Could the script be any better?

Over the course of the past five months, it has been a topsy turvy season for Big Blue Nation. There's been ups, such as UK's fifteen point win at Louisville. There have also certainly been downs, like going 2-6 on the road in SEC play. I regret that I have not been here to document the season, because it has been more than what I think anyone imagined that this season could be. The script couldn't have been written any better. I cried on Sunday when Kentucky returned to the Final Four for the first time in thirteen seasons, the longest drought in school history.

Flashing back to a year ago, I would not have been emotional if Kentucky beat West Virginia and made the Final Four last year, because that team was expected to do so. I also would not have been emotional if the Cats made the Final Four in 2003 or 2005, when top seeded UK teams lost in the Elite Eight, a major road block for the Cats since the Championship season of 1998. The fact that last year's team DID NOT make it with five first round NBA draft picks, and this team DID reach the Final Four despite 8 regular season losses, no Enes Kanter, and an incredibly tough region to get here (defeating WVU, OSU, and UNC), all adds to the beautiful script of this amazing run.

Josh Harrelson, who averaged a couple of minutes per game a year ago sitting behind big men DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, and Daniel Orton, and expected to sit behind Enes Kanter this year, is the best 'feel good' story in all of college basketball this season. DeAndre Liggins also has a pretty good story himself, and the other veteran, Darius Miller, had dreamt of this experience his entire life growing up in Maysville, KY. John Calipari, who has been known as a fantastic recruiter and an average coach, has proven that he is in fact one of the best X's and O's coaches in the game this season, beating every team that has defeated him in a rematch games this season. The only "V word" describing this Final Four appearance for Calipari is vindication. He's proven that he can win with less, like he has already proven at UMass (but others seem to forget), and that he can also do it without even a hint of trouble with the NCAA with this current roster.

Of the Wildcats' eight losses, six of them have been avenged, earning them the potential nickname of the "Payback Cats". Five of the six SEC losses on the road were avenged with wins at Rupp Arena or in the SEC Tournament, including two wins against Florida after losing in the final seconds in Gainesville. The Cats also lost to North Carolina in the regular season after defeating them in the East Regional to advance to the Final Four. They lost to UConn in the Maui Invitational Championship in November, and they also hope to avenge that loss on Saturday in the Final Four. If they do, 7 of their 8 losses will be avenged. Arkansas, who they only faced once, would be the only team on the schedule that the Cats did not defeat. You'd expect Harrelson and Brandon Knight, who had 0 and 6 points respectively in November against the Huskies, to have much more of an impact this time around.

There couldn't have been a better script for this team to make it to the Final Four, and perhaps, a National Championship. Regardless of how the team fares in Houston, they have accomplished the very rare feat of exceeding the always high exepctations at the University of Kentucky. With Enes, this team was thought to have a chance to still be playing right now. Without him, they weren't given much of a shot at all. It's been a blessing in disguise for Josh Harrelson, who has emerged as a fan favorite and has played himself into a chance of playing at the next level. On paper, the Cats look to be even better next season, perhaps a pre-season #1 ranking, but that team has a tall task infront of them to accomplish what this team already has and hopes to do Saturday and Monday night: bringing home the 8th National Championship to its rightful place in Lexington, KY.

Jones does it all as Cats beat ETSU, 88-65.

It's been awhile since I've last posted, and a lot has happened.

• UK won their two exhibition games easily as expected
• This Wednesday, Marquis Teague, Michael Gilchrist, and Kyle Wiltjer all signed their national letter of intents to play for the Cats on the first day of the signing period.
• On Thursday, there was bad news. Enes wasn't freed, and was declared permanently ineligible by the NCAA for receiving $33,000 more than "necessary expenses".
• This afternoon, we have found out that $20,000 of that was used for education, which could be a major implication in the appeal process later this month, leaving only $13,000 to be re-paid or accounted for.
• And tonight, without Enes Kanter, the Cats took care of business and beat ETSU 88-65.
  

East Tennessee State isn't one of the best teams the Cats will play this year, but they were a veteran team that made the NCAA Tournament a year ago and a major upgrade in talent from Pikeville, Dillard, and the Canadian teams that they have played this summer. They were a very good test for a young team in their opening game. I expected the young Cats to fall behind early in this one, but eventually come back to win rather easily. I thought the new guys would be overwhelmed by the difference in talent compared to what they've faced in the preseason. I expected a similar sloppy performance as what we were accustomed to early on last season with a young team. I was wrong.

