Kentucky Basketball is upon us. The kids and I got our first interaction with them down at tent city this year. The night before they hand out the tickets the players usually come out and interact with the fans and hand out pizza. Jennifer was working so I packed the kids up and headed down to see if we could meet a couple of the players. As we were getting out of the car we spotted our first two guys getting back to the Wildcat Lodge, Tyler Herro and Keldon Johnson.
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| I love Tyler Herro just because of what he did to Wisconsin. Yes I am still just a little bitter about losing to them in the 2015 Final Four. Tyler has highly touted out of Wisconsin and had verbally committed to them. Then, UK offered him and he knew that this was the place to be and flipped to become a CAT! We found out in the Bahamas just how special of a player he really is. |
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| Keldon Johnson is an athletic phenom. He is going to be a special player and more than likely a one and done player. |
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| E.J. Montgomery is a highly touted freshman big man. He got hurt in the Bahamas so we weren't able to see exactly how good he is, but I am excited to see him this season. |
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| Johnny David is one of the fan favorites and this is his senior season. |
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| Sophomore Nick Richards in the Bahamas showed that he has a new found confidence from his freshman year. Excited to see him continue to develop in this second year on campus. |
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| Brad Calipari entering his third season with the CATS. |
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| Immanuel Quickley is another one of the dynamic freshmen on this team. |
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| Reid Travis is a grown man that is coming to play with all of our underclassmen. He is a graduate transfer from Stanford University and is here to play one season to try and get ready for a professional career. I hope the big man can make his one season in Lexington worth it! |
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| Jemarl Baker is kind of a mystery. He is supposedly one of the best 3 point shooters on the team, but we have never been able to see him play due to multiple injuries to his knee last year and his back this year. I really want to see what this sharpshooter is all about. Hopefully he can get and remain healthy. |
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| Ashton Hagans is another highly touted freshman. He actually reclassified over the summer and skipped his senior season so that he could join this class at Kentucky. Excited to see what he can bring to the table. |
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| The player that will be one of our leaders is PJ Washington. After a good freshman season he debated going pro, but at the last minute decided to come back and get better for at least another season. I am excited to see his high energy and leadership during this season. |
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| I even got to take a few pictures too. I got one with senior grad transfer Reid Travis. |
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| EJ Montgomery and myself. |
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| Jemarl Baker |
With the football team having an amazing season it was awesome to also see a few of the players show up at tent city too. It was interesting that there was a lot more people wanting to meet these football players than the basketball team. Of course I wanted to meet them too!
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| The kids with Kentucky born and raised Kash Daniel. |
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| C.J. Conrad is a very nice young man. I have met him multiple times over the last few weeks. He has been volunteering every Tuesday at the children's hospital where I work to help boost the spirits of kids who are in the hospital. I actually thanked him for doing that because I know a lot of kids that really enjoy seeing him. |
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| Lastly, I caught up with Benny before he left. This young man has created a national buzz for our football team. He has brought an excitement to UK football that has not been present for quite some time. |
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| My first Committee of 101 assignment was to be a section leader for section 39 and 40. I helped all the people in these sections find their seats. I can't wait until the team starts playing actual games. |
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| My little wildcats! |
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| My beautiful wife and I. Not very often will you find me more dressed up than her. |
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| The kids were in a rare, wild mood! Landon was up screaming to the team and dancing all over the aisle. It was pretty fun to watch. |
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| My little family. I love watching the wildcats play and it is especially more fun to watch with these guys. |
I think this basketball season is going to be pretty special. We have a lot of really talented young men on our team and I hope they get it all together and make an awesome run for number 9 in March and April. I also can't wait to see how this surprise football season turns out and just how far this team can go. I know that regardless of how things end up I know that I will always be proud to be a Wildcat! Thanks for reading and God bless!
