Luke Harangody – Notre Dame
Cole Aldrich – Kansas
Sherron Collins – Kansas
Patrick Patterson – Kentucky
Kyle Singler – Duke

Also, the pre-season coaches’ All SEC team was announced today, and two Kentucky players were recognized.

Patrick Patterson is a pick on the 8 man first team and John Wall is on the second team. I understand that John Wall hasn’t played a college game yet, but does anyone really believe there are 8 SEC players better than him?

This is from Jeff Goodman’s blog on Foxports.com. Some really interesting stuff about a couple of UK’s heralded freshmen:

I just found out the Preseason AP Poll will be released on Thursday. Kansas will be the clear-cut No. 1 team in the land, but it’ll be interesting to see who gets the nod at No. 2.

Personally, I like Kentucky – especially with the rave reviews coming out of Lexington about freshman point guard John Wall.

One NBA executive who was at practice recently raved about Wall’s leadership.

“I’ve never seen anything like it from a freshman,” the NBA executive told FOXSports.com. “You can tell he’s all about winning.”

Supposedly, Wall stood at midcourt and every single player on his team came over and slapped his hand.

The NBA guy also said that freshman big man Daniel Orton had his way on that afternoon with fellow frosh DeMarcus Cousins.

“He tore his #$% up,” is what he told me.

I know this will be viewed as Patrick Patterson’s team, but John Wall is clearly going to be a key leader.  Also, John Calipari has been looking for Daniel Orton to come out of his shell post-knee surgery, and this is the most positive news I have heard on this front.  If Orton can push Cousins this way as the season goes on, it will force Cousins to improve his inconsistent effort.

Hat tip to AllKYHoops.com for the find.

Needless to say, things have changed a bit in the past 6 months.

20 of 25 writers tabbed UK as best in the SEC, and 23 of 25 said UK would win the SEC East.

Naturally, Patrick Patterson was a unanimous member of the media SEC first team, and was joined by Jarvis Varnado of Mississippi State, Tyler Smith of Tennessee, Terrico White of Mississippi, and Devan Downey of South Carolina.

Notably absent from the first team is UK freshman phenom John Wall, who was picked to the second team along with AJ Ogilvy of Vanderbilt, Chris Warren of Mississippi, Tasmin Mitchell of LSU, and DeWayne Reed of Auburn. Kentucky and Ole Miss were the only teams to have two players elected as first or second team.

However, if you wanted to get a first look at what this Kentucky team is really going to be like, than Saturday’s morning and afternoon practice sessions are really where you wanted to be.

The morning session was offensive oriented, involving tons of layups and jump shots. If you have the ball, you penetrate until you get stopped, when you are stopped you kick it out and they shoot. One pass, that’s it.

Calipari wants to see who can get to the rim. He wants to see who can shoot the jumper. This is why they are limiting their possessions to one pass right now. If the penetrator kicks the ball out to you, than you are expected to pull right away.

They ran 5-on-0, 3-on-2, and 2-on-1 fast breaks, all with this same philosophy. No swinging around the perimeter. If you get the ball you are shooting it.

They tracked layups missed and three-point percentage. They missed 73 layups, they shot a bunch of them, and shot 29-percent from beyond the women’s three-point line.

The afternoon session was more defensive oriented and they focused on rebounding. They have four guys crashing the glass on the offensive end and Calipari expects them to be the best rebounding team in the country.

Calipari talked a little bit about the Dribble-Drive offense and he basically said it is the Princeton offense on steroids. Only difference is that this offense relies on the dribble much more than the pass.

It resembles a four-out-one-in set and positions one through four are all interchangeable. The five roams around the paint and stays opposite of the ball at all times.

Everything is based on the penetrator getting the ball to the paint and then the rest of the offense reading the ball and their defender.

For example, if John Wall penetrates from the wing, there will be a man in the corner. That man reads the drive, if the drive is stopped, he then reads his man and chooses whether to go baseline for the backdoor or to pop out for the jumper.

The “big” stays opposite because he is there for a lob if his defender leaves him to stop penetration or he is there for the putback.

All positions are interchangeable because as soon as one man leaves his spot another is there to take his place.

One thing I took away from Saturday’s practice was their unreal length. They are long at every single position. Expect them to block a ton of shots and it is going to be very difficult for opposing teams to rebound the basketball.

