John Calipari and Kentucky Wildcats get last word with Cheick Diallo

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It’s all over but the waiting for Cheick Diallo. All the visits have been done and apparently Diallo has all the information he needs to make his college decision. And apparently John Calipari was the last coach to talk with Diallo and to make his pitch for the Kentucky Wildcats. The recent buzz is that Kentucky has fg=gained momentum in the hunt for Diallo, but most think that the recent hiring of Barry Rohrrsen by St. Johns may have been the tipping factor. Regardless, it appears that no one knows where Diallo may go.

"Diallo has previously said he hoped to announce on or after the Jordan Game. “Nobody knows” where he is going to college, he said Friday night after the game. Wherever he lands, Jordan Classic East and Chicago St. Rita’s coach Gary DeCesare, a guest Monday on SNY’s The 4 Quarters Podcast, says that school is getting a stud. “Man, he’s got a high motor man, he’s like the Energizer Bunny, he just keeps going and going and going and going,” said DeCesare, who watched Diallo go for 26 points and 11 rebounds Friday in a 118-116 lost to the West, which was led byAllonzo Trier’s 28 points. “He’s a great kid, he just plays. I tell you what, he’d be an unbelievable get for St. John’s or whoever tries to get him. I love that kid, man. He just plays, goes out and does whatever you need him to do, man. When you got a 6-9 guy who’s the first guy down the court in transition, wow, that’s scary.”"

It's been a long 3 years. Just wanted to thanks all the coaches who recruited me and stopped by my school appreciated pic.twitter.com/3S059mIvIu
— _cd13 (@cheick_diallo13) April 21, 2015

Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Regardless of what happens with Diallo, John Calipari has another target for his 2015 Kentucky Wildcats class. And this one is an “under the radar” project in the form of 6’10 Ebuka Izundu. Recruiting services vary wildly on Izundu, and it’s hard to believe that a 6’10 player that averaged 21 points, 15 rebounds and 6 blocks last year in under the radar, yet he is. Izundu was a former Charlotte commit but now seems to be the consolation prize for Cheick Diallo as both Kansas and Kentucky are heavily involved and Kentucky is getting in on the feeding frenzy.

"Izundu told the Observer last week he would choose between Tennessee, Cincinnati, Miami, Connecticut and Charlotte. That list could be changing. Kentucky coaches told McCain they would fly to the Atlanta area to watch Izundu play with his Charlotte ACES travel team this weekend. Connecticut and Texas Tech coaches plan to visit him on campus this week. “Kentucky said they’re really, really interested,” McCain said, “and they wanted to see how things pan out with some other guys, too. They can’t believe he’s been under the radar this long.”"

Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

It seems like just yesterday that Patrick Patterson was a member of the Kentucky Wildcats, but he is a NBA veteran now leading his team in the NBA Playoffs. Somehow, Patrick found the time to pen a letter to the members of the incoming NBA rookie class, and he wrote a bit about how Kentucky prepared him for the NBA.

"My sophomore year at Kentucky, Jodie Meeks and I formed one of the best scoring tandems in college basketball. It was something I was comfortable with because I had shared the spotlight with O.J. Mayo in high school. But in my junior year, John Wall, Eric Bledsoe and DeMarcus Cousins joined the team, and I went from averaging 18 points and 9 rebounds to averaging 14 and 7. Playing on that team was a great preparation for the NBA because I learned how to tailor my game when I was surrounded by big-time talent. That was my wake-up call, and I’m thankful it happened while I was still in college. Don’t look at your teammates as competition. If you can make them better, you’ll improve as a player and everything else will fall into place. At Kentucky, I was put in a situation where I had to sacrifice shots and put more focus on other areas of my game. In the NBA, I was asked to do the same thing. Nobody dreams of being a role player, but those are the guys who manage to have decade-long careers. The thing I can’t preach enough is patience. I’ll tell you right now that you’re not going to get as much playing time as you think you should. If you’re drafted high and you don’t get that playing time, you tend to get mad at the world. You may work hard for a period of time, but it won’t last. You’ll lose that focus and ultimately that mindset that made you successful enough to make it to the NBA"

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