Last week on this blog, Zach Rosen addressed the question of Patrick Patterson and UK’s upcoming “Senior Day”. More specifically, should Patrick Patterson be recognized along with Mark Krebs, Perry Stevenson, and Ramon Harris on Senior Day? If any player deserves the recognition, it would be Patterson and for the record, he will be getting his degree in just three seasons.
But instead of going off to corporate America with most of his graduating class, Patrick will more than likely be headed to the NBA, leaving a year of eligibility behind. The question of Patterson and senior day is one that is worth asking, and we did ask the BBN, with a poll on the site. And the reply was pretty clear. You think Patrick should be recognized.
- 56% of you said YES – Patrick should get that chance to bust through that paper hoop.
- 33% of you said that Patrick should be honored, but in a different way.
- 11% of you said that NO, senior day is for seniors only, and unfortunately Patrick is just a junior.
It’s pretty resounding in that 89% of you thought that Patrick deserved some kind of special honor. As for me, I would probably fall in the second option. I do think that Senior Day is a tradition and that it is reserved for the seniors, not players that are headed to the NBA early. If you break that tradition, where do you stop? I am sure that 80-90% of the BBN would say that John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins should be honored if asked that in a poll. So for the sake of sanity, let’s say that Senior Day is reserved for four year seniors.
You can argue that precedent was set in the early 90’s with Jamal Mashburn. When Mashburn left after his junior season, he did not get the honor of walking Senior Day. And you can argue that Jamal was one of the most influential and revered Wildcats ever. You can say that Patrick Patterson is not more important than Mashburn, but I would place him very close in popularity.
So the other option other than ignoring Patterson altogether on his probable last home game as a Wildcat would be to honor him in a different way. This is simple enough. Since Perry Stevenson will be starting at PF, allow Patrick to sit on the bench for the start of the game. When the seniors are taken out, allow Patterson his moment to come into the game and get his ovation. Same goes for the end of the game, when Patterson is allowed to depart the game by himself after the seniors leave and get their ovation. It’s a simple approach and would allow Patrick to have his moment in the spotlight without detracting from the Seniors day.
Who knows if this will happen, but I think Patrick deserves his moment for the fans to show their appreciation.
**UPDATE** Larry Vaught is reporting that Patrick Patterson will, indeed, be a part of UK’s senior day activities on Sunday. Good move by UK.
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