Gomez here...So last night, the college basketball season came to an official close and with the worst possible outcome... Duke won. So now, we turn our eyes to the future, and what may or may not be happening in Lexington this summer. Everyone wants to know who's going and who's staying and what new freshman will be joining the team in October. So with that in mind, we'll take some time to update you on the revolving door of UK basketball.
John Wall: The official word is this... he hasn't decided if he's going pro or not, but will decide soon and will then announce his intentions to the public. He's put a 1 to 2 week time table on this decision. The unofficial word is this... he's going pro, will sign an agent, and will be drafted #1. He does plan to work on his degree at Kentucky and graduate at some point in the future.
DeMarcus Cousins: The official word is this... he hasn't decided if he's going pro or not, but will decide soon and will then announce his intentions to the public. I haven't heard of a time table on when he'll decide, but assume it will be soon since the deadline to declare for the draft is April 25th. Similar to Wall, the unofficial word is this... he's going pro, will sign an agent, and will be a top five pick.
Patrick Patterson: PPat will graduate in three years, and he took part in the senior day ceremonies, and probably has as high of a stock as he'll have at any point in the pre-draft processes. All these facts point towards a jump to the NBA this summer. Still, he hasn't officially decided yet, and he could come back just to try for a National Championship. Still, I wouldn't count on it. He'd most likely go around 9th or 10th in the draft, so that would be hard to pass up.
Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton: We've listed Bledsoe and Orton together because they're in the same boat. Coach Cal has instructed both of these kids to test the NBA waters, but to refrain from hiring an agent so they can withdraw from the draft and return to school if need be. While Wall, Cousins and Patterson have been mainstays on the mock drafts, Bledsoe and Orton have not been. Their stock has been up and down, depending on how well they played the day before. Bledsoe is probably a safer pick to go in the first round, as Orton isn't even projected in the first round of all the mock drafts we've reviewed, and is a late 1st round pick at best. Bledsoe is a mid to late first round pick. Consider Bledsoe and Orton the x-factors for UK right now; if they return to school, Kentucky will be top 5 again. If they leave, its not so clear what the expectations will be for next year's Wildcat squad.
UPDATE: Orton is projected all over the place. Chad Ford (ESPN insider) said today that it's not out of the question that he could be drafted in the lottery. If that's true, he's gone.
Darnell Dodson: Coach Cal told Andy Katz that he wasn't buying all this talk of Dodson leaving the program. Sure, Darnell would have liked to have played more minutes, but any kid not playing 40 minutes a game would probably say the same thing. As for the rumor of his intentions to enter this year's NBA draft, that wouldn't be a wise choice for him either. I've yet to find a mock draft that has him projected in the first or second round of the draft, so he'd end up in the D-league or overseas if he does decide to play for pay. Clearly, for his best chance to play at the next level, he should return to Kentucky and work hard under Coach Cal's direction and improve his game.
Recruiting: Most consider Knight and Leslie locks, but they'll wait to see how the current roster shakes out before making their final decision. If they did come to UK, they'd join Poole and Kanter and round out another top ranked recruiting class for Cal. However, right now, its still too early to say what will happen.
In closing, what have you learned by reading this post? Admittedly, not much. We just have to wait out these long spring weeks to see who's going where and who's staying put before we can have a solid outlook for next year's team.
Stay tuned.
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