While we’re all enjoying these long Summer days and jogging in the hot sun while sweating like a pig and generally enjoying the good weather, it’s tempting to read into every morsel of comment about Kentucky’s upcoming season and destine the 2010-11 Wildcats for championship number 8. Now I know to Coach Cal that’s probably not all that exciting as we know that he thinks this year’s NBA draft was the biggest day in Kentucky basketball history, but to most of us that’s a pretty big deal and really all we think about, and once we get to eight we’ll only think about nine. Alas I do think Calipari “gets it’, he just has a tendency toward hyperbole and wants to make sure that people (media) are always talking about Kentucky. I think we can all let his little comment slide.
Anyway, I want to address comments that he and some others have made about Summer workouts. Today he commented that Josh Harrellson is doing fantastic in workouts and played great against some China men in some exhibition games in China on a team with fellow Wildcat Jon Hood. Couple that with his comments that Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins are playing so well that they may declare for the 2011 draft and throw in the fact that most 2011 draft predictions already have Enes Kanter as a top three pick and there is a strong temptation to start making Final Four plans.
Now I love to think my team’s going to win it all as much as the next guy, but I also want to make sure that I don’t read too much into things. There will always be players that are amazing Summer performers that just don’t pan out. Some guys can hit threes like they’re 6 footers in pickups but can’t hit the broad side of a barn when it counts. That’s just how it is sometimes. Also keep in mind that Calipari is not allowed to be involved in any Summer games so most of what he is saying about his players’ abilities is hearsay. I love the idea that Miller and Liggins could be NBA talents, but that’s quite the quantum leap for Miller whose problem has never been his talent so much as his aggression or lack thereof.
Where freshmen like Enes Kanter are concerned, I always like to reserve any judgment there until I can see them on the court against college level talent. Randolph Morris and Joe Crawford were both top ten talents coming out of highs school. Morris specifically flirted with the NBA instead of college. Both players turned out to be severe disappointments for Kentucky. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big Joe Crawford fan nowadays, but he didn’t come close to living up to expectations and that 2004 class though heralded as number one in the country, didn’t produce near the number of wins or championships that they were supposed to.
So, I’m not trying to poop on your party, I’m just saying let’s have a little guarded optimism. Then when we do win 8 in ’11, let’s be pleasantly rewarded for our ability to be reasonable.
That said, we’re totally going to win it all this year.
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