UK-East Tennessee State 11/12/10

UKAA swirly green dots picture

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).

... 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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2010-2011 Houston Rockets

It's almost to the point with me that I have to be reminded that Yao Ming is still alive. He's been I guess we'll see. This season is pretty much make-or-break for his career and he has the power completely in his hands (or foot) to shift the Rockets from a young and talented squad in the middle of the pack to a championship contender. And they honestly should be. This team is put together in ridiculously nice fashion.

2010-2011 Houston Rockets

Point Guard: Aaron Brooks/Kyle Lowry
Shooting Guard: Kevin Martin/Courtney Lee
Small Forward: Shane Battier/Chase Budinger/Jared Jeffries
Power Forward: Luis Scola/Chuck Hayes/Patrick Patterson
Center: Yao Ming/Brad Miller

I'm in love with their backcourt. I can admit to thinking Aaron Brooks was a fluke two seasons ago when he almost singlehandedly pushed the Lakers to 7 games in the conference semis, but I'll admit that he's a legit starting NBA lead guard. He's blindingly quick and serious long range threat who made the jump enough to be the league's Most Improved Player. And with team, he's relieved of all pressure due to the fact that he's partnered with Kevin Martin who can score 25 a night while he's texting and drinking coffee in his car from the expressway on the way to the game. They also have the perfect glue guy at the small forward in Shane Battier who's probably the only player in the league who'd be completely content if he never took a shot the whole season. Add to that talent pool Kyle Lowry, an insanely powerful finisher as the back-up point who can produce points out of nothing, and Western Kentucky's own Courtney Lee (even though he's been rumored to be a trade pawn) and you've got yourself a complete set of perimeter guys with a crazy mix of speed, scoring ability, and defensive instincts.

Coming off a FIBA All-Tournament run and with the ink on his second U.S. contract still fresh, I expect this to be the year that Luis Scola cements his NBA status. Sure he's started all 164 games for Houston the last two years and was even an All-NBA Rookie in '08, but how he performs this year alongside Yao will mean more than all of that. Hopefully he'll be able to nudge himself into double-double territory. His confidence has to be sky high right now after killing Andy Varejao and the rest of the Brazilians for 37 points as Argentina's focal point without Manu Ginobili playing for the national squad this summer. With actual expectations on his shoulders this season, he has show and prove. The 16/9/2 stat line was nice last season, but that was on a team that didn't make the playoffs and had no other post threat. This is the real test.

But bringing it all back around, barring a crazy trade for Carmelo or another player of his level, this entire season depends on how much Yao Ming can stay on the floor. It's so easy to forget, but Yao is one of maybe five players in the game that opponents literally have to switch up their entire game plans for. He's not the most nimble or even the most intimidating guy on the floor, but he's a game changer who has the opportunity to score every single time down the floor, making his teammates all that more effective. So ... that leaves me with the conundrum of whether or not I make my prediction assuming Yao is back in full force or destined to fracture another limb and be permanently debilitated. I'm gonna go with the healthy assumption just for the fact that he can afford to take a bunch of minutes off on a nightly basis with the amazing bench mob of Brad Miller, Chuck Hayes, and Patrick Patterson there to spell him. And with that assumption, I have the Rockets skyrocketing from out of the playoffs to challenging the Lakers as the number 2 seed in the West. Their lack of quality playoff advancement bites them in the but though as they lose to the Oklahoma City Durants in the second round. And that's where I stand. Now we'll see if Yao is gonna be able to stand in that same spot without the aid of crutches and a boot.

Prediction
Regular Season: 58-24
Playoffs: Eliminated in Western Conference Semi-Finals

... and do the John Wall.

