Coach Cal sheds some light on how Anthony Hickey ended up in Baton Rouge, and In-state recruiting in general:
“It’s not about that, he’s good enough, there is no question but we took Marquis Teague. When you do that, unless you
just want to load up on kids, here’s what happens, what if he comes here, maybe he is better than Marquis, maybe he’s not, and if he’s not and he’s not playing, is that fair to him? Maybe he would be good enough to beat out Marquis Teague, is that fair to Marquis Teague? I just think that when you go through this process of recruiting, I’ve made mistakes before. I remember when we played Connecticut and when I saw my man out of high school, I said he was too small, I’m not sure he is good enough. Guess what, he was good enough. Hickey is really good. I’ll say the same the thing, the other side of it is you take a guy that should be going to Western (Kentucky University) or Murray (State) and you just take him to take him when he could go there and be a starter and do x-y-z and you take him because you want to have a Kentucky kid on your team. I’m not doing that, I just refuse to do that. I’ll take walk-ons that way but I’m not taking a player that way, I don’t feel comfortable with that. Hickey is good enough, he is an SEC player and a starting point guard, I just saw him against Mississippi State make four 3s in a row to end the game. He’s not afraid, he could play here, there isn’t any question, he’s not afraid, he’s a battler, he is good.”
Coach Cal probably get's tired of hearing this as much as he hears from state representatives about playing Louisville . It's not that he won't recruit a Kentucky kid, he will and has proven that he will.(with Jon Hood and Derek Willis.) However, if a guy won't fit his system, or if is just not as good as somebody else who he has a chance at landing, he isn't going to go after him. Simple as that. He's the coach and it's his call. I am not sure if it is because he don't want to waste a kid's chance going elsewhere and developing into a star, or reaching his potential, instead of sitting in the 9th or 10th seat on his bench for 4 years at Kentucky, or if he just simply doesn't think that the Kentucky kid who the fan base wants to see in Rupp is all that talented to begin with. Either way, it's his call and both reasons seem to be completely fair. Sure he may miss one here and there that he may have ignored or wrote off too soon, but all coaches pass on recruits that turn out to be better options than what they went with. That's the nature of the beast. The Kentucky- born players won't disappear from the bench under Cal's further tenure in Lexington, it's just that he is only going to get the ones that fit his puzzle. Do you want them to be 'Kentucky', or do you want them to be a team that has plenty of Kentuckians, but probably couldn't win the OVC on a consistent basis? Playing at Kentucky is not a birthright, folks.
Calm down. This is by no means a knock or blaspheme towards Deron, Richie, John, or any of the countless heroes the Commonwealth has put on the floor and wearing the blue. All it is, is the simple truth that you can't load up on every in-state kid every year and be the 'Kentucky' that you want them to be. If you will pay close enough attention in the years to come, you will see that Cal is going to have plenty of home-grown talent on those sidelines and on the floor. Just as much as Pitino did while he was in Lexington. Just because he passed on Hickey for Teague doesn't mean it's the end of Kentuckians playing for Kentucky. And, when you look back at the pedigree of in-state talent that have donned the Blue and White, it would be kind of ridiculous to not at least give a few looks to the home-boys, and Calipari is not a hack when it comes to bringing in talent.
However, it looks like that Cat's Illustrated fan-boy dream of an all 'Kentuckian' Kentucky National Champ will have to wait a while longer.
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