"The first time John Wall watched a John Calipari-coached team, he was mesmerized by the freedom Calipari gave a speedy, athletic freshman to take the ball and run his team. Wall said he only needed to watch Derrick Rose at Memphis for a few minutes on television to decide he wanted to play for Calipari as well. Before signing to play for Calipari at Kentucky, Wall said he spoke with Rose, who told him, "He's a great coach. He's going to let you play." Rose took advantage of Calipari's patented dribble-drive offensive system, guiding Memphis to the NCAA title game before the Chicago Bulls made him the first point guard since Allen Iverson to go No. 1 in the NBA draft. Two years later, Wall took a similar path, guiding Kentucky to the Elite Eight before Washington made him the top choice. Wall and Rose were compared to each other for some time, and Calipari had a courtside seat to watch two of his most prized pupils face each other as professionals Friday at United Center. Calipari, the Kentucky coach, said he embarrassed himself some before the game when he brought Wall and Rose together to pose for a picture. Then he sat back and watched Rose and Wall put on a show, taking turns showing off their dizzying speed and making highlight reel plays. But Rose and Bulls handed Wall and the Wizards their first loss of the preseason, 107-96. Although it was an exhibition game, Wall said it was anything but meaningless. "It was a great matchup. It's going to be a great matchup for years to come," Wall said. "We're two fast, explosive guys. I'm trying to learn so much as I can on the NBA level like he did. He got better and better every year and now he's an all-star-type player. That's what I have to do for myself, get better every day and every year I'm in the NBA and hopefully I can get to the level he's at." Rose quickly established himself as a star in the league, winning the rookie of the year in 2009 and serving as the starting point guard for the gold medal-winning U.S. men's national team at the world championships in Turkey this year. " Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/08/AR2010100807342.html
