How many times have you heard the expression, "What a difference a year makes?" If your like me, you've heard it more times than you ever really want to hear it, especially the older you get (and the faster you slip into your 20's and away from the glorious days of youth). But in terms of Kentucky Basketball, no phrase better fits the situation. Roughly over a year ago today, Kentucky Basketball was in a state of misery. Not only did the CATS not make the tournament (for the first time in 17 seasons), they were put out of the NIT before even making it to Madison Square Garden. More importantly it looked like a mass exodus was going to happen being that most on the Gillespie torn team had experienced enough. Patterson would have more than certainly entered the NBA draft. Liggins and Miller both were likely subjects of transfer. Even seniors to be like Ramon Harris and Perry Stevenson had their fill of Billy Clyde and were contemplating a change in scenery. Then, to the delight of Big Blue Nation, UK President Dr. Lee Todd and Athletics Director Mitch Barnhardt made the decision to cut Gillespie loose after two painful seasons. Seasons that saw loses to the likes of Gardner Webb, VMI, and Georgia at home. As well as a monumental beat down to Vandy, that saw Josh Harrellson have to make the trip from Nashville to Lexington in the back of the equipment truck. Even more thrilling than the firing of Billy Gillespie was the hiring of John Calipari. Cal as we all know kept everyone around, well not everyone. But convinced sophomore Patrick Patterson to return for his Junior season, as well as convincing sophomores to be DeAndre Liggins and Darius Miller to stay. Apart from the casualties of shipping out Billy G holdovers Matt Pilgrim, AJ Stewart, Kevin Galloway, then losing Michael Porter to graduation, and standout Jodie Meeks to the draft, Calipari had to bring in players and bring them in fast. In a little over a month, he assembled what many say is one of the greatest recruiting classes of all time. A class that brought the likes of five star prospects DeMarcus Cousins (Rivals #2 player), Daniel Orton, Eric Bledsoe, and four star players John Hood, and Darnell Dodson. The cornerstone of the class though was in John Wall, a player who would transcend the point guard position, and a player who would automatically make Kentucky relevant again. Wall, (Rivals #1 of the class of 09) the native of Raleigh NC, chose Kentucky over Duke, Florida, and Miami. So basically in a little over a month John Calipari reconstructed the entire Kentucky roster, and with a group made up of mostly freshman lead them into the first season of a new era. I don't have to get into how that all turned out, you guys know the story. 35-3, SEC regular season and tournament titles. Upsetting loss to West Virginia in the Elite 8, Wall, Cousins, Patterson, Orton, and Bledsoe all declare for the draft.
So now its on to year two, and once again John Calipari is having to reconstruct almost an entire roster. With it looking like only Darius Miller, DeAndre Liggins, John Hood, and Josh Harrellson to be the only returning players, Cal has once again reloaded the talent. To replace John Wall, Calipari landed, Rivals #1 player in the class of 2010, McDonalds All-American, Two Time Gatorade National Player of the Year (only third player to do so outside of Greg Oden and Lebron James) Ft. Lauderdale Florida, Pine Crest standout Brandon Knight. Knight is not the same player as Wall, not even in the same category, but he is one that will fit perfectly into Cal's Drible Drive Motion offense. An offense that wasn't utilized for much of last season, given the team was not adequately suited for it. Joining Knight on the wing is fellow five star prospect, Doron Lamb, a NYC native, and Oak Hill Academy standout. Lamb's coach, Steve Smith, has stated that Lamb could be the best shooting guard he has ever coached. That says a lot considering the talent that has run through Mouth of Wilson Va. (location of Oak Hill Academy). Talent ranging from Carmelo Anthony, to Kevin Durant, to Josh Smith, to Rajon Rondo, to, well just google if you want to know the rest. But, point is, Steve Smith has coached talent, and his high praise on Lamb says a lot.
