UK Roster Situation and Potential Starting Line Ups

As we all know, Coach John Calipari has loaded the roster for UK with many in coming freshman and a star JUCO player named Darnell Dodson. The question is, what potential line ups can Coach Cal use with all of this talent? One line up could have DeMarcus Cousins at Center, Patrick Patterson at Power Forward, Darius Miller at Small Forward, Darnell Dodson at Shooting Guard, and John Wall at Point Guard. Or we could see Daniel Orton at Center and bump Darius Miller out as the starting Small Forward role and slide in DeMarcus Cousins at Small Forward, because Cousins has the skills of a Small Forward in a Center's body. In my opinion, you wouldn't be getting all of the potential out of Cousins with him playing at SF because his natural position is at PF. If Darnell Dodson does not start at SG, possible candidates to start at SG could be Jon Hood or Eric Bledsoe. There have been reports that Coach Calipari told Bledsoe even though he was recruiting John Wall, that Bledsoe is his starting PG. I don't see how you can have two starting point guards. John Wall and Eric Bledsoe are both point guards. In the dribble drive motion offense, a traditional point guard is not exactly needed so we could see both Bledsoe and Wall starting in the back court this year for the Cats. We likely won't see much of Josh Harrellson, Ramon Harris, and Perry Stevenson when the game is on. Look to see them have reduced playing time and a much smaller role on this year's team. Another question is, what does Calipari do about filling in the 13th scholarship? Does Calipari wait until after the NBA draft to see if Jodie Meeks gets drafted or not? That would be the best option because if Meeks doesn't get drafted, then you just added a very valuable player to the roster. Matt Pilgrim still is in Lexington and will be heading out in 2 weeks. There was a lot of buzz going around this weekend at the father-son UK camp when Pilgrim was there playing pick up games and he amazed people with the talent he has. Could Calipari offer him the scholarship that used to be his? There is still one more star freshman that could make an immediate impact on UK next year. That would be SG Lance Stephenson. Surprisingly, a top 15 , 5-star recruit does not know where he will be playing next year because many schools are backing off this kid because he has had some trouble with the law. Lance Stephenson was arrested last October for sexually abusing a 17-year-old girl on Lincoln High School, according to police. He was charged with a Class B misdemeanor. Calipari has critics out there who says he recruits questionable players who have character problems. I don't see Stephenson as a Wildcat next year because Calipari has already told him that he didn't want to give him a scholarship but things may change once we know officially what happens with Jodie Meeks. Coach Calipari could also go scout other JUCO prospects for a good 3-point sharp-shooter who can play the SG role to give UK a player than can hit it from beyond the arc. UK won't have a guy who can just tear it up from the 3-point line like Jodie Meeks, but Daniel Orton and DeMarcus Cousins do have a perimeter game and if they can shoot from beyond the arc, it will just open up the other guys to score inside or take a 3-pointer themselves. Rumors out there say that Michael Porter could be back in blue next year. Most likely not going to happen because he has a family now and graduated in May, but it makes sense to offer a guy like Porter a scholarship because he's a senior and you won't have to worry about dead weight on the roster the following year.Possible, John Calipari could just leave the scholarship open an try to pick up a transfer half way through the season. Coach Cal could offer somebody a one year scholarship like Gillispie did for Donald Williams who only played at UK one year. The most likely option I see would to be leaving the scholarship open for someone who is deserving of a scholarship. With the senior class next year and Cousins, Patterson, and Wall all having potential of being a 1st round draft pick in the 2010 NBA Draft and may forgo their collegiate eligibility makes for a very hard decision for John Calipari to make. It will be interesting to see how this will all play out.