John Wall Commits, Makes Wildcats a Contender

With the announcement of prep superstar John Wall committing to the University of Kentucky, the Wildcats have reeled in their fourth five-star recruit and have two four-star recruits coming in as well.

Coach John Calipari has already displayed his second-to-none recruiting style and now has to finish the job by winning and winning big.

Across the Internet Tuesday morning, media members have been crowning this Kentucky recruiting class as the best of all-time and one of the best collection of talents in sports’ history.

Calipari has a tough job ahead of him. Not in the sense that he needs to find players to step up, because that won’t be a problem. Calipari is going to have trouble containing all these players to their designed roles because of the superstar tags each of them are coming in with.

Don’t get me wrong, as a member of the Big Blue Nation, I strongly hope Calipari can handle the pressure and make this work, that is why he became the highest paid coach in college basketball history, but the odds are lower than one might think.

The great Michigan “Fab Five” of the early 90s proved to be a bust. Five players ranked in the top 100 nationally, three of which were top 10 talents, that could not win a national title in two seasons seasons together.

But unlike the Michigan “Fab Five”, this team returns stellar players as well. Perhaps two of the top 10 returning players in the nation next season will be wearing Kentucky blue if Jodie Meeks joins Patrick Patterson in Lexington.

The Michigan team had relatively no leadership returning and started five freshmen, something this UK squad will not do once.

It is hard to deny Kentucky’s immediate place among the top five nationally after a signing of John Wall’s caliber. Many experts believe he is better at this stage of his career than both Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans, two superstar point guards under Calipari at Memphis.

The Wall commitment makes Kentucky the favorite to win the national title and gives them their top recruit in school history. Wall will be the best point guard to ever step foot in Lexington, even better than current Boston Celtics star Rajon Rondo.

Wall has the potential to score 20 points every game and dish out 10+ assists on any given night.

This UK team will be the deepest team in America, as well. Ramon Harris, a senior, was a starter on last season’s Wildcat team and may be the worst player on the upcoming team. That is not a slight to him at all, he’s a lock down defender and a great leader, but a testament to what may happen next season.

I do believe that UK will be a top five team throughout all of next season, but some fans are taking this too far.

Just remember that this will be a relatively young team, and with that should come reasonable expectations.

Wall to UK

SLAM Magazine is reporting that John Wall has in fact given his verbal commitment to play at the University of Kentucky.

Wall is considered the No. 1 high school player in the nation.

Saturday News and Notes

It’s been a slow past few days so we thought we would keep it simple and provide some news links from the past week or so.

• USA Today says Patterson is ready for his junior season at Kentucky
• Yahoo! Sports says UK is going to be really good next season
• Bleacher Report wants to know how Eric Bledsoe’s signing will affect John Wall
• Five-star big man Adreian Payne is making a visit to Kentucky

Cool Website Alert

Every once-in-awhile  I post a new website I have stumbled upon that I think is extremely cool. The other day I found the website Bleacherreport.com.

It is not a new site but the idea of it is to allow the average sports fan to write about their favorite teams or sports as if they were a real journalist. They are partners with CBS Sports so sometimes articles get posted onto the actual CBS Sports website. Check out the site.

Calipari: Looking Ahead Towards The Future Of Kentucky Basketball

 

Calipari looks towards next season

When John Calipari was first brought on as the University of Kentucky men’s basketball coach he said said numerous times that he is ‘day by day’. “If you want something to happen in a year, do not hire me.”

 

But for the first time since his hiring on April 1, Calipari talked about next year.

Calipari addressed the media on numerous topics looking forward to the upcoming season. A season that already has Cats fans anxious because of the sudden high expectations.

He would not say what his expectations for this team going next season are, other than it will be a learning process. “Then by March [we] are playing [our] best basketball”.

Calipari expects to be playing great basketball in March partially because of the announcement that Patrick Patterson will be returning to Kentucky for his junior season.

“I’m excited about [Patrick returning],” Calipari explained, “I wanted him to know that he is coming back for himself and to help the university”.

Coach Calipari also detailed how surprised he was with Patterson and some of the things he could do on the basketball floor that he was not aware of.

“One of the things was that I didn’t realize how fast [Patrick] was,” Calipari smiled, “He also shoots the ball better than I thought, and handles it and passes it better than I thought.”

Another crucial topic of discussion was the incoming recruits. Eric Bledsoe will play a very crucial role on a team in desperate need of a point guard and play making ability.

