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(Wall keeps the awards coming, AP Photo/Ed Reinke)
After a great week of basketball, there are some other things to get to in the world of Kentucky Wildcats sports. Here are some points of interest and other news and notes. Enjoy:
-Wanted to touch on an article written by Sports Illustrated commentator and life-long Kentucky enthusiast (clearly sarcastic) Seth Davis. The article deals with the notoriety, or lack thereof, for another freshman in college basketball that isn't getting as much attention as the Wildcats John Wall.
That player is Kansas’ freshman Xavier Henry.
Henry, for many reasons, has yet to receive the national attention and praise that Wall has garnered in the early season. It isn’t like the praise won’t come, but it has taken a little longer for the nation to recognize Henry’s efforts- 18.0 points and 4.1 rebounds-because the Jayhawks haven’t played anyone yet. The team’s game against LaSalle was nationally televised on ESPN Saturday afternoon, but as stated only eleven words earlier, they played LaSalle. Who cares?
Henry bombarded LaSalle for 31 points, but the performance couldn’t out-shine the one Wall had this past week as a near sell-out crowd in Madison Sqaure Garden watched Wall and UK take on UConn. Or how about the monstrous left-handed dunk Wall threw down against Indiana's Jordan Hulls? Yup, Henry's 31 points still don't compare.
The hoop-la, the craze, the hype that is John Wall is deserved. The young man from Raleigh, North Carolina dosn't need to score 31 points to make headlines. Despite what Davis says, the media around him are already handing him Player of the Year awards and declaring his status as next summer's #1 NBA Draft pick. Whatever Davis says, someone has to come and take away what Wall has done and not even Kansas' Xavier Henry has yet to do so.
If the two do have the same abilities, yet differing playing styles, it’s beside the point. Kentucky and Wall have had more time in the limelight thus far, with Kansas’ and Henry’s opportunity in the near future.
When the two teams will play each other is a question for another day, but we do know one player who'd be interested in that matchup. "I just want to play him at least one time this year," a statement made by Henry.
-At this rate, they might as well rename the SEC Freshman of the Week award to the John Wall award of the week. Wall racked up another top player of the week award for freshmen in the SEC, as he took his four straight such award in a row. Wall had two games to impress those around him and did so in a 25 point and six steal performance against UConn on Wednesday night that literally launched Kentucky into the driver’s seat of college basketball. On Saturday Wall’s showing wasn’t as jaw-dropping, despite two monster dunks that took place, but he did have 11 points, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds. Oh and zero turnovers.He simply does it all for the Wildcats. A Kentucky player has won the award in each week of the regular season, Wall four straight weeks and teammate Eric Bledsoe winning it the first week. Will any other SEC freshman take the award away from Wall? The Wildcats don't play this week, so someone else may just have a chance.
Don’t question it often, but where do you think Kentucky would be without John Wall? They certainly wouldn’t be anywhere near as good as they and going back to the Xavier Henry mention from above. Which team would be hurt more by a loss to their star freshman, Kentucky or Kansas? I’d have to go with Kentucky, thus making Wall a tad more important than Henry at Kansas. Still, both are tremendous players.
-Another great story comes from Larry Vaught who catches up with senior forward Ramon Harris. Harris has had his good and bad moments while playing University of Kentucky basketball but the birth of his daughter has given him a new perspective on life.
As all of us recall, Harris came in during the last year of Tubby Smith’s career here at Kentucky. He would then go on to play two more years of basketball under the tutolige of former head coach Billy Gillispie who was fired this past spring. Despite two tough years for Kentucky basketball, Harris used them as an opportunity to show his worth to the basketball program, eventually becoming a regular for Gillispie while he was still coaching.
Harris no longer starts and will never be the guy for Kentucky but it is all the little things that go unnoticed that make him a special player. With Harris’ daughter on board, he’s gone from college kid to adult in a quick turnaround but has handled it better than anyone could have imagined.
-If you liked the game Wednesday night in Madison Square Garden, then you may be getting more of it in the near future.
The buzz that encapsulated New York City Wednesday night was something out of this world. The fact that a revamped Wildcats team was taking on an always solid UConn team in MSG had the entire arena packed, with fans of both teams going ape-sh*t to watch their team play. Kentucky was the eventual winner but it was how the events of the night unfolded that has MSG officials wanting more of Kentucky and head coach John Calipari.
The game between two of college basketball’s most prolific programs on ESPN —drew a 1.9 rating, the highest for a college basketball game on ESPN this year. That’s a pretty good sign for Kentucky because it shows that not only Wildcats fans are interested in watching what the Wildcats do this sseason. Whether you hate them or love them, people are intrigued with this year's team.
With that said, Kentucky’s ties to the East Coast have been long lost since the departure of former coach Rick Pitino in ’97. Pitino had a strong-hold on the New York and surrounding areas and still gets a lot of great talent at Louisville from this area because of those ties. East Coast ties could quickly become even stronger if the Cats invade New York ever year, only helping the recruiting efforts in that area for Calipari.
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