5 Kentucky high school players that didn't pick UK, but you wish they had.

[TopCatCal]

My 5 would be

1. Wes Unseld
2. Jim McDaniels
3. Jim Rose
4. Dave Cowens
5. Darrell Griffith

Unseld - If the SEC would have allowed black players a few years earlier. Imagine Unseld the man with the greatest outlet pass in history as the starting center on Rupp Runts... Can you say undefeated.

McDaniels & Rose - With Unseld breaking the color barrier a few years earlier. That would have made it much easier to have signed McDaniels & Rose. This time imagine McDaniels & Rose on UK's 1970 team along side Dan Issel, Mike Pratt & a healthy Mike Casey. A starting 5 of Pratt. Issel, McDaniels, Casey Rose. Would have been UK's greatest team ever.

Cowens- Don't remember him as a high school or college player. I do remember him as a NBA player. Add Cowens to UK's 1970 team. Now we're talking about not only UK's greatest team ever. But arguably the greatest team in the history of college basketball.... Some of that roster would have looked like
1. Mike Pratt All-SEC
2. Dan Issel Hall of Fame
3. Jim McDaniels All- American
4. Mike Casey All- SEC
5. Jim Rose All- OVC
6. Larry Steele 9 year NBA veteran
7. Tom Parker 1972 SEC player of the year
8. Dave Cowens Hall of Fame
9. Kent Hollenbeck Avg. 14.0 ppg in 70-71
10. Stan Key Avg. 12.4 ppg in 71-72

Griffith - How great would it have been to have to have stole Griffith from UL ?

 

[catrecruit]

Allan Houston

Jeff Lamp

 

[Nuke99m]

Chris Lofton
Jeff Lamp
J.R. Van hoose
Wesley Cox
Felton Spencer

 

[catsfanbgky]

Bud Mackey
Scotty Hopson
Chane Behannon



For real

Greg Buckner (mini Winston Bennett from Hopkinsville,KY UHA)
Trevion Hollingsworth (this year, we didn't offer though) Kid will be good.
Chris Lofton (scoring machine)
Darrel Griffith ( favorite UL player)
Allan Houston (strictly the basketball talent)

 

[Wall2Wall]

I played some 5-on-5 pick up ball back in 2010 and Chris Lofton was on the other team. Not sure he missed a shot all day. That dude could flat out get buckets and I still have no clue why Tubby never offered him.

 

[Col. Angus]

I played some 5-on-5 pick up ball back in 2010 and Chris Lofton was on the other team. Not sure he missed a shot all day. That dude could flat out get buckets and I still have no clue why Tubby never offered him.

Because the guards he already had coming in for that year were McDonald's All-American Joe Crawford, top 75 Ramel Bradley, and WKU transfer Patrick Sparks. On paper all were better than Lofton.

 

[mebeblue2]

I played some 5-on-5 pick up ball back in 2010 and Chris Lofton was on the other team. Not sure he missed a shot all day. That dude could flat out get buckets and I still have no clue why Tubby never offered him.

Rondo
Crawford
Bradley
that is why he never offered
coming out of H.S. which of those three would you have taken Lofton over?
the bigger question is why he only had a couple of major D1 offers (UT and UC?)

 

[Wall2Boogie]

I think him and his career would of turned out different but I would throw oj mayo in there as well

 

[morgousky]

The argument that Lofton couldn't be offered a spot because of our recruiting class isn't true. Lofton wanted to play at UK anyway, and we offered Brandon Stockton his ride.

Tubby simply missed on Lofton.

Not suprising.

 

[Sawnee Cat]

1. King Kelly Coleman
2. Darrell Griffith
3. Ron King
4. Wes Unseld
5. Jeff Lamp

In no particular order but if I had only one it would be Wes Unseld.

 

[Catapult]

My 5 would be

1. Wes Unseld
2. Jim McDaniels
3. Jim Rose
4. Dave Cowens
5. Darrell Griffith

Unseld - If the SEC would have allowed black players a few years earlier. Imagine Unseld the man with the greatest outlet pass in history as the starting center on Rupp Runts... Can you say undefeated.

McDaniels & Rose - With Unseld breaking the color barrier a few years earlier. That would have made it much easier to have signed McDaniels & Rose. This time imagine McDaniels & Rose on UK's 1970 team along side Dan Issel, Mike Pratt & a healthy Mike Casey. A starting 5 of Pratt. Issel, McDaniels, Casey Rose. Would have been UK's greatest team ever.

