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Men's Basketball

NBA Veteran Talks About Nearly Becoming a Kentucky Wildcat

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Will Barton poses for portrait during Wizards media day at Capital One Arena
© Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

When John Calipari arrived at Kentucky, he took over a program that had just finished .500 in the SEC and missed the NCAA Tournament. In just a few months he completely transformed the roster into one that became a national title favorite and won an NCAA-best 35 wins.

With renewed success, a rejuvenated program, and the “cool” optics of John Calipari and his then style of play, Kentucky was the place to be and at the top of every recruit’s list. As was the case of Will Barton, former Memphis guard and NBA veteran Will Barton.

Coming out of high school as part of the 2010 recruiting class, Barton was a consensus top 10 recruit and considered to be one of the best shooting guards in the country. Naturally, there was mutual interest between he and Kentucky, so much so that he said he originally committed to the Wildcats.

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So what changed?

In a recent interview with the Gifted Network, Barton says his mom asked him about the idea of playing with his brother, Antonio, in college. Shortly afterward, the brothers went on a visit to Memphis, then coached by Josh Pastner, who was one of the first coaches to recruit Barton. While on the visit, the brothers committed to play.

In two seasons at Memphis, Barton averaged 15.2 ppg and 6.5 rpg, and was named C-USA Player of the Year as a sophomore. Barton went on to be drafted in the second round of the 2012 NBA Draft and has played 11 seasons in the NBA, including a seven-year stint with the Denver Nuggets where he was a starter and key contributor.

Could you imagine Barton on the 2011 and 2012 Kentucky teams? Both made the Final Four and the other won a national title without him.

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Take a listen to Barton’s interview below.

Also published on A Sea of Blue.

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Men's Basketball

Kentucky Basketball Has “Pure Hoopers That Love the Game” According to Former Kentucky Guard

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Tyler Ulis coaching Robert Dillingham during GLOBL Jam.
UK Athletics | Chet White

In recent seasons, Kentucky has struggled to find players to make plays when they need it most. That hasn’t always been the case, some examples of players that had the ability to make a play to secure a win include: Tyler Ulis, Jamal Murray, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and John Wall among others.

Well speaking of some of the players I just mentioned, former Kentucky guard and current student assistant Tyler Ulis recently joined the Sources Say podcast and talked about how great this team can be this upcoming year.

Ulis calls this year’s team “pure hoopers”.

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“They’re basketball players. Hoopers. Pure hoopers, all of them. And they love the game,” Ulis said. “How me and Devin (Booker) were in the gym, me and Zay (Briscoe), me and Jamal (Murray), that’s what these guys are doing. They all want to get better — scared to fail, scared not to make it. That’s what shows they want to be great.”

As what defines a pure hooper, according to Ulis. “Anyone can make a play, anyone can get in the lane, anyone can knock a shot down,” Ulis said. “We have so many options and so much depth, it’s hard not to have fun with this team.”

With the new roster and additions to the coaching staff, the goal is for Kentucky to make a deep run into the NCAA Tournament this year. As for Ulis, he is excited to see what this year’s team can do.

“I can’t say it enough: I’m extremely excited to see how this goes. We’re deep with a lot of players, and they’re skilled.”

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Men's Basketball

Texas Women’s Basketball Takes A Shot at Kentucky Basketball

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entucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari reacts in the first half against the Providence Friars at Greensboro Coliseum.
© John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Earlier this week the Kentucky basketball team caught an unexpected shot. From who? The Texas women’s basketball team. On Tuesday, the Longhorns’ social media team tweeted a video of Drake, a professed Kentucky fan, coming to visit campus and the team.

However the caption is what caught people’s attention, “we don’t have to go to Drake’s house… he comes to ours,” Clearly trying to throw a shot at Kentucky for visiting Drake’s Toronto mansion back in July, during the team’s trip to Canada for GLOBL Jam.

It didn’t take long for the Big Blue Nation to respond, as just 12 minutes later the Tweet’s caption was edited to say “thanks for stopping by🤘”.

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That being said, let’s not act like Drake made a specific trip just to visit the Texas Longhorns, he was in Austin for a stop in his music tour. Not to mention that Drake has attended multiple Kentucky games and events.

Texas will soon be in the SEC, and maybe Drake will be there in Kentucky gear to set the record straight.

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BB Recruiting

Top Kentucky Target Tre Johnson Pushes Decision Date To Spring

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UK Athletics

One of the top players in the class of 2024, Tre Johnson recently made the move to Link Academy in search of high-level competition on a big stage, which is a reason he says is why he will wait until the Spring before making a decision.

The top five guard possesses all of the scoring tools, and is a player that Kentucky really wants. He still has a few visits to take, with Alabama and Arkansas visits coming soon, plus another visit to Kansas, and another visit to Baylor. Johnson previously visited Kentucky back in late January.

Johnson has a final list of Kentucky, Baylor, Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, Kansas, and pro options. The Wildcats are rumored to be a top-three option long with Baylor and Texas. This delay may give Kentucky a better chance. With that said, he is not in a big rush to decide, as he is more focused on getting acclimated to his new home at Link Academy, as well as improving as a player.

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Tre Johnson is one of the best pure scorers in all of high school basketball, and is certainly being prioritized by multiple top schools. Current intel suggests that Baylor and Kentucky are the top contenders, but with him pushing back his decision, there is more time to tell.

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