UK Vs NBA

Earlier tonight to the shock of virtually nobody the 5 starters from the National Champion Kentucky Wildcats unveiled the worst kept secret in college basketball, that they were ALL going pro. Coach Cal actually did the honor of giving it away twice before the kids announced it to the nation via press conference but hey whatever.....it's not like anybody didn't know anyways beforehand. 

After one of the greatest TEAM seasons in NCAA history in which they won 38 games and had a shot to set a record by winning 40, UK will lose 6 key players and 1 reserve who played a decent amount of time(Vargas) for next year. For most universities this would be a problem, but this is the new age, and THIS is Kentucky basketball where one and done isn't an exception....it's the new normal. Honestly it almost seems like Coach Cal would rather his "student athletes" hang out for a year, make a run at a title(or in this years case win Cal his first one) and then bolt for the greener pastures of the NBA to never be heard from again(anybody who isn't a Piston fan remember Brandon Knight, or not a Rockets fan remember Patrick Patterson?). I don't blame him or them, if I had the talent I think I might bolt too....but doesn't this open up the argument of never letting kids be kids anymore? It seems like that is a common pattern in America nowadays, and college sports are clearly not exempt from this theory.

With the wife being a HUGE Kentucky fan I've been forced to watch a LOT of Kentucky games this season, so here's what I was thinking about the group that Kentucky has leaving, and a couple of the guys they have coming in, enjoy(comments/arguments welcome):

Anthony Davis: You know all about how he grew 6 inches from a guard to a center by now so I won't bother to go down that road, but I will say this: I saw him play in person in Louisville in the tourney and he is an athletic FREAK. This kid is an EASY choice for the #1 pick in the draft for a reason, he is worth it and a once in a generation type building block. I just pray he doesn't go to Charlotte because as brilliant of a player as MJ was, he's the exact opposite of it as an owner/exec(and this coming from a HUGE tarheel homer).  Kid is legit and will do great things.....he didn't win EVERY award you can think of in college because he's a scrub. The one thing I think he will need to improve on is his weight and filling out his frame. Bigger guys will knock him around in the paint if he doesn't bulk up before his rookie year.

Michael Kidd Gilchrist: Due to his play on the offensive end and especially the defensive end the last month of the season I guess he's projected to be the #2 pick in the draft. I have no problem with that, kid has MAJOR skills, but I question where he will play in the NBA at 6'7, 232lbs. Will he be a 2 and handling the ball and trying to shut down the other teams shooting guard, or will he play the 3 and try to help out on small forwards like Melo and Pierce? He has good hands and could do either, but I think a LOT of his progression depends where he ends up being drafted, and if he's allowed to acclimate himself into the speed of the NBA off the bat or not. Statistically he was Kentucky's 2nd best rebounder at 7.4 so that should play well into his development. I see major potential in him and think he could easily be a Derrick Rose type player with his slashing ability.


Terrence Jones: The one guy in this group of starters that I never know what to make of. He's 6'9 and 252 playing PF in Kentucky's offense, but sometimes I think he thinks he's a 6'3 SG and tries to do too much with the ball. He needs a post game in which he can back guys down a little bit more to be truly effective in the NBA where guys are just as big and way more physical than he has shown himself to be. Sort of seems to suffer from a lapse in concentration at times as well. Still is projected as a Top 10 pick, but will need a LOT of coaching to become a big star in the league imo. I will give him this, he made a great decision to not come out last year and to utilize another year at UK and it improved his game, otherwise I think he'd be in the D-League right now had he come out last year.

Doron Lamb: Easily my favorite player to watch of this group. He's a kid you can just tell had a blast being on this team and being in college. He has good size at 6'4 and 210lbs, as well as good end to end speed. A couple of things I've seen have him going in the middle half of the first round and even being picked before Jones(which I'd agree with). Lamb in my opinion was easily THE best shooter in America without a doubt. Check out his 22 points and MULTIPLE big shots in the championship game and how smooth he played if you need proof. He's a guy who I think will be good in a couple of years as long as he can come in for the right team(think of sort of a Derek Fisher type for LA who always seemed to hit the big shot for a "little guy" but faster). I just pray he doesn't turn out like former Arizona Wildcat Salim Stoudamire or former Aggie Acie Law 4th.


Marquis Teague: I said before the tourney that IF UK lost(even though I didn't expect them to, sometimes teams are just heads above everyone else: UNC in 09) that they would lose it because of Teague and his sometimes suspect decision making. He didn't falter in the tourney, and UK won. Now he won't be the next line of GREAT point guard from Cal like Wall or Rose or Rondo, but he won't be a scrub either. He has good size at 6'2, 190, but might be outsized against some of the bigger point guards in the league who will rush his decision making. Can he handle the pressure of having a guy like the aforementioned Rose up in his grill? I think he could thrive with a fast paced team like Golden State or Miami where he can just run with the ball and get it out to his shooters.


Eloy Vargas: The epitome of a guy who was just sort of there for his college career. Yes he will go down on maybe the greatest UK team of all time, but for what reason? Mostly used as extra fouls during his college career, but hey he could develop late and become a decent mop up guy. I will say he's an awesome dude though for taking that girl to prom, that earned him MAJOR cool points(go look it up I'll be here).