“When I recruit players, I want to make sure that they play big and are big. If a guy is 6-foot-4 and plays 6-foot-2, then he is not big. If a guy is 6-foot and plays 6-foot-5, then he is big… Eric is probably 6-foot-1 maybe, but he plays big. He is fast and very physically strong and tough. He has great vision on the court, and in this offense you have to be able to react.”

Another freshman who has to step up under Calipari is Daniel Orton. Orton, an Oklahoma native, appears ready to make the jump to the college game alongside Patterson and fellow freshman DeMarcus Cousins.

“Daniel Orton is going to be terrific, because he has great size, really long arms and he is skilled. You can play him inside, or outside and he is a terrific passer,” Calipari noted. “He also has the skills that if you want to play two big guys you can. There is DeMarcus [Cousins] that you can play with him and together.”

There is no question that Kentucky is going to be a very good team under Calipari, but Coach Cal has warned the media numerous times already that this is a step-by-step process that will take time.

“But when we get it right, you notice we’re No. 1 in the country, we’re No. 1 seeds, we’re playing in Final Fours when you get it right.”

Extra News and Notes

The schedule situation was brought up today and Calipari explained it to the media that there is still two games to schedule but the rest is pretty much done. He said they got a call from Texas for a Houston-site game. Also looking at Cincinnati or a Nashville-site game.

Also talked about wanting Midnight Madness in Commonwealth Stadium (Kentucky football stadium). Said it would be great to get 70,000 people to come and have Ashley Judd and Justin Timberlake there. He said the biggest issue would be predicting the weather in the middle of October.

Patterson will return for junior season

Kentucky Wildcats sophomore forward Patrick Patterson announced today that he is returning for his junior season after taking his name out of the NBA Draft.

Patterson, a 6′9″ Huntington, West Virginia native, returns following a season that saw him average a team-high 9.3 rebounds per game. Patterson also ranked near the top of Division I with a .603 field goal percentage.

Patterson made his decision late last week and decided to come back because of three reasons. “An opportunity to get a degree next year… It also means a lot for me to come back and get the chance to play for Kentucky… I also like Coach (John) Calipari’s offense and playing for him and (the thought of) him helping me improve and get better.”, said the All-SEC big man.

Many believed Patterson would remain in the draft if he were a guaranteed first-round pick, although he was told by scouts he would have been had he kept his name available. “Anywhere from 14, 15 to 20…in that range but guaranteed first round.”

Patterson returns to a team that has the potential to reach its first Final Four since 1998, or at least its first Elite Eight in five seasons. “Looking at the team we could possibly have next year, with all the people we have coming in…all the weapons we have coming in that helped a lot. With the caliber of the team we could have next year and competing for a national title hopefully.”

John Calipari’s reputation for developing players for the NBA also played an integral role in Patterson’s decision to come back. “It helped a lot. I looked at all the players he sent (to the NBA) back in Memphis, (Chris) Dorsey, (Chris Douglas) Roberts, Derek Rose, just everybody who he’s helped… I know playing for Coach Calipari I will progress.”

With the possibility of Jodie Meeks returning for his senior season, along with prep target John Wall, Patterson’s decision makes Kentucky the legitimate preseason favorite in the Southeastern Conference as well as a front-runner for the top team in the country. “Hopefully (Kentucky can) be a top contender and win a national championship.”

Bledsoe to Kentucky!

Jerry Meyer is reporting that Eric Bledsoe will make his commitment to Kentucky tomorrow at a 10:00 AM CT press conference. Coach Calipari will be there in Birmingham to meet him.

Bledsoe will join fellow five-star recruits DeMarcus Cousins and Daniel Orton as well as four-star prospects Jon Hood and Darnell Dodson. This will vault Kentucky to the #1 ranking in terms of team recruiting.

Wall, Bledsoe to announce soon

Wall will decide if Kentucky is best for him

Both of Kentucky’s remaining 2009 targets, Eric Bledsoe and John Wall, are beginning to close down their recruitments and plan to make decisions relatively soon.

Bledsoe is announcing his choice between Memphis and Kentucky in a press conference tomorrow at 10:00 AM, while John Wall has stated he plans to narrow his list to 2-3 schools next week and a decision will definitely come before May 20.

Bledsoe to choose UK or Memphis

If Kentucky were to land Bledsoe and/or Wall they would automatically jump to the #1 spot for team recruiting in the nation. If UK is able to land both of them it appears that they may have an arguement for the greatest recruiting class of all-time. They would have four 5-star players, including the #1 and #2 players overall, and two 4-star players committed for next season. Calipari has already brought in a 5-star player and a 4-star player in just over a month at the helm and it looks as though at least one more 5-star player will be coming.