he hasn't made a hit in years, but when I walked out of the Wildcat Lodge that morning to see one of the biggest hip hop presences from the '90s cheesing like a mug while watching Coach Robic lecture the guys over some game tape, it felt pretty cool. Then he gave me a head nod. I'm pretty sure that means that he wanted to sign me.

8. Charles Barkley - It's pretty crazy, but Chuck (a very proud Auburn alum) decided not to travel a little ways over for the final game in his alma mater's ancient arena, the very one he spent his playing days in bulldozing over SEC competition in the early '80s. Instead, he visited Athens to see the Kentucky Wildcats. Undeterred by all of his DUIs and recurring mishaps, I was enlightened to the fact that he showed up to the game plastered. Even though he kinda talked us down after the game as still being a step behind Kansas and Syracuse, you can tell he was still there to witness the John Wall show. And I'll choose to assume that his later disparaging remarks about Cousins' readiness for the pro level were due to the same ethanol-related influence. But Charles did take the time to meet and take a picture with Coach in the tunnel, so all's forgiven.

9. Big Tigger - I just remember the guy from being the host of 106 & Park back when I used to watch BET for anything other than their award show cyphers. What he's known for now is being the Washington Wizards' resident in-game DJ. Hmmm ... now what is the connection between the University of Kentucky and the Wiz? Just a minute ago, Big Tigg hosted John Wall's personal professional Midnight Madness in the District of Columbia. So since Wall couldn't make his way back to Lexington other than by video message this last weekend for our Big Blue Madness, he sent the BET host to us in his place. And, in my professional opinion, he did a pretty great job. "Big Blue Nation" (as he called us a minimum of 75 times for response) approves.

10. The NBA - Kelenna Azubuike, Eric Bledsoe, Keith Bogans, Demarcus Cousins, Chuck Hayes, Jamaal Magloire, Jodie Meeks, Nazr Mohammed, Daniel Orton, Patrick Patterson, Tayshaun Prince, Rajon Rondo, and John Wall. Enough said.

... and Free Enes.

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2009 Recruits in Retrospect

Probably more-so than any other fan base, the UK faithful obsess over recruiting rankings like there's no other joy in life. Coach Cal'll do that to ya. But it started way back when Billy G pulled in Patrick Patterson (Rivals' #17 ranked prospect in '07). Since then it's been a tradition to scour every recruiting service on the net and scrutinize its every change in ranking and selectively brag about our classes of players. I just wanted to take a look into the validity of these rankings, using 2009 as the prime example. Do the heralded top rankings hold up once these freak high school athletes step foot on campus?

Let's start with Derrick Favors. Raw numbers: 12.4 points on 61% shooting, 8.4 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks in 27.5 minutes. His best performance was a 21/11 double-double in a close loss against the world champion Duke Blue Devils near the end of the season. He was distinctively option 1B to Gani Lawal's 1A on Georgia Tech. They combined to form a sizable front court tandem, thus somewhat explaining their extremely similar, neutralized statistical output. He was picked third in the NBA Draft by the 76ers.

Next is John Wall. All he did was become the Rupp National Player of the Year, a 1st Team All-American, the SEC Player of the Year, and the Freshman of the Year (from 5 different associations. Oh ... and become the top pick in the NBA Draft by the Wizards. That's all. Raw numbers: 16.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 6.5 assists, and 1.8 steals in 34.8 minutes. He dominated the UK offensive attack for nearly the entire game, night in and night out. While it's arguable that Demarcus Cousins may have been the number 1 offensive option for large portions of the game, Wall created the majority of the opportunities for Cousins either directly (assists) or indirectly (adjusted defensive schemes). His top outing was a 22/10/8 near triple-double against Mississippi State in a close SEC win. Let's not fool around ... Wall was the absolute best freshman coming into college basketball. Hands down.

