Writing the Pine

Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images

If you didn’t know by now, John Wall is by far the best talent in college basketball today and probably the best player too.  He’s so good I expect Ashley Judd to return to Lexington this year to watch some games.  And if you watched Kentucky’s game against UConn last night, now you know.

John Wall showcased his talents last night on the greatest stage in basketball, Madison Square Garden, and put on a show he did.  The freshman phenom finished with 25 points and 6 steals in leading a mistake and foul-prone and hobbled Wildcat squad to victory against the twelfth-ranked team in the nation.  From the opening tip, Wall left his mark on the game with great scoring, passes, steals and of course, his breath-taking athleticism.

No one questioned his talent coming into the season.  Just from watching his Youtube videos you could see that he was the best basketball prospect to turn up since LeBron James.  He has the total package.  Great size for a point guard, elite ball-handling, strength, and of course that athleticism.  What’s also remarkable is his ability to use both hands whether it’s dribbling the ball or finishing at the rim.  Everybody makes a big deal about how good Steve Nash is with his left hand.  Well, John Wall is the same way.  Except a billion times quicker.  Even Wall’s jump shot looked pretty damn good in his highlight reels and that seems to be the one area where these young kids, especially the athletic ones, struggle (see LeBron James).  But last night Wall made at least four pull-up jumpers, with a few of them coming down the stretch, that erased any doubt in my mind about his jumper.  He even hit a 3-pointer for good measure.  Overall, Wall was 10-16 from the field, 1-1 from long distance, and 4-4 from the charity stripe.  His teammates were only a paltry 15-48 from the field.

Me saying he might only be the best player in college basketball is no diss to him.  He very well could be by the end of the season and will undoubtedly be the #1 pick in the NBA Draft next year.  There were a few plays last night when he turned the ball over just from not paying attention to what’s going on around him.  Even that dunk he had, he took a horribly unnecessary route to the basket.  That might’ve been because the previous time he had a breakway, Kemba Walker raced from behind to strip the ball but he’s got to trust his speed and instincts so that doesn’t hapen.  He disappeared at times, especially when UConn made their run but really, I guess I’m just nitpicking because these are all very correctable things that could be fixed in a matter of a season.

Actually, the biggest knocks on Wall coming into the season were eligibility and character issues.  Everybody asks why Roy Williams, if such an elite recruiter (which he is) would let a kid who he says is the best point guard prospect since Jason Kidd get away from him when he’s been playing in UNC’s backyard the last few years?  Well Wall’s AAU coach, Brian Clifton is actually a registered agent and Coach Williams is adverse to stepping into sticky situations like that.  In my opinion though as a UNC fan, I would have loved to see Wall wearing Carolina blue and probably leading the Tar Heels to at least a National Championship appearance, but not at the expense of missing out on Harrison Barnes.  From what I’ve seen, Wall is the superior player to Barnes but Wall is also a definite one-and-done.  I actually believe Barnes when he says he’s not a definite goner to the NBA after just one year.  Since we also got Kendall Marshall coming in next year, I’m not too worried about the point guard position either.  Wall would have greatly stunted Larry Drew’s development and that would’ve hurt us for the next two years.  As for John Wall’s character?  I’m not really sure where questions about it came up.  Probably from fans hating on him for not coming to their school.  I never saw anything in any of Wall’s interviews to make me believe he was a bad kid.  He even reminded me a bit of OJ Mayo the way he was so polite to the media.  I’m not saying he’s an angel but he’s not a bad kid, just a kid.

Finally, we have Kentucky as a team.  How far can they go this year?  I know this expression is used way too much but it really depends on how far John Wall (and to a much lesser extent, Eric Bledsoe) takes them.  I’m not really a big believer in DeMarcus Cousins or Daniel Orton.  Maybe down the road they’ll be fine players but I don’t think they’re very good this year.  Cousins ended up with a pretty solid line (10 points/10 rebounds) but I’m not sure he or Orton really have the maturity to help a team win a championship.  Both of them made some stupid, stupid plays last night and the way they react to calls that go against them is just childish.  One play that stood out to me was when Orton had the ball stripped from him and trired to take a stupid charge and flopped all the way back to Oklahoma City then when he didn’t get the call he kind of tripped up the UConn player (I think Kemba Walker).  C’mon dude, just get back on defense.  John Calipari seemed majorly frustrated on the sideline throughout the entire game and I’m sure two big reasons why were Cousins and Orton.  Honestly, if I was a five-star big man, I would never go to play for Kentucky in his guard-focused attack, especially if an elite big man was already there which there is in Patrick Patterson.  The guy is a beast who unfortunately was hobbled by an ankle injury last night (which Dick Vitale clearly did not realize last night) and was not that productive in the second half.  I originally had Kentucky in the Final Four before the season started but I’m not so sure anymore.  They have absolutely no bench, are an awful free-throw shooting team (Wall and Bledsoe aside), and the maturity issues of Cousins and Orton frighten me when it comes to big games.  I will be keeping a close eye on the Wildcats throughout the season to see how they develop and if they indeed have a shot to win the title.