Somerset —
After three years of NCAA National Championship dreaming, Kentucky basketball fans has been forced to lower their standards somewhat. After Coach John Calipari’s first three years at the Wildcats’ helm garnered an Elite Eight finish, a Final Four finish and a NCAA national title – Cal’s fourth season will hopefully end somewhere in the NCAA Tournament and not the ‘dreaded’ NIT.
Without doubt, Calipari has forever changed the dynamics of Kentucky basketball – and maybe the entire NCAA. In the past, Wildcat fans could always look at the previous year’s roster, look to see who was returning along with a couple of good recruits, and they could almost figure out what kind of a season was in store for the Wildcats in the season ahead.
Now, well, we look at YouTube videos of some Coach Cal recruited superstar high school prodigies and we imagine them in a Kentucky uniform. We see them dunk or drive the lane against much weaker high school opponents, and we imagine them doing the same thing against some bigger, stronger and more experienced Southeastern Conference opponents.
And in Calipari’s first three recruiting classes, those UK freshmen jumped right into the grind of Division 1 Southeastern Conference play and held their own, and in some cases they dominated their much more experienced opponents.
But this season, the ‘one bnd done’ freshman reality came crashing down on the Wildcat fans. Plus it didn’t help that our ‘Anthony Davis cloned’ Nerlens Noel tore his ACL. But even with Noel healthy, this still wasn’t the same level of freshman classes Wildcat fans had come to expect from Calipari.
Of course another factor in this season’s demise, was the Wildcats’ lack of returning quality upperclassmen. Last season, Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb – albeit just sophomores – and senior Darius Miller turned out to be just the right mix to accompany Calipari’s super-talented freshman class of Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague.
With that in mind, my ‘blue and white’ brain started to wonder and drift off into a Big Blue Nation Fantasyland. A magical place where the top freshman in the country came to Kentucky to play for Coach Cal, and they ended up loving the place so much they stayed in school for the entire four years to earn something called a ‘diploma’. In this delightful dream, the NCAA national championships piled up as our beloved four-year Wildcats defiantly snubbed the NBA scouts and the greedy agents who tried to lure them away from their great collegiate experience.
As my mind soared over the cotton candy clouds and rainbows made of sugary candy, I imagined what this year’s Wildcat Senior Night would have been like.
{Editor’s Note: the next five paragraphs is only a dream sequence and should not be taken seriously}
After four fantastic years and three NCAA championships, the Wildcat faithful sang a tearful ‘My Old Kentucky Home’ and said farewell to the great senior class of John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton.
Many Kentucky fans wondered how UK will ever replace such a talented senior class, but juniors Brandon Knight, Terrance Jones, Doron Lamb and Enes Kanter told the Lexington media that they up for the challenge to step up and have a great senior season next year.
The upcoming senior class may need a little help next season and their hopes is that this year’s sophomore class of Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague might provide some back up next season.
Kentucky freshmen Nerlens Noels, Alex Poythress and Willie Cauley-Stein hope to see just a little playing time next season as Wildcat sophomores.
After the Senior Night game, Calipari announced his newest recruits – Andrew Harrison, Aaron Harrison, Dakari Johnson and, possibly, Andrew Wiggens – for the futuristic 2018-2019 Senior Class. And while Cal vaunted this is one of his better recruiting classes, he warned Wildcat fans not to expect these young ball players to see much action over the next couple of seasons.
{Dream sequence
has now ended}
And just as my sleepy expression turned into a large grin, I was suddenly awakened by the constant message board chatter of Kentucky possibly playing in the NIT and the posterization play on Brandon Knight in the NBA... and not as a junior at UK, which I had dreamed about.
So, the reality is this season may be the lesser of Calipari’s four great recruiting classes while at Kentucky.
The reality is the chances of the Wildcats defending their 2012 National Championship is a huge long shot.
The reality is this young Wildcat team will have to go off into post-season play without their star big man – Nerlens Noel.
But we can only hope that some, if not all, of the Wildcats’ top players of this season will stay in Lexington for another year...or two. And just like a snowball rolling down a big snow-covered hill, maybe more and more of the talented Kentucky freshmen will stay around for a couple more years in the future.
And then, my ‘Big Blue Dream’ will come true!
Local Sports
A Big Blue Dream to remember
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Eight is Great!
During last night’s 48th District Softball Championship game, Southwestern had a sign on their dugout wall that read “The third time’s the charm.”
That statement held true for Jim Woodall and the Lady Warriors, as the they defeated McCreary Central when it mattered most, which was in last night’s title game at Wayne County High School.