Darius Miller: Everything I want out of a kid on my team. A 4 year guy who played for a BAD team in 09 but was a starter and who learned to curtail his ego and become a VALUABLE role player for teams since Cal took over. I think he's the glue that held the teams together the past 3 years to be honest. He was the key to this years team imo. Great defense and most importantly great leadership was his forte and he served that role perfectly. The major thing is who will be around to fill that role out for the Wildcats next year, and how much of a difference will it make to their chances at repeating with all the young guns coming in? I hope he gets drafted, he's one of the few good guys in sports nowadays and would be a great rolemodel for young hoopers to emulate.


There you have it, there's some thoughts about the guys leaving an amazing legacy at UK and in Cal's heart.....but thankfully they gave me the amazing memory of listening to the Lexington Police Scanner after the win. Thank you so much for that.


UK will be a top 4 team next year and likely play deep into the tourney again with the commitments of guys like Nerlens Noel who had the best way to choose a college EVER by shaving it into the back of his head, along with Poythress and Archie Goodwin. 

Sad that they cancelled their home and home with UNC to play in the "Champions Classic" or whatever, but hopefully they will get their chance next year to repeat(where they will hopefully come up one short as my Heels take back what belongs to them and pick up #6!)


Thanks for reading. Make sure to leave a comment or tweet me @mhirn3



 
 

Feeling a little Carolina Blue

Anyone who knows me knows one fact about me to be true: I am a HUGE North Carolina Tar Heel fan(for real, even as I type this I have on a UNC shirt). Seriously, ask any of my friends, it's an undisputed fact. Through the good(05 and 09's title teams), to the ultra bad(the Matty D years, the 08 debacle against Kansas, this year vs Kansas) I've been there....even when it wasn't cool to be, I always bled Carolina Blue while others didn't and jumped from bandwagon to bandwagon each year.

This season after a letdown in the Elite 8 last year against UK was supposed to be the start of something amazing(kind of like 09 after the Kansas loss in which we trailed 40-12 at one point), but alas it wasn't. Too many injures(McDonald, then Strickland, then Henson's BS, then whatever the deal with Kendall Marshall actually was.) It seemed like this team had the decked stacked against it from the get-go and like I said all year, they were not near mentally tough enough to get past it. Stillman White played well in his 2 games at the point(13 assists 0 turnovers), but he wasn't able to be the dynamic passer and playmaker that Marshall is/was and everyone, especially Harrison Barnes suffered from it. Credit to Ohio and Kansas to turning Barnes into a jump shooter and less of the slasher we UNC fans have known him to be since his arrival as the most hyped product since the beginning of time(but I digress, I'll get to him in a minute).

Today's news was texted to me that Barnes, Henson and Marshall have all decided to take themselves to the next level to play in the NBA by my good buddy Aaron Matthews(@matthews_show), and had I not spent 3 hours waiting on my car to get fixed, that news itself probably would have ruined my day. When I heard the news I decided that since it's something I am so passionate about(whether that is good or bad remains to be seen) that I would put my thoughts down for all of you to read about each individual "student athlete", so here goes:

John Henson: One of the problems imo with college basketball is guys like him. They show up with a  ton of hype but live on said hype and don't ever fully develop because scouts and people close to them keep telling them forget college, let's just move on to the NBA....make money and let them teach you a complete game. Henson got much better in the last year and a half in Chapel Hill, but I've always felt there was something missing about him and his game....toughness. Need an example? Watch him get bullied in the post against any big man(last year's tourney for instance)....OR check him out once he bruised his wrist. A guy like him however seems to fit into Roy Williams' run and gun because he refuses to play ACTUAL defense and is always out of position trying to get a big block. He's the one of the three I'll miss the LEAST to be honest because he always seemed like he would rather be ANYWHERE else but Carolina....and his game showed. Good luck being a 3/4 tweener in the NBA John.

Harrison Barnes: I first laid eyes on the "Best freshman to enter UNC since Jordan" at the 2010 McDonald's All American Game in Columbus on a team LOADED with great talent(Terrence Jones, Brandon Knight, Fab Melo, Doron Lamb, etc), but Barnes was the guy who really stood out on that team with his impressive strength and ability to get end to end with the basketball so effortlessly. He led his West team in scoring with 18 and grabbed 5 boards and looked like he might have some chance of living up to the RIDICULOUS hype that was afforded to him as the "next legend in unc basketball history" when he walked on to campus in Chapel Hill. I'll be honest I went to the McDonald's game to see him play and see if he was worthy of the hype that had him go 53-0 and capture 2 state championships in Iowa his Jr/Sr years. After being named First Team ALL AMERICA before even having played a game(and being the FIRST freshman ever to be named to that team), he opened his Carolina career in a little bit of a funk when the real games started(ACC play, not those sloppy cupcake games everyone plays at the start of the year vs Lipscomb). The middle of the season saw him hit a HUGE rut and not be able to do much of anything shooting wise as teams took away his slashing ability and forced him to shoot a lot of jumpers(a problem he later suffered from in the 2012 NCAA Tourney when Kendall Marshall got injured).

