World Wide Wes

While the fans of the Big Blue Nation are enjoying an epic return to relevance under the leadership of marketing visionary John Calipari, the rest of the country isn’t so pleased with our once great Dynasty’s sudden change of fortune, and many are crying foul.

We as UK fans understand the reason for the sudden turn around is due to the perfect marriage between the most passionate fan base in all of sports, and the most forward thinking coach in all of basketball, the combination of hard work, passion, and masterful marketing of our program, are the factors that have transformed UK from a wounded giant to an unmatched rampaging behemoth in the world of college hoops, before the first tip of the ball in the new season.

But those outside our hemisphere of basketball nirvana, just can not grasp the overwhelming power that the coupling of Calipari and the Wildcat faithful provides, in the eyes of the outside world there has to be something amiss, there has to be a grand conspiracy contrived by Nike, World Wide Wes, and Twitter, at the bottom of this sudden revitalization in the Bluegrass , Calipari has to be cheating, something is giving UK an unfair advantage, this can not just be due to Calipari’s charisma, recruiting acumen, and revolutionary innovative thinking, no to all those lagging behind the new Kentucky Dynasty, there has to be another explanation.

The social networking guru Peter Robert Casey claims that Twitter is in cohoots with Coach Cal by having him on their suggested account list, in his deluted opinion this creates an unfair recruiting advantage, and is the result of a evil alliance between Twitter and Calipari, he just doesn’t comprehend the far reaching colossus that is the Big Blue Nation.

The next thing the conspiracy theorist points to is the connection between Calipari and the man they claim is an evil power broker World Wide Wes, just the site of Wes speaking to the mother of Josh Selby, launched a myriad of rumors involving secret lunchs with Lebron, lurid backroom meetings, and a dastardly plan to steal Selby away from the naive and innocent Bruce Pearl.

Then their is the friendship between Nike power players Lebron James and John Calipari, to the haters this is being proclaimed as an unholy alliance conceived by Nike, and set in motion by Wes, the visit by James to the UK campus was not just a friendly trip to see a friend, but a planned scheme to give Coach Cal the upper hand in swaying impressionable recruits.

And we have all witnessed the vigor with which Pat Forde and ESPN painted Claipari as  a immoral villain in light of the Derrick Rose situation, even though Coach Cal has no recruiting violations on his spotless record, but they tend to ignore the blemishes of their darling Blue Devils.

There are many more instances of the persecution being perpetrated in what has become a witch hunt against John Calipari, and it will no doubt continue, but we as fans of UK  know the truth, Calipari is an unmatched visionary who is changing the way a program is marketed and using technology and other innovative techniques to revolutionize the game of college basketball.

The bottom line is success breeds jealousy, and the match made in hoops heaven that is the Calipari union with UK can not help but be successful.

If you watched Kentucky Basketball last season the first word that comes to mind when you hear the name Deandre Liggins is BUST, that could all change now. Coming out of high school in the Windy City, Deandre Liggins was highly touted, rated as high as a 5* in some rankings, the expectations among the UK faithful were through the roof, but then came the odd substitution patterns of Billy Clyde, mixed with limited playing time and the erratic behavior of Liggins, his talent never shined through, and he was written off by most fans as a over hyped dud, but we may have been wrong.

 During pickup games last month one of the main things to stick out in my mind, was the vast improvement of Liggins, he looked like a different player than the out of control PG from last season, but I wrote it off as a lack of evaluation skills on my part, but then last week in a interview on ESPN radio Coach Calipari said that Deandre Liggins would surprise everyone this season, so once again my genius was confirmed (sarcasm), but obviously coach can see signs of the potential that Liggins showed in high school.

Deandre Liggins may have seen his last days as a point guard with the talented John Wall and Eric Bledsoe in the fold, and Cal recruiting every PG in the known universe, but with Deandre’s speed and ball handling skills, he could create a multitude of match up problems for defenders on the wing, and with UK’s lack of a true SG, minutes could be earned at the 2 guard spot. If you watch tape on Liggins from high school you see a player loaded with confidence, that will be the main factor if he is to turn his UK career around, and Cal is a master of motivation and instilling confidence in young players.