John Wall and Eric Bledsoe are freaks athletically. They took turns blocking each other’s shots on the backboard. It seriously looked like a game of ping pong.

Wall and Bledsoe are the only two point guards on this team, but expect them to see the court together. Just like Coach Calipari said, if my best two players are centers I am going to find a way to get them both on the court. The same applies here.

DeMarcus Cousins could be an absolute beast but I was a little surprised at his body language. At times he mopes around and just goes through the motions. But, there is no denying that he too is unbelievably athletic.

Daniel Orton is going to be really good. He is so fluid and fundamental. They were really cautious about his knee, though, and told him if he felt any pain at all to sit out.

Darnell Dodson and Jon Hood were not too impressive. Hood may not contribute much this year but I expect him to be a player eventually. Dodson, on the other hand, should catch on.

The coaching staff is treating Patrick Patterson like he is a guard. When they split the guards and bigs into groups, he went with the guards every single time. Patterson simply beasted it by the way.

Of the other returnees, Perry Stevenson and Ramon Harris both struggled. But, I was surprised with how comfortable Josh Harrellson looked. Darius Miller is going to have a lot of success with that little floater of his from 12-feet out.

One thing this team is missing is their ability to shoot the ball from the perimeter. Simply put, they struggle. They are going to need Dodson to get more comfortable in the offense and Harrellson will also be relied upon to make some outside shots.

Calipari is constantly encouraging from the sidelines and you could tell that some of the returning guys reacted to this encouragement as if they were getting yelled at. Every single time Calipari was quick to point out that he doesn’t yell, he just talks loud. He is simply there to teach them and make them better.

I’ll close with a quick story that Calipari told about Rick Pitino from back in 1996.

He mentioned how much of a nutcase, in a good way, and overpreparer that Pitino is. Before their game early in the ’96 season, he told a radio show that he was going to play box-and-one and triangle-and-two against Kentucky.

Derek Anderson told him earlier this year that Pitino caught wind of this interview and because of that his staff looked at all of UMass’ game tapes to find the defense and prepared for it all week long.

Then UMass didn’t play it at all.

I just thought it was a interesting story and it definitely throws another log onto the Calipari-Pitino rivalry fire.

Big Blue Madness is an event I’ve always wanted to attend, but it’s never quite worked out…I think I picked a good one for my first time.

For the 18,000 or so in attendance, what a spectacle. Coach John Calipari and UK Athletics recognized a couple opportunities in the way they put together the show: 1) the opportunity to set the tone for his tenure as UK coach and 2) the opportunity to make quite an impression on a good group of recruits.

I’ll get to talking about those two things in a bit, but let me get something out of the way first. Anybody who tries to draw sweeping conclusions about this team and how they will play based on a 20 minute scrimmage with a running clock is wasting their time. I’m going to keep my analysis of tonight from a basketball perspective short and sweet.

First, and most noticeably, this is a team FULL of athletes.

John Wall is flat-out ridiculous, and based on 200 YouTube videos, seeing him in person throwing down pretty much any dunk you can draw up, and in the scrimmage, I’m going to go ahead and declare John Wall to be bar none the best athlete to put on the UK jersey in my lifetime.

Explosiveness, speed, quickness, and body control, he’s got it all. He also has a confidence, demeanor, and sense of fun that has truly been missing from UK basketball for a long time. I think it goes without saying that I was really, really excited about John Wall before Madness, but seeing him live and in person really just is a little bit different. He shouldn’t be able to do what he can.

The crazy thing about this UK team is that there is not much of a drop-off in athleticism after Wall. There’s going to a drop-off in athleticism from Wall to number 2 on any team he ever plays on (unless he ends up playing with LeBron), but there are plenty of guys who are athletes in their own right. I was particularly impressed by Eric Bledsoe. Not only can the kid jump like crazy, but he’s also strong. He’s going to challenge Wall all season long. Guys like DeAndre Liggins (who seems reenergized), Jon Hood, Darius Miller, Darnell Dodson, and even Ramon Harris can run and jump too.

The scrimmage, though, was unorganized chaos, to no surprise, so much so that John Calipari stopped things with 5 minutes left, grabbed a microphone and said something to the effect of “Now you guys see that we have a long way to go”. There is work to do, obviously, but like Coach Cal said, I’ll take talent over experience every time.

