Six former Kentucky Wildcats to participate in NBA All Star Festivities
By Paul Jordan
Feb 6, 2013; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Hornets power forward Anthony Davis (23) sits on the bench prior to tip off of a game against the Phoenix Suns at the New Orleans Arena. The Hornets defeated the Suns 93-84. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Call it the “circle of life” for Kentucky Wildcats basketball players nowadays. Come to Kentucky. Get selected in the NBA Draft. Take part in the NBA All Star Weekend. And next weekend, six former Wildcats will participate. Here is more details from a UKAA Media Advisory:
"The 2013 NBA All-Star weekend in Houston, will have a blue feel to it, as six former Wildcats have been selected to participate in various All-Star festivities. On Friday, Feb. 15, Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Brandon Knight will participate in the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge, which will feature two teams drafted by TNT Analysts Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal who will serve as the opposing general managers. Davis and Knight are on #teamChuck, while Kidd-Gilchrist was selected to play on #teamShaq. Each team will have ten man rosters, consisting of both NBA rookies and sophomores drafted from a pool that was previously selected by the NBA’s assistant coaches. The game will air on TNT beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET. On Saturday, Feb. 16, at 3:00 p.m. ET, Terrence Jones, who was one of twenty of the NBA Development League’s top prospects, will play in the seventh annual NBA D-League All-Star Game. The game will air on NBA TV. Saturday night, NBA All-Star Saturday Night presented by State Farm will showcase Knight, who will participate in the The Taco Bell Skills Challenge. The Skills Challenge was introduced at NBA All-Star 2003 in Atlanta and features six players competing in a two-round timed “obstacle course” consisting of dribbling, passing and shooting stations. All players must observe basic NBA ball-handling rules while completing the course. Eric Bledsoe will close out the evening in the 2013 Sprite Slam Dunk Contest. All-Star Saturday Night is scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m. on TNT. Rajon Rondo was selected to participate in the 2013 NBA All-Star game on Sunday, Feb., 17, however a season-ending knee injury will force him to watch from the sidelines"
He’s back ….. Despite being wrong on about everything on the Manti Te’o story, Pete “The Hitman” Thamel is back at his first true love. Writing about Kentucky Wildcat basketball recruits. This time it was Andrew Wiggins. Thamel seems to indicate that Wiggins may be a FSU lean because he wants to have a low key college experience. To be honest, I don’t think that is huge news. It seems that Calipari has been backing off Wiggins lately for whatever reason. What I found interesting was the typical backhanded Thamel spin. He builds up Wiggins, calling him the “Canadian Jordan” and then delves into the nasty and throws in a good dose of negativc as well:
"And with Wiggins, there are warning signs. Wiggins has attended three schools in the past four years. His college recruitment is being run by his father, Mitchell, an unemployed former NBA guard best remembered for a two-year suspension for testing positive for cocaine. Andrew Wiggins’ work ethic and motor have yet to catch up to his athleticism and raw ability. That leaves the question of whether he’ll coast on talent to a solid NBA career or tap into his vast potential and emerge as an elite player and Canadian icon. In the past few years, more highly-touted Canadians have fizzled than sizzled in the states, victims of bad advice, fly-by-night prep schools and a lack of preparation on and off the court. “If you look at the failure list, it’s mind boggling,” said Rautins, Canada’s coach from 2005 to 2011. “Kids put in wrong situations. Kids academically put in bad situations. You see all these kids with potential, and it just went out the window. That was my fight, to change that. And sometimes I felt like I was peeing in the wind.”"
And with Thamel stories, there is usually an immediate reaction from the subject saying that Thamel got it wrong. Wiggins took to twitter to say “Don’t believe everything you hear! Don’t believe everything you read!”. Then Wiggins dropped 57 in his game last night. Touche’.
Feb 07, 2013; Champaign, IL, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini forward Tyler Griffey (42) hits the game winning shot to defeat the Indiana Hoosiers 74-72 during the second half at Assembly Hall. Mandatory Credit: Bradley Leeb-USA TODAY Sports
I know it’s not UK related, but seriously, you know we are going to talk about this. In case you missed it, #1 Indiana went down at Illinois last night. As you can see in the picture Tyler Griffey scored the winning basket as time expired as his man, Cody Zeller, had the best seat in the house. However the greatest thing in this is not the defensive lapse by the “big handsome”, but it’s the fact that Illini fans stormed the court and provided a sense of a cosmic buttkicking IU has sorely needed. And I fully expect to see this on a ESPN promo right about now: