It’s all people are talking about this week (between talks about recruiting, obviously).
NBA Draft, NFL Draft, heck, maybe even the MLS Draft (just kidding, that one already happened).

But around these parts, specifically on UK’s campus, the buzz has waned significantly. The obvious reason is the closest NFL team is at least an hour and a half away and no teams reside in this state.

The second, and probably less obvious reason, is what was once billed as the best NFL Draft former UK players would have in a long time has been a big bust.

There’s at least two guys who were considered first round football talent at some point in their careers. The first, Micah Johnson, had his stock peak about the time he graduated from high school. The second, Trevard Lindley, watched himself slip from his position as the best corner in the Southeastern Conference and a late first round selection to the possibility of a Friday second round selection.

From two to zero means little to no interest in ESPN’s primetime first round Thursday night, and slight interest in Friday. Maybe the diehards will watch the final rounds on Saturday, but I wouldn’t count on it.

But UK’s first round shutout since Tim Couch was drafted by the Browns in 1999 is a bit perplexing. It’s not like UK players aren’t succeeding in the league. Wesley Woodyard and Keenan Burton are two recent Cats slowly making a name for themselves in the NFL.

About half a dozen more players are on that same level and another half dozen are bouncing around on practice squads and as career backups.

With UK players, an NFL team is usually getting a high quality, solid character type of player with a nose-to-the-ground work ethic and usually a little bit of a chip on their shoulders.

And it’s not like UK has a bad crop of talent trying to make it into the NFL. In addition to Lindley and Johnson, there’s also John Conner, Corey Peters and Alfonso Smith, among others.

The stats may not be as impressive as others and this group didn’t win any conference or national championships, but that doesn’t mean this group doesn’t have talent.

It does.

But then, as we all know, the NFL Draft isn’t just about talent. It’s about who you played for, how tall a player is, the name recognition and more. If the NFL Draft was perfect, they’d probably replace it with something imperfect, just because.

In the meantime, UK players will wait for days to hear their names called and to find out where their NFL careers will begin. UK fans will be more intrigued with the latest basketball commitment or this Saturday’s Blue-White game. The draft will probably be an afterthought, the same way UK players have been to NFL teams.

Maybe “Operation Win” will change this notion or maybe it won’t and UK players will still remain late round picks that excel under the radar.

Either way, as it stands now, the NFL Draft doesn’t matter in these parts.

Kenny Colston is a journalism senior. E-mail kcolston@kykernel.com.

By now, we all know what that catchphrase is, “Operation Win,” and how that winning is going to occur.

But I have a simple question for all involved: based on spring practice reports that senior-to-be Mike Hartline has separated himself from the quarterback pack as of now, can “Operation Win” be successful with No. 5 under center?

Hartline and the fans have had a rocky relationship thus far. As a sophomore, Hartline threw his teammates under the bus after losing his starting job. And he was booed from time to time for his play on the field.

In his junior year, the blame game ended, but fans still piled on Hartline, booing him multiple times. And during the one game in which he actually excelled, he suffered what amounted to a season-ending injury.

In his absence, sophomore-to-be Morgan Newton stepped up and led the Cats to away wins at Auburn and Georgia, a mighty feat for a freshman quarterback in the Southeastern Conference, much less one at UK.

The Cats have won with Newton at the helm. Yes, the offense was pared back in order for success to occur, as Phillips has acknowledged, but the fact of the matter remains — a win is a win is a win.

This year’s offense will be more robust and have more depth when it comes to playmakers. Randall Cobb is a year older and Derrick Locke is back as well, so it won’t matter how “pared back” the offense is.

Hartline has no such wins under his belt. In fact, against perennial SEC powers, Hartline usually performs at his worst. To his credit though, he was likely leading the Cats to a win at South Carolina before his injury occurred.

It seems in every practice, Hartline looks better, more qualified to be under center. But his play in games doesn’t match up to his skill in practice.

Meanwhile, Newton may not practice at his best, but he still led a struggling offense up and down the field enough to win big games.

Which matters more?

Believe it or not, there is a natural skill that separates Newton and Hartline, or at least it does in the comparsions we’ve been able to make so far.

No, it’s not an ability to read a defense (though that helps) or how quickly one digests a playbook (that helps, too).

The difference between Hartline and Newton is that one is a playmaker and one is not. When a defense has all options covered, Hartline will throw a ball out of bounds. Newton will tuck it for a 5-yard gain.

That’s called making a play.

We saw the raw playmaking ability of Newton last year. In three years, we’ve yet to see it from Hartline.