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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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Patterson Expectations

Patrick Patterson - 6'9", 235 lb.
2009-2010 with Kentucky Wildcats
33 minutes, 14.3 points (57.5% FG, 34.8% 3PT, 69.2% FT), 7.4 rebounds, .9 assists, 1.3 blocks, .7 steals, 1.1 TOs

The University of Kentucky's modern day Paul Bunyan figure is now an NBA rookie. He was one of the very, very, very few bright spots shining through the catastrophic Billy G blip of an era. He was the guy who embodied every aspect of any local hero you could ever wish for. He was UK. Now he's a Rocket.

The big issue in looking at Pat's production from last season is the Demarcus Cousins effect. In his 2009 sophomore season, pre-Boogie, Pat put up 18/9/2 with 2 blocks and shot over 60% from the field. That drop in production would be a death toll for any other NBA prospect, but with his added skill of 3-point shooting and the scouts' understanding of his deference all last season to UK's incoming talent, Pat universally rose on everyone's draft boards. It was a crazy gutsy move for him, knowing that the team was in transition and he would have to sacrifice individual production on a monumental level. But he did it anyway, lived with the sacrifice, and was better off (playing-wise and monetarily) because of it. Win-win.

All that being said and as hard as it is for me to admit, I don't think P-Patt has a very good chance at an All-Star level career. Because of that, I see his ceiling as a Horace Grant-type 3rd option player. Grant did sneak in an All-Star appearance in '94 while MJ was busy watching a few baseball games, but he was more noted for his defensive work and tenure, logging over 30 minutes per game in 13 of his 17 NBA seasons. Horace has a little bit of height over Patrick and better natural defensive instincts so far, but Pat already has more consistency in his jumper and far better range. One thing that has to be a major focus for Patterson is developing his passing ability, which was completely nonexistent at UK, if he has any hopes of being as productive as Grant. He won't be seeing many dump-down, clear out situations in the pros due to his lack of size, but being a high energy guy on the boards will go a long way in him defining his game and surprising a lot of people with his insane level of strength and fitness.

Horace Grant - 6'10", 215 lb.
1993-1994 with Chicago Bulls
36.7 minutes, 15.1 points (52.4% FG, 59.6% FT), 11 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.2 blocks, 1.1 steals, 1.6 TOs

In the same way I don't think P-Patt has as high of a ceiling as the other 2010 UK rookies at the pro level, he also has a shorter drop as to what his worst case scenario is. The most frequent modern day comparison used for Patrick is current undersized Jazz forward Paul Millsap; and it's highly warranted. Millsap is a workhorse who runs the fast break well, has an adequate mid-range shot, and destroys his oversized competition on the board, all these being things that Patrick's already got on lock and ready to contribute at the pro level. Yet he's probably going to be a career back-up unless he gets on another squad purged of all front court size. He spent all of his first four seasons as Carlos Boozer's bench relief and is set to play the same role in Al Jefferson's shadow for the foreseeable future. The highlight of Millsap's early career was taking advantage of Booze's injury-prone nature in the '09 season where he had 38 starting opportunities. He put up a string of 19 consecutive double-doubles in Boozer's absence, showing off his capability as an NBA starter. But Millsap was relegated once again to mop-up duty once he returned.

Paul Millsap - 6'8", 245 lb.
2008-2009 with Utah Jazz
30.1 minutes, 13.5 points (53.4% FG, 69.9% FT), 8.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1 block, 1 steal, 1.7 TOs

I'm personally rooting for the Rockets to win the Carmelo sweepstakes and trade away half their big men for him. Unless Patrick's able to pull the ability to handle the ball out of a magic hat in the next month, he's stuck as an undersized power forward or super-undersized center in the most dire of instances. With that niched position in mind, it sucks that the Rockets currently employ Yao Ming, Brad Miller, Luis Scola, Chuck Hayes, and Jordan Hill all fighting for those 96 big men minutes between them. The only guy Patrick's probably ahead of on the depth chart is Hill. Plus you gotta figure that Yao and Scola get at least 65 of those available minutes between them. Not good for a rookie. So unless something big changes, we may not see a lot of P-Patt in the early going. But he's too solid to not break his way into someone's rotation and be an impact player at some point. Big Blue nation will be right behind him for the entire journey. He's our guy.

