Now, we will have to listen to endless stories about Wall, when what I want to hear about is the team — you know, that name that starts with a “K” and ends with a “Y” that is writ large across the front of every jersey on the team, including John Wall.

… but after we recruited Wall… what did you expect was going to happen ?!

Recruiting John Wall and then complaining when he breaks out into national stardom is like somebody who goes out and gets a pet tiger, and then complains to the ‘911’ operator when he has to call and report that his “pet tiger” has just chewed his arm off..!

If we wanted guys who we could bottle up and place neatly into 5 little equal spaces with “KENTUCKY” written across their chests— which is a perfectly reasonable approach— then we damn well should have gone out and recruited the next John Pelphrey, or the next Richie Farmer, instead of going out and getting the only John Wall.

The national media, lead by ESPN, will talk constantly about Wall the way they have Tebow. The good news, sort of, is Wall is only going to be around 1 year instead of 4 years so not as much resentment by non-UK fans will get created. The results of the media over-exposure are too bad. Tebow seems like a credit to his school, team, family and the game, but every non-Florida fan has a natural gag reflex when they hear his name. It isn’t Tebow’s fault – it is the media over exposure.

This is going to now happen with Wall. UK fans will just have to learn to embace this overexposure like Florida fans have.

That said, I hope Wall never cries after a loss (if we ever lose with him here:).

Relief, I was afraid they’d go after Cal. :)

I think it was almost inevitable that John Wall at this stage in his career, at MSG, matching up against Kemba Walker and playing UConn was going too stoked up and would try to do it all. His assists were way down and for the most part the rest of our guys were left out of the offense. Other than the outcome, I didn’t particularly like it and I’m sure Cal didn’t like it either and will work on reigning in John Wall just a little bit.

If only he were a Tennessee football recruit. . .

I, for one, never get tired of seeing, hearing, or reading about John Wall. He is the real deal. Without Wall, we are not 9-0.

we are already becoming “concerned” with the John Wall Story?? Are we not the same group of Big Blue Fanatics who mere months ago were worried that our beloved program was about to slip from the annals of history as THE premier program in the country and become another also-ran of the SEC? a few facts from the “WALL of Fame” may be in order here……

1) This kid is the most exciting player we have seen here at Kentucky in more than just a few years. I might even venture to say he is THE most exciting player we have ever had here. ( my deferences to King Rex who as a freshman lit up the nights like the 4th of July at Rupp, but he was a outside specialist much more than an all-around guard)
2) This young man i the space of a nine game stretch is directly responsible for winning at least 4 of those games. Not alone mind you, but he is directly responsible for those outcomes.Without John Wall we are 6-3 at best at this point and struggling to stay inside the top 25.
3) He is making the players around him much MUCH better. No way is Patrick Patterson doing this well in the DDMO without John Wall. He makes them better by relieving the pressure from them to be the star. He loves the role and relishes the pressure that comes with it. And Coach Calipari has thrust it upon him just to see what happens. He passes (and shoots) with flying colors.
4) He is a freshman so the mistakes will occur, but as we have all said, we were warned that this would be the case. I much more prefer to be winning as we learn, instead of losing and gaining “character” ( this is a term used by coaches so that they dont have to explain the fact that the negatives far outweigh the positives in a loss)
5) We were once concerned that the mythical 2000th win was beyond our grasp and had been handed to those powder blue garbed pretenders from the east. he has smashed that concept and simply rendered it a moot point.
6) He has helped restore “balance” to the world of UK basketball. Last year we were a one-dimensional out-of-focus group of pretenders to the throne. This year we will not only score on you, we will drag our feet just enough to add insult to injury by letting you foul us as we make our layups.
7) He makes the game fun. He has restored the “wow” factor to UK. He makes Rajon Rondo look like a blip on the radar screen of UK. I could see Rajon being an excellent pro the first time he stepped on a court in college. But he is no where near the well rounded player that John Wall is.
8) Wall is doing it the “right” way. He does not linger on his own accomplishments, he goes to class, he gets good grades, and he learns every time he is out there on the court from his own mistakes. You may get over on him once, but not twice. He is like a sponge, soaking up everything that happens, and like a computer he records it for future reference. He knows we will see some of these teams again.
9) We asked for this kid. We BEGGED him to come. We need to embrace everything that he is, because I want the NEXT John Wall to not even hesitate when it comes time to make his decision. There are 30-40 coaches out there in college basketball right now pulling their hair out to try and figure out a way to defend UK right now just in case they see us later. That is respect my friends, and fear. They fear us once again, and John Wall may be the single biggest reason for that. We have other players who deserve equal time yes. Pattrick Patterson is the kid we all not only want to be, we want our daughters to date him and we want our sons to emulate him. Demarcus Cousins may well be that meanest man to play in the paint since Bill Laimbeer, and he is learning exponentially every game. Eric Bledsoe is going to be a fine point guard in his own right. they are all parts of a very fine machine.
10) John Wall is a once in a lifetime type of player in this sport. I for one am overwhelmed that he chooses to be at UK. If the press clippings fill up a bathtub by the time he leaves here, then so be it. It is a price I am willing to pay. I dont see the kid getting a swelled head while Calipari is at the helm. He already let the kid play himself in and out of a hole this season. Calipari figured out what the rest of us need to learn. The kid has a overwhelming will to win. He will lose, yes. And it is going to hurt when it happens, but lest we forget, ALL losses hurt. And we have seen enough of them the last few years to sink a battleship.

What I’ve seen in Wall so far is a great ballplayer who always has a smile on his face (except while cramping in the NC game), who involves his teammates when he needs to but is willing to take the risk when the game is on the line, and who is a great ambassador for our great program. Yes I used the word great three times in one sentence, but we are talking about Kentucky basketball. If he turns into Rajon Rondo and worries about his own stats and the hell with the team, then I’ll be worried. I just don’t see that happening. I have been a Cat fan for 58 years and have always been proud, sometimes frustated, but always proud. When you live in another state like I do, you realize just how much respect people have for Kentucky basketball.

How many young basketball hopefuls with stars in their eyes are pretending to be John Wall on the court and dreaming of the day when they, too, might be able to play where he went to school.

Kentucky will always be Kentucky. John Wall and all of his glory and greatness can never take that away from us. Point being, however, that I dont think he would ever WANT to take that away from us. Wall wants to be part of the greatness that IS Kentucky. I firmly believe that. It was the end of the Stanford game (I think) when the buzzer went off and the team began jumping around in celebration, it was John Wall pulling at the word “Kentucky” written across his chest.

This was absolutely awesome!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9t0nzbI9AU

P.S. That Bledsoe kid is pretty good, too! ;)