by Alan Smith
John Wall has dominated the headlines lately, and for the superstar freshman it has been because of his accomplishments on the court. He has simply been able to dominate in games such as North Carolina, Connecticut, and Hartford, where he had a school-record 16 assists. But most teams have been able to shut down Wall, or at least not giving him the ability to control the game. But what most opposing coaches and teams have forgot about is that Kentucky has more than just one stud point guard not named John Wall. Meet Eric Bledsoe.
During UK’s season opener against Morehead St., John Wall sat out amidst serving a two-game suspension. But most people in the national realm of sports would have hardly noticed because the athleticism and scoring displayed in Wall was also shown in Bledsoe. He scored 24 points in his first collegiate game in taking control of the team with John Wall absent. Against the Tar Heels, John Wall put on a highlight reel for NBA scouts and UK fans until he went into the locker room early in the second half due to cramps. Despite his absence, Bledsoe again took control and hit a few key free throws down the stretch to help UK maintain their lead and win. He also helped seal a victory against Stanford in the Cancun Classic. With UK only up by one point in the final seconds of overtime, Bledsoe hit a crucial three from deep to lead the Cats to win the Cancun Challenge.
But it was mostly in the road games that the team learned to depend on each other and not solely on one single player. With the hostile environments at both Indiana and Florida, John Wall was the focus of the opponents’ defense, leaving Eric Bledsoe in the pilot’s seat. He put the plane on autopilot and took off from Bloomington with 23 points on 4-5 shooting from three-point land. The Cats were down early in the game to IU, but managed to dominate in the second half and pull off a 90-73 win thanks to Bledsoe. Then again this past Tuesday while facing a crowd of “rowdy reptiles”, Wall was stopped during the first half, as he became the key factor for the Gators in order for them to get a victory over UK. As Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast my friend !”, Bledsoe was eating Kenny Boynton’s lunch and Wall’s leftovers, scoring 25 points on 10-13 shooting in a 89-77 UK win over the Gators. And as the Cats head into their third road game of the season Saturday at Auburn, it will be interesting to see if the Tigers try to focus their energy on Wall and leave Bledsoe free to wreck havoc, or if they try to cover both UK guards equally.
Bledsoe is also the key to UK’s three-point shooting success this season. He is leading the team in three-point shooting with 48% so far, and he is No. 6 on the all-time list. Despite being a freshman, Bledsoe, as well as the other freshmen, are living up to the hype and performing on a different level. They are doing past what is expected of them and setting standards for the rest of the team to play by. If UK can get this type of output from Bledsoe as well as what is expected from everyone else on the roster, this team will be dangerous when it’s firing on all cylinders.
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