It was an all around excellent opener, and I must say, they're ahead of where they were a year ago. They're also a much better shooting team than a year ago as they shot 50%, 13 of 26, from the field. Brandon Knight made 4 0f 7 from behind the arc, Doron Lamb made 3 of 5, DeAndre Liggins and Darius Miller each made three, and even big man Terrence Jones, the star of the game, made 2 out of 3 three point attempts. It's safe to say that this team probably won't shoot like this every game, but they probably won't ever go 0-25 from 3 ever again, either. Jones finished with 25 points, 12 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 3 steals. There didn't seem to be anything that he couldn't do. The other scoring leaders for the Cats were Lamb (20), Knight (17), and Liggins (14).

Darius Miller also had 8 points and Josh Harrelson played well in limited playing time. Harrelson started the game and grabbed the first rebound and scored the first basket for the Cats but was called for 2 quick fouls which put him on the bench the rest of the 2nd half (one of those fouls seemed questionable). Harrelson also picked up a third foul early in the 2nd half and finished with 2 points and 7 rebounds in just 16 minutes to play. With the absence of Kanter and Harrelson on the bench, Eloy Vargas had to fill the void but was unable to get into the scoring books. It didn't really matter because Terrence Jones did just about everything, inside and out. Jon Hood, who came off a 17 point performance in the previous exhibition game, only got into the game for 6 minutes and scored 2 points.

With or without Enes Kanter, this is going to be a very good team. It's not life or death on this decision. He'd be a huge addition, but they've been preparing all off season to play without him and they will be just fine without him. Kentucky fans need to have perspective. Remember Billy Ball? This team will be, at worst, the 2nd best team we've had in 5 years. Then, next year, we'll be even better and perhaps even better than last year. I don't expect this team to accomplish everything that happened a year ago; but they are a better shooting team, they are playing better early on than they did last year, and I do believe they could go further into the tournament. "Enjoy the path", as Calipari says, it's going to be another great year!

The Cats take the football field tomorrow in a must win game against Vanderbilt. Bowl eligibilty and momentum going into Knoxville are on the line. It's been reported that, finally, Derrick Locke will play.

(Photo Courtesy of UKathletics.com)

Blue dominates White: Knight scores 37, Jones scores 29

With only ten players eligible to practice upon the eligibility ruling of Enes Kanter, tonight's Blue/White game required every player to play for 40 minutes straight with no subs. It had to be a great experience physically for ten guys to all play 40 minutes and they all seemed conditioned pretty well for it. Brandon Knight had cramps in the final remaining seconds, but his legs were good enough for him to score 37 points and only turn it over 2 times in 40 minutes. Terrence Jones, who played very little in the Canadian exhibition trip because of a nagging ankle injury, had a good showing of his post skills and athleticism for the first time in front of Big Blue Nation with 29 points! The projected starting players were primarily on the blue team, and that combined with 40 minutes of play for everyone may have increased production numbers; however, Calipari had the players switching jerseys and getting accustomed to playing with different guys throughout the game.

Other statistics of note include 26 rebounds by Josh Harrleson combined with 16 points for a double double, Eloy Vargas was also just one rebound short of a double double, and I believe Jarrod Polson scored in double figures as well (but official stats are not yet available). After not seeing hardly any action from Jones or Vargas in Canada, Harrelson was the primary big man. Despite the improvement of Harrelson and the solid play in Canada, the thought of how the team might shape up in the post without Enes Kanter was concerning going into tonight's scrimmage. It's hard to make much of these scrimmages, but tonight certainly showed that the Cats are still very talented in the post with or without Kanter. The Terrence Jones we saw tonight was the Jones we can expect to see in the season, and not the injury plagued Jones that we saw in Candada. All and all, tonight was a tremendous effort and an entertaining display of action tonight for a sub-less ten Wildcats who all gave the fans a good show and some good hustle for 40 minutes straight. We've got another pretty darn good team, folks!

P.S.- tonight at midnight marks the 1 year anniversary of Wildcat Wrap.

A year ago, inspired by Big Blue Madness and the excitement generating around John Calipari's first season in Lexington, I started this site in the early morning/late night hours of October 27th, 2009. The idea just suddenly came to me, and I immediately jumped on it. I didn't even wait until the next morning to get it going. I started it up right then when the idea came to me that night, and here I am a year later.

