SouthEastern Wildcat Review

While doing a little thinking earlier this morning about just how wonderful it is to be a Wildcat fan right now, a terrible thought crossed my mind. What if Mitch Barnhart and Lee Todd hadn't pulled the trigger and fired Clyde following the NIT loss to Notre Dame? What would we be looking forward to this fall? What would the roster and probable starting lineup look like? Very sobering train of thought let me tell you. Of course we have all heard the rumors about some of BCG's more disturbing motivational tactics. All of these are alleged, no one to my knowledge has come out and directly vouched for the validity of any of these stories. There is the one where Clyde made Josh Harrellson sit in a toilet stall during halftime after Billy thought he turned in a bad first half performance. Then the one regarding an injury to Darius Miller where he was supposedly told by Clyde to suck it up and play like a man, and if he couldn't do that, maybe he needed to walk back to the team hotel instead of riding the bus. Of course a team mutiny followed, with the players stating that if Darius had to walk, they were all walking. Jodie Meeks and Derrick Jasper were also victims of the BCG "Play Through Pain" philosophy. It led Jasper to transfer and Meeks to insinuate leaving for sure if Clyde came back.

And we all know about the Jeanine Edwards interviews and the "Ambassador wasn't in my job description" comments, so I think there was a clearly defined pattern of behavior all Kentucky fans had to look forward to. Add to that the undefined substitution patterns and unpredictable starting lineups, and 'Cat fans would be standing in line to jump off the nearest cliff and what a sad, sad season we had coming my fellow fanatics.

Now my next comments are not meant to disparage any of these players in any way. All these guys (Porter especially) either gave or would have given their all for the program, this is just a talent comparison. A realization of what could have come to pass had the UK brass not had a change of heart. B.C. = Before Calipari and A.C. = After Calipari. I'm not going to compare what each player brings (or would have brought) to the team, I'll leave that judgement up to you. This list is just to remind you what would have been versus what now is.

Point guard: B.C. - Michael Porter, Konner Tucker, G.J. Vilarino. A.C. - John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, DeAndre Liggins (combo 1 & 2). Maybe Porter still leaves the team, maybe he doesn't, but Liggins has stated the had Clyde came back, he would've been gone. Konner Tucker went on to sign with Wake Forest, but I believe that Wall and Bledsoe are adequate replacements.

Shooting Guard: B.C. - Jon Hood, Kevin Galloway (combo 1 & 2), Landon Slone. A.C. - Jon Hood, Darius Miller (combo 2 & 3), Darnell Dodson. The difference here being the exchange of Galloway for Dodson, Miller playing SG and SF for Cal, and Slone. I thought Galloway had more game than Clyde allowed him to show, and Dodson is still an unknown quantity, so this one will just have to play itself out. Slone had the potential to be the shooter the 'Cats need this season but transferred to Morehead after realizing Cal wasn't going to offer the scholarship that BCG had promised.

Small Forward: B.C. - Darius Miller, Ramon Harris, A.J. Stewart (combo 3 & 4). A.C. - Darius Miller, Ramon Harris, Perry Stevenson. Perry might play some power forward for Cal, it's not clear yet at this point. Stewart may or may not have been back, as he had already been suspended for the first 10 games of the season due to academic troubles. Miller will almost certainly play more shooting guard for Cal than he would have for Clyde.

Power Forward: B.C. - Matt Pilgrim (combo 4 & 5), Josh Harrellson, Perry Stevenson, A.J. Stewart (combo 3 & 4). A.C. - Patrick Patterson, Josh Harrellson, DeMarcus Cousins (combo 4 & 5). This has to be the greatest impact position because had Clyde stayed, Patterson would likely have joined Jodie Meeks and stayed in the draft. Pilgrim migrated to Oklahoma State, so the jury is still out on that one. Cousins appears to be an incredible talent who will also see time at the SF and C positions.

Center: B.C. - Daniel Orton and Matt Pilgrim. A.C. - Daniel Orton and DeMarcus Cousins. Cal's offense has so many interchangeable positions, center may not be much of a label. However Orton will be a beast either way, and personally I would take Cousins' potential over Pilgrim's potential.

So there you go, you can extrapolate whatever starting lineup you like from that list of players, and in my view Cal's version will always be superior, talent-wise. But draw your own conclusions and comparisons and come up with your own results. (I have a sneaky suspicion yours will be very similar to mine) Now onto the UK news for the day, started off with the new Louisville logo......the one on the left is before Calipari was hired, the one on the right is the redesign to reflect 'Card fans feelings about Coach Cal leading the Big Blue Nation.

It's great to be back, Kentucky has 5-1 odds to win it all this year.

Does tradition really matter? You bet it does!!

Will former 'Cat Randolph Morris ever fulfill his potential? Who knows??

Big shocker here, Cal's offense is perfect for point guards.

TMZ is claiming they have the tape of LeBron getting dunked on by Jordan Crawford.

Cal hopes Antonio Burks is OK and has learned a lesson.

John Clay's random notes.

Rich Brooks wants Randall Cobb to be more creative.

A look at the SEC by the numbers.

A pre-season SEC power poll. (UK gets no respect)

A ranking of the toughest stadiums in the SEC.

And that's the end. I haven't forgotten about the funny story to post today, I'm trying to get the guy who is the subject of the story to write it himself.