Yes, Hartline has strong qualities. He knows the offense, he’s familiar with the receivers, he doesn’t take drive-killing sacks.

But he also hasn’t displayed deep-ball arm strength, the ability to tuck the ball effectively and pick up yards when all receivers are covered or anything else that a strong quarterback needs to do.

It’s not that Morgan Newton is perfect, but he gives the defense pause at quarterback. He provides another wrinkle Hartline doesn’t.

Maybe No. 5 will show everyone that his last year as a Cat will be his best. But the reports out of spring ball aren’t that Hartline is better. He’s merely shown that in the spring, a four-year knowledge of the offense is paying more dividends.

But that doesn’t mean that Hartline can be the lead in “Operation Win.”

Not yet, anyway.

Kenny Colston is a journalism senior. E-mail kcolston@kykernel.com.

Lt. Fred Lisanby said Strickland ran a red light at Tates Creek and New Circle Road, nearly colliding with another vehicle. The incident happened at 2:55 a.m. Sunday.

The UK assistant and former NBA star has three previous DUI arrests. the most recent being a 2001 incident in Virginia. Strickland was convicted in 1998 for the same charge and completed a year probation and 30 hours of community service. In 1999, he was acquitted of charges relating to driving drunk in Washington.

This past season was the first for Strickland as an assistant at the collegiate level.

Strickland is scheduled in court on April 15 at 1 p.m.

If everyone on the current UK men’s basketball roster stays academically eligible through May 8, the Cats will have a full allotment of scholarships for UK head coach John Calipari’s second season at the helm.

Rumors have swirled about eligibility and UK’s potential Academic Progress Rating ever since a UK player took the last shot of the season. Most of it has been false or a little off-key. Some of it has only been half-right, with the wrong formulas but correct outcome.

But all in all, as long as a player ends the season in good academic standing, the Cats are in good shape with scholarships.

Created in 2005, the APR is suppose to force athletic departments to graduate at least 60 percent of their athletes in every varsity sport in the department. That is reached by getting a score of more than 925 (out of 1,000). Athletes can earn a maximum of two points per semester, four total in an academic year. One point is awarded each semester for academic eligibility; another point is awarded for staying in school.

But recent rule changes have made the system even easier for coaches to make sure they hit the mark with the APR.
Originally, transfers and early departures hurt a school. Thanks to the changes, UK athletics spokesman DeWayne Peevy said that isn’t the case anymore.

An athlete who finishes a semester in good academic standing will not hurt a school if they transfer or turn pro, Peevy said. Such a move would have made a school lose a point in the past, but now, the retention point dissolves completely.

For example, sharpshooter Jodie Meeks left UK after his junior year to play in the NBA. Because Meeks left in good standing, he earned a perfect 1/1 in his final semester, instead of earning a 1/2 score. Likewise, big man Matthew Pilgrim transferred to Oklahoma State in the wake of Billy Gillispie’s firing, but because Pilgrim left in good academic standing, he too left with a perfect score of 1/1 in the final semester.

Confused yet?

Let me simplify once again — it doesn’t matter if John Wall turns pro or Darnell Dodson transfers. As long as an athlete remains in good academic standing, he will not hurt his school’s APR score.

The only exception is when an athlete leaves a school in bad academic standing. When that happens, it doesn’t matter if the athlete drops out completely, transfers or turns pro — he’s going to cost the school.

So it doesn’t matter, academically, if UK is the first school with four one-and-done players or if only four players return for next season. If they stay in school until the very end and earn a 2.0 grade point average, UK is safe.

Originally, the APR and the NBA’s one-and-done rule seemed to be on a crash course. One promoted academic excellence, the other, athletic excellence. The new rule changes the tracks from collision course to parallel paths. In fact, a school is awarded a bonus point anytime a former athlete comes back to finish a degree.

The trick is to keep the one-and-dones in school to the very end of the year. So far, it looks like Calipari has mastered that aspect. And it very well could be that what UK is about to see is an anomaly, not the start of a new trend.

Rivals.com’s national recruiting analyst Jerry Meyer doesn’t think the Cats’ possible problem of four one-and-dones is necessarily a trend. The idea of four or more guys leaving a team at one time isn’t new, (Meyer cited the national championship team of Florida, which lost its Fab Four as juniors, as one example) but the idea of four freshmen will be.

“(This) could be the year that starts the trend,” Meyer said. “Depends on if a coach can get those players, not too many coaches are turning down those players. The only ones not recruiting them are the ones that know they can’t get them anyway.”