Whether we see a new Deandre Liggins emerge this year remains to be seen, but it is one more intriguing possibility in this new era of UK hoops.

Well I’m still on vacation and still losing my ass at the Dog Track every night, I drove down to the Pensacola track but still no luck, I won on the first two races $220, $142, THEN IT ALL WENT TO HELL AFTER THAT, I did win $250 at the Ebro poker room early in the day, Ebro is cool if you ever get the chance to go, they have poker tournaments and a casino inside the Dog Track, One other cool thing, there is a military base of some kind on an island out from our beach house and they practice helicopter rescues every day, divers jump out and they strap people in to the harnesses and the copter pulls them up, its pretty cool to watch. Now back to more tale’s of sick degenerate gamblers.

I guess everyone has heard that former Cat Antoine Walker has been charged with 3 felony counts for writing $1 million in cold checks in Vegas casino’s, this could change, because he wrote 10 checks for 100k each and could be charged for each check separately, but the news today is Toine is BROKE, how in the hell is this guy broke, I don’t know the figure’s but he made almost $80 mil in salary alone while in the NBA, how do you spend that kind of money, and what kind of dumb ass thinks he can get away with writing a MILLION in cold checks. You are one of my favorite’s Toine but that is just Insane.

Speaking of insane, Billy Clyde Gillispie is co writing a book on his life AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAHAH, I”m assuming it will be entitled BILLY CYLDE NOW THATS A WHIPPIN, what insight could someone hope to gain by reading G’s book ? How to fail miserably at the best job in sports, how to go from a rising star the a complete leper in the eye’s of the hoops world, I mean this dude has no shame.

And speaking of having no shame, Former Cat Ron Mercer is seeking a position on Slick Ricks Staff  at U of Smell, i mean I wish the guy the best if he wants to be a coach, but your climbing on a sinking ship Ron.

Kentucky boy Billy Kopp is still alive in the World series of Poker Main Event he is #5 in the chip count, with 12 players still standing out of almost 6,500 entrants, pretty damn good for an ole country boy.

It looks like no charges will arise from the incident over the weekend with the UK Football players, but I hear there could still be some in house suspensions coming from Old Man Brooks.

Apparently UK and several other schools are backing off the recruitment of former UK commit Dom Ferguson, he has been less than impressive in the summer league, and there are rumors of off court issues, and attitude problems, I hope the kid turns it around he has great potential. 

Here are some Antoine highlights when he still had game, before the start of his crime spree.

Update: right after I posted this entry Billy Kopp was eliminated from the WSOP in 12th place, DAMN

Has there ever been a more hyped freshman coming to the University of Kentucky than John Wall, Maybe King Rex to the instate crowd, but Nationally I cant ever recall another player arriving with this much pomp and pageantry.

The question is whether Wall can live up to the hype ? And the answer barring injury is without a doubt. Wall is a phenom, rarely if ever have I seen a PG with his mix of electric speed and freakish athleticism, he is bar none the fastest PG in America from baseline to baseline, and he plays above the rim more than any lead guard in recent memory, yes even Derrick Rose.

John Wall’s skill package is unmatched by any current player in the college game, now I realize he is only a freshman and he will face the struggles that come with that, and he will be playing against far tougher competition than he is accustomed to, But his game is mature beyond its years.

We have already discussed his unreal speed and crazy hops, but John excels just as much at other area’s of the game, it is virtually impossible for defenders to stay in front of Wall, he can use either hand, and drive left or right with the same proficiency, he is as crafty and creative a passer as I have seen at his age, and his decision making and ability to put teammates in the proper position to score are attributes most often found in seasoned point guards, the thing that is most often over looked about John is his abilities on the other side of the ball, the kid is an absolute terror on the defensive end, when John’s on defense havoc ensues, from lighting quick steals, to jaw dropping blocked shots, to just generally harassing everyone who touches the ball, his effort on D is a rare and refreshing sight to see, in  this age of pampered superstars, who think their to good to play hard defensively.

