National college basketball writer/radio show host Aaron Torres has an interesting perspective on future University of Kentucky basketball recruiting.
     “Just one man’s humble opinion, but unless a kid is a surefire top 10 pick (in the NBA Draft), don’t think John Calipari should ever recruit a high school player again,” Torres posted on Twitter after UK’s blowout win at Kansas.
     Torres noted that Fred Hoiberg built Iowa State into a perennial Big 12 contender with transfers almost a decade ago and Eric Muscleman, now the head coach at Arkansas, took Nevada to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 with transfers and is relying heavily on transfers still at Arkansas.
     “The bottom line is that I think this is where the sport is headed. No one is going to be able to develop players, because players don't want to be developed. They want to go to a place where they know they can play right away, and if they can't play they're going to leave, knowing there's no barrier to playing somewhere else,” Torres said.
     “So as I said, if he's a surefire Top 10 pick, or Top 10 prospect, like a TyTy Washington, Shaedon Sharpe, Karl-Anthony Towns, take him. But if he's a fringe guy, who probably won't be in the NBA in a year, it's probably not worth the investment.”
     Torres, who is on 600 radio stations nationwide with FoxSports, believes Calipari has been a “bit behind on his willingness to take transfers” and that this season with Kellan Grady, Oscar Tshiebwe, Sahvir Wheeler and Davion Mintz is probably working out better than Calipari ever imagined.
     “Now, rather than getting a player who isn't physically or emotionally ready — and in many cases, both — you get a grown man, who has played at a higher level, handled the academics of college, lived away from home, all that good stuff,” Torres said.
     “The question now is whether Calipari is willing to do what is best for the program, and best to compete at the highest levels of college basketball or does he still want to be the one-and-done factory and goes back heavy into the high school ranks.”
     Calipari has signed high school standouts Cason Wallace, Chris Livingston and Skyy Clark for next year and also has Shaedon Sharpe already on campus who still insists he will be playing for UK next year.
     Torres is not surprised UK has developed into an elite team because Calipari has always developed talent and now he is working with “more refined, more mature” players because of the transfer portal
     “Obviously the ceiling long term of these players isn’t as high, but again, John Calipari's job isn't to put the most guys in the NBA. It’s to win the most games at Kentucky possibile,” Torres said.
     “Again, I'm not surprised it's worked. What I'm surprised by is that he hasn't committed to this philosophy full-time going forward. We'll see what happens in the 2023 high school class and beyond, but it's hard to deny that this looks like the most complete Kentucky team since 2015, and probably its most realistic title contender since then as well.”
     Grady, one of five UK players averaging in double figures, believes Calipari has appreciated having the oldest team he’s had at Kentucky.

Davidson transfer Kellan Grady is one of the experienced players paying big dividends for Kentucky this season. (Vicky Graff Photo)

     “He reminds us all the time he is having a ball coaching us and is incredibly excited every day to each this team,” Grady said. “I think part of that has to do with he has an older group and guys who have played 60 to 120 or 150 college games.”
     Grady said there are things Calipari doesn’t have to explain, or explain only once, because this is a veteran team.
     “Overall I think the overwhelming factor is we are a high character group and all care about the team’s success more than we do our individual success and I think that is what he appreciates most,” Grady said.
     Well, there might be one more thing.
     “They get my jokes,” Calipari said.
     However, he does enjoy the maturity this team has.
     “They understand they have a responsibility to each other. They are not so consumed with themselves because they have been through this,” Calipari said. “This team is cheering for each other because the clutter that comes at them is not all about them. They are adults. They can shut phones off. I have had older teams in the past. I just haven’t since I have been here.”

     Matt Babcock, senior NBA Draft analyst for Basketball News, calls UK recruiting target D.J. Wagner of New Jersey, the No. 1 player in the 2023 recruiting class, a “natural scorer” who just knows how to make shots.
     “I see him more as a secondary ball-handler than a lead guard, and he's thin. He needs to add weight and functional strength. In addition, from my understanding, his outside shooting has been very inconsistent this season,” Babcock said.
     “Considering his style of play, he needs to become a more consistent outside shooter to maximize his potential. I think Wagner has a chance to develop into a legitimate scoring combo guard, but like all young prospects, he still needs to get better.
     “I mean, he hasn't even turned 17-years-old yet. Nevertheless, I'm excited to continue tracking his development.”
     His father, Dajuan Wagner, played for John Calipari at Memphis. So did his grandfather, Milt Wagner. His older brother, Kareem Watkins, is a walk-on guard at Kentucky now under Calipari.
     “It's regularly discussed among basketball circles that Wagner will likely end up at Kentucky,” Babcock said. “Considering Calipari's long-standing relationship with his father and grandfather, Dajuan and Milt Wagner, I'd say that it's a significant advantage.”
     The 6-2 junior guard has a lot of attention on him. Babcock says it’s impossible for any 16-year-old to live up to the hype he’s had put on him.
     “I think Wagner is a very good player and prospect, but I don't think the expectations that have been set for him are justifiable or fair,” Babcock said. “The expectations are just unreal for a kid who is still a junior in high school.”

