Since I last posted...

UK has made history with 5 NBA First Round Draft Picks in the same year. By now, I'm sure you know the teams, the players, and all the headlines that were made. I don't think it was the "greatest day in the history of Kentucky basketball" as evidenced by taking me so long to post anything about it, however, it is special. I understand what Calipari meant by that statement, even if he was a little caught up in the moment. This is a players first program, and it is players that will win Championships for us at Kentucky in due time.

However, giving hope to families and making kids dreams/careers come true might be more important in the grand scheme of things than winning a title. Championships are an easy choice between the two for fans, the state, and the University...but lets be honest with ourselves, would Eric Bledsoe rather have won a championship and then not get drafted and live on the streets the rest of his life? Look, these kids wanted a Championship really bad and they came short. They were all devastated after the WV loss, but in the long run things went right for these kids and it's a reason to celebrate. Congrats to all five of them!

In other news...

• Daniel Orton applogizes to UK fans via twitter.

• Josh Harrelson also tweets that he "has never played against anyone as good" as Enes Kanter.

That's a pretty bold statement considering a year ago he was playing pick up games matched up against Cousins, Patterson, and Orton (3 first round draft picks).

And the saddest news surrounding the program in quite some time comes tonight. Terri Krebs, the mother of UK's Mark Krebs, has passed away. My thoughts and prayers (as well as all of Big Blue Nation, I am sure) are with Mark and his family. Krebs was an absolute class act and a great representative of the program. He walked on for 4 years, played for 3 different coaches (which is very difficult for a walk-on to do), was an Academic All-American, and had a love for UK Basketball as much as anyone you will ever meet. I wish Mark the very best and pray that he gets through this difficult time.

Calipari: Not the only UK coach doing a tremendous job recruiting.

Matthew Mitchell's performance as UK Women's Basketball coach so far has been possibly more impressive than the job that Calipari has done at UK. Both have done remarkable jobs, but Mitchell has done it without the spotlight and publicity that Cal gets with the Men's team. Both hoops' teams made it to last year's Elite 8 and both have very high ranked recruiting classes coming in.

Calipari's is #1, and Mitchell's incoming class is ranked #13 by ESPN (unheard of and unparallelled for the UK Women's program), one spot ahead Pat Summit's Lady Vols!

Joker Phillips is also recruiting at a level that has never been done with the UK football program. Although it's early and a lot can change, his 2011 class is ranked Top 20 in the country, which is also simply unheard of for Kentucky football. UK has been competing with the best of the SEC for four years now with less talent on the field. Now that they are recruiting at a "middle of the pack" level in the nation's best conference, they will get closer to FINISHING at the middle or even top of the conference sooner than you may think. "Operation Win" is not about competing and being relevent anymore, it's about winning and being at a top level in the SEC in all aspects.

Expect Mitchell and Phillips both to continue to build on their respective programs for years to come in Lexington.

2010 ESPN Women's BBall Recruiting Rankings

2011 ESPN Football Recruiting Rankings

P.S.- Check out Kentucky Sports Radio TONIGHT for the start of the blogger contest entries, and possibly my entry on Brandon Knight.

Fans' criticism of Orton is fair. Cousins' reputation is not.

Daniel Orton could be a steal in this Thursday's NBA Draft as a late 1st round pick. Orton is a kid who has played behind the likes of Blake Griffin in high school and DeMarcus Cousins in college. He's competed with two of the best big men the game will see in years on a daily basis in practices. He could also be the guy to make history for the Cats, as he is projected to be the record breaking fifth 1st round pick in the draft from the same school. Not even the '96 Cats put 5 players into the 1st round of the draft in one year.

He might also be Calipari's biggest recruiting tool, even more so than top picks like John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Derrick Rose, and Tyreke Evans. Why? Because what other coach in the country can tell a kid that he can sit on the bench and average 3 points a game and be a first round pick after ONE year? The fact that 3 points per game in limited action was enough for Orton to probably be picked in the first round after just one year begs the question of how high he could have been picked if he stayed just two or three years at Kentucky. The sky could have really been the limit. I don't think it would have been impossible at all for him to become a Top 5 pick or maybe even the #1 overall pick after another year or two if he had stayed and proven himself with quality minutes alongside Enes Kanter and Terrence Jones.