Third is Demarcus Cousins. Raw numbers: 15.1 points on 56% shooting, 9.9 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks in 23.5 minutes. Cousins' early award catalog is headlined with him being a Consensus Second-Team All-American, SEC Freshman of the Year, and the fifth pick in the NBA draft by the Kings. His breakout game was a 27/18 monster double-double in the early going against Sam Houston State in only 27 minutes, but his most ferocious and impacting contribution was the 18/18 he rung up on Samardo Samuels and blood rival Louisville in only 26 minutes.

As default judgement electives, I'll use the following comparisons. The Sporting News All-Freshman Team was appropriately headlined by Wall, Cousins, and Favors in addition to Derrick Williams of Arizona and Xavier Henry of Kansas. The freshman drafted into the league went in the order of Wall, Favors, Cousins, Henry, Eric Bledsoe, Avery Bradley, Daniel Orton, Hassan Whiteside, Lance Stephenson, and Tiny Gallon.

My post-freshman 2009 prospect rankings:
1. John Wall (17/4/7) for Kentucky
2. Demarcus Cousins (15/10/1) for Kentucky
3. Derrick Favors (12/8/1) for Georgia Tech
4. Xavier Henry (13/4/2) for Kansas
5. Eric Bledsoe (11/3/3) for Kentucky
6. Avery Bradley (12/3/2) for Texas
7. Kenny Boynton (14/3/3) for Florida
8. Hassan Whiteside (13/9/0) for Marshall
9. Lance Stephenson (12/5/3) for Cincinnati
10. Tiny Gallon (10/8/1) for Oklahoma State

Of course, hindsight is always (enter cliche here), but I'm going to be judgmental anyway. The winner in the rankings system? Rivals. They had Wall, Cousins, Favors as their 1/2/3 while also ranking Bledsoe the highest of any site at #23. The loser? ESPN. They went with Bradley, Favors, and Henry as their top three, relegating Demarcus and John to mop-up duty at 4 and 5. Plus ESPN left Bledsoe off of their rankings altogether. The big strikeout, unless he breaks out during the remainder of his college career, is John Henson, who was relegated to 5 points per game in his debut NCAA season. And while Henson was getting all the top-10 love, Hassan Whiteside is now signing his NBA contract papers even though he was a forgotten commodity ranked #87 by Rivals and unranked by both Scout and ESPN. That's probably why he was stuck at Marshall while every other one-and-done was getting TV time playing for a premier program. But, honestly, for all we know ... Renardo Sidney may be the best out of everybody. Ha.

This is only a one-year-later judgement, though. This last season of basketball isn't the end-all, be-all of their careers. Going back to the earlier comparison, John Henson may very well be a strong player in the pros seven years down the road while Hassan Whiteside is forced into D-League obscurity. Only time will tell the whole story. But the big lesson I'm trying to get at is this: ESPN's high school rankings blow. I don't care if he has a championship ring, Mason Plumlee and his dumbly clumsy 3.7 points and 3.1 rebounds were not the #10 prospect last year. That's all. Oh, and don't freak out that Michael Gilchrist may have fallen allll the way down to number five in the Scout rankings. If our very own world-dominator John Wall can sport an undeserved #5 ranking on his chest, I'm sure Gilchrist can manage and still be a killer, too.

... and do the John Wall.

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The Tale of the Spreadsheet

... and do the John Wall.

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Wiltjer?

Kyle Wiltjer. Apparently he's gonna commit to UK tonight. Regardless if he does, I'm gonna post a quick profile on the guy.

For starters, he's a 6'9" power forward from the 2011 class who plays high school ball in Portland, Oregon. Terrence Jones, anyone? The weird thing about him is ... he's white. I already made the joke on Twitter, but it bears repeating: I'm pretty sure Coach Cal hasn't recruited a white kid since he was at UMASS. Whatever, though, I'll take him if he wants to come here.

ESPN:
#32 Overall Prospect
#5 Power Forward
They give him a "Scouts Grade" of 96 and say "Skills, skills and more skills along with a great feel for the game and basketball IQ are major strengths of Wiltjer's in addition to his size. He is a match up problem because he can score inside and out with great efficiency. Wiltjer's back to the basket footwork, moves and ..." but the rest is for suckers who pay the Insiders fee.