     Kentucky football signee Jordan Anthony recently set a U.S. high school record by running the 60-meter dash in 6.7 seconds in only his second indoor meet of the season.
     What made that even more impressive was that Anthony, a receiver, missed half the football season with a fractured hip when his growth plate broke.
     He was a four-star recruit and a top 75 receiver nationally. The Tylertown (Miss.) High School standout was already the state record holder in the 200-meter dash and the 100-meter dash in 10.23 seconds. He was the nation’s fastest high school sprinter in the 100 last track season when he won the Nike Outdoor Nationals at the University of Oregon in July in 10.21 seconds.
     Anthony was already confident he could compete in the SEC but now the 5-10, 160-pound receiver is even more confident after setting the 60-meter national record.
     “You can’t teach speed, so setting that record does give me even a little more confidence,” Anthony said. “I still need to get some more weight on me. I lift and eat a lot daily. I know putting weight on can help me. I have a cousin who is an Olympic trainer who is helping me get my body right. He is tough on me but I need that.”
     He has a big family that is sports-oriented. His father was a football coach in California and he says he was “born to play football” and learned the game when he was very young.
     “I’m just excited about what lies ahead at Kentucky and to be part of this receiver class we have. I think we can do some really special things,” Anthony said.
     One reason for his optimism is the return of Kentucky quarterback Will Levis after his stellar 2021 season.
     “I hoped that he would come back and bring the leadership he has. I am very thankful he came back,” Anthony said. “We have the leader we need to lead us and show us how to just play our parts.”

     One of the first thoughts that former UK All-American Kenny Walker had when he heard about Joe Hall’s passing was about Melvin Turpin.
     “I am quite sure him and coach Hall are having quite a reunion in heaven now,” Walker said. “Melvin Turpin was one of my favorite teammates who passed away way too young and coach Hall was a father-figure to me.”
     Walker has fond memories of both Hall and Turpin, especially the battles the former UK coach had trying to keep Turpin’s weight in check.
     “Most of us guys then were tall and slim and could eat anything and not gain weight except for Melvin,” Walker said. “He loved pizza, Big Macs and stuff like that. It got to a point that coach Hall told restaurants on campus not to sell him food.
     “But Melvin used to have his girlfriend sneak in Big Macs. He would tell the pizza guy to come to his window (at Wildcat Lodge) and he would throw a rope out the window to pull the pizza up with. But somehow coach Hall kept his weight down and kept him in shape and made one of the best big buys ever to play at Kentucky.”

     Walker remembered Thanksgiving in 1983 when Hall let the players go home a few days to be with their families. He told everyone to find a gym to work out in and not to overeat.
     “He told Melvin he had to control himself and not go wild eating. Melvin told coach Hall he had just talked to his mom and she is just cooking a couple of turkeys and not cooking country ham,” Walker said. “Coach Hall said that was good and then Melvin said, ‘One of the turkeys is for the family and the other turkey is for me.’
     “Coach Hall told Melvin he better not eat the whole turkey and then started laughing. We all did. I will never forget that.”
     Turpin scored 1,509 points, grabbed 730 rebounds and blocked 226 shots in 123 career games at Kentucky from 1980-84. He was a two-time all-SEC selection and scored 42 points against Tennessee his junior season. He was the sixth pick in the 1984 NBA Draft but had a limited playing career due mainly to his weight issues.

     Former Kentucky players Devin Booker and Karl Anthony-Towns have both been named to the NBA All-Star Game Feb. 20 in Cleveland. However, another former UK standout, second-year Philadelphia guard Tyrese Maxey, has also been on quite a roll recently.
     Maxey’s name has been mentioned by several NBA teams looking to make trades with the 76ers but UK coach John Calipari told Angelo Cataldi, Billy King, and the 94WIP Morning Show in Philadelphia that 76ers coach Doc Rivers told him a trade “will never happen.”
     "I was worried to trade Ben (Simmons), they were going to have to move Tyrese. I said to Doc, please tell me that's not happening.

     He said, 'Never happen.' He said, 'Look at my eyes, that will never happen.'
     So I probably shouldn't say that publicly,” Calipari said on the show.
     Maxey has become a fan favorite in Philadelphia after being the 21st pick in the 2020 draft after his freshman season at UK when he averaged 14 points per game. Maxey has increased his scoring from 8.0 points per game last year to 16.9 this season and his assists have gone from 2.0 to 4.8. His overall shooting percentage has also improved.
     He was recently named to the Rising Stars game during NBA All-Star weekend.

  Quotes of the Week

Quote of the Week 1:

     “You’ve got to stay focused on getting better every day, sticking through good days together, and not feeding into all the glitz and glamour and the glory that comes with playing well because nobody’s going to talk about it when you’re not playing well. You have to remember that,” Keion Brooks on UK not getting complacent.

Quote of the Week 2:

     "I think the fans love us not only because of the way we play basketball but how we share it with each other. We’re all brothers here. We care for each other. We don’t care who has the most points. We just want to win,” Kentucky freshman guard TyTy Washington on why fans like this team.

Quote of the Week 3:

     “He will be a great addition to an already competitive wide receiver room because of his experience, work ethic and athleticism. He’s been in Alabama’s wide receiver room with some very good talent and he has learned how to practice and work at this level,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops on Alabama transfer Javon Baker.