Who would have thought that writing on this blog would have led me to a new career path? I've discovered I really like to write and am pretty good at it. I'm currently taking a stab at a journalism career, covering sports for the Xavier Newswire. I'm also at Xavier for my Masters of Secondary English Education and if a journalism or sports information career doesn't pan out, I plan to teach English and Journalism and get into sports administration at the high school level. Because of all these changes, I won't be able to update the site regularly anymore, but I will check back and write some stories here and then. Thanks to everyone for all of the support throughout the past year.

Sincerely,
John

The Truth about Kanter, Calipari, and Marcus Camby

According to Calipari, we'll know in a few weeks on the status of Enes Kanter. Pete Thamel's second attempt to bring down the Cats taught us nothing new that we already didn't know. We've known for months that Kanter played on a semi-professional team since he was fourteen and received money. This is old news. We've known about this for months and we've known that Calipari and the University have been honest and upfront about the situation with the NCAA.

Kentucky didn't even play Kanter on the Canadian exhibition trip because they were waiting for the NCAA to make a decision on his eligibility. Media outlets across the country have made misleading headlines on this story leading people to believe the situation was a lot worse and insinuating that Calipari and Kentucky are involved in a scandal. That couldn't be any further from the truth as they have been working with the NCAA for months on this issue. In fact, the NCAA is even considering new rules that would make it easier for European players who have received similar benefits at a young age the chance to play college basketball in America.

It's also important to note that the Turkish team making these claims has an incentive for Kanter to not be elibile at UK. If Kanter is ruled ineligible, Kanter would have to either return to Turkey or be signed by another European or NBA team. If another professional team signs him, the Turkish team will receive loyalties for his services. They receive nothing if he plays for UK. Another note of importance is that Kanter never signed any professional contract and the team did not disclose any "financial statements" to Pete Thamel when he asked them to as he actually had the audacity to travel to Turkey to report this "story". Thamel has also been accused of misrepresenting quotes in the article.

Perhaps, Kanter could miss a number of games this year but could be eligible by the end of the season. Last season, John Wall missed just one regular season game as he paid back money he received from an AAU coach to help him pay for college visits. Regardless to the ruling, UK has done the right thing every step of the way to ensure that Kanter is eligible before even allowing him to play in summer exhibition games. The Cats also played very well without him in Canada and look to have an entertaining team with or without Kanter. Enes' future is also not on the line, as NBA Draft experts project him as a top pick even if he goes back and plays in Europe for a year.

Meanwhile, Marcus Camby is being honored in Amhurst this weekend on his first visit back to UMass. Camby has paid back the revenue the University lost from the 1996 NCAA Vacated Final Four and he is being inducted into the UMass Hall of Fame. He's taken full responsibility for his mistakes. In an exerpt from an article in the Hampshire Daily Gazette, Camby says, "The poor decision I made, it was definitely disappointing, not just for me but for the entire university. When I went through that, I couldn't blame anybody but myself. When that stuff was going on, no one knew about it, no one at the university, none of my coaches ...or teammates. I thought the only right thing for me to do was own up to my mistakes."

Unfortunately, people don't want to know what really happened; they just want to think what they would like to think as true, or whatever is most convenient for them to believe. This is true in politics, business, and sports...especially when John Calipari and Kentucky are involved. John Calipari has a clean record, Sandy Bell is the best complaince director in the nation, the rest of the world is against UK, but clearly, the unbiased and rational people out there know that Kentucky has nothing to worry about.

Canada Trip Concludes with Most Consistent and Complete Effort Yet

(Darius Miller pictured above, Courtesy of the Cats Pause)

On Tuesday morning, all 8 of the undermanned Wildcats scored. All 3 nights of the trip, Darius Miller and Brandon Knight performed exceptionally well. Doron Lamb had a sluggish outing in his opener, but followed that up with 2 straight 20 point performances. Miller, Knight, and Lamb combined for 74 points on Tuesday. Hood, Liggins, and Harrelson delivered with strikingly consistent numbers all 3 nights. But Tuesday was the most complete effort of the trip, as the Cats led big the entire duration of the game. They went into halftime with a 22 point lead and never gave in on route to a 104-75 victory over Windsor.