With a couple guys coming in to replace this years back court, there is still upwards of 6-7 spots Calipari can fill. For one of those spots he looked to the first commit of the class for Kentucky in 6'5'' wing Stacey Poole Jr. from Jacksonville Florida. Poole will add that big bodied, strong slasher who Calipari loves. Although not a five star prospect by Rivals or Scout, Poole is a high four star straddling the fence that separates five star and four star players. Now what is really going to be tough for John Cal to replace is the post presence that 1st Team All-American DeMarcus Cousins presented down low. Not to mention losing Daniel Orton who also helped bolster what was as tough as an interior as you could find in college basketball. Filling the void, Enes Kanter, a Turkish native and WWE Undertaker enthusiest. Since only arriving in America only around a year and a half ago, not much was known about Kanter. However, in this years Nike Hoop Summit he showed the world what he could do by putting up 34 points and double digit boards. The 34 point performance broke the Hoop Summit record previously held by Dirk Nowitzki. Before the performance everyone knew he could play, but the Nike Hoop Summit clinic held by Big Enes just proved it. It is also likely to catapult him into the top ten of Rivals.com's final rankings. Kanter, who played on a professional team in his Native Turkey still faces eligibility issues. Kanter was not payed to be on the team, but was provided with apparel and lodging. Last season Denis Kilitci, a former Turkish teammate of Kanter had to sit out 22 games for Bob Huggins' West Virgnia club. However, the NCAA rules committee are contemplating changing the structure of foreign players eligibility and declaring them eligible without suspension as long as no money exchanged hands. This is a good thing for Kentucky, and likely will cause Enes to be able to play right away opposed from his Turkish counterpart Kilitci.
So once again it is obvious, Calipari can get it done. Once again, in little over a month Calipari has lost several players from the previous years squad, but added incoming talented freshman to take their place. There are still several Kentucky prospects still on the board and with the mid May signing deadline a few weeks away, Cal still has room to add more. The most precious of these is Portland Jefferson standout Terrence Jones. Jones a 6'8'' forward can do it all. He can work from the perimeter, and also work you in the paint. He is a lefty with a huge motor, and gets after it on the defensive end as well. He is the perfect Calipari player. If there was a John Calipari DDM offense mold, Jones would likely be the first prototype to come out of that mold. Jones' has stated he loves the system John Calipari runs in Kentucky and loves how he would fit into it, but the big question is whether or not he is willing to leave the West Coast. As of right now Oregon, Washington, Oklahoma, and UCLA remains on Jones' list, with Kansas also trying to sniff their way back in. I expect it to come down to Washington, Kentucky, and Oregon, and hope he can make the trip out east. This class still needs a body to replace the production Patrick Patterson gave, and Jones would be the guy. If Cal misses on him, there is still another five star McD's all american out there in CJ Leslie. Leslie, a former high school teammate of John Wall at Word of God Academy in Raleigh has developed a high interest in the Cats. However, he also has strong ties to his hometown school, NC State, a school he was previously committed too. UCONN is also in the mix, and CJ is set to take a visit there this weekend. He or Jones would be very key pieces to next years puzzle, and getting one of them is almost essential. Both would be ideal, and a bit of a dream scenario, but with Calipari you can never rule anything like that out. Jones is set to make his decision next Friday on April 30th, Leslie has not expressed when he will make a college decision, although many speculate it may be soon.
If Cal strikes out on Jones and Leslie, look for Georgia Mr. Basketball Marcus Thornton to be the guy. Also on the radar are available prospects Terrence Ross (friend and former teammate of Terrence Jones, also announcing on the 30th), and Chris Hill. If anything else emerges you know you can see it here. But basically what I am trying to say with all of this rambling is what a difference a year makes. Ironically this past team looked nothing like the Gillespie lead team the year before, and next seasons team will look very different than this years team. You can expect to see a whole lot more dribble drive next year, and you can also expect to see a lot more three point shots to fall, something that plagued Kentucky last season. With so much talent coming in and out of Lexington, look for this to become a trend, and get used to the phrase, "What a difference a year makes". Because it sure is crazy if you really sit down and think, what a difference a year really makes recently for Kentucky basketball.
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