Outside of seeing John Wall for the first time and hearing the ovation given to Patrick Patterson when he was introduced, without a doubt the thing I will remember most about Big Blue Madness is the speech that John Calipari delivered to begin the festivities.

I noticed as soon as they had the stage set up after the UK women’s team finished up a podium. I turned to my dad when I saw it and said “Is Coach Cal giving a State of the Union address?” It turns out that that’s almost exactly what he did.

Calipari has instilled a sense of excitement around the UK program over the last 6 months, but that speech was all about shaping that excitement into a vision. Calipari’s vision is possibly even more audacious than that of most UK fans (take a look at this link to read the transcript of the speech). He wants to not only become the gold standard of college basketball, but also the gold standard in all of college sports.

UK fans want desperately to share in the direction of the program and John Calipari embraces that. In recent years, the expectations of UK fans have been painted as a negative aspect of the UK job. I find it so impressive that John Calipari not only accepts the expectations, but looks at them as a positive, saying that it is a privilege to play with those expectations, that they are a call to greatness. I can’t say how good that is to hear.

As much as John Calipari said the night was all about the fans, that’s really not entirely true. This night was as much about the recruits in attendance as it was about you or me. I imagine that the event made quite an impression, bordering on overwhelming for the kids. Having Drake in attendance sporting a UK jacket can’t have hurt either.

The group of recruits that attended Big Blue Madness had a decidedly New York/New Jersey feel, and accordingly, NYC native Orlando Antigua was with the group every step of the way. I did cross paths with the group on the way out and they were clearly enjoying the attention and the whole scene. I’m sure we’ll hear more in the coming days about the visits.

I’m realizing right now that this post has devolved into me just throwing my thoughts out, and clearly, my mind is racing thinking about everything I took in tonight. It was a lot of fun, and it truly felt like the start of something special, something fun.

And I don’t think I could pick a better guy to represent Kentucky. This article has been making the rounds today, but it’s another (and maybe the best) reason to feel warm and fuzzy on the day of Big Blue Madness.

It’s rare to see an athlete so young grasp so clearly the magnitude of the effect that he can have on people. Patrick Patterson is certainly a gift. Jason King’s article on Yahoo Sports is something you have to check out.

HERE IT IS

However, it’s just not UK basketball. Nothing approaches UK basketball.

For my money, the debut of UK basketball on Big Blue Madness is a holiday eclipsed in magnitude by only Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter…and the Final Four if UK is playing. I know that much of madness is just pomp and circumstance with little substance and too much women’s basketball, but there’s just something about the anticipation of the beginning of basketball season that I can’t quite describe.

…and that’s in a normal year.

In case you haven’t been paying attention the past 5 and a half months, this is no normal year for UK basketball. John Calipari has created an excitement around the program that I would call unmatched since the late 1990′s, without even taking the court.

That excitement is going to come to a head just a few days from now when UK takes Rupp by storm for its first official practice. In case I haven’t made it clear enough, I’m kind of looking forward to Friday night, so much so that I’m struggling to figure out how I’m going to pass the time between now and then.

I have, however, figured out the first way I’m going to spend some of that time: I’m going to list the top 10 things that I just can’t wait to see at Big Blue Madness on Friday:

10 – The Dancin’ Dude Darren Moscoe

I know it’s not a regular game with TV timeouts, but if the people organizing Big Blue Madness remember anything about last season, they will play “Mony, Mony” so that Rupp Arena fan favorite Darren Moscoe can do his thing.

You see, since Calipari has arrived at UK, one of his constant messages has been that his team and the fans will have fun. Fun was missing in a big way from the last couple seasons and the one thing that was always dun about watching UK games in Rupp was the first or second TV timeout of the second half when we got to watch the Dancin’ Dude make us forget about what we were watching on the court.

9 – The Dunk Contest

In theory, the dunk contest should be awesome. Every year I get excited about it and convince myself how good it’s going to be. This year I’m going to temper my expectations.

The dunk contest always ends up being kind of clunky and flat even though there is a good dunk from time to time.

There is reason to think it could be different this season between rumored guest judges and a certain player who has been known for his fair share of YouTube moments (he’ll remain unnamed for now…I’ll get to him later).