Scout:
#19 Overall Prospect
#5 Power Forward
They list his strengths as his "high-low game and perimeter shot", while his weaknesses are a "go-to move and strength". Then they go on to explain that he's a "hybrid power forward who has roots in Canada. Has legitimate touch from the perimeter and the ability to be a guy inside. Improved every season. Next step is establishing himself in the post. Made game-winning shot to give U18 Canadian team bronze medal at 2010 Tournament of the Americas."

Rivals:
#25 Overall Prospect
#6 Power Forward
They have a more succinct debriefing of his skills, listing his shooting as outstanding, his rebounding as good, his handle as good, his passing as outstanding, his strength as good, and his GPA as 3.4. That's all you need to know from them, I guess.

Add him to a 2011 class that already features Michael Gilchrist, Marquis Teague, and Anthony Davis, Jr. and you got yourself easily the sickest class ever assembled in history. Add another top guy in there somewhere and it entirely laps Chris Webber's Fab Five and John Wall's Sick Six to make them practically irrelevant in the all-time schematics of college basketball recruiting. I love the potential freshman front court combo of offense/defense between Wiltjer and Davis already. I really hope the kid signs here. Cross your finger for the next few hours.

... and do the John Wall.

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Wall Expectations

John Wall - 6'4", 195 lb.
2009-2010 with Kentucky Wildcats
34.8 minutes, 16.6 points (46.1% FG, 32.5% 3PT, 75.4 FT%), 4.3 rebounds, 6.5 assists, .5 blocks, 1.8 steals, 4 TOs

Our basketball savior. The guy who made it cool to be a Wildcat again. The guy who calls LeBron James and Drake whenever he's bored. The guy who President Obama name drops about. No, I'm not talking about John Calipari. I'm talking about John Wall. That guy.

Here's the scary thing about Wall at the next level: I believe he could possibly be playing at the level of a slightly altered version of Dwyane Wade within two years. He's got the same kind of size and left for the pros a year before Wade. He's got all the same effortless skills (blinding speed, sick hops, paint penetration at will, incredible court vision, reliable mid-range jumper, and cold-blooded scoring mentality in dire situations) that made Dwyane so special coming in. All Wall needs to do is build on those skills in his arsenal already. He's as quick a learner and willing adjustor as I've ever seen in college basketball. John would identify the situations where his team needed him to force the action and do exactly what needed to be done. It was shown most blatantly in the Stanford, UCONN, and (loss at) Tennessee games. Dwyane even started his rookie year attempting the point guard role before he was slid over to his natural 2 spot, but it's obvious that Wall will be pegged as a point for his whole career and put up better stats than Dwyane's, still exceptional, assist numbers. In the reckless way that both attack the basket and are adept at finding some amazing way to finish the play at the rim and draw fouls, I honestly do think John can come close to being as feared a scorer as Wade. Dwyane is probably the third best player in the entire league today and a guaranteed Hall of Famer when it's all said and done. That's the kind of potential that John has.

Dwyane Wade - 6'4", 220 lb.
2008-2009 with Miami Heat
38.6 minutes, 30.2 points (49.1% FG, 31.7% 3PT, 76.5% FT), 5 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 1.3 blocks, 2.2 steals, 3.4 TOs