He could have definitely benefited from another year, but possibly Orton was concerned about finding himself on the bench again with two more super talented freshman big guys coming in? Maybe he thought that if he was going to have to fight for playing time in either situation, he might as well be getting paid for it in the NBA. That is a point of view from Orton that I can understand. Especially considering that he originally came to Kentucky to be a star player under Billy Gillispie until Cal came in and brought along DeMarcus Cousins. He still decided to stay at Kentucky through it all and become a role player turned into an NBA first round pick, a decision that I'm sure he feels very comfortable with.

The success of Orton and point guard Eric Bledsoe, who came to UK despite the fact that John Wall already signed his letter of intent to play here, will help Calipari continue to convince kids that they should come and be a role player at UK instead of being a star somewhere else. For the above reason that his success makes him a huge recruiting tool for UK and because I think Daniel really is deep down a good kid, I hope that he has great success in the NBA and I genuinely wish him the absolute best. However, I believe the national media and NBA GM's are seemingly giving Daniel a free pass on character issues during his time at UK, while unfairly placing labels on his other teammates, mainly DeMarcus Cousins.

I don't blame Orton for leaving after a year and I understand his decision, just as I do for the other four Cats' that are leaving early. However, he did not live up to his end of the bargain on his commitment to UK. Competing daily with DeMarcus Cousins in practice, working out with John Calipari for a year, and playing on the nation's most talented and nationally recognizable
basketball team are reasons why Daniel is in the current position he is in. He owed it to Calipari and Kentucky to stick around for an extra month and finish up his 2nd semester grades to not hurt the program's APR ranking and team GPA.

Instead, Daniel selfishly left his teammates behind in Lexington and flew out to California instead of finishing his 2nd semester classes. If Orton had done what he was supposed to finish up in the classroom, the Cats would have had an exceptional improvement from the previous semester on their team GPA and would be at no risk of an APR hit in the future, which could eventually cost UK scholarships, if another situation like this occurs again. The most disappointing thing about all of this is that Daniel is a smart, well spoken kid. He has a lot of academic potential and made the decision that an education will not serve him any good throughout his life. On the other hand, his teammates that are projected higher than him in the draft all made the decision to stick around and finish strong in the classroom, not only for the good of the program, but also to open the doors to come back and finish up a degree someday as Rajon Rondo and Jodie Meeks are currently doing during the off-season.

John Wall, the almost certain #1 pick on Thursday, finished with the team's highest GPA and plans to eventually earn his degree despite being the most gifted point guard the game has seen in possibly a decade. Another probable Top 10 pick, Patrick Patterson, earned his diploma after just three years on campus. Bledsoe and Cousins, whom both lack the academic potential as Daniel Orton seems to have, still kept their commitment to the school and finished up classes, even though they may not ever return to school again. Cousins, for sure, probably won't ever need to return to school as he possesses the size and skill to play many years in the NBA. John Wall doesn't have a need to return either, but wants to. Bledsoe probably simply doesn't have the smarts to stick around and work towards a degree. Orton is less talented than all of his teammates entering the draft and very well may need to come back to school someday. His 0.0 GPA last semester could come back haunt him if he ever has to make that decision.

The way Orton left Kentucky and the sound of jealousy that comes out of his mouth when asked about teammate DeMarcus Cousins, combined with the incident of Orton actually leaving the UK bench and walking into the locker room in the middle of a game this season because of frustration over being taken out and put back onto the bench, are justifiable reasons for more scrutiny and criticism of Daniel as teams ponder drafting him or not. Orton talks smooth, he's intelligent and very well spoken, and seems like a good guy. While Cousins has a perception problem because he isn't as well spoken, wears a headband, has tattoos, and plays like a monster on the court. Daniel just likes dressing up as a Power Ranger from time to time in Wildcat Lodge.