Jodie Meeks got his 1st taste of the NBA this past week, and I can't help but wonder if he is 100% comfortable with his decision. While I don't think he will regret going on to the NBA at all, I would love to know if he is wondering how the new and old 'Cats are meshing, and who is dominating in the pickup games. After the Bucks' practice session, Jodie was asked in this interview if he had done any pre-draft workouts for Milwaukee, what he thinks about being drafted 41st in the second round, and if he believes it to be fortunate that he will be learning his position under one of the best players in the NBA, Michael Redd.

Mark Story of the Lexington Herald-Leader added in his Fast Break Points column that Jodie made quite the impression on Milwaukee as a member of the front office was on hand in Thompson-Boling Arena that magical night to "Witness" the scoring performance of the season.
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Erik Daniels, one of Tubby's former frontcourt players, and one of my personal favorite 'Cats, will be a member of the Memphis Grizzlies summer league roster. The games will be played in Las Vegas, and I would love to see "E-Diddy" make the big club. He has been playing overseas, and more recently in the D-League, and has consistently shown to be one of the better players there. Good luck to Erik in Sin City.
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Evan Daniels of Scout.com wrote an excellent article about the drama that surrounded the recruiting class of 2009. Really great read, check out what one of the absolute best in the business had to say.

Harrison Barnes has announced that he will trim his list of 12 schools down after the summer AAU season is over. I don't have my hopes up too high on landing the Scout.com #1 ranked player in the 2010 class (#2 Rivals) as he has been said to be a puke Duke lean for some time now.

Speaking of rankings, Scout and Rivals both released their new Top 100, and Kentucky is listed by no fewer than 13 of the top 50 seniors-to-be as a possible destination for their colloege basketball services. What a change from the last few years, as we 'Cat fans had become used to either not recruiting anyone in the top 50 (Hello Mr. Tubby), or still waiting on the recruits to get potty-trained (And hello to you too, Mr. Clyde). What a wonderful return to glory I smell coming.

One quick BCG note, the Herald-Leader reported that, according to tax documents filed with the I.R.S., Gillispie was an employee of the UK Athletics Administration, not the University itself. Nothing really to comment on just yet, I just love that the story is still in the news and getting the attention it deserves. I looooves me a good train wreck.
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No doubt this will go down as one of the greatest days in the history of the University of Kentucky basketball program, probably not so good if you happen to be a Memphis fan. If you have a subscription to Scout, Larry Vaught has posted an excellent interview with former Wildcat and current front office executive for the Denver Nuggets, Bret Bearup. Bearup describes the main reason he likes the hire of Calipari is that, "He is so relentless in everything that he does." I like the use of that word to depict Coach Cal, because if he is anything, it is relentless. This even applies to the use of his Twitter account. Pictured below shows how much Calipari loves to interact with Big Blue Nation. The pic on the left he "tweeted" 1st asking if everyone liked his new 'do. Of course the right one is the actual picture. This guy genuinely and sincerely "gets it."

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Pat Forde, the Louisville Courier-Journal writer and owner of the world's most dangerous hair according to Erin Calipari, has posted a pretty good article detailing who he thinks has the best current college basketball rivalries. Shocker that he doesn't have North Carolina/pukeDuke #1 like most of the country would, however I believe his choice for #1 has more to do with keeping Loserville relevant than really believing what he wrote.

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How long since UK had recruits ranked like this? Wondering how they are performing in the pickup games? WKYT's Steve Moss recently observed a few pickup games (And I am just green with jealous rage by the way) and had this to say about them.
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And to bring an end to the days festivities, we have an update on the status of Mr. "I Gonna Transfer Somewhere That Has UK on the Schedule So I Can Whoop on Them" Matt Pilgrim. It seems that the Mythical Practice Beast is going to visit Maryland sometime this coming week. The Terrapin faithful appear to be on board, just maybe a little skeptical. (Sounds familiar doesn't it?)

Just a little extra treat for your Saturday morning:

Is this guy going to be incredible with Kentucky written across his chest or what??

Now let's address a couple of rumors floating around today.

Is Matt Pilgrim heading down the road for a transfer to Memphis? When you think about it, it does make sense on a couple of levels. As we all know, Glenn Cyprien is on 1st year coach Josh Pastner's staff. And as we also know, Cyprien was on Billy G's staff and was instrumental in bringing Pilgrim to Kentucky from Hampton. So there is a comfort level that already exists there. Coach Cal reportedly made the initial contact with Pastner to see if there was a roster spot open for him, and he is backing the move 100%. Cal is also apparently going to speak with the NCAA about granting Pilgrim an immediate waiver so that he doesn't have to sit out another transfer season. Gary Parrish of CBS Sports had this to say about the situation.

Xavier Henry. I know, here we go again. Word is floating around that his camp has contacted Calipari about the 13th scholarship now that it is definitely open due to Jodie getting drafted by the Bucks. Is there any truth to it whatsoever? Who knows, but part of me really hopes not. I know that if he were to back out of his KU commitment and come to UK, we would have the number 1, 2, and 3 ranked players in the country, which would certainly make this the greatest recruiting class of all time. However, and this is a completely personal opinion, I tired very quickly of news of his flirtation with UK last time, and I would just as soon see him honor his KU commitment and set UK and KU on a collision course for Indy in April. Couple of message board links regarding the subject here and here.

Finally, not to much to comment on here. As much as I can't stand Seth Davis, he does make a few good points in this article. Yahoo Sports also weighs in on the topic here. I just hope we never again have to deal with this situation here at Kentucky, as it is unfair to kids involved who thought that their futures were set at the college that they chose and also the college that chose them.