I just feel like his career and legacy at UNC is a mixed bag. He would dominate games against mid level teams like Clemson(40 pts as a frosh) on his way to winning ACC Rookie of the Year honors, but disappeared when it came to games in the tourney unless someone was there to spread the floor and allow him to slash to the bucket. Whoever drafts him will need a TOP FLIGHT point guard, otherwise he will become another NBA ghost like Kerry Kittles(Nova) or Ron Mercer(UK). If anyone on this list needed one more year to come back and prove he can do more than score(17ppg this year but still isn't an elite level defender for an NBA 2/3) and BE THE LEGEND HE WAS PROJECTED TO BE when he signed with UNC, it's Barnes....but I guess legendary isn't a word in his vocab.

Kendall Marshall:Ah Kendall, where do I start? Once again another guy who I had heard GREAT things about and saw play in the Mickey D's game in Cbus. 2 points, 1 board and 5 assists. Not exactly world beating, but given he spent most of the time setting up Jared Sullenger(OSU) it stands to reason he wouldn't get the BIG game in Sully's hometown and future arena. When he started at UNC he was a top rated PG, but we supposedly already had one in Larry Drew 2(we all know how that worked out), and sat until Larry spontaneously combusted and quit the team. K-Mart stepped in beautifully and saved UNC's season.....or so we thought. He played horribly in the loss to Kentucky and was stifled by Brandon Knight and Doron Lamb. This year everyone including Kendall came back and were the #1 ranked team in the country to start the season. After demolishing Michigan State yet again(yes, they are UNC's bitch).....that #1 ranking lasted less than 2 weeks before loss #1 which seemed to oddly take the wind out of the blue sails rather than motivate them. Marshall was the only one who seemed to take it as a challenge to get a better jump shot as he turned it on scoring wise the last half of the season. The thing that bothers me about Kendall is that after he took his fall on his wrist in the 2nd round, it seemed like he just said screw it I'm done. I don't pretend to know how much pain he was in, but I know if it was me and I could go AT ALL I would have been out there...not sitting on the bench in a suit somebody bought me. Like I talked about earlier, it just seemed like yet another kid who didn't buy into the Carolina mystique and decided he could get by on talent alone. Missing him killed UNC's chances at raising banner #6....they were just deflated. But they beat Ohio you say....yes you are correct, BUT they beat Ohio on sheer talent and conditioning alone(watch the Bobcat's heads when they hear the buzzer at 0 in regulation, they were deflated heading to OT because they had UNC right there). How do you leave a mission half finished Kendall? Does that competitive drive not tear you apart that you couldn't accomplish this mission? How do you go out LIKE THAT?(like Devon Jones says, like a bitch!) It's just sad what you left unfinished at UNC to go make a lot of money that will ALWAYS be there with the type of talent you possess.

College sports as a whole is a joke right now. The NBA is just cluttered with too many players who are just there to get a paycheck(check out the Memphis and Toronto rosters), and not guys who are actually talented enough to be there and do something to EARN their paychecks imo.

The guy I most feel bad for on this UNC team? Tyler Zeller. There's the perfect example of a guy who could have bounced twice for money, but chose to STAY AT UNC and try for that title with this group of guys every year because he BLED CAROLINA BLUE.....not because it was a place for him to hang out for a couple of years before he went to the league like the other 3. Zeller, much like the Tyler before him GOT IT....he got what college sports means and what TAR HEEL TRADITION means. The other 3? Well you see how that played out.

I'm thankful I get to watch kids next year like the heir apparent to the PG slot in Marcus Paige, and the duo of Reggie Bullock(who i think will be THE best shooter in college basketball next year), and of course James Michael McAdoo(who I believe GETS it and will be a UNC legend by the end).

Is is November yet? I want another run at this:

#unc4life - @mhirn3 on twitter

Old with the old in with the new

I have come to realize as 2011 came to a close and 2012 snuck in that I have a LOT to be thankful for. I have some wonderfully amazing people in my life and have been given some great opportunities the past year. Yes I have had a couple of bad things happen in 2011 like getting fired, but it'll be for the better once the opportunities I am busting my ass on come to fruition, this I know.

2011 was also special because in August I made the most beautiful most caring girl in the world a part of my crazy family. As I search for and try to find something that I can do for the rest of my life I know with her by my side I can accomplish anything I set out to do. Thank you Stephanie for ALWAYS being there for me and believing in me. I know it's a cliche but you really are the best thing to EVER happen to me and I thank GOD for you each and every moment of my life because you saved me from thinking I wasn't good enough and made me realize I am good enough to succeed if I just keep pushing thru. I love you more each day.

Today I start my newest opportunity, calling basketball on tv. I have done a lot of things in my life but this is the first one where I feel wholeheartedly like I was meant to do it. A great man named Randall Hulsmeyer believed in me and made me the sports director of his station in Dayton and felt I could carry the load for this venture.....and I won't let him down. Today is the start of something magical I can feel it.