Cal and His Magic Act
Photo Compliments of John Clay
Say what you want about Coach Cal… One thing you must say is he did a magical job with a team full of ego’s. Young men, who the majority of, can’t even walk into a bar yet. A team full of youngsters who just one, two or maybe three years ago was the star of their High School. The king of the Campus. The one that everybody pointed at and ooh and ahhed as they walked down the High School halls.
But this year, for maybe the first time in their lives, they were a part of something bigger then themselves. A part of something larger than life. For one season, they were a member of a team known as Kentucky. the Cats started the season with the signing of Coach John Calipari and ended the off-season with the commitment and eventual signing of the #1 overall Player in the country and very possibly the #1 pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, John Wall.
A team that in between, just happened to land some other pretty good talent. How about the #2 player, DeMarcus Cousins, then throw in Daniel Orton, Eric Bledsoe, oh and a Mr Basketball of Kentucky, Jon Hood. All of a sudden, the Cats are stuck with some real big potential problems. We’ve all seen teams like this, especially in the NBA, where they are loaded with talent but can never seem to find a way to play together to their full potential.
So how was Cal going to pull together a group of Freshmen and a left-over 2009 squad, that by the way included Patrick Patterson along with two Seniors who had a tremendous amount of playing time under Coach G? Well, to tell you the truth, I have no earthly idea. But somehow, the man hired to restore Kentucky basketball, brought together and intermingled a team loaded with talent and created a situation where every Player was more concerned about their teammates then themselves. Patrick Patterson said it best when he said something like, he wasn’t worried about himself, he was worried about making those around him better.
Truzenzuzex of A Sea of Blue stated: “To me, these words, “They little knew of brotherhood …” speak of the true faith that was formed sometime in the season for this young Kentucky team. You rarely see it in college basketball. What you often see are conflicting large egos which cannot be contained or controlled, or cocky, arrogant hubris. This Kentucky team exuded none of those things. They were respectful, they answered all the media questions even in the face of bitter disappointment, and they never once misbehaved on campus or in the media. Think about that for a moment. How many lesser teams have we seen at Kentucky get into some kind of “incident?” All to many, if you think about it. How many times have we seen Kentucky coaches forced to discipline star players? I can’t count them all. How many times have we seen, not just here, but elsewhere, prima donnas serving as examples to those who can’t wait to find fault with college basketball? Unfortunately, too many to name.”
This is the ultimate tribute to a Coach that many times, is under scrutiny from the press… A Coach, that even the Big Blue Faithful have questioned. A Coach, that somehow pulled together a magical team for a truly Memorable season…
Chip Miller's UKBIGBLUENATION 