The weaknesses in John Wall’s game are few,  but the one of most concern is his perimeter shooting, although he has shown improvement of late, he lacks the consistency beyond the arc, he has shown a mid range pull up that could be dangerous if it continues to develop.

The question mark on next years squad is how Coach Calipari  will use this amazing talent, it is easy to see that the two best guards on this team are both freshmen point guards, neither of which is a knock down shooter, will he play with both on the court together, or will he use players like Darius Miller or Darnell Dodson who are more natural small forwards, at the two guard spot. Eric Bledsoe may be the more natural PG, but it is hard to imagine Cal not wanting the ball in Wall’s hands as much as possible. but regardless even with a gaping hole at shooting guard, having to point men of Wall and Bledsoe’s caliber is a good problem to have.

John Wall will almost assuredly only play at UK for one year, but it should be one hell of a ride.

By now everyone has seen plenty of tape on John Wall, but I never get tired of watching this kid, so here’s some highlights

Like I stated in an earlier post, I was really surprised to see Matt Pilgrim at Coach Cal’s father son camp working as a counselor, about two weeks ago UK announced that he would be transferring and leaving UK, and his father let it be known in interviews that he wasn’t happy with the situation at all, so everyone was wandering why Matt was still there and really still acting like a member of the team, signing autographs, and interacting with the coach’s.

Matt worked with our group and he was great with the kids and really outgoing and seemed to be having a great time. But whats going on with Matt ? Kevin Galloway left school right after the announcement, and Matt left for about a week, I didn’t get a straight out answer because I didn’t want to make him feel awkward by asking, but we had several conversations which Ill get to later.

First let me say that I often made fun of Marc Maggard and others who had anointed Matt as a BEAST and future pro after only seeing him in pickup games, but after seeing him play I understand. Now pickup games are not the same as structured D1 practices, but you can get a gage of a guys overall talent and athleticism, and a blind man can tell Pilgrims athletic ability is off the charts, besides Demarcus Cousins no one impressed me more than Matt Pilgrim, the guy gets his armpit over the rim, runs the floor very well, has a nice outside stroke, good handle’s, and he tries to rip the rim or someones arm off on every play, I mean the guy is a physical specimen, and next to guys like Perry Stevenson you have to wonder why he is not wanted on the team, and thats exactly what ever father in camp was asking. Now I have no idea what the situation is, whether its a grade issue, or and attitude problem, or if he’s is just not the right fit for the team, but it is blatantly obvious he has high major potential. Rumors were flying among the campers that maybe they would keep Pilgrim since Jodie Meeks early entry has left a scholarship open, And from what I saw I have no doubt that he could help this team, if not this year, definitely next year.

Being the Investigative Journalist that I am (not), I asked a few suggestive questions to Matt, here’s a brief excerpt of one conversation, which really left more questions than answers.

BIGCAT: hey Matt have you decided where your going to school next year ?

MATT PILGRIM: “aw man I got a couple of options but I got some tough choice’s”.

BIGCAT: I read somewhere that Nebraska might be trying to get you and Galloway ?

MATT PILGRIM: “aw man don’t believe that junk on the Internet, they never called me”.

BIGCAT: is there anywhere your leaning ?

MATT PILGRIM: “There’s one thing I hope works out, but I really cant say yet, I just want to get to a Final Four”. (then he winks at me ) Now I know they call me BigCatSexy for a good reason, but I don’t think that’s why he was winking.

So to sum this up, I really have no idea if there’s a chance that Matt stays on the team, but it is a strange set of circumstances, to have a kid with this much raw ability and not give him a chance with an open scholarship. Anyway I wished Matt luck, and where ever he ends up I don’t think you have heard the last of Matt Pilgrim.