Friday, April 16, 2010

The Kentucky Caliparites have done it again - signed the top undecided player in the country. Point guard Brandon Knight will play for coach John Calipari, replacing John Wall who left for the NBA. Knight is also expected to be a one-and-done player. Syracuse, UConn, Kansas and Florida were also on his list. The Wildcats also announced that 6-foot-10 power forward Enes Kanter had signed a letter-of-intent.

In more college basketball house cleaning, Gordon Hayward, the leading scorer of national runner-up Butler, has declared for the NBA draft. The 6-foot-10 sophomore left the door open to return to the Indiana school, saying he would not hire an agent. . . Yet another player has left the Oklahoma team as center Orlando Allen quit, bringing the Sooners’ loss since the season ended to four. Willie Warren and Tommy Mason-Griffin left for the NBA and Ray Willis is transferring. All three are guards. In addition, assistant coach Orande Taliaferro resigned. . . Meanwhile Missouri coach Mike Anderson reportedly turned down $3 million a year to go to Oregon.

And in a related note, of the 49 players who have declared early for the NBA draft, I would think only four will be for sure rewarded for their gamble. I think Kentucky’s John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, Ohio State’s Evan Turner and Georgia Tech’s Derrick Favors will do well. The rest - it’s a crap shoot.

The Birmingham News writes that this could be the best offense Alabama has put on the football field in several decades. It might top the 1973 wishbone with Wilbur Jackson or the 1979 fireworks led by quarterback Steadman Shealy.

Worthy of note that the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant became the youngest scoring champion in NBA history. The 21-year-old beat out LeBron James for the points title as he finished the regular season with a 30.1 average, scoring more than 30 points in 47 games. Amazing.
And just so you’ll know, yesterday was the second annual Jackie Robinson Day in Major League Baseball, commemorating 63 years since the player broke the color barrier in the sport. The percentage of African-American players in baseball this year is 9.5 percent, down from 10.2 percent last year. How that translates is that there were 17 teams who had two or fewer black players this season on opening day.

This is Norman Arey and I wonder what John Calipari tells ‘em to get them to come.