[darkman97Participant]

With Kentucky’s great recruiting class this year of DeMarcus Cousins, John Wall, Daniel Orton, Eric Bledsoe all being 5 star athletes along with Jon Hood and Darnell Dodson being 4 star recruits and add the fact that Patrick Patterson is back. Could this team send five or six first round draft picks to next years draft? The closest we’ve had to this would be UNC in 2005 with Marvin Williams (2), Raymond Felton (5), Sean May (13) and Rashad McCants (14) and Duke in 1999 with Elton Brand (1), Trajan Langdon (11), Cory Maggette (13), and William Avery (14). IMO the Kentucky group would be better (in whole) than either of those. What do you think? Plus is Xavier Henry still considering leaving Kansas? If so add that to another first rounder in 2010.

[Jesus ShuttlesworthParticipant]

but wont have excel as much in college as the UNC team but dont forget its not one class that makes a team its 3 or 4 te UNC and Duke teams had other guys beside the ones you mention

[Knicksboy34Participant]

No. Not all in one year.

[knicksfreakParticipant]

Not as mostly Freshman they cant. They have more potential than the other groups did though. Wall is a surefire top 3 pick and none of those guys except Brand should have gone in the lottery.

[JNixonParticipant]

Henry would have to sit out if he transferred. Thats I tough one, but I think they can. They have as much talent on one team as I’ve seen in a looonnnggg time. I think Kentucky has a chance to go down as one of the absolute best teams to ever play (barring injuries). This is like the 2000’s version of the Fab 5.

[darkman97Participant]

in order of how they’d be picked should be Wall, Cousins, Patterson and Orton. I’ve never seen Bledsoe and the 4 star players would probably be the year or two after.

[AreopogusParticipant]

Stop with the crazy talk. Not until next year this time could you have any barometer on “best team ever” and having them all be first rounders.

1) They are nearly all Freshmen. Not all high profile freshman pan out.

2) They are nearly all Freshmen. We have no idea how they will handle pressure.

3) They are nearly all Freshmen. The “great” teams always have a few 1st rounders who are 2nd/3rd year guys. Patterson is a mid to late first round type guy and he’s the only legitimate first rounder that’s not a Freshmen.

Notable Point:

The coach is a Freshmen! First year in a bigger conference, with a new group of guys. Way too much “new.”

They could POSSIBLY become an amazing team by the end of the year, but there is no way to know for sure how the 2009-2010 UK season will pan out.

[xbadgerhustlerParticipant]

ahhaha i love how excited ppl get in their fantasy worlds about the BEST CASE SCENARIO… i hope kentucky is as great as ppl are hoping for, but i doubt those dreams will ever come to fruition.

it would be awesome to see about bunch of freshmen dominate the NCAA

[AreopogusParticipant]

There’s a reason why really good Freshmen usually peak around the sweet 16.

[knicksfreakParticipant]

You cant call Calipari a Freshman. He was a very successful coach before Memphis but I agree that a group of Freshman(besides Patterson) cant measure up to those teams. It takes time to build chemistry.

[AreopogusParticipant]

To a BCS conference he is.

Atlantic 10 and Conference USA aren’t exactly powerhouse conferences. He’s good, don’t get me wrong. But his # of wins isn’t really fair. And he didn’t really excel in Memphis until the Big East took all the good teams out (lol).

He was able to recruit Derrick Rose and (to a lesser extent) Tyreke Evans, which should tell any UK fan that he’s a good recruiter. His dribble-drive offense, though, is really designed to make a point-guard look really good. How is it going to work when (for the first time in his career) he has 5-star athletes at every position like Roy and Coach K have to deal with every year?

Controlling ego is the biggest job a Coach has to do. Can he do it with Wall (known to have a healthy ego), Cousins, and the vet in Patterson, all wanting the ball? It’s easier to convince a team to let one player get the most shots when they are clearly the best player. However, when you are talking about having 5 guys on the court who ALL are wanting to advance their NBA stock, can you control it?

UNC won the national championship because Roy was able to control the ego’s of Lawson/Ellington/Green/Hansbrough, but allowing them all to get an equal share of shots. Likewise, neither of them were constantly getting 20+ PPG in the tourney but were all getting between 15-20ish. They all got their championship and were all drafted (3 in first round; 1 lotto) and all have bright futures in the NBA.

If ego gets out of control you become the Dallas Cowboys. Locker room is divided. You are paranoid the coach is coniving with someone else to give them the ball. And you end up (to bring it back to Bball b/c I couldn’t think of a recent college disaster with ego) loosing in the round of 32 to Virginia Commonwealth or something.

And in all honesty, a similar thing may have happened with Wake Forest loosing with Teague/Johnson/Aminu all upset that they weren’t getting to star so they just quit playing.

Being a coach is more than drawing up plays. It’s half psychologist too! LOL

[aspence4Participant]

There was also Uconn in the 2006 draft with Gay (8), Armstrong (12), Marcus Williams (22), and Josh Boone (23)

[JoeWolf1]

Xavier is staying at Kansas, Kentucky has a great freshman class, Florida in 2007, Noah, Horford, Brewer,in the 1st and Taureen Green and Chris Richard in the 2nd was good too,…actually now that i think of it Championship teams usually get a lot of guys drafted, Kansas in 2008, Rush, Arthur, Chalmers, Jackson, Kaun, UNC 2009, Hansbrough, Lawson, Ellington, Green,…UK is certainly stacked like a championship team, but let see if they can put it together this year

[JoeWolf1]

another example,…ALL the talent you could need, but it took the right coach to get them to play together,…Phil is a master at that, too, add Rodman to any other team in 95-96 and he would have been a cancer, but Phil could keep him in check.

