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http://slamonline.com/online/college-hs ... -kentucky/

http://www.wtvq.com/news/4679-breaking- ... tucky.html

http://kentucky.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=947244

http://www.binarybasketball.com/2009/05 ... -kentucky/

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/30823985/

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4178271

Wow! What a class!

Eric Bledsoe PG 6-1 185 - Birmingham, AL
DeMarcus Cousins PF 6-9 250 - Mobile, AL
Darnell Dodson SF 6-7 215 - Miami, FL
Jon Hood SG 6-6 185 - Madisonville, KY
Daniel Orton C 6-10 260 - Oklahoma City, OK
John Wall PG 6-4 184 - Raleigh, NC

I know you are happy! I wanted him at UNC apparently it the flirtation between them wasn't that serious. UK's recruiting class is not fair! Meeks will probably return too. I am looking forward to a great game between you guys! Who is going to start?

I knew that 'commitment' to Miami wouldn't last.

skiz2 wrote:I know you are happy! I wanted him at UNC apparently it the flirtation between them wasn't that serious. UK's recruiting class is not fair! Meeks will probably return too. I am looking forward to a great game between you guys! Who is going to start?

I expect it will be a very young, but talented team on the floor next year. My personal prediction for starters is:

PG - John Wall
SG - Jodie Meeks (if Meeks returns) or Eric Bledsoe (if Meeks doesn't return)
SF - Darius Miller
PF - Patrick Patterson
C - Demarcus Cousins

First five guys off the bench:
Eric Bledsoe (if Meeks returns)
Daniel Orton
Darnell Dodson
Ramon Harris
Perry Stevenson

Then:
John Hood
Deandre Liggins* (likely to transfer, IMO)

I don't see much playing time for:
Matt Pilgrim*
Kevin Galloway
Josh Harrellson*
AJ Stewart*

* = Do they stay?

Question is, how many guys are going to actually academically qualify to play NCAA ball? I've heard there are some serious questions about Wall, Orton, and Cousins. Then, factor in the fact they have to run off around 3-5 guys currently on the roster to make the numbers work, and almost all the guys coming in are one and done type guys, there's going to be some serious issues in the near future with the APR there in Kentucky, and it's going to affect scholarship numbers in the near future.


Add in that Calipari looks like he might get caught up again in NCAA issues at Memphis and have to vacate his only official Final Four visit, and Kentucky might not like this new whirlwind any more than their last one with Gillespie.


And yeah, I'm an IU fan. I'll admit bias. However, I get a lot of my Kentucky info from our close family friends who are UK fans/luminaries.

Atlanta Hawk Fan wrote:http://slamonline.com/online/college-hs/college/2009/05/breaking-news-john-wall-to-kentucky/

http://www.wtvq.com/news/4679-breaking- ... tucky.html

http://kentucky.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=947244

http://www.binarybasketball.com/2009/05 ... -kentucky/

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/30823985/

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4178271

Wow! What a class!

Eric Bledsoe PG 6-1 185 - Birmingham, AL
DeMarcus Cousins PF 6-9 250 - Mobile, AL
Darnell Dodson SF 6-7 215 - Miami, FL
Jon Hood SG 6-6 185 - Madisonville, KY
Daniel Orton C 6-10 260 - Oklahoma City, OK
John Wall PG 6-4 184 - Raleigh, NC

You can add up all six of their SAT scores and I bet mine was higher. And I took it when it only went to 1600.

UK does have a monster recruiting class this year- one of the best in recent memory.

AJ Stewart already transferred. I think it would be wise for Meeks to stay in the draft because there is not much more he can get from college ball. His shooting ability etc. are proven factors that allow him to consistently thrive at this level of play. The NBA will bring with it new challenges though.

My speculation is that Liggins will go and that Harrelson is also a likely target to transfer. Neither are going to get minutes under Calipari, IMO.

I'm starting to doubt that all the UK freshman and newcomers will be eligible. So, yeah, they may have some playing time after all.

