UK Goes to The Wall!

What does John Calipari do with his # 1 ranked class in the country to enhance his recruiting season? Well, he goes out and lures the #1 player in the class to UK. Late last night, Slam Magazine confirmed that John Wall had selected UK among Miami, Florida, and Duke.

I can’t begin to express how ecstatic the UK fan base is now, what with the job that Calipari has done already in recruiting, and now landing Wall. Described by Dave Telep as, “The nation’s single most unguardable player”, Wall joins a class already loaded with 5- star recruits, Eric Bledsoe, Daniel Orton and DeMarcus Cousins. I foresee us fans talking UK basketball all summer.

There were some who believed that our signing Eric Bledsoe recently would affect John’s decision. It appears it had nothing to do with it. ““I’ve been thinking about it for the last couple of weeks. I sat down and prayed and thought about it. Last night we had a meeting and I just came out and told Brian “(Clifton).

It hasn’t been that long since some of the SEC coaches have said that UK’s dominance of the league was over…Well, that is about to change and change very quickly.

Calipari Gets His Man – Eric Bledsoe

UK filled a huge need for a point guard yesterday, when Eric Bledsoe announced he would play his college basketball for UK…The recruit from Birmingham, averaged 20.3 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 11.5 assists, per game last season for The Class 5A runner-up.

Bledsoe, is rated a 5 star pg, and 3^rd best in the class according to Rivals. ““It’s a dream come true for my son,” said Maureen.

The last year of Bledsoe’s life has felt like a dream. Seven months ago, nobody knew much about the 6-foot point guard from Parker. The only colleges who wanted him were UAB and Ole Miss — fine schools with fine coaches, but not exactly on the same level as Duke and UConn and Florida and Kentucky and Memphis.

“I was nervous (at not signing in November),” Bledsoe said. “Coach (Maurice Ford) told me if I waited, that a lot of schools were going to want a point guard. But I wasn’t sure. It wasn’t easy to wait.”

It was quiet in December and January. And then, almost out of nowhere, the phone started ringing. Jim Calhoun of UConn. Billy Donovan of Florida. Mike Krzyzewski of Duke. John Calipari of Memphis before he became John Calipari of Kentucky.

SEC Coaching Moving to Greater Heights

The SEC has 4 coaches who have won a national titles in Football. That’s impressive for any league and for any sport.

With the addition of John Calipari, Mark Fox and Anthony Grant to the conference, basketball is beginning to rival football in coaching abilities if not titles. If Bruce Pearl had gone to Memphis the SEC might have hit a small bump in the road to the top but who is to say that a better coach might not have taken the job.

Although it doesn’t have the depth of teams like the Big East nor the top heaviness of the ACC its obvious that the league can’t do anything but go up providing it shores up its cupcake schedules. One school almost sure to is Kentucky where new coach John Calipari knows the value of strong schedules.

UK GETS THEIR MAN

The “highest profile” coach in the country finally met up with the school with the greatest need, at least in our fans minds. This only happens every decade or so nationally, and has every reason to be called a “Grand Slam”. Most of us will tell you that the last great basketball era we had here at UK was during Rick Pitino’s heyday, and we are headed back in that direction in my humble opinion.

Yes, John Calipari is every bit the coach Rick Pitino is, and the fact that he changed his offensive philosophy recently, shows he is flexible as well. He is a great recruiter securing what is being called the number #1 class this year…He plays with the best, and he will be able to get the best at UK. He did it at Memphis and he will do it here and do it better. UK goes from now being an NIT calibre team this year, to a potential final four next; such will be the stockpile of talent here once “CAL” gets settled in.

“ You can now put Kentucky with NC, Kansas, Duke, all the elite from this point forward” Andy Katz ESPN.com

UK called a news conference for 9:30 a.m. Wednesday to formally introduce Calipari, who has been with Memphis for 9 seasons. Calipari also becomes the highest-paid coach in college basketball.

Now, maybe UK fans can rest easy this summer, knowing that next year when basketball season starts, UK will once again be AT THE PULSE of COLLEGE BASKETBALL, the head and not the tale, if you will, and the only back seat we take in college basketball will be the one we ride in to the FINAL FOUR…

CALIPARI MAY BRING COUSINS, HENRY TO UK WITH HIM…IF

He comes….

AND…. Gary Parrish, of CBSSports.com, is reporting that ESPN #1 overall 2009 recruit Xavier Henry has a clause in his Letter of Intent that requires Memphis to release him without stipulations, if Calipari leaves the Tigers. Henry is a 6’6″, 210 lb shooting guard from Oklahoma.

AND…Demarcus Cousins?

Who is this man-child, and how much would it improve UK’s team to have him? Well the 6-foot-9, 250-pound Cousins is rated the No. 1 power forward, and No. 2 prospect in the country. He considered UK early in the recruiting process while attending one of Gillispie’s summer camps, but ultimately gave a surprising verbal commitment to UAB which he rescinded to pledge to Memphis and Calipari.

How much he would improve a front line loaded with Patrick Patterson, Matt Pilgrim, Orton, Perry Stevenson, et al, is anyone’s guess, but can we say bulls on the boards? That’s what we’ll have if we add the beast Cousins to the mix….

Now that John Calapari is courting the job at UK, Demarcus’ mom was ask how they were taking the sudden news: “The things that have developed over the last 24 hours or so, he is not too aware of,” Ms. Cousins said. “He’s at the aquarium today with the (McDonald’s All-American) group. I’m sure if they had any down time, that someone has mentioned it to him. Right now, we haven’t talked about it.”

On John Calapari:

“He likes the way he motivates his players, said Ms. Cousins. “He has watched Coach Cal for a long period of time. He is the type of coach that is very up-front. There’s no gray area. You know right away that his way is the way it is. You learn and he pushes you, and that is what DeMarcus likes about him.”

Kenny Walker, former UK star and NBA player, seemed ecstatic over the possibility of John Calipari joining the Wildcats as head coach:

He has a very charismatic personality. He’s a great communicator. He’s a great motivator. He’s a proven recruiter. Those are all things you need at the University of Kentucky,” said Walker. “He really has all the qualities you need for this job. He’s very good with fans and the media. He relates well to the players. He is the complete package.”

“All I have heard about Calipari is how much fun it is to play for him and that’s what college basketball is about. Get an education, get some exposure for yourself and have fun. Then take it to the next level if you can. “He will get guys to do that and make it pleasant experience for them, and I don’t think that has been the case at Kentucky the last two years.”

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