Cowens- Don't remember him as a high school or college player. I do remember him as a NBA player. Add Cowens to UK's 1970 team. Now we're talking about not only UK's greatest team ever. But arguably the greatest team in the history of college basketball.... Some of that roster would have looked like
1. Mike Pratt All-SEC
2. Dan Issel Hall of Fame
3. Jim McDaniels All- American
4. Mike Casey All- SEC
5. Jim Rose All- OVC
6. Larry Steele 9 year NBA veteran
7. Tom Parker 1972 SEC player of the year
8. Dave Cowens Hall of Fame
9. Kent Hollenbeck Avg. 14.0 ppg in 70-71
10. Stan Key Avg. 12.4 ppg in 71-72

Griffith - How great would it have been to have to have stole Griffith from UL ?

Would rather of had Jerome Perry out of Manual than Jim Rose. I was at Western during their time. Perry was the better player before he blew out his knee.

 

[Big Foot 275]

Butch Beard
Wes Unseld
Darrell Griffith
Allen Houston
Chris Lofton
That wouldn't be a bad starting five.

 

[wcc31]

Not sure how any list could be without Beard and Unseld.

 

[56gregory]

My 5 would be

1. Wes Unseld
2. Jim McDaniels
3. Jim Rose
4. Dave Cowens
5. Darrell Griffith

Unseld - If the SEC would have allowed black players a few years earlier. Imagine Unseld the man with the greatest outlet pass in history as the starting center on Rupp Runts... Can you say undefeated.

McDaniels & Rose - With Unseld breaking the color barrier a few years earlier. That would have made it much easier to have signed McDaniels & Rose. This time imagine McDaniels & Rose on UK's 1970 team along side Dan Issel, Mike Pratt & a healthy Mike Casey. A starting 5 of Pratt. Issel, McDaniels, Casey Rose. Would have been UK's greatest team ever.

Cowens- Don't remember him as a high school or college player. I do remember him as a NBA player. Add Cowens to UK's 1970 team. Now we're talking about not only UK's greatest team ever. But arguably the greatest team in the history of college basketball.... Some of that roster would have looked like
1. Mike Pratt All-SEC
2. Dan Issel Hall of Fame
3. Jim McDaniels All- American
4. Mike Casey All- SEC
5. Jim Rose All- OVC
6. Larry Steele 9 year NBA veteran
7. Tom Parker 1972 SEC player of the year
8. Dave Cowens Hall of Fame
9. Kent Hollenbeck Avg. 14.0 ppg in 70-71
10. Stan Key Avg. 12.4 ppg in 71-72

Griffith - How great would it have been to have to have stole Griffith from UL ?

Wes Unseld
Ron King
Otto Petty
Fenoil Crook
Butch Beard
Mike Sillman (hope the spelling is correct
Wayne Golden
Duran Rudy Macklin
Ron Thomea (U of L and the Colonels aka the chairman of the boards)

Butch Beard
Wes Unseld
Darrell Griffith
Allen Houston
Chris Lofton
That wouldn't be a bad starting five.

Not sure how any list could be without Beard and Unseld.

 

[56gregory]

Wes Unseld
Ron KingFSU
Otto Petty FSU
Fenoil Crook CENTRAL HIGH
Butch Beard
Mike Sillman (hope the spelling is correct) ST X MR BASKETBALL WENT TO ARMY
Wayne Golden SHAWNEE HIGH ( was the better player in high school)
Duran Rudy Macklin SHAWNEE High
Ron Thomea (TJ High school U of L and the Colonels aka the chairman of the boards)
Clem the Gem Haskins

 

[JPScott]

The argument that Lofton couldn't be offered a spot because of our recruiting class isn't true. Lofton wanted to play at UK anyway, and we offered Brandon Stockton his ride.

Tubby simply missed on Lofton.

Not suprising.

Brandon Stockton? Stockton was two classes ahead of the Rondo-Bradley-Crawford class.

 

[uky8unc5]

My 5 would be:
1. Wes Unseld
2. Jim McDaniels
3. Jim Rose
4. Dave Cowens
5. Darrell Griffith

Butch Beard instead of Jim Rose...and drop the microphone.

 

[JPScott]

My 5 would be

1. Wes Unseld
2. Jim McDaniels
3. Jim Rose
4. Dave Cowens
5. Darrell Griffith

Unseld - If the SEC would have allowed black players a few years earlier. Imagine Unseld the man with the greatest outlet pass in history as the starting center on Rupp Runts... Can you say undefeated.

Rupp did offer a scholarship to Unseld. Instead Unseld chose to go to his hometown school where he didn't have to play in the Deep South.

 

[morgousky]

Brandon Stockton? Stockton was two classes ahead of the Rondo-Bradley-Crawford class.

Jp stop CORRECTING ME. haha.

Maybe I was thinking the argument at the time was he took Stockton but wouldn't take lofton and I conflated it. It's been a while. But it seems like he stiffed lofton for someone at the time who didn't turn out. My memory has gotten worse since I left my 20's.

 

[TopCatCal]

Butch Beard instead of Jim Rose...and drop the microphone.

