According to his mother, Tywanna Patterson, he hasn’t made up his mind. Thanks to Vaught’s Views for the quotes.
“I found out UK released a statement saying Patrick and the four freshmen are leaving for the NBA and will declare for the draft,” said Tywanna Patterson Wednesday night. “I said, ‘Really, nobody told me.”
“I have a problem with it going out and not being official. It is his decision. He has not declared for the draft and once he does he can’t back out because he declared for the draft last year.”
“Me personally, I think it is Cal’s way to get recruits to commit and wants to make sure they know John (Wall), DeMarcus (Cousins), Daniel (Orton) and Eric (Bledsoe) are gone along with Patrick,” Tywanna Patterson said. “Pat didn’t know they were sending that statement out tonight.”
This doesn’t make much sense to me. If Patterson was still thinking about staying at Kentucky for another season, wouldn’t it serve Calipari’s best interests if he played another year? The only way I see this helping him is if he was pretty sure that Patterson was leaving and he wanted to get that news out there so he could land an extra recruit.
Five Kentucky Wildcats — John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton — declared for the NBA Draft on Wednesday.
I’ve referred to these freshmen as “John Calipari’s band of mercenary one-and-doners,” but it’s not their fault. They’re just doing what they can under the current (broken) rules that the NBA has in place. Patterson is the only player to spend more than a season at Kentucky — he’s a junior.
It’s this kind of exodus that makes a mockery of the college ranks. After failing to make the Final Four despite being a #1 seed entering the tournament, Calipari now has to try to reload as five guys that played nearly two-thirds of his minutes are headed to the NBA. I’m assuming these players attended class regularly and got good grades, otherwise the term student-athlete really wouldn’t fit, right?
NBADraft.net projects all five players to go in the first round, with John Wall being the best bet to be the top overall pick. DeMarcus Cousins is very talented but has character questions, while Patrick Patterson played his way into the lottery with a very nice season. I think he’s going to make some team in the #8-#12 range very happy.
Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati Enquirer: We’ll just say Kansas State 101, Xavier 96 in double overtime was among the best NCAA tournament games you’ll ever see. And that’s saying quite a lot. Xavier and Kansas State stole the Madness out from under this event. It’s all theirs now, no arguments. There are only so many threes to be made in the crucible, only so many times to come back from the bottom of the well. It should be enough to say this was among the finest games played in a very long time. Maybe everywhere but Xavier, that is so. It really is too bad one team is going home today. What was your favorite cardiac-arrest moment? Terrell Holloway, calmly draining three free throws to tie the game in regulation? Jordan Crawford’s three from the right wing, with four seconds left in OT No. 1, to tie it again? Or, if you can stand it, Jacob Pullen’s three from the top of the key in OT No. 2, to clinch the longest day? There was a more lonely place on earth than that free throw line at about midnight last night, we’re pretty sure of that. It just doesn’t leap to mind. Terrell Holloway made the free throws. All three of them. Net-net-net, five seconds left in regulation, to tie the game. That was as bloodless an exhibition of basketball as we’re likely to see. At least for the next day or so. The NCAA Tournament is, after all, in the business of topping itself. Regularly.
Jason Whitlock, Kansas City Star: Thursday night, with the Kansas State basketball program on the brink of greatness, fate, bad officiating and a gutsy Xavier squad brought back memories of 1998, Bill Snyder and a football meltdown with a spot in the BCS championship riding on the outcome. From the moment the refs ignored Denis Clemente’s intentional foul at midcourt in the final seconds of regulation, Xavier-K-State felt like K-State-Texas A&M. Your heart dropped, tears welled in your eyes, and anger consumed your body. Fortunately for us, Martin and his Wildcats never buckled, never complained and never wasted a moment feeling sorry for themselves. Kansas State is not a team of destiny. It’s a team of preparation and determination and concentration and resolve. K-State basketball is Frank Martin. It’s a perfect storm exploding at the right time of the year. It’s a team that has refused to make excuses, a team that Thursday night survived a devastating foul call at the end of regulation and found a way to win.
CBS analyst and SI writer Seth Davis is partnering with Coke Zero in promoting their Department of Fannovation Brain Bracket, where 64 hand-picked ideas to improve the fan experience will go head-to-head in single elimination format until a winner is announced. (My favorite is the one where arenas would have actual working decibel monitors pop up on the big screen to encourage the crowd to make more noise.)
Seth took time out of his busy schedule this week to chat with TSR about Kentucky’s youth, Duke’s versatility, tournament expansion and even the NBA’s age-limit rule.
The Scores Report: Hey Seth, how are you doing?
Seth Davis: Doing all right, man, how are you doing?
TSR: Good to talk to you. It’s an exciting week of basketball.
SD: Yeah, it’s always good this time of year. It’s the best.
TSR: I just saw your video of your Final Four picks over at SI.com, and it turns out we have the same picks.
SD: That is definitely the most popular combination, it sounds like. I don’t know if that’s a good sign for you.
TSR: Yeah I don’t know either. Is there any pressure when you’re doing these picks, not to pick four #1 seeds?
SD: You know what, there kind of is. There’s a little bit of pressure to look for upsets, but I try to do what I honestly think, and in the past, I’m usually Mr. Upset, but looking at this bracket, I wasn’t feeling it. I wish I felt otherwise. It might surprise people to learn given how brilliant my picks are, when they hand me that bracket in the studio, before the selection show, I take about four minutes to fill out the whole thing. I just go with my instinct and go with what I see, and that’s where my pen led me.