Despite the fact that Orton has a good sense of humor highlighted in the picture to the right with DeMarcus, the reality is that he is a riskier pick than Cousins, even though the perception seems to be the opposite. He's not just more of a risk because of his physical ability is not as strong as Cousins, but because he has a bit of an attitude problem that may not be worth dealing with. While in Cousins' case, even if he was a head case (and his time at UK proved nothing but the opposite), his talent alone would make him worth taking. When fans criticized Orton for the way that he had left, it was very fair criticism (for the most part), even though the media made all UK fans out to be villains. I wish all UK players the best in this Thursday's draft and am rooting for Daniel to prove me wrong, just like DeMarcus has proved many wrong all year in Lexington. I just wish the media would get off of Cousins' back, who has done everything the right way at UK, and give a little bit of fair criticism where it's actually deserved.

Wilmhoff on Kentucky Sports Radio

First off, I want to thank all of you for your support to make Wildcat Wrap a success in its first nine months. I now have the opportunity to possibly write for Kentuckysportsradio.com, the biggest UK site on the web. I submitted an entry in the 2010 KSR Blogger Contest and was selected as one of the 25 finalists out of 296 entries. Please check out the site for my player profile of incoming freshman PG Brandon Knight. The article will be posted on the site either Wednesday night or sometime on Thursday. It's possible that fan voting could impact which writer moves on in the contest, so please check out the site and vote for me. If I win, I'll be a regular staff writer on the biggest UK site on the web (a site that has contributed to CBS sports.com in the past) and will have an audience of hundreds of thousands of people on a daily basis. Again, thanks to all of you for supporting my site and I would greatly appreciate your continued support!

The Legend of Rondo

(9 great stories on Number 9 by ESPN.com)

It's great to see all of the respect and accolades given to Rajon Rondo during this season's NBA Playoffs. It's been a thrill to watch the development of Rajon and the struggles and adversity he faced at Kentucky and through his initial transition into the NBA as a backup point guard. The winningest program in the history of college basketball, for some reason, has not produced many great NBA players. Although Rondo struggled at times at UK under Tubby Smith, we all saw the flashes of greatness in Lexington.

He has now developed into quite possibly the best NBA player UK has ever produced. He's the unquestioned leader on a Championship team that features a lineup of 3 future Hall of Famers. Rondo, who was considered a risky late first round pick for Boston in 2006, was brought in as a backup of Sebastian Telfair. Now, he's the face of the franchise and developing a Hall of Fame resume. Under Calipari, we should all get used to UK point guards dominating in the NBA, but John Wall, Brandon Knight, and Marquis Teague have a long ways to go to accomplish what Rondo already has.

ESPN.com has created a collection of nine articles chronicling the events of Rondo's rise to fame- from his childhood in Louisville, KY, through his high school careers at Eastern High and Oak Hill Academy, to his two years in Lexington at UK under Tubby Smith, all the way through the NBA Draft process and his initial struggles in Boston, and finally to his current status as the unquestioned leader of the Boston Celtics as they try to capture their 2nd NBA World Championship in three years.

I don't post many links on this site, but all nine of these articles are a MUST READ. Read them all (by clicking on the above logo on the top of the page) and watch him lead his Celtics tonight in Game 3 in Boston. The series with L.A. is tied 1 to 1.

RIP John Wooden

Today, I'm going to take a break from talking about the Eric Bledsoe situation, Rajon Rondo playing in the NBA Finals, the upcoming NBA Draft, and the incoming #1 ranked recruiting class at UK.


Today's a day to remember the life and career of legendary UCLA Basketball Coach John Wooden. Coach Wooden is probably the best coach the game has ever seen at any level and is also one of the most influential. Everyone knows about all the Championships at UCLA, but most do not know his ties to the Bluegrass State. He began his coaching career at tiny Dayton High School in Northern Kentucky, just minutes from my hometown. His first game as a coach was a high school game in Kentucky and his last game as a coach was against the University of Kentucky, as he won his 10th National Championship. At Dayton, a school that to this day has always struggled in athletics, was where the legendary coach started his career with only a 6-10 record. That would be his first and only losing record in his career.

