I don’t think that now is the time to try to break down and criticize Jodie Meeks decision to forgo his senior year at UK and stay in the NBA Draft. We have hashed and rehashed the pros and cons for staying and leaving by this point and the fact that he felt he had two good options made this decision stretch all the way until 5 and half hours before the deadline.

At the end, Jodie made the decision that the pros of the pros outweighed the pros of returning to play on a national title contender. Anyone who begrudges Jodie for making a decision for himself and not for the University of Kentucky needs to realize that Jodie’s first priority is (as it should be) his future. He made what he thinks to be the best decision.

However, it is the time to stop, think back on Jodie’s career, and be thankful for the three years we had with him.

Jodie Meeks came to UK as a highly regarded high school prospect out of Norcross, Georgia to play for Tubby Smith. Jodie was highly ranked, but by no means a super-prospect. People had questions about his three point range (which turned out to be not so accurate) and he was not rated better than low top 40 in any publications.

Jodie joined Derrick Jasper, Perry Stevenson, and Michael Porter to make up what would end up being Tubby Smith’s last recruiting class as UK coach, ranked #16 by Scout.com.

Jodie got minutes as soon as he set foot on campus, but no one was really sure what to make of him. He seemed to be a solid defensive player, but was sporadic shooting the ball.

Any concerns about the kind of player Meeks would be at UK were alleviated right before Christmas in 2006, when he led UK to victory against Louisville, scoring 18 points in 21 minutes. There was just something about the way Jodie went about his business in that game that made me disproportionately excited about his future compared to what he had accomplished to that point.

After that game, Jodie would play less than 15 minutes just once. He would go on to score in double figures in 13 of the last 17 games of his freshman year, including the last 8 straight. Jodie Meeks, only a freshman, became the only consistent player on a team that had no consistency and lacked an identity when Randolph Morris decided he didn’t feel like showing up.

It was that consistency that really made believe he would become a star at UK. You can ask my college roommates at Vandy if you don’t believe me, but I would NOT shut up about how good I thought Jodie was going to be while he was at UK. I loved the way he always came to play. I loved the way he jumped into passing lanes and sped past everyone in the open court. I loved the way he shot like he knew he was going to make it. I loved the way I didn’t even bother to watch when he stepped up to the foul line, because I knew he was going to make it.

Jodie Meeks was one thing that kept me excited about Kentucky basketball when there was so much uncertainty that off-season. I just knew he was going to thrive under Billy Gillispie. I didn’t know he was going to thrive IN SPITE of Billy G.

The 2007-2008 season started with a bang for Jodie. He came out firing, pouring in 34 points against Pikeville in UK’s first exhibition. He nailed 7 of 9 from three and he just looked like he was going to take a leap forward in his sophomore year.

The most memorable loss during UK’s season was the disaster against Gardner-Webb, but arguably the most significant loss of the season was Jodie Meeks going down with a mysterious groin injury. First it was a strain, then it was a stress fracture, then a sports hernia was revealed that required surgery.

Billy Gillispie, in what may have been the first symptom of his insanity being unfit for the UK job, handled Jodie about as badly as he could have. Perhaps realizing how badly he needed Jodie to win, Billy G continuously pushed Jodie to understand the difference between being hurt and injured. Little did Billy G realize that Meeks was badly injured all along. Things were so bad, in fact, that Jodie was widely thought to have seriously considered transfer, but he ended up sticking it out.

Jodie overcame injury to contribute a few good games, but all in all, his sophomore year was a lost season.

Jodie underwent successful surgery for the sports hernia in the offseason and started the 2008-2009 season healthy, and oh did it show. He was a scoring machine from the very beginning and formed a dynamic scoring duo with Patrick Patterson.

Jodie was one of the few bright spots in UK’s second infamous upset home loss in as many seasons, scoring 39 points, which would prove to be tame in comparison to some of his future outburst. He was on the floor for almost every significant second of UK’s games to start the season and was nearly unstoppable.

He had a 37 point game to carry UK to a win against Kansas State in Vegas, a 46 point game in Freedom Hall against Appalachian State, and was as under the radar as any top 5 scorer in the county could be playing at UK.

At least until UK played Tennessee in Knoxville.

It was a nationally televised ESPN game pitting two teams that looked to be the class of the SEC. Jodie Meeks turned it into his coming out party. In one of the best performances in Kentucky history, Jodie scored 54 points, nearly every one of which was significant, on his way to setting all time UK scoring records in points and three pointers made. All of a sudden, Jodie Meeks became the name on the tip of everyone’s tongue and UK became the favorite in the SEC.

Jodie made Billy Gillispie look like a genius and optimism was high as could be around the program. Little did we know that Billy Gillispie was in the process of systematically demoralizing his star player and would be gone in about 2 and a half months.

Meeks weathered the Billy Gillispie storm to put up one of the historically best seasons in UK basketball history, as he was named to All American teams by nearly every publication.

As UK’s season unraveled, Jodie was basically the only thing that kept UK relevant on the national scene. Ironically, he was the player who probably did the most to help Gillispie in his attempts to keep his job, even though the way Gillispie treated him was one of the most compelling reasons why he did not deserve to keep it.

In spite of the situation he had to deal with, Jodie never stopped handling himself with class and representing the UK program as well as anyone could ever ask for. That class is something I will always remember about Jodie and always be thankful for, just as much as I will remember his talent. I hope NBA teams have a full awareness of how he dealt with the situation with his coach, because it is a credit to Jodie and his character, and should be a help to his draft stock.

All in all, I just want to wish the best for Jodie Meeks, because he deserves it. It has been a pleasure to watch him play wearing UK blue and it’s been a pleasure to write about him. I hope NBA teams realize the quality of his character and his talent, because I really believe he is going to be successful at the next level, whether he gets there as a first rounder this year or if he is unable to get that guaranteed money.