... and do the John Wall.

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UK NBA Team Photo

Demarcus
Cousins.

Eric
Bledsoe.

Patrick
Patterson.

John
Wall.

Daniel
Orton.

What else do ya need to know?

... and do the John Wall.

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Mass Leviticus

I feel the need to throw my two cents in about the offseason happenings of the UK basketball team. And I think I'm more entitled than any on the subject, so let me rant.

Starting at the ending ... you are NOT allowed to feel any negative emotion whether anger or disappointment or anything else about our five underclassmen leaving. John Wall. Demarcus Cousins. Patrick Patterson. Eric Bledsoe. Daniel Orton. All gone.

Daniel is gone after a year with dominating averages of 3.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks in ... 13.2 minutes. But guess what? He's gonna be a top 15 draft pick, maybe even to his home team of the Oklahoma City Thunder to play on the most talented up-and-coming squad in the league. I'm willing to put money on the fact that Daniel will shatter his college freshman averages easily with his NBA rookie averages. He's as nice a kid as you'll ever meet, his basketball I.Q. is off the charts, and he's already in California training to perfect his conditioning for his already NBA-size body. Sure, he would have killed next season in the NCAA as our primary offensive weapon while already being a defensive juggernaut, but there are no guarantees in the sporting world when it comes to health, money, or location an entire year down the road. With how much the scouts loved Orton and the kinds of strides he made late in the season with the little playing time he received, he had to go to the draft. He's now a millionaire and an immediate contributor for an NBA team, eclipsing all of his freshman shortcomings. Root for him. Or else you're a jerk. He was still gonna frickin' come to our school when Billy G was our frickin' coach!!!

And Eric's a completely different story. Eric needed to go for his and our mental health this upcoming season. Don't underestimate the power of tight-knit friendship with a teenager who was uprooted from his home state and planted in the most publicly scrutinized athletic program in America. All the talk last preseason, if you remember that far back, was about "The Three Amigos". John, Boogie, and Eric hit it off immediately on campus after getting to know each other through different high school all-star games and all uniting under the new UK Calipari regime. E is a pretty quiet and introverted guy, and while he may be able to connect with some other teammates closer and kill it on the court as a sophomore next year, I'm just saying that he probably wouldn't enjoy himself as much and that could create an issue with his psyche. Who knows if he would mesh as well in the backcourt with Brandon Knight as he did with John? I have a feeling that his NBA stock would probably be higher after this year as a top 20-pick (and the 2nd point guard prospect) than it would be if he'd stayed additional seasons. So it's pretty much a no-brainer that he should follow the two other amigos. Don't look down on the kid for that.

The 2009-2010 season left so many incomparable memories for all the UK fans in the world, especially the younger ones like me. I was only 8 when we got our second title in three years with Coach Pitino and Tubby. So, sure, I had the autographed Scott Padgett poster in my room, but I wasn't fully enthralled on the day to day happenings of the program like I am today. Now I'm blessed enough to live in the same dorm as these instantly legendary UK guys who are about to blow up the NBA. I'll never forget Eric seemingly incapable of missing a jump shot against Indiana, Florida, and East Tennessee. I'll never forget Demarcus becoming a completely different basketball entity altogether after nearly single-handedly losing the Cancun Challenge for us, all culminating in that beautiful 0.1 tip-in to send the SEC Championship game into overtime. I'll never forget the worries of if Pat would be able to fit into Coach's new offense, only to witness him knock down 24 threes this season and still finish 57.5% from the floor altogether to improve his draft stock. I'll never forget John's debut game-winning jumper or his NC/UCONN dominance or his regular behind-the-back lay-up drives or his undying will to win at all costs. I'll never forget Daniel's step back three pointer to end the Blue-White scrimmage or his 3-block possession against Florida or his hilarious goaltending.