After falling to the Lady Raiders of McCreary Central twice in their pair of regular season match-ups, Southwestern, with a 12-7 victory last night, tallied their eighth district championship in a row. -
Somerset downs Pulaski to claim title
For the last four years Somerset High School and Pulaski County High School have battled it out for the 47th District baseball championship . Counting Tuesday night, three out of the four years the Briar Jumpers have brought back the gold. Somerset defeated the Maroons 7-4.
Of their 7 runs scored, the Briar Jumpers tallied 5 of those runs off homers. Somerset freshman Logan Ramsey hit a three-run homer in the first inning and sophomore Chandler Purcell hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning. -
Warriors blast past Wayne Co., 14-9
When Southwestern is hitting the ball solid, they are a very dangerous baseball team.
Wayne County received a first-hand look at just how much damage the Southwestern bats can do on Tuesday evening at Warrior Stadium, as the homestanding Warriors tallied 14 runs on 16 hits in a 14-9 victory over the Cardinals in the 48th District Baseball Championship game. -
Lorman, Henderlight keep Pulaski alive
Facing a four-run deficit and down to their last three outs, elimination looked inevitable for the Pulaski County High School baseball team on Monday night in the opening round of the 47th District Baseball Tournament at Charlie Taylor Field.
But a Pulaski last-inning rally capped off by a Henry Lorman bases-loaded clearing double off the left field wall and a Chris Henderlight walk-off RBI base hit propelled the Maroons to a 7-6 comeback win over Rockcastle County High School. -
Warriors down Monticello, 11-1
It takes five wins to make it to the Forcht Bank/KHSAA Baseball State Tournament.
The Southwestern Warriors are one-fifth of the way there now, as they took down Monticello in the first round of the 48th District Baseball Tournament on Monday night at Warrior Stadium. With the five-inning, 11-1 victory over the Trojans, the Warriors advanced to the championship game and next week’s regional tournament.
Alex Eaton’s ball club did exactly what they needed to do to make it back to the regional tournament once again. The third-year Southwestern coach is hoping that his squad can come away with the program’s first regional title since 2004. -
Lady Warriors advance to finals; looking for 8th straight district title
So far in the 2013 high school softball season, McCreary Central has had their way with Southwestern in their two regular season match-ups.
The Southwestern Lady Warriors will get a chance to get a little revenge against McCreary Central, as the two teams will meet up in the 48th District Softball Championship. -
Somerset cruises to 15-1 win over Rebels
After a slow start in the first two innings, the Briar Jumpers put it all together with a 10-run third inning en route to a 15-1 (5 inning) win over Casey County High School in the first round of the 47th District Baseball Tournament at Charlie Taylor Field.
The Rebels scored in their very first at-bats, and the Jumpers countered with a three runs of their own in the bottom half of the first after Jumpers’ junior Charlie Dishman blasted a three-run homer to left field to plate Jacob Pelston and Addison Thompson. -
Mills, Cheuvront, Goldson win state titles
Local track and field athletes turned in one of the all-time best efforts at the state level in Saturday’s Class A and Class AAA Kentucky High School Athletic Association State Track and Field Championships at the University of Louisville’s Owsley Frazier Cardinal Park.
Somerset High School garnered two state crowns in the Class A state meet, as junior Cam Cheuvront won the 100-meter dash and sophomore Maranda Mills won her second consecutive triple jump state crown.
Later in the day in the Class AAA state meet, Pulaski County High School junior Jimmy Goldson ran away with the 800-meter state title. -
Sammy Jo Bullock places 7th in nation
Shopville Elementary fifth-grader Sammy Jo Bullock fired a 284 in the National Archery in Schools National Championships to place seventh in the girls elementary division. Bullock, who peirced the center circle 16 times, was third n the nation among her fellow fifth-graders.
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Pulaski downs Corbin on Senior Night
On Tuesday afternoon at PC Field, the Pulaski County Maroon baseball team bid farewell to Taylor Gover, Eric Jones, Dustin Vaught, Henry Lorman, Tyler Wesley, and Tyler Hail on senior night before Danny Masten’s club took on a Corbin team that had earned a shutout victory over PC earlier in the year.
On Tuesday however, it was the Maroons that would not be denied on senior night, and it was those seniors that lead the way for Masten and company.
Taylor Gover notched two doubles and drove in a career-best six RBI in the game, while fellow senior Henry Lorman hit the first homerun of his varsity career and drove in three more runs. - More Local Sports Headlines
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