But the days of scholarship doom and gloom in the wake of recruiting those players are over. Recruit all the one-year players you want (and Calipari will). The trick isn’t necessarily keeping them for another year, it’s keeping them in school until summer break.

Do that, and a coach can have his cake and eat it too — coaching talent for miles, bringing home titles and acing the APR all in the same year.

Kenny Colston is a journalism senior. E-mail kcolston@kykernel.com.

Chad Ford, ESPN.com’s NBA Draft insider, has had both of those guys in the first round of his mock draft for a while. But in a posting today, Ford says that Bledsoe could be taken anyway from No. 10 to No. 20 in the draft as the second best point guard available.

Speaking on Orton, he names the Oklahoma City Thunder as high on the center and mentions Orton will probably go in the early 20s (but maybe higher).

As for Patrick Patterson, Ford projects him to go between No. 10 to No. 15. With those numbers, it’ll be hard to see why Bledsoe, Orton and Patterson would pass up the draft. Returning means injury risk and possibly a drop in draft stock.

You have to have an ESPN insider account to see the whole post.

First, his father, Larry, tells multiple media outlets that his son is going into the NBA Draft, but not hiring an agent (not necessarily a bad thing). Then he tells Larry Vaught that his son would have made DeMarcus Cousins look silly (uh oh).

Then UK Athletics releases a statement via Twitter from Daniel Orton saying he has not made a decision yet (OK?).

Then more reports come out about potential drama on the team this season, parents complaining about playing time, yadda, yadda, yadda (is this little league?).

Then of course, Daniel releases some more information on Twitter last night:
3 things I want to address: 1. I’ve never been a me first person. I came to UK bc I loved the fans. I care what they think of me.
2. I have a great relationship w ALL the coaches. 3. Demarcus is a GREAT player and he made me better and he deserves all the praise and accolades he’s received

How in the world has all this happened? Of course, if Orton wants to test the draft waters, no one should blame him. Anyone who has the skill set to go to the NBA should as soon as possible in order to get those millions before someone better comes along or a devastating injury happens (and remember, Daniel Orton already had a pretty bad knee injury his senior year of high school).

Yet the little leak from his father has ignited a drama that rivals a daytime soap opera. How, having seemingly scorned half the fan base, if not more, does Orton even return to UK and mend fences if he so chooses? Won’t this drama follow him around during a sophomore season? Any tantrum on the court will be magnified.

I feel bad for the kid (he is still a kid, don’t forget). He can’t win either way. But the best road Orton can take is the one that benefits him. If that means NBA, have fun. If it means UK, I’m sure he’ll eventually mend the fence.

Either way, someone let this kid know when an acting position on a daytime soap opera opens.

People are walking around campus in dark clothes, hoods up and eyes down. The only thing cutting through the solemnnity is the wind whipping around Patterson Office Tower.

There’s no joy or celebration, even though spring is here and Keeneland opens on Friday. It’s like a notable figure suddenly died and, like in the ancient Roman and Greek days, we are having a week of mourning to hail the tragic loss.

So who passed? Achilles? Odysseus? Another great warrior or king?

That’s the only explantation I can think of in regards to the all black attire, sad faces and general heaviness that has plagued UK’s campus for the last several days.

Wait? The men’s basketball team lost on Saturday, you say?

They made it to the Elite Eight, didn’t they? First time in five years for that, right?

Well then why is everyone so sad?

I’m kind of surprised Lexington didn’t throw a parade.

It’s time to change back into the spring colors, soak in the sun and enjoy what’s happened in the last year. After five years of downfall, the Cats are back. Blue is back.

Let’s take a quick look at some milestones UK achieved this year alone:

-The first to 2,000 wins.

-Winning its 44th regular season conference title and its 26th conference tournament title.

-Reaching the Elite Eight for the first time in five years

-Having two freshmen (John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins) named All-Americans, a feat no other school has ever accomplished.

That doesn’t even touch the many exciting games, Big Blue Madness, the John Wall dance (and shots, shots, shots, shots, everybody! Sorry, got carried away), and watching this team excel against all odds breaking records and carving a path that will never be forgotten.

So, remind me, why is everyone so sad again? No national title? Ah, I see. But thinking on it, was this year really the year to go for banner No. 8?

Think about it: Tubby Smith won No. 7 in his first year on the job. For the remaining 10 years he coached at UK, he could never top what he did in his first year. How do you top a national title? You can’t.

Smith eventually left because he achieved his top goal in his first year. Years 2-10 were always in that shadow. It’s an awful way to have to coach.