8 – Battle of the Bigs

Arguably the best competition that UK post players will face most of the season will come on the practice court. They are already learning each other’s tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses in pick-up games and workouts, but the intensity is about to be turned up a notch.

Playing time is not going to be handed to DeMarcus Cousins, Daniel Orton, Josh Harrellson, Perry Stevenson, and even Patrick Patterson. Every one of those guys is going to have earn their keep to earn time and for the first time, we will get to see how they stack up with one another.

The distribution of playing time among the bigs will be a topic to watch all season. It begins on Friday.

7 – Seeing why the capacity of Rupp for Madness is only 18,000

Only 18,000 tickets were distributed to UK fans for Friday because of a stage that is to be set-up for the event. I’m guessing that the fans that are there will more than make up for the 6,000 missing from the normal capacity.

The question on my mind is “what are they going to do with that stage?”. Coach Cal has said that Madness will be about the players and about basketball, but I’m pretty sure that the stage won’t be used for basketball. Will there be a performer? What kind of theatrics are going to take place? You know that UK Athletics is going to do everything possible to make Madness memorable, so anything is possible.

6 – KY-rie IR-ving

We’ve spent a lot of time over the past couple weeks obsessing over the ridiculous group of recruits slated to attend UK’s Big Blue Madness. Coach Cal knows exactly what kind of recruiting opportunity Madness will be, so he’s done everything he can to turn the seats behind the bench into a who’s who of top 2009 and 2010 recruits.

What I was getting at with the title of this one was the chants that UK fans have been to known to start for recruits in attendance. There are going to be plenty of options for chants, but I mention Kyrie Irving specifically because of the nature of his recruitment. Irving is a well publicized Duke lean and if he sways in UK’s direction after seeing the craziness of Big Blue Madness, it will be a perfect representation of the power of the combination of Coach Cal, the dribble drive, and everything that UK is all about.

Irving confirmed to ZagsBlog that he will make the trip along with teammate Michael Gilchrist.  We will be discussing more about the recruits in attendance as the week goes on, but for now just know that the list will be long.

5 – Coach Cal

Coach Cal has already proved to us all that he loves everything about the UK job that Billy Gillispie hated. I can think of no better embodiment of that “everything” than the craziness of Big Blue Madness.

Coach Cal has also said that he doesn’t typically like to speak at these things and take the focus away from the players, but that won’t fly for his first. He’s going to talk and he’s going to have us eating out of the palm of his hand.

4 – Patrick Patterson

Patrick Patterson has played a constant level of effory and enthusiasm over the past 2 years when he’s had every reason to do anything but play with effort and enthusiasm has been a pleasure to watch. Now, Patterson has every reason TO play the way he always has.

This is going to be Patrick Patterson’s team and the ovation reserved for him by UK fans is going to be unbelievable. As great as the UK freshmen will be, they won’t be Patrick Patterson. This is going to be the season where Patterson goes from a great player to one of the all time UK greats. It begins on Friday.

3 – The Crowd

In the past, Rupp Arena has been called a “basketball cathedral”. Part of that description is reverential, but part of that also speaks to the fact that the crowd at times has not been as intimidating as some other home crowds.

I think that changes this year. UK fans have an appetite for some great basketball and they have an appetite to be a part of a great season. UK fans always take ownership of the ‘Cats, but I think we will take it to another level this season. It begins on Friday.

2 – Seeing the interaction of the team

We’ve heard about intense, yet fun pick-up games. We’ve heard about the Three Amigos. We’ve seen pictures of the ‘Cats delivering breakfast to fans waiting for Big Blue Madness tickets. Every indication thus far is that the ‘Cats have embraced what it means to play for UK, and what it means to play for this UK team.

The talent of this team is beyond question, but there are obstacles to this season being a great one, foremost among which are outside shooting, how quickly this team picks up the dribble drive, and team chemistry. One glorified practice won’t tell us much about the first two, but we can definitely begin to gain an idea of how this team will interact, how the newcomers are mixing with the veterans, and who the leaders will be.