The most impressive statistic of the 3 day trip, especially after only having 10 practices previously, was that Kentucky only turned over the ball 14 times each game. It shows an incredible consistency and focus, especially given the fast paced offense that they run. The same consistency and focus wasn't always present last season in early November games. This is a different team than we will see at Big Blue Madness on October 15th, but the additions of Enes Kanter, Terrence Jones, and Eloy Vargas will only make the Cats' a more complete and balanced team from an already pretty good team that we saw in these 3 days.

Here's a recap of everyone's numbers:

Darius Miller 24 pts, 3 reb, 3 assts
Stacey Poole 2 pts, 1 steal
Jon Hood 8 pts, 8 rebs, 4 assts
Brandon Knight 27 pts, 5 rbs, 9 assts
Doron Lamb 23 pts, 3 rbs
Jarrod Polson 2 pts
Deandre Liggins 10 pts, 2 rbs, 6 assts
Josh Harrellson 8 pts, 19 rbs, 4 steals

And yes, that is correct...Josh Harrelson really had 19 rebounds.

Basketball in August: Cats invade Canada.

Never has August been more fun around these parts. The Cincinnati Reds are tied with the St. Louis Cardinals for 1st place in a very wild and incredibly tight NL Central race, Terrell Owens has joined fellow endzone diva Chad Ochocinco with the Bengals, and Sports Illustrated has picked Joker's first UK football team to finish 2nd place in the SEC East, tied with Georgia and just behind Florida.

If all of that wasn't enough to excite local sports fans, John Calipari has brought his Kentucky basketball squad to Canada for Big Blue basketball...in August! In the middle of all of this madness of football season approaching and the Reds fighting for their first playoff birth in 15 years, we will get to see a very early summer's glimpse of the Cats' upcoming basketball team for 3 straight days this Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. The games can be seen on FSN South and FSN Ohio in 14 states, or online anywhere in the world at http://www.ukathletics.com/. They can also be heard on the radio on any of the flagship stations of the Big Blue Network. Basketball in August. This is fun, isn't it?

Unfortunately, freshman Center Enes Kanter will not make the trip as UK is still waiting for a word back from the NCAA regarding his amateur eligibility status after his participation with "Club teams" in his home-nation of Turkey. But fans will get to see a good look at returning players Josh Harrelson and DeAndre Liggins. Harrelson and Liggins have shown a marked improvement according to Calipari and he looks for the two to step up in starting roles, along with fellow returnee Darius Miller. Besides Kanter, the other freshman who will play big roles this year that WILL be making the trip to Canada are Brandon Knight, Doron Lamb, and Terrence Jones.

I appologize for a slow summer here on the site, but I'm ready for football season to begin and I'm equally excited for these summer basketball games in Canada. The site will pick things up right where we left off last March and will grow to be even bigger with more features than ever before.

Tomorrow will be a fun day. The Reds look to sweep the Marlins tomorrow afternoon and the Bengals will be playing their home preseason opener. But, of course, I won't be watching the Bengals because at 7:00 the Cats will tip it off vs. Windsor University and we'll wrap up all the action right here at Wildcat Wrap!

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.

Comparing the '09 and '10 Classes, and looking forward to 2011.

2009 Class (Rivals.com National rank and # of stars)

PG John Wall (1)*****
PF DeMarcus Cousins (2)*****
C Daniel Orton (22)*****
PG Eric Bledsoe (23)*****
SG Jon Hood (40)****
SF Darnell Dodson (JUCO)****

2010 Class:

Overall rankings

2009: Wall (1), Cousins (2), Orton (22), Bledsoe (23), Jon Hood (40), and a top JUCO transfer in Dodson

2009 AVERAGE RANK PER PLAYER: 17.6

2010: Kanter (3), Knight (6), Jones (13), Lamb (21), Poole (33), and a top JUCO transfer in Vargas (and possibly one more addition).

2010 AVERAGE RANK PER PLAYER: 15.2

The 2009 class may have had the 2 best players with the most NBA superstar potential, but the 2010 class looks to be more deep and a better overall class, and Cal might not even be finished yet! This class features three top 15 recruits as opposed to two last season, and depending on who you ask, Knight is ranked as high as #1 by some experts and Jones is thought to be in the top 10 by many as well. Hood and Dodson return from last year's class and Poole and Vargas are expected to return as well for the 2011/2012 season. All four of these guys should join would-be Seniors Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins in 2012, while Josh Harrelson stands alone as the only Senior in 2010/2011.

