Ken Pomeroy predicts the Kentucky Wildcats NBA First Rounders and Orlando Antigua is a walking miracle

For years John Calipari has been prepping players for the NBA with many being after only one season but not all.  There is no doubt as to his work ethic and his successful plan for turning these extremely talent but raw phenoms into superstars but none of that would be possible, I submit, without the help of Assistant Coach Orlando Antigua…who just happens to be most fortunate and a walking miracle.  This article is very long so please follow the link to read in its entirety.

"This story appears in ESPN The Magazine’s Nov. 11 College Basketball preview. DON’T CLOSE your eyes. Halloween night, 1988. He was 15 years old, on a gurney in the back of an ambulance as it sped down Fordham Road in the Bronx, sirens stacking atop one another like pages in a book. Fifteen, with a bullet in his head, listening to the paramedics radio ahead to the emergency room. The language of panic: “GSW near left eye. Entry, no exit.” Don’t close your eyes. He repeated those same four words to himself, over and over, like a prayer. A child’s logic: If you can see, you can’t die. A child’s fear: If you close your eyes, darkness wins. Simple solution. Don’t close your eyes. Once upon a time, Kentucky assistant coach Orlando Antigua could really play, but that’s not even close to the best part. The way he played edges a bit closer — wild with energy, joyous, aggressive, as if every trip down the court were a referendum on his worth as a human being. Two decades later, Antigua’s enthusiasm plays well in living rooms and on the practice court. Kings center DeMarcus Cousins, who as a high school star in Alabama committed to John Calipari and Antigua at Memphis and followed them to Kentucky, says, “When Cal is chewing you out, Coach O is always a guy you can go to.” Many of the young men running up and down the floor wearing Wildcats blue are there because of Antigua. It might have been something he saw in them or something they saw in him; it’s impossible to say which came first. But if the scouts and hypesters are even close to being prescient, the talent in Kentucky’s freshman class — a group recruited initially by Antigua and fellow assistant Kenny Payne and closed by Calipari — is borderline ridiculous: six of the 24 McDonald’s high school All-Americans and five of ESPN’s top 10 recruits. It’s on the short list of the best recruiting classes ever. he 40-year-old Antigua explains his unlikely career arc by saying he’s led a charmed life. He portrays himself as a recipient of random providence. The polite response is to nod and let it pass, to agree with the popular and facile idea that everything happens for a reason, that we are all helpless products of some great fate-making machine in the sky. But to conclude that all of this is out of his control would belittle the journey. Random? Hardly. Antigua was the de facto dad to his two younger brothers by the time he was 10. They had come to America from the Dominican Republic with their mom in the late 1970s. “He was role model, disciplinarian and father figure in that house,” says Oliver Antigua, two years younger than Orlando and an assistant at Seton Hall. “We were petrified of making mistakes and screwing up in school.” Random? During Orlando’s senior year in high school, his family was evicted from its apartment and lived for a time in an uninhabited convent down the block from St. Raymond High School with basketball coach Gary DeCesare and his wife. “Those priests and brothers saved our lives,” Oliver says. Orlando became student body president at St. Raymond and earned a basketball scholarship to Pitt. Nobody in the family had ever attended college before, but when Orlando committed, Oliver said, “We’re going to follow you there.” Oliver — Orlando’s first recruiting score — also graduated from Pitt, and Omar graduated from Carnegie-Mellon and became a successful salesman of medical equipment in Florida. Sooner rather than later, Antigua will be a head coach. Calipari is resigned to it. “He has a presence and the courage to be a head coach,” Calipari says. “You have to be able to do the right things even if it’s not popular among players.” Random? Out of his control? All of it? “You do have a choice in how you deal with your obstacles,” Antigua says. “It might not be a gunshot to the head, but we all have hardships. I can talk to a kid from a rough neighborhood and say, ‘Look, I wore those shoes, and if you do this and have this kind of mindset and surround yourself with people who are going to help you, you’re going to become successful.'” After all, nothing can be truly charmed without first being cursed."

Speaking of his recruiting prowess, after having locked up the #1 2013 class and now having the #1 2014 class, Antigua and John Calipari have turned their attention to the 2015 class and 6’6″ PF Matt Ryan.

"Kentucky assistant Orlando Antigua and North Carolina assistant Hubert Davis both reached out to the 6-foot-6, 200-pound 2015 Iona Prep small forward. “Big day,” an excited Ryan told SNY.tv. “[Antigua] texted me a couple minutes ago and asked me how I was doing and saying they’re interested. “He said that he wants to come up and see me and that he’s heard a lot of great things about me.” Asked what it felt like to hear from the No. 1 team in the nation, Ryan said, ”Oh, man, it feels amzaing. Just what they’re doing right now recruiting the best players in the country. Getting a text from them was really exciting.”"

But let’s not forget about this 2014 class coming up.  Sure John Calipari already has commits from Tyler Ulis, Devin Booker, Karl Towns, Jr., and Trey Lyles but there’s still one other that he’s been interested in for a long time and that’s the 6’6″ Stanley Johnson.  The recruiting battle has been an arduous one with multiple teams vying for his services but Kentucky and Arizona seem to be the favorites.  But these are 17-18 year old kids so who knows which way the pendulum swings.  Adam Zagoria briefly recaps the Top 10 Committed and Uncommitted Prep Prospects of 2014.

Not Committed

"5. Stanley Johnson, SF, Fullerton (CA) Mater Dei Arguably the best wing in the Class of 2014, Johnson is a winner, pure and simple. His team won the Nike Peach Jam in 2012, when he played alongside current Arizona freshman Aaron Gordon on a team that beat Andrew Wiggins and CIA Bounce in the final. The 6-6 Johnson lists Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Oregon and USC. He visited USC this past weekend and came away impressed. It wouldn’t be a shocker if he stayed home and played for new coach Andy Enfield, although Arizona and Kentucky remain strong suitors."

Already Committed

"1. Trey Lyles, PF, Indianapolis (IN) Arsenal Tech: KENTUCKY 4. Karl Towns Jr., C, St. Joe’s Metuchen (NJ): KENTUCKY  10(t). Devin Booker, SG, Moss Point (MS): KENTUCKY"