Last Wednesday, John Calipari and the new look Kentucky Wildcats signed 5-star Alabama point guard Eric Bledsoe. With this signing, it looks like Kentucky has found their starting point guard. Calipari was also heavily recruiting John Wall, the No. 1 overall high school point guard and a projected top five pick in the NBA draft next year. The weeks prior to Kentucky’s hiring of Calipari, all things pointed at John Wall attending the University of Memphis, Calipari’s old team. Until the Bledsoe signing, most thought that Wall would follow Calipari to Kentucky. There is still speculation that Calipari will continue to recruit Wall and Bledsoe will just play the backup role, or Calipari will try to play with two point guards at the same time if Jody Meeks decides to stay in the draft. During Bledsoe’s press conference, he mentioned something that might mean that Kentucky really has found their starting point guard. “He told me I can come in right off the bat and start.” With “He,” Bledsoe meant Calipari. Wall is still has not cut names off his list but he is said he is still considering Baylor, Duke, Florida, Kentucky, Memphis, Miami and N.C. State. In a text message from Adam Zagoria, Wall said that he is still considering Kentucky and he is not ready to make a cut in his list yet. Bledsoe still has not qualified academically, so maybe Wall is just a player he will go after if Bledsoe ends up not qualifying? Wall is also said to have character issues. Recently, he was charged with breaking and entering an unoccupied home in his home town of Raleigh, North Carolina. Calipari has no problems with going after head cases. He heavily recruited both Shawn Williams and Sean Banks. Banks was kicked off the team half way through in sophomore year and Shawn Williams has had numerous altercations with the law in his disappointing NBA career. Since Wall is just about guaranteed to go to the draft after one year in collage, maybe Calipari wants a player who can stick around for the long term? The thing is, Calipari has never been afraid to sign “one-and-done” players. The whole situation between what could happen with Wall is definably a head starcher. Wall has already gotten comparisons to Derrick Rose and Dwayne Wade, and where ever he ends up going, he will make an immediate impact even if he does only stay one season, much like Derrick Rose his freshman year. Wall is just a one of a kind talent that can make a good team great and a mediocre team good. The entire John Wall situation has been more difficult than ever the past week. Right now no one is sure where he will end up going, but everyone is sure Wall is worth the wait for the team he ends up going. If Kentucky ends up signing Wall as well, this could lock up one of the better recruiting classes in recent years and will make Calipari’s expectations in Lexington sky high. Calipari would not dare to lie to Bledsoe with his already sketchy recruiting image, but as mentioned before, Wall could be the difference between Kentucky being an Elite 8 team and a National Championship team. Maybe one little lie is worth it. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...-what-happens-with-john-wall?just_published=1 Very quick write up, comments and views are appreciated.
The Kentucky fans on Bleacher Report hate this article with a passion, everyone else likes it. Go figure.
While I'm a Louisville fan and Kentucky has always been our in-state rivals and Memphis and Calipari were our conference rivals in Conference USA when Louisville was in Conference USA, I have to say I have much respect for Calipari and his recruiting efforts. John Wall has shown to be a phenomenal player and I think he'll be the number one pick in the NBA. I look forward to the continued rivalry between Kentucky and Louisville and I'm happy to see that Kentucky has a great recruiting coach.