1 – John Wall

I know there are probably things I should be more excited about than watching John Wall for the first time, but I couldn’t even begin to quantify the amount of time I have spent thinking about seeing John Wall play for UK. UK has never had a player like him before, a player that will make any basketball fan stop on a dime and watch when he has the ball or is featured on the SportsCenter Top 10.

I know UK fans have missed being the center of gravity of college basketball over the past few years. Jodie Meeks brought UK into the spotlight with his explosive scoring, but that was fleeting. John Calipari will bring UK into the spotlight in the long term at UK, but this UK team will take some time to get ready for prime time.

John Wall will take no time to get ready for prime time. John Wall is going to have some highlight reel plays during Big Blue Madness, which will be featured on ESPNU. Casual college basketball fans don’t know his name right now, but that is going to change very quickly. It begins on Friday.

The event itself of Big Blue Madness will likely fall short of everything we have built it up to be, but it will be something we always remember, because we are about to witness the start of something special. And it begins on Friday.

UK fans were prepared for a bit of a swoon. Fresh off of a disappointing two year span with two second round losses, it looked like the cupboard was going to be pretty bare. UK had some returning perimeter talent in veterans Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawford along with rising sophomores Jodie Meeks and Derrrick Jasper. However, it was abundantly clear that the team would go no where without an impact post presence.

UK fans turned to Patrick Patterson. Patterson was a highly regarded post prospect with all the credentials you look for in a instant contributor. He was set to decide between UK and two major rivals, Duke and two time defending national champion Florida.

When Patterson surprised many and elected to attend Kentucky, he did so well aware of the fact that he would be the center piece of somewhat of a rebuilding project. He bought into what Tubby Smith and then Billy Gillispie sold to him, and UK fans rejoiced. We had our savior. The fix wasn’t going to be instant, but we had our leader on the sideline and our center piece on the court.

What do you think Patrick Patterson would have said if you spelled out how his freshman and sophomore years would play out? End of season injury in year one keeping him out of UK’s opening round NCAA loss…gulp. Disastrous collapse in year two resulting in UK’s first NIT berth since Patterson was in pre-school…double gulp. I’m thinking Patterson may have called up Billy Donovan and asked if that offer still stood.

However, if you gave Patterson the option to go back and change his decision based on how things turned out, I think he would tell you to close that DeLorean wing door before you could say “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.” I don’t think UK fans would trade where the program is now under John Calipari for anything either.

Almost exactly two years after Patrick Patterson committed to play for Billy Gillispie, he essentially committed a second time to UK in deciding to pass on the NBA Draft and return for his junior season. In doing so, Patterson made a great off-season downright unbelievable…and that was even before John Wall chose UK.

Not only did Patterson bring an unbridled sense of excitement to the 2009-2010 season, he also put himself in position to become one of the greats in Kentucky Basketball history.

Rather than being remembered as the greatest Wildcat to never play in an NCAA Tournament game, Patterson is slated to be the clear cut leader on a Kentucky team that looks to be a contender for the Final Four. If Patterson and his ‘Cats have the kind of season that so many are expecting, Patterson’s legacy will be almost unmatched among UK players.

Patterson already would have been remembered fondly for being one of the lone bright spots in an otherwise very dark 2 year period. His drive and determination, matched with his exceptional talent, never relented in his first two years, even though he bore the weight of being the only consistent post presence over that time, while also playing for a coach whose methods have been openly ridiculed since his ultimate departure. His consistency in the face of adversity and always doing what was asked of him are thing I will not soon forget.

Now, playing on a team with immeasurably more talent in a system that will allow him to diversify his skill set, the admiration that UK fans have for Patterson could well turn into unabashed worship, especially when you think about a couple of the reasons behind his return: love for the University and earning his degree in three years. Quite frankly, Patterson, by coming back, could well be known as the most significant Kentucky player since Jamal Mashburn.

Now, statistics go hand in hand with Big Blue Nation’s reverence for the history of its program, so let’s take a quick look at how Patterson’s numbers stack up. I will assume that Patterson plays 36 games this year at his current career pace. I have listed below his current rank (Patrick Patterson (2009)) and his rank with the projected stats (Patrick Patterson (2010)).