To exemplify the unworldly expectations of John in the pro ranks, I think the absolute worst he could do as a youngster is replicate Derrick Rose's numbers in a Rookie of the Year-type performance. It's way too easy of a comparison to make, so I'll focus on the differences. Wall's and Rose's 3-point marksmanship were nearly identical in college, both in makes and percentage, but I see Wall as having a little more range in his early career and already has a head start in becoming a more proficient shooter. Where Rose really took the NBA by storm was in his rookie playoff debut, notching 36 points (12-19 FGs and 12-12 FTs), 4 rebounds, and 11 assists all while pulling off the upset. That's winning time. And that's where John Wall has to re-prove himself at. Sure, he hit a game winning 15-foot jumper in his NCAA debut and knocked down every single clutch free throw he ever needed, but he has to prove it again in the national spotlight. His tournament numbers weren't as outstanding or prevailing as Rose's, so it's up to Wall to prove that was a fluke and that he can lead an underwhelming team into playoff contention right away ... like Rose. What better measuring tool is there to compare two insanely talented and freakishly athletic freshmen point guards who played under the same head coach within a three year span? I guess lightning does strike twice, albeit once in Memphis and once in Lexington.

Derrick Rose - 6'3", 190 lb.
2009-2010 with Chicago Bulls
36.8 minutes, 20.8 points (48.9% FG, 26.7% 3PT, 76.6% FT), 3.7 rebounds, 6 assists, .3 blocks, .7 steals, 2.8 TOs

Here's the bottom line: John Wall is guaranteed to be a stud. He was simply already an NBA caliber player his senior year in high school. His style of play is tailor-made for the more wide-open pro game with limited zoning. He's got as quick a first step as you can find and he always has purpose with the ball. I know he has a turnover problem; everyone knows that. But so does Steve Nash, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Kobe Bryant. So the TOs aren't an indication of any sizable flaw in his game; he just has to figure out how to utilize his teammates the right way over time and those lost possessions will naturally shrink. While obviously not against the greatest competition, Wall averaged 23.5 points, 7.8 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.5 steals in four summer league games. That's a sick pro platform to jump off of.

Now all that remains to be seen is how Flip Saunders tries to mesh Gilbert Arenas and Wall in the offense together. The entire guard rotation comprises of the two aforementioned players plus Kirk Hinrich and Nick Young; so John's going to get heavy clock from day one, most likely starting every game unless something terrible happens. I swore off believing in Arenas' ability to be a quality teammate in the future, but I'm forced to root for him being a positive influence in the career of UK's first number one overall NBA Draft pick ever. Everybody's eyes are gonna be on Wall in the nation's capital. He's gonna have to balance putting in the time practicing his 3-pointers with all of Barack Obama's personal texts, but he'll make it work. He's made for this.

... and do the John Wall.

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Professional Wildcats

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.

... and do the John Wall.

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Cousins Expectations

Demarcus Cousins - 6'11", 270 lb.
2009-2010 with Kentucky Wildcats
23.5 minutes, 15.1 points (60.4% FG, 55.8 FT%), 9.8 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 1.8 blocks, 1.0 steals, 2.1 TOs

The guy's a beast.

Demarcus Cousins probably should have gone before John Wall in the draft. He's more talented and more productive on the court. That shows you how much his demeanor and sullied media reputation scared off NBA GMs. Evan Turner, Derrick Favors, and Wes Johnson are all half the talent that Demarcus is on the floor, but they all had squeaky clean images associated with them. Demarcus has to use this as motivation every single day for the rest of his career to prove that he can be an elite big man against the greatest competition he could ever face.

An acceptable start for his career would be for him to achieve Al Jefferson numbers. The only catch is that, though it took Al 3 years before he nudged himself up to double-double territory, Cousins needs to get there right now. They have a lot of the same skills, as both are amongst the rare bigs left who show off a polished back-to-the-basket post game with deft hooks from either hand. They're both long-armed trees in the paint who, though may not consistently make the right defensive decisions, are always a threat for straight-up or help-side blocks. Their biggest difference is in the fact that Al is distinctively mild mannered while Demarcus is always the aggressor. Jefferson's numbers should be a jumping pad for Cousins. In all honesty, Boogie's best case scenario should be Shaq-like numbers; he's actually that talented. But I'm trying to keep it more realistic and taper off my expectancy of Cuz at the level of a better version of Jefferson. We all cool with that?

