John Calipari’s arrival to UK has brought many interesting story lines already and the the 2009-2010 season is not even underway yet. But when your arrival is accompanied by the #1 recruiting class in the nation and the return of All-SEC power forward Patrick Patterson, there is a reason for that.
What often gets left out however is the fact that there are many other players on the team who aren’t mentioned in the first batch of names rattled off by UK faithful. Names like Harris, Stevenson, and even Krebs seem to fall into the background with the addition of all these 5-star newcomers out of high-school.
But the aforementioned players aren’t taking a back seat to the six man class that was viewed as the best class in the nation. UK fans would be foolhardy to forget the seniors, which are now the only link to the Tubby Smith era.
Two of the players on this year’s team are more experienced than anyone else. Those two are Perry Stevenson and Ramon Harris, who have seen the up’s and downs of the UK basketball program over their four year stay in Lexington. They’ve experienced three head coaches; Tubby, Gillispie, and now Calipari, and will have been through a whirlwind of a college basketball career. Despite the craziness, these seniors want to solidify their position on the team and make contributions when and where they can.
For a player like Stevenson, his senior year will be dedicated to being a leader and becoming a more consistent basketball player. Stevenson’s sophomore season saw a greater versatility from the senior out of Lafayette, Louisiana. That’s when Patrick Patterson went down to a season ending foot injury and where Stevenson began to drastically improve his game. Stevenson hopes the hard-work he put in over the off-season will pay off, saying “I have worked hard, and now I have to transfer that to games.” He knows his basketball career could end with his graduation from the University of Kentucky. Stevenson also knows, however, that if the continual hard work and effort put in to getting better can pay off in the long run.
Fellow senior Ramon Harris has had to deal with some of the same hardships Stevenson has had to deal with. Playing under Gillispie was a wear on both of them; mentally, physically, and emotionally, but don’t want UK fans to forget that they are still on the team. Harris has dealt question marks surrounding his name his entire college career. No one really knew the Alaskan native when he arrived on campus and some might feel best if he were to sit on the bench, while the freshman played. But that’s not the demeanor Harris carries. He’s tough as nails, depicted by his willingness to play through pain. Last year’s scary collision with then point guard Michael Porter displayed that tough as nails personality.
Harris certainly hasn’t had the illustrious career many former UK players have had, but he has indelibly left his mark on current and past UK players, coaches, and fans for his hard work and dedication to the program. He could have left when Tubby left, but wanted his career at UK to extend past only a year. He was one of Gillispie’s favorite players, not because he was the best player on the court but because he hustled and never stopped working. Those kinds of qualities will shine through this season when leadership will need to come from not just one single individual, but everyone on the team. That includes Harris, who as a senior knows the in’s and out’s of college basketball and the life that goes along with it.
The third member of UK’s senior class is Mark Krebs, who has found that hard work and persistence is the key to making your lifelong dreams come true. Krebs toiled the last two seasons as a walk on for the Wildcats enduring long practice hours while footing his own school bills and receiving very little glory. For his efforts, Krebs has 6 career points scored for UK and has appeared in 17 games.
hat all changed this year when John Calipari rewarded Kreb’s efforts and awarded him the 13th scholarship on this year’s Wildcats. All it took for Calipari to award him the scholarship spot was a conversation with Krebs, where Calipari saw what it meant to be a Wildcat from a boy that had had adored Wildcat Blue all his life. After meeting with him, Krebs was officially a Wildcat.
“I thought about this over the weekend,” said head coach John Calipari. “And after I met with him and heard him say, ‘Coach, all I want is to be a part of the Kentucky basketball program,’ I knew what we had to do.”
I advise all UK fans and Big Blue faithful to not forget the names Stevenson, or Harris, or even Krebs for that matter. These are players who have bled, sweat, and cried Kentucky blue for four years. There is no way we could forget about them now.
Andrew Hardison is a recent UK alum and frequent contributor to Wildcat Blue Blog
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