Points

# Player Seasons Games Points
1 Dan Issel – 2138
2 Kenny Walker – 2080
3 Jack Givens – 2038
4 Keith Bogans – 1923
5 Tony Delk – 1890
6 Jamal Mashburn – 1843
7 Kevin Grevey – 1801
8 Tayshaun Prince – 1775
9 Cotton Nash – 1770
10 Alex Groza – 1744
11 Patrick Patterson (2010) – 1642
11 Ed Davender – 1637
12 Louie Dampier – 1575
13 Mike Casey – 1535
14 Ralph Beard – 1517
15 Melvin Turpin – 1509
54 Patrick Patterson (2009) – 1020

Rebounds

1 Dan Issel – 1078
2 Frank Ramsey – 1038
3 Cliff Hagan – 1035
4 Johnny Cox – 1004
5 Cotton Nash – 962
6 Kenny Walker – 942
7 Chuck Hayes – 910
8 Sam Bowie – 843
9 Rick Robey – 838
10 Bob Burrow – 823
11 Patrick Patterson (2010) – 818
47 Patrick Patterson (2009) – 508

Blocks

1 Jamaal Magloire – 268
2 Melvin Turpin – 226
3 Sam Bowie – 218
4 Andre Riddick – 212
5 Patrick Patterson (2010) – 163
15 Patrick Patterson (2009) – 101

I understand that it’s difficult to project Patterson’s numbers for this season in a new offense with new teammates, but I think this give a pretty good baseline for how Patterson could stack up. In only three seasons, Patterson would rank in the top 11 of three of the major statistical categories in Kentucky Basketball history.

These raw numbers are certainly interesting, but they do not entirely capture the unbelieveable efficiency of Patrick Patterson. When Patterson gets touches, he scores. When he gets to the free throw line, he makes shots. When there’s a rebound to grab, he grabs it.

If you look at Patrick Patterson’s Tendex rating, which essentially measures overall statistical performance, Patrick Patterson is the best Kentucky player in the past 30 years since the rating has been able to be tracked. And it’s really not even close:

1 Patrick Patterson 31.84
2 Kenny Walker 26.786
3 Sam Bowie 25.528
4 Jamal Mashburn 24.613
5 Chris Mills 23.5
6 Rex Chapman 22.119
7 Melvin Turpin 21.321
8 Randolph Morris 20.271
9 Chuck Hayes 20.108
10 Tayshaun Prince 20.051
11 Rajon Rondo 18.709
12 Jodie Meeks 17.487
13 Derek Anderson 17.384
14 Ron Mercer 16.955
15 Scott Padgett 16.896

Standard Tendex Rating = {[Points + Rebounds + Assists + Steals + Blocks - Turnovers - Missed Field Goals - Missed Free Throws] / Minutes / Game Pace}

I certainly don’t need to look at statistics to tell you that as a Kentucky fan, I love Patrick Patterson, but it’s definitely cool to see how he looks when matched up against his historical counterparts in only three seasons.

Big shout out to the phenomenal site BigBlueHistory.net for all the stats behind this article.

As basketball season progressed, we began to develop consistent readership. However, as the season began to draw to a close, we began to wonder how we would ever fill our summer in terms of content. We anticipated having some recruiting to cover before football season got underway, but we didn’t figure it would be nearly enough to keep the hits rolling in.

We failed to anticipate a couple things: 1) the extreme appetite for information on the part of UK and UofL fans and 2) the offseason that was in store for both schools.

It turned out that we had more than enough to cover, because the offseason that materialized was one that no one will soon forget. If you ask me, I think we are in the winding down phase of what will be remembered as the busiest offseason in the history of basketball in the Bluegrass, and I don’t think it’s close.

There has been big news for both schools on basically every conceivable front. We’ve had coaching changes, controversy, high profile commitments and decommitments, and a seismic shift in the direction of one of the programs. I’m going to take a look at the action in couple different wide categories, so let’s start at the top:

Coaching

In case you hadn’t heard, the Kentucky Wildcats have a new head basketball coach. Interest in the UK basketball program will never wane, but the same cannot be said about excitement surrounding the university’s flagship. By hiring John Calipari, Lee Todd and Mitch Barnhart have injected UK with a spirit of excitement not seen since the 1990′s. Additionally, UK basketball is once again a hot topic entering this college basketball season, and it’s not all positive.