Al Jefferson - 6'10", 265 lb.
2008-2009 with Minnesota Timberwolves
36.7 minutes, 23.1 points (49.7% FG, 73.8% FT), 10.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 2.8 blocks, .8 steals, 1.8 TOs

The worst case for Boogie is a heavy pitfall to the level of Benoit Benjamin. Picked third by the Clips based on his size and potential upside, Benjamin failed to ever break out as anything more than a serviceable role player bugged by nagging injuries. This is where Demarcus would fall only if his weight is a recurring issue and he never fully dedicates himself to putting in the gym time to perfect his craft. If he's not able to show off his perimeter capabilities, something that was never utilized in the college ranks, then his ceiling is as an inconsistent dump-down threat and sizable post defender. That's it. But I can't even envision that happening. Boogie is motivated by every single sleight he perceives from fans, the media, opposing players, and entire organizations. Trust me ... he's not gonna let himself fall to this level.

Benoit Benjamin - 7'0", 265 lb.
1988-1989 with Los Angeles Clippers
32.7 minutes, 16.4 points (54.1% FG, 74.4% FT), 8.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.8 blocks, .7 steals, 3.0 TOs

Beyond playing style comparisons, hopefully Demarcus will be able to quickly shed himself of the "Derrick Coleman" branding that he's been ordained with. While Coleman was an immensely productive big man for the majority of his 16 year career, the combination of weight issues, alcohol, and his consistently problematic behavior completely overruled his on-the-court play. Despite having the talent to be one of the greatest power forwards ever, Coleman was content with a single All-Star appearance and only two showings on the All-NBA Third Team. If that abbreviated trophy case is all Demarcus winds up with in the twilight of his playing days, he'll have been a major disappointment, too.

While pretty much everyone expects Cousins to start from day one with the Kings to begin perfecting his two-man game with Tyreke Evans, he does have some legitimate competition for heavy minutes. Samuel Dalembert is probably going to be slated as the starting center while Carl Landry, Jason Thompson, Donte Green, Darnell Jackson, and even fellow rookie Hassan Whiteside will compete for clock from the bench. This logjam will be easily remedied from Cuz's perspective if he's physically capable of holding his own in the early going at the center position, as well. That way he can just naturally slide over one spot when Dalembert goes to the bench and preserve his floor time. This is all assuming, though, that Boogie will be able to drop his penchant for committing stupid fouls. It's very telling that Demarcus was only able to play 23 of 40 minutes of college ball on a nightly basis because of foul trouble, stunting what could have been Player of the Year caliber statistics. All things considered, I think Demarcus is a legitimate threat in the Rookie of the Year race and, by his third season, could already be in All-Star territory. If he plays his cards perfect, he has the potential to be an era-defining big man and wiggle his way into the heart of fans as the loveably tough monster, a la Shaq. Though many see it as a deterrent, I see his on-court ferociousness as a trait that could help seamlessly transition his game onto the pro level. You can bet anything that Favors won't be mixing it up, knocking against Kevin Garnett and Dwight Howard from day one. Demarcus will.

... and do the John Wall.

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Bledsoe Expectations

Eric Bledsoe - 6'1", 190 lb.
2009-2010 with Kentucky Wildcats
30.3 minutes, 11.3 points (46.2 FG%, 38.3% 3PT, 66.7 FT%), 3.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists, .3 blocks, 1.4 steals, 3.0 TOs

It's pretty hard to believe that NBA scouts were so head-over-heels for E after a single year in college even though the supposed experts at ESPN didn't even have him ranked as one of the top 100 incoming freshmen of '09. Idiots. But what level of expectation can you actually have from the service that, in the same year, ranks Avery Bradley number one and John Wall number five?

