CatsPause.com - Players still buzzing over Calipari's pronouncement

October 1, 2009

Darrell Bird
CatsPause.com Managing Editor

Kentucky had just completed one of its early individual workouts in late August when John Calipari, to hear freshman Daniel Orton tell the story, headed to the Craft Center parking lot where his wife, Ellen, had arrived to pick him up.

"Coach told us all that he got in the car with his wife and said, 'This might be the most talented team I've ever had,'" Orton recounted. "And she said, 'You're kidding me.' And he said, 'No, I'm serious.'

"He explained to us that he's had bad players on teams before but there are no bad players here all the way down to the last man," Orton said. "Plus, he's never had this kind of size and length."

Fellow freshman DeMarcus Cousins, the other five-star rookie center on the roster, was still a bit taken back by the coach's pronouncement.

"Coach Cal said it himself. He told us this might be his most talented team out of all the teams he's ever coached," Cousins said. "With him saying that, I know something special is about to happen."

Calipari, of course, could motivate an Edsel to the Indy 500 checkered flag. So it's possible he was simply working to focus 13 athletes on one precious goal at the start of camp.

But simple math also raises the distinct possibility that Kentucky's new coach may be correct. All-American candidate Patrick Patterson, Team USA gold medalist Darius Miller and six newcomers with enough stars to form their own galaxy account for more than 60 percent of the roster.

John Wall was the top-ranked high school point guard in the nation and No. 1 ranked player overall. Cousins was next at No. 2, while also being labeled the top power forward. Bledsoe was the No. 3 point guard.

"I'm thinking NCAA championship," Patterson said of the influx last spring. "When I saw the arsenal of players that we could have and the great amount of talent, that was just another reason for me to come back."

Patterson, who spent the summer with Orton working out in San Francisco, is freakishly transformed. "My waist slimmed down, my shoulders got broader and my arms got bigger." Think G.I. Joe dolls with more fluid joints.

Orton is equally transformed, while Cousins is a brute with a sweet touch on his jumper. Then there is Wall, the point guard whose unique skill might require a wrinkle to the Dribble Drive offense.

"At Memphis, we gave Derrick Rose the opportunity to get into the lane and jump over somebody," assistant coach John Robic said. "That may be the case this year with John Wall because he has good size."

"Just the speed of John Wall and Eric Bledsoe alone is incredible," gushed Orton.

The duo has Cousins frothing, too. "I have been wanting to play with a great point guard for so, so long," he said. "Now I've got two of them. It's a real good feeling."

Blinding speedsters. Transformed big men. Lethal shooters. Sounds more like a troupe of cartoon superheroes than a college basketball team.

"I came here to play for coach Calipari. I mean, who wouldn't want to play for a coach like that?" Cousins said. "And then you're at Kentucky? Come on. That speaks for itself. I've got the best of both worlds."

To hear him tell it, so does Calipari. Perhaps the best of any world.

BASKETBALL YEARBOOK NOW AVAILABLE. Oct. 1 marks the official on-sale date for the 30th anniversary edition of The Cats' Pause Kentucky Basketball Yearbook. An expanded 336-page, full color glossy product, the 2009-10 yearbook is packed with nine major features, profiles on all 13 players and much more.

Among the nine features are "Renaissance Blue" and the drive to make UK relevant again. "Meshing The Roster" and hopes that 7+6=1. And Dribble Drive Explained, say adios to the bounce pass.

Also featured are Fearless Forecasts by The Cats' Pause staff, interviews with all 13 players and a look the upcoming season and SEC races.

As always, the Cats' Pause Kentucky Basketball Yearbook is the only place to find previews of all the state colleges in Kentucky. And we're all over the prep scene with a region-by-region preview for boys and girls basketball in the Bluegrass plus an early look at the race for Mr. and Miss Basketball.

To order, click SHOPCatsPause.com or telephone 800.641.3302.

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