There have been a couple different occasions where it looked like there could be a chance that Kentucky would not be the only major program in the state to have a new coach for the 2009-2010 season. In May, rumors were flying about Rick Pitino’s possible interest in jobs with the Atlanta Hawks and Sacramento Kings. News was just beginning to break on the subject of the Karen Sypher story (which we now know all too much about) and no one was really sure how serious Pitino’s flirtations with returning to the Association really were.

Then, when the Karen Sypher story really broke nationally earlier this month, some thought Pitino could be on his way out again, but not by his own volition.

It did turn out that one Pitino would leave the program, but it was Richard leaving to coach under Billy Donovan at Florida. Correspondingly, Ralph Willard was hired away from a head coaching job at Holy Cross to work for Ricky P.

While the coaching moves at Louisville aren’t quite as compelling as the hiring of John Calipari, they are still big news. Many are speculating about exactly how long term Pitino’s future is as UofL coach, so the moves have been analyzed by some with an eye on who will be the successor. Some say that Willard has been brought in as an heir apparent, but I don’t buy that. I think he has been brought in as a very experienced assistant who can take some the more mundane responsibilities typically handled by a head coach with an awareness of the distractions Pitino will have to deal with.

NBA

Rick Pitino wasn’t the only guy involved in the UK-UofL rivalry who had the NBA on his mind. Three UK or UofL underclassmen, Patrick Patterson, Earl Clark, and Jodie Meeks, had decisions to make regarding their professional futures.

Patrick Patterson put his name in the NBA Draft more because he felt like he was supposed to than anything else. He figured to be at least a late first round pick, which would assure him of a contract. However, Patterson was just a year away from graduating, saw how he stood to improve under new coach John Calipari, and could not help but want to play with UK’s stellar incoming recruiting class. The decision was really a pretty easy one for him.

Earl Clark was widely assumed to be gone all along. Pretty much all you need to know is that he was recognized at UofL’s Senior Day activities. All you have to do is look at Clark and you think NBA. His combination of size, skill, and athleticism is something that GMs dream about. Clark’s decision was easy as well.

Jodie Meeks was the one who really had a difficult decision on his hands. Even though he had enjoyed his time at UK, Jodie’s career had not been all smooth sailing. A coaching change, injury, and a poor relationship with his new coach had clearly worn on him and part of Jodie was completely ready for the next level. On the other hand, coming back offered many of the same pros for Jodie as the ones that convinced Patrick Patterson to return. Additionally, Jodie did not have the luxury of a guaranteed high position in the Draft. In the end though, Jodie decided that it was time to move on. He fell into the first round, but is already being talked about as a steal for the Milwaukee Bucks. He has a 3 year contract with 2 years guaranteed, so it would be difficult to question his decision now.

Terrence Williams joined Clark and Meeks in the Draft, and joined teammate Clark in the Draft Lottery, a major achievement for both and proof positive of the talent on the 2008-2009 Louisville Cardinals.

Roster Changes

OK, I’m going to try to give you the Cliff’s Notes version of the craziness that has characterized this offseason for the UK roster:

Departures

Michael Porter-Decided to forgo SR year to start family
Jared Carter-Did not pursue medical hardship for additional eligibility
Donald Williams-JUCO
AJ Stewart-Cut, for lack of a better word, headed to Texas State
Kevin Galloway-Cut
Matt Pilgrim-Cut, transfer to Oklahoma State
Landon Slone-Cut
Dwight Perry-Cut
Mark Halsell-Cut
Adam Delph-Cut

Arrivals

John Wall
DeMarcus Cousins
Daniel Orton
Eric Bledsoe
Jon Hood
Darnell Dodson

In terms of roster changes, UofL has had a pretty quiet offseason, other than accepting transfer Chris Smith from Manhattan.

Recruiting

They say in recruiting that you win some and you lose some. This offseason, UK has won more than its share and UofL has seemed to lose more than its share. Both schools welcome top 25 recruiting classes this season, but they were put together in much different ways. Rick Pitino had his class locked down before John Calipari had even been named UK head coach, whereas Calipari did all of his damage in just a couple months.

UK had a bunch of decommitments this offseason, but all but one were assuredly encouraged by UK. UofL had only one decommitment, Justin Martin, but that one was very unwanted. By the way, Justin Martin decided to attend Xavier this week.

