2010 Derby Festival Classic: Preview
By Paul Jordan
For all of you UK fans in the Louisville and the surrounding areas, this weekend is a great time to get out and see some great basketball action. The annual Derby Festival Classic is here and it is perfect for going out to see some UK recruits in action. Unfortunately, only one UK signee is playing but that doesn’t mean you can’t go out and watch him along with other talented high school seniors. Stacey Poole will showcase his skills Saturday in the game in what he considers a “homecoming” of sorts. “In front of my hometown, It’s going to be nice,” he said in an interview with Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald-Leader. “I’ll just play my game,” he said. “Let people see. Put on a little show (pause) maybe.” This year’s game has one McDonald’s All-American (Ray McCallum/Undecided), one Kentucky signee (Poole), and three Louisville recruits (Elisha Justice, Russ Smith, Justin Coleman) along with a handful of other players who have committed to other major teams.
Friday night’s events are dubbed as the “Night of Future Stars” in which a few players will compete in a variety of contests: three-point shooting contest, 2-on-2 competition, and a slam dunk contest. In last year’s edition, UK’s Eric Bledsoe and UofL’s Rakeem Buckles won the 2-on-2 contest. It will take place at Bellarmine University Knight’s Hall at 7pm. Saturday night at UofL’s Freedom Hall the Derby Festival Basketball Classic will take place at 7pm also. Tickets are $12 and $17 for reserved tickets. Past players who have participated in this event are: Derek Anderson, Moses Malone, Jamal Mashburn, Rex Chapman, Dominique Wilkins, Pervis Ellison, Isiah Thomas, Darrell Griffith, Michael Beasley, Mario
Chalmers, D.J. Augustin, Brook Lopez, Robin Lopez and Anthony Randolph.
Roster:
Black Team-
Ryan Harrow #12 NC State 6’/158 G
Tyler Lamb #0 UCLA 6’4/195 G
Nate Lubick #33 Georgetown 6’9/227 F
Russ Smith #24 Louisville 6’2/150 G
Trey Zeigler #32 Undecided 6’5/185 G
Elisha Justice Louisville 5’11/167 G
Anthony Brown #3 Stanford 6’7/180 F
Justin Coleman #21 Louisville 6’5/215 F
Gorgui Dieng #10 Undecided –interest Louisville 6’10/210 C
White Team-
Moses Abraham Undecided 6’9/235 C
Trae Golden #5 Tennessee 6’2/190 G
Josh Hairston #15 Duke 6’9/195 F
Justin Martin #20 Xavier 6’6/200 F
Ray McCallum #3 Undecided 6’2/175 G
Jordan McRae #1 Tennessee 6’6/180 G/F
Victor Oladipo #23 Indiana 6’5/180 G
Stacey Poole, Jr. #2 Kentucky 6’5/200 F
Dwight Powell #33 Stanford 6’9/215 C
Royce Woolridge Kansas 6’1/175 G
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