At 21 years old, he was not only a coach, but also an English teacher and an Athletic Director at Dayton. I played in a basketball league in Dayton as a kid and played District football games there in high school. This is encouraging to me, because I'm attending Xavier University in the near future to start working on my Masters of Secondary Education with an Emphasis in English to go along with my Sport Management Bachelors Degree at Eastern Kentucky. I have hopes of being an English teacher and an Athletic Director, and it's inspiring to me to learn that a legendary coach like John Wooden started out doing just that, right here in Kentucky. I've never met Coach Wooden and I wasn't even alive to watch him coach a single game, but just hearing his story and reading some of his famous influential quotes is enough to have great respect for the "Wizard of Westwood".

Here are a couple of my favorites:

"Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts."

“Learn as if you were to live forever; live as if you were to die tomorrow.”

RIP, Coach Wooden.

What went wrong for Rondo at Kentucky?

As Rajon Rondo looks to lead the Boston Celtics to their 2nd NBA World Championship in three years as he and his Celtics face the Lakers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals tomorrow night, Kentucky fans have to wonder what exactly went wrong for the Cats during his time here. Rondo has emerged as one of the best Point Guards in the NBA and could be named this year's MVP of the Playoffs. Although he still has a lot more to prove over an entire career, he's quickly putting together a resume that could put him in the Hall of Fame someday. If Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen retire anytime in the near future, the keys to the storied franchise could be given to Rondo, and perhaps he could ultimately be judged by how he is able to lead the franchise after that happens. But regardless to what the future holds for Rondo, it's impressive and mindboggling to think that the former Kentucky Point Guard whom led the Cats to a disappointing #8 seed and 2nd round loss to UConn in the 2006 season, his final year at UK, could only be one title short of what Larry Bird accomplished in his entire career in Boston after this season.

A lot of Kentucky fans will point their fingers at Tubby Smith and claim that Smith's offense slowed Rondo down and did not let him take control of the team like he probably should have. I was a huge fan and supporter of Tubby and I agree with those claims, but I think there's more to it than just placing the blame on Tubby for not getting it done in the 2006 season. In 2005, Rondo had an exceptional Freshman season and led the Cats to the Elite 8 and a foul call on Patrick Sparks away from the Final Four. Smith's offense didn't seem to prevent Rondo from having a great season that year. There was a specific event that I believe was a turning point for the bad in the 2006 season and eventually led to the demise of Tubby Smith at Kentucky. Before this event occurred, the Cats were a not so great 10-4. It included embarrassing losses to Indiana and Kansas, but it also included a very sweet win over #4 ranked Louisville in which Lukasz Orbzut somehow played like an All-American that day with the absence of another UK big man.

It was the anticipated return of that big man that I believe was the reason Rondo was not able to take over that team. Yes, the event that I'm referring to is the fax that Tubby discovered in the middle of that season that declared Randolph Morris eligible even after he stayed in the NBA Draft and was undrafted. The day that Tubby found the fax proving that Morris did not hire an agent, many UK fans were jumping for joy and believed that their season was now saved. Morris was now eligible to suit up for the Cats in the SEC opener against Vanderbilt. This was a game that I attended and remember very well all the excitement over the return of Morris.

The Cats lost that game to Vanderbilt and would only finish the remainder of the season at 12-9 with Morris on the team. His post presence caused the team to play a slower brand of basketball which simply didn't work that season. Not all of the blame should be put on Tubby, nor should it be put on Rondo and the perceived attitude problems that some believed he had. I think many of us forget that Randolph Morris did not live up to his expectations when he returned to the team and his presence simply was not a good fit for that team under Rondo. He did not run the floor well and Morris may have actually slowed down Rajon Rondo more than Tubby's offense did. The Cats may have been better off that year if Tubby had never found that fax.