UK lost out on a recruit in junior to be Arnett Moultrie, a transfer from UTEP. Moultrie considered putting his name in the draft but after a 2nd round to undrafted expectation he decided to stay in school...just not at UTEP. Most believe after a year of sitting out and then playing as a 4th year junior in the 2011-2012 season, he will be a first round pick.
He made a surprise decision to go to Miss. St. He stated previously that Texas and Kentucky were his top two choices. Then a rumor came out about a week ago that he had committed to Auburn. This turned out to be incorrect but he did end up committing to a surprise SEC school near by.
I'm told many programs continued to tell him he would not receive a whole lot of playing time with all the talent that will be on UK's team during the 2011-2012 team. Some UK fans want to see this as a plus because Moultrie believing this must mean that we will in fact be loaded. I do believe we will have a very strong team, but Moultrie falling for this isn't a sign of this.
Other programs best defense to recruit against Kentucky is to argue lack of playing time they can offer compared to their program. They do not have true insight on who will end up committing to UK and neither does Moultrie. Guys like Doron Lamb and Terrence Jones were being told the same thing and clearly we had room for them...
The best players for UK are guys who are willing to look at the bigger picture. Yes, maybe they will come in to UK and have to fight for minutes and they may not end up getting a whole lot of time in the short period they want to play college ball.
The bigger picture is which program will develop them on a higher level, preparing them for their ultimate dream of being in the NBA? Cal is great at developing players, he knows what the NBA needs them to become. Let's even say another coach tells a certain recruit that he has the coaching skills to develop him just as good as Cal can, which is a very bold statement to make...but let's just say for argument sake, this certain coach does have this level of coaching skill.
You still have to factor in the importance of having top notch talent on the team to help you develop during practice. Most college players develop the most in practice. The actual games are just a small part of their college experience and mostly help with their ability to do well in the clutch...with all the pressure on them.
So if you want to develop at the highest rate, it is important to put yourself around a lot of top talent, to force you to have to play harder and faster and develop to avoid getting burned over and over in practice.
Many parents advise their kids to go play in pick up games with older more talented kids. The more you put yourself around better talent; you naturally develop at a higher level.
So we need players who can see this bigger picture. Yes, you may end up having to come off the bench your first year...so what, it's a small sacrifice to pay, to end up being the most talented player that you can be to send you on your way to the NBA.
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