Calipari will make damn sure they are eligible.

This kid is a freak. And I thought Derrick Rose had a good high school highlight real....Sign me up to the John Wall bandwagon.

From the clips ive seen he seems to have a better dribble then Rose

Assuming everyone is academically eligible, and Calipari can keep all the egos/personalities in check, then this team can be VERY good. Wall/Cousins/Patterson is just a crazy amount of talent, too bad Meeks didn't stay, but this team still has the potential to be very good.

Meeks definitely made the right decision. His numbers would have gone down considerably had he stayed an extra year. And, he is about as ready as he's going to be to play at the next level. His scoring ability is top of the line.

Wall would have been controlling the ball and it just would have been too many egoes for Cal to satisfy imo. UK is super talented and should be one of the best and youngest teams in the land. They should be fun to watch next year. Too bad Villanova is going to wipe the floor with them.

jman3134 wrote:Meeks definitely made the right decision. His numbers would have gone down considerably had he stayed an extra year. And, he is about as ready as he's going to be to play at the next level. His scoring ability is top of the line.

Wall would have been controlling the ball and it just would have been too many egoes for Cal to satisfy imo. UK is super talented and should be one of the best and youngest teams in the land. They should be fun to watch next year. Too bad Villanova is going to wipe the floor with them.

Bring it on Nova!

* * *

On Meeks, I agree. Unless he dramatically enhanced his ballhandling this season to the point that teams in 2010 viewed him as a step down from Stephen Curry, he wasn't going to improve his draft stock much. He had a fantastic season last year and was very unlikely to significantly improve his numbers other than a/to and ppr and certainly would see a reduction in the counting numbers with more talent on the team.

What's the latest word on transfers and eligibility?

I heard Wall and Cousins are still being investigated and having their eligibility sorted out by both the SEC and NCAA.

Who all transferred to clear the room?

Sounds great right now, but when the NCAA takes away every win they ever see by the end of the Calipari riegn, they will quickly forget how great the class was.

Wall was cleared on this and will sit out a few games and repay expenses. Given that his transgression was playing for an AAU coach that was licensed as an agent but gave up his license and never represented a single player, this doesn't keep me up at night.

Memphis got boned by the NCAA, by the way.

The NCAA didn't find one thing that Memphis could have done differently other than not recruit Rose. They didn't fail in vetting him, they didn't have a responsibility to monitor his SATs, etc. How is this different than Duke not knowing about Corey Maggette illegally being paid by his AAU coach? In both cases, the player was cleared by the NCAA to play, did nothing wrong while at the school, and was ineligible before coming to the school. Neither school was nailed for anything due to lack of vetting the player - it was a strict liability scenario for Memphis.

Personally, I don't see the point in vacating games for Memphis when the NCAA can't say what the school should have done differently. The NCAA sure doesn't want schools not signing the top recruits and this type of scenario comes with a small % of the top recruits.

If Memphis' name was Duke or UNC or Kansas, etc. they would not have vacated their wins, IMO.

Instead they are a school with a history of problems and with zero political pull so they have to take their medicine and Maggette gets brushed under the rug.

Say what you will, but UK WILL end up vacating a Final Four under the Calipari reign.

What makes them different from UMass and Memphis? The name? Sure. The history? Wait.....the history of being punished by the NCAA for rules violation? This could be much worse for UK than it was for either of UMass or Memphis.

Scoot McGroot wrote:Say what you will, but UK WILL end up vacating a Final Four under the Calipari reign.

What makes them different from UMass and Memphis? The name? Sure. The history? Wait.....the history of being punished by the NCAA for rules violation? This could be much worse for UK than it was for either of UMass or Memphis.

Tell me the difference between what happened at Memphis under Calipari with Rose and what happened at Duke under Coach K with Maggette (other than the NCAA's inconsistent treatment of the two incidents, of course, which is likely tied to school history and politics).