Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: Is the Tide Turning on Early Departure?
Madison Central point guard Dominique Hawkins. Photo by Jason Marcum
Want to see the newest Wildcat in action before he actually suits up for the Big Blue? Dominique Hawkins will participate in the Derby Festival Classic All Star Game in Louisville, Kentucky on April 19th at Freedom Hall.
The line-up also includes UK’s Derek Willis, Louisville’s Anton Gill and Akoy Agau.
And no, don’t expect to see the other Wildcats as they will be opting to play their second allowed All Star Game in the Jordan Brand Classic.
Andrew and Aaron Harrison will be bringing a lot more than skill to Kentucky. They will be bringing high expectations and a determination to win:
"The goal is to win a national championship,” Aaron Harrison said. “It’s not to be 40-0. It’s to win our last game. That is what our goal is. It would be nice to go 40-0, but that is not our overall goal. The expectation of all six (UK recruits playing in the McDonald’s and Jordan games) is that we love to win. We think we are a great team. Just want to go out there and prove it to everybody.” He’s not worried about UK fans being more demanding because this year’s team lost in the NIT’s first round or that Louisville won the national title. “We kind of like the pressure, so it is not pressure. It is more of a chip on our shoulders that we would just like to get off and go out and play hard. It is really a learning situation that we can’t take anything for granted,” he said. “We all have the confidence we can do it. We just have to go out there and prove it to everybody else. We know we can get it done if we work hard. It is not about words. It is about what you do out there on the court."
Read the rest of the article from Larry Vaught here.
As I mentioned above, most of Kentucky’s newest recruits won’t be playing in the Derby Festival Classic, but rather the Jordan Brand Classic. Andrew and Aaron Harrison will highlight the roster for Kentucky fans, but they won’t be alone.
Julius Randle, Dakari Johnson, James Young and Marcus Lee will also take the court, just like in the McDonalds All American Game.
Here is the roster:
East Team
| Tyler Ennis | PG | St. Benedict’s Prep (N.J.) | Syracuse |
| Aaron Harrison | SG | Fort Bend Travis (Texas) | Kentucky |
| Kasey Hill | PG | Montverde Academy (Fla.) | Florida |
| Kuran Iverson | SF | Fishburne Military (Va.) | Memphis |
| Rondae Jefferson | SF | Chester (Pa.) | Arizona |
| Kennedy Meeks | C | West Charlotte (N.C.) | North Carolina |
| Bobby Portis | PF | Little Rock Hall (Ark.) | Arkansas |
| Julius Randle | PF | Prestonwood Christian (Texas) | Kentucky |
| Wayne Selden | SG | Tilton School (N.H.) | Kansas |
| Chris Walker | PF | Holmes County (Fla.) | Florida |
| Andrew Wiggins | SF | Huntington Prep (W.Va.) | Undecided |
West Team:
| Joel Embiid | C | The Rock School (Fla.) | Kansas |
| Aaron Gordon | PF | Archbishop Mitty (Calif.) | Arizona |
| Andrew Harrison | PG | Fort Bend Travis (Texas) | Kentucky |
| Dakari Johnson | C | Montverde Academy (Fla.) | Kentucky |
| Matt Jones | SG | DeSoto (Texas) | Duke |
| Marcus Lee | PF | Deer Valley (Calif.) | Kentucky |
| Jabari Parker | SF | Chicago Simeon (Ill.) | Duke |
| Noah Vonleh | PF | New Hampton School (N.H.) | Indiana |
| Troy Williams | SF | Oak Hill Academy (Va.) | Indiana |
| Nigel Williams-Goss | PG | Findlay Prep (Nev.) | Washington |
| James Young | SF | Rochester (Mich.) | Kentucky |
We will again get to see Andrew Wiggins go against Jabari Parker as we did in the McDonald’s game. Wiggins got the best out of him the last time around.
The game will be on April 13th at 8 PM on ESPN live from the Barclay’s Center in New York City. Set your DVR’s because I know all of you, including yours truly, will be at the Spring Game.
And if you are getting your hopes up that Andrew Wiggins will make his decision known to the public at the Jordan game, you can go ahead and stop that right now.
It’s very unlikely that the number one recruit in America will do so.
"Fulford is the head coach of the East team, which will include Wiggins and Kentucky commitments Julius Randle, Andrew Harrison and Aaron Harrison. Future Wildcats James Young, Dakari Johnson and Marcus Lee will represent the West. The Huntington Prep coach said Wiggins will announce his decision sometime before the end of the regular signing period, which starts April 17 and runs through May 15. Wiggins is expected to choose among UK, Florida State, North Carolina and Kansas. The 6-foot-8 forward from Toronto has made official visits to each of those schools. Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/04/09/2593504/early-projections-for-2013-14.html#storylink=cpy"