Promoted from the diaries -- Ed.

Obviously, Coach Calipari is known as a great recruiter, but even he has not had the quality of talent that he finds on this year’s Cats team. Like many of you, I have been yearning for a new up-tempo style of play that will attract major high school talent. One of the most important jobs of a college is to develop the overall skills of a player so he can play a number of different positions and become both marketable to the NBA and hard to guard at the collegiate level.

To me, the DDMO will provide UK’s players with a variety of new weapons with which to dispatch their opponents. With Coach stating that "he would not play anyone over 28 minutes a game," it seems I am about to get my wish of seeing waves and waves of blue and white players playing in the games. For the last few years, I would have liked to see the development of our "secondary" players to assist in case of an injury or, of course, in order to find that "diamond in the rough." This development has to happen with REAL game experience in a TEAM setting.

As the first week of practice draws to a close, let’s look at the current level of talent and how individuals must both develop their talents and mesh into a team concept.

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For some time now, I have felt UK basketball has lacked the big strong athlete with an "on-court attitude".  While we have had excellent players, they have either had to play up a position from what they would play in the NBA or they had more introverted personalities. While these smaller, but skilled players lead quietly by example, they never intimidated the opponent or established the type of swagger for which UK has been known. This level of intimidation can easily translate into 5-10 points during the course of each game.

There is a prototype for the type of player I think filled this position. James Lee comes to mind, with his marvelous build and leaping ability, he repeatedly finished off fast breaks with a thunderous dunk! Though only 6'5" you simply could not muscle him out of position for a rebound. His defense was "in your face", rugged, very physical Kentucky basketball. "Not HERE"! was his motto. If you played against Lee, contact was inevitable.

So now we have a well-documented tough guy coming to campus. IMO DeMarcus Cousins will be the "enforcer" for this team. John Wall will wow us with his speed and skill, but he will not muscle people around. Patrick Patterson has a wonderful "blue collar" work ethic, and will be a "beast" along side of Cousins, but he has more of a  "businesslike" approach to his game. Cousins, on the other hand,  is the "James Lee reincarnation" I have been awaiting to see don the proud blue and white.

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As we all know we have lost Jodie Meeks and seven other players from last year's 15 man squad. Jodie's accomplishments have been well chronicled (most minutes played, most FG made, most FG attempted, most 3 pt. made, most 3 pt attempted, most FT made, most FT attempted, and most points scored (32% of entire team's offensive output). After looking at last year's stat sheet, I began to wonder how the other seven players contributed and what will be needed from the rest of the team fo us to have the outstanding year we all want and need.  

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We are all excited about the upcoming season. Everyone knows we are young, lacking collegiate experience and yet extremely athletic.  I thought I would explore some of the intangibles that early in the season might be problematic for this group of young men as they seek to find their individual roles on "THE TEAM". These "problems" will certainly not be missed by opposing coaches so it will be interesting to see how Coach Cal prepares the team as our opponents try to exploit them.

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Enjoying UK Basketball again

There is something about having fun that imprints knowledge on the brain more effectively and more completely. This is not to say that drills are not important in order to get the fundamentals right, but during game situations, creativity needs to be encouraged in order to allow the learner/player the ability to apply what he has learn in new and challenging situations. What helps is that the learner in a basketball game is not alone when he applies this new learning. He is part of a group effort . . . a team working together toward a common goal. If this experience of working together can be turned into effortless fun and not boring work, the energy level rises as does the enjoyment level of each player. Obviously, victories add to the enjoyment level, but I am talking about something that has been missing for some time now in Kentucky basketball, FUN and CREATIVITY on the court!

More after the jump ...

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My wishlist for next year's team.

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Could it be that having three coaches in four years caused Jodie to say enough is enough? Obviously the crowning blow came when Jodie told the opposition, "The coach told me not to shoot"! That level of frustration is not characterisitc of the stoic Jodie Meeks we have all come to love.

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While I believe Detroit and Atlanta have very good shooting guards, I think that Oklahoma City and/or Washington could be looking at players like Jodie Meeks for some much needed offense next year.

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look at the possiblities for the depth of our team. Not only will the first team be awesome, but the second team will be made up exceptional talent, as well. In fact, the way I figure it, some of the third team players could be some of the most experienced players on the team. These experienced players will be able to lay claim to having been coached by Tubby Smith, Billie Gillispie, and Coach Cal. That is quite a coaching pedigree. Like everyone else, I am not sure of the status of Liggins, Stewart, Williams and Harrellson, but not counting their talent, look at the talent we can put on the floor and literally run the opposition down. As you will notice, I also assume Jodie and Pat will return.