At this point, UK and UofL have a combined 1 commitment in the class of 2010 (UofL’s Josh Langford) and both Calipari and Pitino likely thought they had a top 10 prospect in the bag. Top wing player Will Barton surprised many by committing, along with hsi brother, to play for Memphis. Barton would have been a big time player for UK, and while his commitment elsewhere did blemish Calipari’s immaculate record to that point at UK, there is no concern over the class as a whole.

On the other hand, UofL’s losing out on 5 star center Fab Melo is significantly more damaging. Many had Melo pencilled in as the cornerstone of UofL’s 2010 class, but his commitment to Syracuse made people break out their erasers.

Controversy

There has been plenty of positive stuff to talk about this offseason with UK and UofL, but the last couple weeks have been dominated by news that makes fans of both schools just want to hit the court already.

Each of the two major controversies reared their ugly heads back in May, but there was not enough hard news out there to really catch on nationally. However, August has been a different story.

First, it was the Rick Pitino-Karen Sypher story that caught everyone’s eye. It was a story that was familiar to many with inside info, but to most it was a brand new sex scandal of the highest order. Only preseason NFL and the PGA Championship diverted attention away from the ugliness on a national level, but locally, we are still following it closely.

Within a week, the NCAA made public the penalties it would levy on the Memphis Tigers: all 38 wins by the 2007-2008 team coached by John Calipari would be vacated for playing an ineligible player. There were some ugly stories out there condemning John Calipari and foretelling of probation for Kentucky in the near future with him at the helm. Calipari became the only head coach to have two Final Four appearances vacated and also the only head coach to remain unnamed in connection with any wrongdoing in any such cases.

In terms of direct impact, neither controversy should have any direct impact on the UK or UofL program in the upcoming season, other than acting as a distraction for two teams that figure to field strong teams. However, that’s not to say that there will be no consequences down the road.

In the case of Pitino, this situation could be one that shortens his tenure at UofL. You have to figure it undermines his stamina for dealing with life in the public eye and, perhaps more importantly, could have an effect on his recruiting work. His recruiting has already been suffering a bit of late and having to explain a very ugly situation a recruit and his parents really is not helpful.

The Calipari controversy is one that Kentucky fans desperately hope stays in Memphis. If you officially ask the NCAA, Calipari has done nothing wrong, but, at the very best, the vacating of two Final Four appearances is, at best, a troubling trend.

Now that Calipari is at UK, here’s hoping he can be highly selective in terms of the players he pursues. With half of the top 10 in the class of 2011 interested in UK, there is no need for Calipari to go after a marginal player, in terms of neither talent nor academics nor personal life. There are going to be plenty of people out there who would love nothing more than to see UK ship captained by John Calipari undergo a titanic disaster. Calipari and the entire UK compliance office MUST be on top of their games as long as he is at UK

For those of you who have made it through the last 1800 plus words, I have a question for you. Whose controversy, Pitino or Calipari, is worse? Which is more likely to have long term effects?

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As we all know, Jodie Meeks did not come back, but here we are, with a guard (John Wall) and a big man (Patrick Patterson) being talked about as possibilities for POY. Andy Katz included Wall and Patterson among his top 15 candidates for honors and has posted a corresponding poll to ask fans to rank those 15.

I hope Katz is prepared for the upcoming onslaught of UK votes about to be cast (especially after Coach Cal’s tweet on the subject).  For UK fans, there’s really only one decision to make: whom to rank first.

Actually, that raises an interesting question in and of itself. Between Wall and Patterson, which UK player is the more viable, the more likely candidate for National Player of the Year?

On one hand, you have the veteran big man who is sure to be a double-double machine. We know about what we’re going to get out of Patrick Patterson on a nightly basis, it’s really just degrees of dominance.

On the other hand, you have the freshman phenom, the dynamic talent whose hype machine is already beginning to churn. We know John Wall is going to make some YouTube plays, but will he be the Derrick Rose with springs in his shoes that so many are cracking him up to be?

In my opinion, John Wall is the more realistic candidate for POY. His ceiling is almost infinite. Like I said before, we know about what we’re going to get out of Patterson. On the high end, he’ll be a First Team All American, on the low end, he’ll be First or Second Team All SEC.

So, very prematurely, I ask which Kentucky player has a better shot at winning POY?

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