Good find by SPORTSbyBROOKS, who quoted Aran Smith’s scouting report of Kentucky center DeMarcus Cousins. In the report, Smith relays a text he received from a scout about Cousins’ NBA prospects.
“No way…mental issues…he is on bigtime meds i hear…not athletic enough for me talent wise also…but he has been great last month…”
That same scout has since stated that he thinks Cousins will probably go “very high” in the draft, but says he wouldn’t touch him in the top five for fear of off court issues.
Cousins has a well-earned reputation for being immature, and while talent-wise he’s the best big man in this draft, whether or not he’s able to channel his emotion will have a huge impact on what kind of professional career he will eventually have.
I won’t speculate as to what the scout meant by “big-time meds,” but it’s clear that given his attitude and immaturity, Cousins is one of the biggest upside/downside guys in the draft. He literally could be a franchise-changer, both in a good way and in a bad way.
In just 22 minutes of playing time, Cousins is averaging 16-10, 1.7 blocks and is shooting 55% from the field. He’s not great from the free throw line (64%), but he’s not Shaq-bad. He’s a dominant rebounder (think Paul Millsap) even though he’s not an elite athlete. If he can focus his energy on basketball and not get distracted by all the other garbage, then he has a chance to be a very good NBA player one day.
It’s going to be interesting to see where he goes in the draft.
Freshman phenom (and likely #1 pick in the 2010 NBA Draft) John Wall scored 25 points, including 12 of his team’s final 15 points, in a 64-61 win over UConn [highlights]. Dana O’Neil says that Wall lives up to the hype.
The latest chapter in Wall’s building biography of game-changers came against 12th-ranked Connecticut, his the fitting last dagger in an epic game. With 30 seconds left and Kentucky down 61-60, Wall took the ball on a toss back from Darius Miller and drove, splitting two defenders before going to the rim and banging bodies with Connecticut’s Alex Oriakhi.
Wall gives up 45 pounds to Oriakhi, all of which ended up in his right hip as he went up.
No matter.
Count the bucket, score the foul.
End the game, 64-61.
I caught Kentucky’s win against North Carolina and Wall looks like the real deal. He’s incredibly athletic and has a great feel for the game. He had a couple of jaw-dropping finishes against the Tar Heels — check out the video below.
A source also told ESPN.com that Kentucky has been investigating Wall’s eligibility for months because his former AAU coach was a certified agent.
Brian Clifton, Wall’s AAU coach, was a certified agent with FIBA, basketball’s international governing body, for nearly a year. Under NCAA rule that equates to Wall accepting illegal benefits from an agent. Consequently Wall could have to repay any and all expenses Clifton footed during that period before he can play with Kentucky.
NCAA rule also stipulates that an athlete can be withheld from at least 10 percent of a team’s games as part of the punishment.
Wall was one of the top recruits — if not the top recruit — of the ’09 class and if he’s ineligible for any part of the season it’s going to be a blow to the Wildcats. If not for the NBA’s age-limit rule, Wall probably would have headed straight for the pros, so this is another situation that could have been avoided if qualified high schoolers could bypass the collegiate ranks and play in the NBA immediately after graduating.
After a long dance, top high school recruit John Wall is headed to Kentucky to play for John Calipari.
Wall, ranked the No. 1 point guard, No. 5 overall, on the ESPNU 100, informed Miami coach Frank Haith Tuesday morning that he had committed to Kentucky. The reasoning, according to a source, was because he just wanted to play for Calipari.
If Calipari had stayed as coach at Memphis, there would have been no drama in Wall’s commitment. Privately, Calipari was convinced Wall would have chosen the Tigers, but the coach’s departure to Kentucky created a soap opera in the renewed recruiting chase.
Wall teased Duke, and actually gave Miami an informal commitment last week, according to a source close to the situation. But ultimately, the Word of God Christian Academy playmaker out of Raleigh, N.C., didn’t stray from his original plan: He chose to play for Calipari, except the pursuit for a national title will be out of Lexington instead of Memphis.
According to sources, this had been an issue for Wall’s adviser, Brian Clifton, who likely will be the one to represent Wall when the player eventually declares for the NBA draft.
A source close to the situation at Duke said multiple times that if Clifton were making the call, Duke would have been selected. But Wall, according to sources, made the decision.
Dajuan Wagner, Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans…It’s clear that Wall sees Calipari as a conduit to the NBA, not that he’d have much problem becoming a lottery pick at Duke or Miami. It will be interesting to see how Calipari uses both Wall and Eric Bledsoe, who also recently committed to Kentucky.
- SPORTSBYBROOKS has the details about Zach Randolph’s DUI early Monday morning. Why does a guy making $17 million per season ever have a reason to drink and drive?
- THE LOVE OF SPORTS describes in great detail why Tom Izzo’s Michigan State team is so important to the state of Michigan and the city of Detroit.
- DEADSPIN wonders if John Calipari’s daughters should get off of Facebook now that they’re members of the Kentucky royal family.
- NESW SPORTS has video of maybe the most uncomfortable four and a half minutes in the history of NBA pregame/halftime/postgame shows. Cheryl Miller was not happy with Scot Pollard’s tardiness to the set and she let him know about it.