PG: ? , Galloway

SG: Meeks, Hood

SF: Dotson, Miller, Harris

PF: Patterson, Pilgrim, Stephenson

C: Cousins, Orton

Notice each position has several large players or players who play large. For the first time I can remember, except for Galloway and Pilgrim, we have a four or five star player on all positions of the first and second strings. This scenario even has a four star (Stephenson) possibly on the third team. If the players truly become interchangeable (heard that before), then adding fresh legs throughout the season will keep everyone fresh for March and give the newbies a season of experience.

This lineup should be a good reason for me to get HDTV. I can be patriotic by helping the economy, and then sit back and watch Big Blue roll. What do you think?Will Mama by it?

For a number of reasons the fellows who will make up the 2009-20010 Kentucky Wildcats basketball team will have been recruited by three very well known coaches and the seniors, will by the end of the year,  have played under three different big name coaches. In the process the team composition has evolved into a group of very tough, long athletic players.

Two players sould have been ready to command huge dollars in the NBA by this time. However, due to injuries, lack of depth and a continual transition of coaches, Meeks and Patterson still lack some basic skills that keep them, IMO, from being high lottery picks. As a guard, Jodie needs to improve his handle and midrange shot. As a potential small forward in the pros, Patrick needs to improve his mid and long range shooting. As a power forward, Patrick must get bigger and stronger. He is currently a tweener like Chuck Hayes.

For the last few years, KY has been looking for an outstanding PG; and the quest continues. Physically and emotionally, I don't believe I have seen a tougher point guard than Porter. The problem was that he was really a shooting guard. He took a great deal of physical abuse on the floor from other players and a great deal of emotional abuse (criticism) from the fanbase. However, he rose to the challenge every game and played his heart out. Always the loyal soldier, he did what was asked of him. I hope is walks on, or at least is recognized on senior night. It will not be complete without him.

So now we are left with four additional seniors to lead the team. Galloway is a gifted athelete who has a great handle, but must develop his outside/FT shot, Meeks who I hope for his sake will return, Ramon who is the best defender coming back from last year's team who has to become more offensively minded and Stevenson who cannot not get lost in a game and must dominate.

To this class, we find three juniors. The beast Matt Pilgrim is finally unleashed. At 6'8" 233 lbs, he is claimed to be a great rebounder and quick enough to play SF. Along side of him is Stewart, who has may really florish under Coach Cal's system. At 6'8" and 218 lbs., Stewart is a fine athlete. Finally we come to Josh Harrellson(6'10" 260 lbs), one of my three sons(Patterson and Stevenson). These three big men along with Orton (265), Cousins(250) and Patterson(235) make the deepest and highest quality front court I can ever remember. No one, and I mean no one should push us around like Georgia did last year.

This leads me to the sophomores. Miller (6'7" 225lbs) can playt the 2 or 3 and sometimes brought the ball up the court last year.He is alredy getting high praise from Coach Cal. Liggins (6'6" and 208 lbs.) has shown some talent at the PG but will need to make better decisions. He also must become a team player, because the talent level around him has risen exponentially.

The freshmen on this class are among the most talented athletes on the team. That is both good and bad. Good in the case that by March, barring injuries, we will have a dynomite team. Bad in terms of most freshmen have games early in their career riddled with mental mistakes that cost games. Poor defense, missed FTs, or fouling the three point shooter late in the game are just examples of what can happen. Nevertheless, Cousins (6'10 250 lbs.) gives us the enforcer that this team desparately needs. Orton (6'10" 260 lbs.) (hope he stays) is             another 5 star beast. Hood (high 4 star 6'6" 185 lbs.) is ranked higher than Meeks was when he graduated from HS. 

With Coach Cal's system, I forsee a team that plays 9 players many of whom have years of experience and all who were ranked a four or five star coming out of high school. These players are backed up by four experienced two star players who are good athletes. Coach Cal can certainly "call off the dogs" and still increase the lead with this team. We will just keep coming.

Finally, if someone gives up their scholarship, and walks on, transfers or something else happens, we have the opportunite to add a quality PG to this equation.  It is a very exciting prospect.