[JNixonParticipant]

In the words of Joe Torre: “Chemistry is a science class you take in your Junior year of high school.”

[auberParticipant]

No, Demarcus Cousins is going to be eaten up alive in College Basketball. He’s too slow and sluggish to excel in either the collegiate or pro game. I don’t know much about Orton, but he’s supposed to be fairly good. Patrick Patterson is going to become a house hold name this year and will be a top ten pick next season. I’m not going to speak on walls half because most of what he is has already been said.

[morgatilParticipant]

Don’t forget Darius Miller. This guy is oozing with potential and upside. No one talks about him, but then again, no one talked too much about Jodie Meeks before last year. A better comparison would be the 1996 UK team (arguably the most talented team ever with 9 of the guys on the roster going pro). As far as 1st rounders (staying healthy), Wall, Cousins, Patterson, and Orton are locks…. Miller, Dodson, and Bledsoe all could be 1st rounders in a few years.

1996 – UK
Derek Anderson – Cleveland Cavs
*Tony Delk – Golden State Warriors
*Walter McCarty – New York Knicks
*Ron Mercer – Boston Celtics
*Mark Pope – Indiana Pacers
*Antoine Walker – Boston Celtics
*Nazr Mohammed – Philadelphia 76ers
*Jeff Sheppard – Atlanta Hawks
*Wayne Turner – Boston Celtics

[AreopogusParticipant]

I would like that UK team to play the 2008-2009 UNC team for kicks. Will never happen, but they were practically equal in terms of stats and winning differential (both in the 120’s).

Please don’t let that comment turn this into a fanboy thread. Both teams were good and well coached and dominated the tournament.

[darkman97Participant]

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying this is going to be the best team of all time, I’m not even saying this is going to be the best team this up coming season. The question was… Could they send more 1st round draft picks than any other college team ever have in one draft? Honestly I hope they fall flat on their faces. Big Minnesota fan and they bad mouth our coach lol. Kinda how ya never like your woman’s last boyfriend type of thing.

[canesboy6Participant]

I feel like I’ve seen a lot of biased BS on this thread. Let me clear this out.

First things first, Chemistry is the most important thing in Basketball. This past UNC team would blow out this years Kentucky team just like they do every year, because they are just as talented and knew how to play together. This upcomming UNC team i believe is better than Kentucky’s as well.

Basically, you have Patrick Patterson, Overrated Darius Miller who did nada last year on an NIT team that gave him plenty of opportunities, and a bunch of freshman with Eyes on the NBA. Talented, yes one of the top 5, but IGOUDALA, i usually agree with you, but how is this one of the most talented teams ever? John Wall is one and Done, Cousins will have limited opportunity to be the one and done that he wants to be, so will jack up a trillion bad shots and force when he is in. I also dont think He and Wall play at good paces for each other. Patterson is a good post player, but Is way overrated. He has been there only post player so his numbers are inflated. They’ve been a bubble team for 3 years in a row. Orton is a wildcard, nobody really knows much bout him from what I can tell other than his size and his rating so we have to wait.

The talent is there, but I dont think they are superior to either Kansas or UNC in terms of raw talent this year, let alone those championship teams you mentioned. So all you Kentucky fans, THIS is the truth about your upcomming season.
You will be very good. Probably top 10, maybe 5 by the end of the year. You will coast in the piss poor SEC. You will probably have a lot of publicity, and that might lead to some big ego’s and bad press for little things. You have no internal leadership in your locker room, no hierchy, no team indentity, and very little proven. I don’t see a national championship contender though. Keep in mind, by the end of the year I bet your coach will have 0 recorded final fours and 2 probations in his wake, and all this one and done talent that might drag you out of the depths of the NIT will get you to the sweet sixteen, then probation as well. Cant wait.

[the microwaveParticipant]

this was a nice group of frosh…..JALEN ROSE / JIMMY KING / C-WEBB / JUWAN HOWARD / RAY JACKSON……

[Knicksboy34Participant]

All the Freshman wont start…

[morgatilParticipant]

How is Darius Miller overrated? He just won a gold medal on the U19 team as a glue guy…

He lead the team in steals and shot a terrible 73.9% on an All-Star team. Strange. If he can do that on a loaded team on the international level with a year of college under his belt, I don’t even want to see what he does on a team as loaded as this UK team in 2009-10.

Sorry canesboy6, this team is going to be just as good as advertised. Talk to you in March.

[morgatilParticipant]

Also, I have not seen much of this kid, but Dodson looks like a player.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dryt15sz4xM

[kaceyParticipant]

Piss poor SEC? Yeah maybe last year, but it should not be this year. Many players have returned and some quality freshman are coming into the SEC. SEC will bounce back and will not be a weak conference this year. You can count on that.

[kaceyParticipant]

I’m pretty sure there have been a couple of other teams with 9 players that eventually played in the NBA. UNC 1990-1991 roster was loaded with players that went pro. I’m pretty sure UCLA was the other team.

Also, keep in mind, that Scott Padgett would have been on that 1996 National Championship team if it wasn’t for academic problems. He played with UK the year before, but had to sit out the 1996 season.

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