Where Did All The KY HS Basketball Talent Go?

Quite fascinating, really. I am guessing the euphemistic “demographic changes” (alluding to race, obviously) in top basketball talent, and the wide difference between those demographics and the demographics of the state of Kentucky, would have to be a major factor. Maybe also population changes—shifting from rural to urban/suburban. Could possibly even be just normal cylindrical changes, and Kentucky will be back as a hotbed of talent in a few decades. I read a book about the consolodation of smaller rural Kentucky high schools having a negative affect on the quality of KY HS basketball—but I guess that meant more the level of competition among the schools, and not the quality of the players themselves.

Thanks for sharing, and I’d love to hear others’ thoughts.

But I submit to you that there is no drop off in talent. There has been a rise in the level of competition and expectations at UK. We do not accept down years anymore. We do not accept average play. We want superstars, and Kentucky has never produced that many superstars at the collegiate and professional level. Coaches now go wherever they must to obtain top tier players. More and more kids from inner cities and other countries are becoming basketball players. It is not just country farm boys anymore who know the game. We have not gotten worse, they have gotten better.
Yes we have our exceptions. But there are not 10 superstar level athletes that have come from Kentucky that have been in the NBA. Let me rephrase. there are not 10 Hall of Fame caliber athletes who have played in the NBA from Kentucky. And I mean from Kentucky High Schools. And unfortunately now the NBA is the level that we all measure those players by. Calipari has changed the game. Don’t get me wrong, there have been loads of great kids who made it to the NBA from Kentucky as well as Louisville. But most of them didnt last very long.

I mean didnt Roderick Rhodes make it into the NBA?

there were a handful that came from elsewhere, but the budgets and winning without those kids rendered it a moot point.

what is interesting, though, and forgive me, I haven’t been reading this thread religiously, so I do apologize if this has already been touched on, but did we all kind of agree that lower income levels were a likely contributor to the diminished KY talent? That is funny, ‘cause basketball is really one of the cheapest sports you can play. You don’t need all the equipment that say, hockey, or football, or even something like tennis requires. All you need is a ball and something to put it in.

Sorry, I know this thread is dead, I guess I’m just thinking aloud and your hockey comment inspired me. : )