Yeah, we lost to West Virginia in the Elite 8. Yeah, we got three guys graduating, five guys leaving early, and few other huge question marks. But you know what? This was the greatest season I've ever been a part of on a daily basis and I'm perfectly fine accepting it exactly how it happened. Year One of the John Calipari era is over and it's better than I ever could've expected. Our record was 35-3, we broke 2000 wins all-time, and we won the SEC regular season and tournament titles. I don't know about you, but I can appreciate that after two years of Billy G failure while also knowing we're sending five guys into the NBA (including the #1 overall pick) and set to easily reload and compete at an elite level every single year for the foreseeable future. So if you're complaining ... shut up.

... and do the John Wall.

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I Wasn't Really Spittin' Game, I Was Scrimmagin'

So while I'm cooped up in this hospital bed with my nose looking like the after-product of a Freddy vs. Jason victim, I been trying to keep sane in-between morphine refills by thinking about my University of Kentucky Wildcats basketball team.

I try so hard to be a reasonable fan, but I can't help but be caught up in the hype right now. The fall semester hasn't even started yet and I'm getting antsy about our 2010 recruits! Nothing like this has ever happened for me with a sports team before. I guess it's kinda like how Knicks fans are mercilessly waiting for the free agent signing period of 2010 as well, but the difference here is that UK is gonna be bomb this season, too.

These videos my first evidence of post-high school John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, and DeMarcus Cousins. Now while I'm not gonna pretend the defense in these scrimmage games is even a fraction of NCAA intensity, I will say the skill sets shown are something that will allow this uber-inexperienced team to shoot out the gate for a special season. Wall is simply the real deal. He can do everything on the basketball court completely by himself if he wanted to, yet will play in a system that allows his teammates to capitalize off his individual exploits. He will rule against opposing backcourts day-in and day-out. That's a mere formality to me, now. And both in a dual guard with Wall or as his PG replacement, Eric Bledsoe gives an entire game-changing dynamic. As one of those rare pure point types, Bledsoe can bully his way through any defense with his head up and a knack for distributing the ball at just the right time. So we have a legitimate scoring point and a legitimate passing point as opposed to last year's roster which consisted of no real point guard.

Cousins, to me, is the wild card that could push the team over the edge. How he works off Patterson is pivotal to this team's success. While the Dribble Drive offense wouldn't normally feature two bigs, the talent between these two monsters will convert any offensive scheme into prominently featuring them. As seen specifically in these videos, DeMarcus gobbles up rebounds. He's an enormous presence in the post at 6' 11" and can't be physically pushed around. Yet there was a possession where he took the ball cross court on his own and pulled up for a three, which he drained with confidence. While I don't at all expect him to be our Jodie Meeks replacement from the 3-point line, that's quite a convenience to have a center with an entire floor game to compliment our guard duo and returning low post beast in P-Pat.

I'll get into the rest of our team and their dynamics towards making us a contender, too, but as of right now in this hospital bed, I'm a very hopeful UK student. All because of one John Calipari. I simply cannot wait.

... but do take my word for it.

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Potential

This whole John Calipari-to-UK thing better turn out for real. I've already invested too much time into basking in how perfect next season would be with Jodie/Patt staying along with a charismatic coach and the greatest new recruits possible. Just perfection. You don't even know. I have unconditional UK pride and even found the beauty in our NIT season, but a literal flip from middle of the pack team with 2 studs to a contending return-to-glory wholesale program would be the sweetest thing ever. I love my Lakers forever and always, but my University is the sport team in my life.

We need the man to be the face of our program. A man with a smile instead of a dead face glare. A man with a substitution pattern instead of a coin-toss lineup. A man with a feel on the media instead of a public jerk. A man who will publicly be proud of how intensely we will be there to support our team instead of a guy fixated on uncaring nonchalance. A guy who won't let us lose to Gardner-Webb. That's all I'm asking for. I'll even give up all my Christmas presents this year for it.

... put 'em both together and you got yourself a super spork.

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