With it being a relatively weak overall class nationwide (there's at least no superstars of the calibur of Wall or Cousins this year), there isn't really a definitive "one and done" player in this class, either. Kanter, Knight, and Jones are likely "one and done", but are not currently guarenteed lottery picks as Wall and Cousins were. Doron Lamb finds him in the same situation as Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton a year ago. He is not expected to be ready after a year and does not expect to leave, but we'll just have to wait and see how he progresses under Cal. I believe that Stacey Poole and Eloy Vargas are ultimately what will make this class better than last year's. I see both of these players contributing much more than Jon Hood did, and maybe more than Dodson did as well as a Freshman, and they'll be very important returnees along with Liggins, Miller, Dodson, and Hood on the 2012 team.

Not only will the 2012 team feature veterans Liggins, Miller, Dodson, and Hood, along with Sophomores Poole, Vargas, and maybe more...but Cal will be bringing in an EVEN Better recruiting class than his first two classes at UK.

Here's how the 2011 Class is stacking up:

Rivals.com National Rank and # of stars

F Mike Gilchrist (1) ***** (committed)

G Marquis Teague (2) *****(committed)

F Lebryan Nash (4) *****(considering KY)

F Quincy Miller (8)*****(KY at top of his list)

That's potentially FOUR top 10 recruits, with 3 of the top 4 overall. Also, keep in mind that Teague will be complemented by senior guards Miller and Liggins. They should also have enough experienced returning players for Calipari to not have to go after an additional two or three guys. Depending on how Lamb develops as a Freshman, Calipari might actually already be done with this class. I certainly think that UK is a viable National Championship contender in 2011, but in 2012 it's hard to imagine them not being the unanimous pre-season favorite.

Is Calipari Good for Kentucky?

A lot has been going on around Big Blue Nation the last couple of weeks. UK fans experienced disappointment over recruiting commitments for the first time in the Calipari era when CJ Leslie, Terrence Jones (supposedly), and Marcus Thornton have all decided to play their college basketball somewhere else. Calipari has offered a walk-on spot for West Jessamine star point guard, Jarrod Polson, and is currently trying to put the finishing touches on another great recruiting class at UK. Calipari also discussed with the press last week about the possibility of starting up a JV team at UK to allow more Kentucky kids the opportunity to suit up for the Blue and White.

In addition to the disappointing recruiting commitments more bad news came out last week when an article was written in the Lexington Herald Leader announcing that the UK men's basketball team compiled a team GPA of only 2.0, the worst since 2002 and currently the lowest of any sports program at UK. Then, the very next day, Yahoo reported that Calipari was interested in the opening head coaching job with the Chicago Bulls and not soon after that it was announced of UK's intention to restructure Calipari's contract to try to keep the coach in Lexington until he retires. In the last couple of days, more disappointing (but not surprising) news came out that Daniel Orton has hired an agent and Eric Bledsoe definitely intends to stay in the draft barring any major injury during NBA workouts. Unless Cal signs another big man, a lot more will be asked of Josh Harrelson next year as he and incoming blue chip Center, Enes Kanter, will be the only two post players on the roster.

Still, through all of the mostly negative news that has surrounded the program in the last couple of weeks, the Cats are still bringing in a top 5 recruiting class next year and have an even better class coming into the program in 2012. The team's GPA should certainly improve next season with the additions of Brandon Knight and Enes Kanter, whom are both very well known to be exceptional students. And Calipari, for now, is still in Lexington and he says he's happy here and doesn't even want a raise. I wouldn't be suprised to see Coach Cal make the move to the NBA down the road if the PERFECT situation presents itself with a playoff calibur team with Lebron James on the roster, and perhaps one of his former players such as Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, John Wall, or DeMarcus Cousins as well. I do think Cal is still intigued by having success in the NBA, but I also believe he has a desire to get to another Final Four and ultimately win a National Championship at Kentucky before he gives the NBA a second shot. If he is able to do that, I don't think anyone would be dissapointed in Coach Cal, just as long as he doesn't end up on Louisville's sidelines any time soon.

Just as Coach Cal explained on his Twitter last week, there will never be any more rumors about him going to another school because he now has the best college job, but his name will always be linked to NBA job openings, whether he is actually interested or not, and that is a good problem for Kentucky to have. It's a problem that nobody had to worry about when Billy Gillispie was on the sidelines for 2 short and miserable seasons and it's only a problem that elite programs and coaches have to deal with. Kentucky is clearly once again at an elite level, but some critics will beg the question if it is really worth it in spite of all the "one and dones", occasional academic shortcomings (yes- occassional; just look at his career graduation rates at Memphis and UMass), and the mention of Calipari's name for virtually every NBA job opening.