Eric is a real tough case in gauging his potential contribution at the NBA level. The guy is definitely not ready to play pro ball yet, but I honestly can't blame him for going for it while being slotted just outside of the lottery, especially when he may have permanently been stuck playing off-ball next to would've-been future UK teammates Brandon Knight and Marquis Teague. And make no mistake, Eric will be playing point guard in the Association. He simply doesn't have the size to get away with playing the 2 like he did in NCAA competition. He sure-fire would have been picked even higher had he not teamed with Wall. Bledsoe's much more comfortable as a pure point looking to get his teammates involved as opposed to spotting up for jumpers and only occasionally penetrating, something that would have resolved a number of the questions attached to his draft report.

My best case career scenario for Eric is him being in the mold of '90s point guard Robert Pack. Though constantly plagued by injuries, Pack had a solid 7 or so seasons in his 13 year career where he was a threat on the court. Known for his blinding speed and insane in-game dunking ability, Pack was a known commodity and a game changer at times. His finest production came during the first half of the '96-'97 season with the Nets (before he was traded) where he nearly averaged a double-double of 16 points and 10 assists. This was just a year after averaging over 18 points in 31 starts with the Wizards before suffering season-ending nerve damage to his right leg. Bledsoe already has a better jumper with considerably better range than Pack ever managed, but both have eerily similar body molds, exceptional jumping ability, play-making potential, and a nagging turnover problem.

Robert Pack - 6'2", 190 lb.
1996-1997 with New Jersey Nets
34.9 minutes, 15.9 points (40.7% FG, 29.7% 3PT, 78.8% FT), 2.5 rebounds, 9.6 assists, .1 blocks, 1.7 steals, 4.4 TOs

Eric's worst case scenario is that he can't make the distinctive shift to being a pure point guard. This would leave him in a year-by-year case of limbo where teams are hesitant on making him a key rotation player as he's looked over, being the undefined combo guard with no size and an inconsistent jump shot. This would put him on a Marcus Banks-like career path where never finds his comfort zone with an organization and is only signed on as a band-aid for uncompetitive teams in transition without a competent starting point. The similarity in this case is the fact that Banks was once discussed in his early career as possibly being the fastest end-to-end player in the game, a title Bledsoe may be in competition for. But Banks was never able to convert his speed into feasible, consistent production. In his only starting opportunity, a midseason trade to relieve Marco Jaric of his lead duties, Banks made the most of it; but he's never been able to put the pieces of his game together to replicate that temporary glimpse of success and he hasn't had job security since.

Marcus Banks - 6'2", 205 lb.
2005-2006 with Minnesota Timberwolves
30.7 minutes, 12.0 points (47.9% FG, 36.4% 3PT, 77.8% FT), 2.9 rebounds, 4.7 assists, .3 blocks, 1.2 steals, 2.4 TOs

The good news for Eric is the fact that, at this time, the only other players capable of logging minutes at the point on the Clippers are Baron Davis and Randy Foye; and Foye is even more naturally a shooting guard. That means he's definitely seeing the floor this season. Regardless of the results, any extended amount of legitimate floor time is invaluable for a developing lead guard. Practices don't simulate the intensity and experience that Eric will need to adapt to and understand at this level. He has to find out where to pick his spots with his jumper and how to optimize his playmaking capabilities without over-penetrating, which was an often occurrence while at UK. Expect turnovers galore in the early going. Shoot, TOs may be a defining issues that drags on his whole career. But I believe Eric is capable of capturing a starting guard slot in the league in time. He's a freak athlete with good form on his jump shot (that has already improved immeasurably since high school) and a highly willing passer with quality court vision. Hopefully he can perfect a change-of-pace aspect to his game and tighten up his handles in both the open court and half court sets. His speed has to be used with a purpose or else it's not really that much of an advantage at all. When the decision-making catches up with his natural ability, there's no reason he can't be a good NBA player. He's probably not an All-Star kind of guy, but definitely a notable contributor. Here's wishing him good luck with the cursed Clips. Hopefully he can sneak in Staples and watch a few Laker games. The perfect scenario for him is to wait in the wings as Davis' eventual successor while patenting a deadly two-man game with Blake Griffin. That could be a sick combo 5 years from now if the players and the organization play their cards right.

... and do the John Wall.

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