Do you want the same problem with John Calipari?

So everyone, listen up. Remove the funeral garb. Spend the next couple of weeks walking around campus with a smile on your face. Head over to the Johnson Center and hope the UK basketball team has wandered over to shoot hoops with the commonfolk (like they did on Tuesday) or hang around the blue courts between the Craft Center and Wildcat Lodge.

Enjoy Patrick Patterson, DeMarcus Cousins, John Wall and the rest. It may be the last time you see these UK legends.

Buy up jerseys, posters, books, whatever you can get your hands on. You’ll regret not doing so in a few years when the reality of this team’s purpose sets it.
Because this year isn’t a one-time thing. It’s not like UK has a bad coach who got lucky with a few kids and made a run.

UK has real talent, both on the sidelines and on the court. And if there is a mass exodus of players from this year’s squad, you can rest assured that a whole new batch of superstar freshmen will take their place.

The Elite Eight isn’t going to be a possibility every year, it’s going to be a destination. And a national title will come in due time.

Players come and go. That’s why fans buy jerseys and posters to remember them.

“There’s always next year” is a familiar saying for many fans who have teams with subpar performance year in and year out.

The difference is, UK fans can say “there’s always next year” and know that could mean a national title.

That’s something to smile about, isn’t it?

Kenny Colston is a journalism senior. E-mail kcolston@kykernel.com.

The article documents how Calipari is the top college coach on Twitter in terms of followers, how his Facebook page is a meeting place for many UK fans, how his CoachCal.com Web site is super popular and more.

It’s hard to argue with what Calipari is doing, considering the success he’s had at it. Even his newest venture, voice messages through Lexy.com, has been a hit so far.

In fact, it’s arguable that without UK’s head man, many of the people who follow the coach on his various Internet outlets wouldn’t be tweeting or Facebooking without him.

It’s a point that’s being driven home from Day 1. The man’s an ambassador and he’s on the cutting edge on how to be that type of coach.

Sweet!

Quickly, name the last time both the men’s and women’s basketball teams were in the Sweet 16 of their respective tournaments since both expanded to 64 teams?

Got the answer yet? Here, let me help.

Never.

Wait, what?

That’s right, the turnaround that both Matthew Mitchell and John Calipari are orchestrating has never been accomplished before.
And here’s how they are both doing it: with transfers and freshmen complementing the old guard.

The men’s team welcomed six newcomers including five freshmen and one transfer who have complemented what Darius Miller and Patrick Patterson were already doing.

For the women’s squad, add in Keyla Snowden, Rebecca Gray, A’dia Mathies and Crystal Riley as the main contributing newcomers to balance Amber Smith and Victoria Dunlap.

Both teams are dominating opponents and streamrolling into the regional semifinals. The only differences seem very small, with the men breaking in a new coach (Mitchell’s obviously been around for a few years) and one team accomplishing the feat 12 hours away while the other sealed the deal one hour down the road.

Otherwise, it’s hard to see major differences.

Both teams have the Southeastern Conference Freshmen of the Year and SEC Player of the Year. They both have a good point guard, a dominating post game and a wing player who can toss in anywhere from 10 to 30 points a game. They’re both young teams.

And the biggest similarity may be that no one outside the Commonwealth’s boundaries thought either team would make it this far.

In the preseason, Mitchell’s squad certainly was picked to finish second to last in the SEC, much less second in the East division. Getting to the tournament was seen as a wish. Getting to the Sweet 16 of that tournament? Let me know when pigs fly, OK?

For Calipari’s squad, they were picked as the first No. 1 seed to be bounced from the tournament. They’re still standing. Kansas, on the other hand, is back home.

Two teams, one university, one playing mentality — no one has our backs outside of our team and our fans.

Need proof? Listen to Mitchell after his team’s win on Monday night.

“Before the game, I told them I was afraid that this could be the last game we play together,” he said. “We couldn’t play with any fear, we had to put that behind us and I thought they played remarkably confident tonight for this situation. I didn’t think any fear crept in at all.”

And before the Cats matched up with Wake Forest, Calipari kept on one singular talking point: Every talking head says we’re going to lose this one and be the first No. 1 seed out of the tournament.

The worst team to play in any game is the team that has nothing to lose.

These Cats have nothing to lose. And those teams are the most dangerous to play.

UK basketball. How sweet things have been.

Good news for fans is, this is probably only the beginning.

Kenny Colston is a journalism senior. E-mail kcolston@kykernel.com.