ESPN's SportsNation poll this week asked if John Calipari was good for the University of Kentucky. Cal's critics can be very loud, often biased (see Pat Forde), and almost always obnoxious (Louisville fans). On a national level, however, the SportsNation poll revealed that nearly 70% of sports fans accross the nation believe that Calipari is good for Kentucky and only two states- Kansas and North Carolina (not surprisingly), thought otherwise. Despite what your annoying co-worker from Louisville may tell you on a consistant basis, most other fans would love Coach Calipari coaching their team.

Just about every fan base in America would openly welcome superstars like John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, even if only for a year. They also wouldn't mind NBA rumors surrounding their head coach if it meant they were competing for National Championships every year, and most fans certainly wouldn't mind if their team went through a semester or two with a "C" average. The critics of Calipari can be very loud and annoying to deal with, but most of them would love to have Cal and all the "problems" associated with being an elite program with elite players. We're very lucky and proud to have Coach Calipari and it's just amazing to sit back and think about everything that has transpired with this program in the past year.

Yes, John Calipari is good for the University of Kentucky and we are extremely lucky to have him. He not only is a winner on the court, but he also connects with the fans off of it and understands everything that is expected of him as the head basketball coach at UK.

He's the perfect man for the job, and to quote Billy Gillsipie- "That's just not a very good question".

Lamb signs with Cats, who's next?

Doron Lamb is the newest Wildcat, joining Stacey Poole, Enes Kanter, and Brandon Knight in John Calipari's 2010 recruiting class. Lamb made his decision during a timeout of the Jordan Brand All-Star game Saturday night in Madison Square Garden. Lamb, a shooting guard, joins Brandon Knight in a backcourt that will try to live up to the show that John Wall and Eric Bledsoe put on this past year.

I actually believe that Knight and Lamb could possibly be a better combination that Wall and Bledose were. Instead of two point guards playing with each other next year, the Cats will have Knight running the point, and they will have a traditional spot-up, "catch and shoot" Shooting Guard in Doron Lamb, something that had been missing since the loss of Jodie Meeks. Lamb, a good outside shooter with a fantastic mid range shot, can also put the ball on the floor and is a tremendous defender. He seems to fit every quality of a player that excels in Calipari's system.

Knight is also a much better outside shooter than Wall, and displayed his clutch ability a few weeks ago when he nailed down the winning shot in the McDonald's All American game. Neither player may be quite as flashy as Wall or Bledsoe, and neither may be a "one and done" player, either. It's actually probable that one of them, along with Stacey Poole and Enes Kanter, will return for another year. These are very good college players, but not freakishly as good as what we had last season.

However, this class looks to actually be better in some aspects than last season's class, which was probably the best recruiting class in the history of college basketball. They probably won't guide this team to a 35-3 record, but they may bring some strengths to the table that could make this team more suitable to reach the Final Four. Two of three losses last season were because of horrendous three point shooting. Those kinds of shooting performances will likely not occur from this bunch next season. The likelihood that every one of them will most probably not be leaving after a year is what could ultimately make this year's class more successful.

If just a few of them come back for their sophomore seasons (which is expected to happen), this class could certainly be more productive if they join would-be Seniors' Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins in 2012, as well as top 2011 recruit Michael Gilchrist and possibly Marquis Teague. Teague is choosing between UK and UofL and will make that choice on Wednesday. If Teague picks the Cats, it would almost certainly make Kentucky the pre-season favorite to win the 2012 National Championship and would be a MAJOR letdown for Rick Pitino and the Cardinals.

After Teague makes a decision on Wednesday, the next two players to look at in the next few weeks are Terrence Jones and C.J. Leslie, both of this year's class. Leslie looks to be choosing between N.C. State and Kentucky, but Terrence Jones seems to be a lean towards the Cats. He recently spoke very highly on the fans and excitement around the UK program, his chance of winning a National Championship here in Lexington, and the ability of John Calipari to develop NBA talent. If all the domino's fall, Calipari will bring in another #1 recruiting class to Lexington. Stay tuned.

And also don't forget about Spring Football. Mike Hartline seems to be leading the way this spring and we'll let you know how all three quarterbacks look in the inaugural Blue/White Scrimmage of the Joker Phillips' era this Saturday.