I agree with you 100% that Butch Beard was a better player than Jim Rose. The reason I picked Rose instead of Beard was because I was a UK fan when Rose was playing college basketball. Beard played at UL be for I became a college BB fan. The same with Unseld. But because Unseld would have made the Runts so unbelievable, even though I never saw the Runts play. Well, that why I picked Rose over Beard.

 

[Wall2Wall]

Rondo
Crawford
Bradley
that is why he never offered
coming out of H.S. which of those three would you have taken Lofton over?
the bigger question is why he only had a couple of major D1 offers (UT and UC?)

True, we had some great guards coming in. Rondo was a surprise once Telfair announced he was going league. Crawford was a great top 10 get. I somewhat disagree with Bradley being a clear cut choice over Lofton, though. Bradley was toward the bottom of the top 100 in most ranking with Lofton being behind him. To not even offer a kid who was from the area, wanted to play at UK and could light it up from three (I personally saw it when he broke Richie Farmer's record for most three pointers in a title game against Ballard in 2003). I think the kid earned an offer.

 

[bucsrule8872]

Recently, I would have liked to have had Scotty Hopson and Shelvin Mack.

If Cal would have been our coach in 2008, I think we get those two and Miller.

That would have been a great in-state haul. Three of the best Kentucky players coming out of HS in the last 20+ years in one class.

Hopson is a OAD lottery pick under Cal.

Put Mack on the 2010 squad and no way we go 2 for 20 something from 3 against WVU.

 

[2Adulterers]

My 5 would be

1. Wes Unseld
2. Jim McDaniels
3. Jim Rose
4. Dave Cowens
5. Darrell Griffith

Unseld - If the SEC would have allowed black players a few years earlier. Imagine Unseld the man with the greatest outlet pass in history as the starting center on Rupp Runts... Can you say undefeated.

McDaniels & Rose - With Unseld breaking the color barrier a few years earlier. That would have made it much easier to have signed McDaniels & Rose. This time imagine McDaniels & Rose on UK's 1970 team along side Dan Issel, Mike Pratt & a healthy Mike Casey. A starting 5 of Pratt. Issel, McDaniels, Casey Rose. Would have been UK's greatest team ever.

Cowens- Don't remember him as a high school or college player. I do remember him as a NBA player. Add Cowens to UK's 1970 team. Now we're talking about not only UK's greatest team ever. But arguably the greatest team in the history of college basketball.... Some of that roster would have looked like
1. Mike Pratt All-SEC
2. Dan Issel Hall of Fame
3. Jim McDaniels All- American
4. Mike Casey All- SEC
5. Jim Rose All- OVC
6. Larry Steele 9 year NBA veteran
7. Tom Parker 1972 SEC player of the year
8. Dave Cowens Hall of Fame
9. Kent Hollenbeck Avg. 14.0 ppg in 70-71
10. Stan Key Avg. 12.4 ppg in 71-72

Griffith - How great would it have been to have to have stole Griffith from UL ?

I am a Seneca teammate of Wes..the color barrier had nothing to do with it.His Mother wanted a safety guarantee because of the KKK down South Rupp wouldn't give that and he could not..UL was in the Missouri Valley Conference no games in Deep South..McDaniels had an advisor who ws a Scottsville Vet he demanded an $100,000 interest free loan from Rupp to get McDaniels to sign Coach Rupp told him to stick it..Casey was my Roomate at UK If he wasn't hurt in 1970 we win the Title...easy..Hollenbeck was plagued with injuries..Key was a great Guard as was Terry Mills..

 

[2Adulterers]

Rupp did offer a scholarship to Unseld. Instead Unseld chose to go to his hometown school where he didn't have to play in the Deep South.

Correct Mrs Unseld was scared of KKK she asked Rupp and Hall to protect Wes they could not honestly do that.

 

[ssorg]

Clem Haskins........Greg and Dwight Smith

 

[2Adulterers]

Wes Unseld
Ron King
Otto Petty
Fenoil Crook
Butch Beard
Mike Sillman (hope the spelling is correct
Wayne Golden
Duran Rudy Macklin
Ron Thomea (U of L and the Colonels aka the chairman of the boards)

Ron Thomas "the Plumber" Rudy Macklin went to LSU he wanted out of Kentucky UK never offered..Beard committed to Rupp but had signed a MVC Letter with Uavel..He honored the letter

 

[drbubba]

This thread is a good education for me. I didn't know about a lot of this. Nobody mentioned the Kentucky boys who went to Vandy. Nobody missed Cox and Goheen? Am I remembering the right names?

 

[The Simple Truth]

This thread is a good education for me. I didn't know about a lot of this. Nobody mentioned the Kentucky boys who went to Vandy. Nobody missed Cox and Goheen? Am I remembering the right names?

Yes Phil Cox and Barry Goheen

 

[katwest]

1.Wes Unseld
2.Dwight Smith
3.Butch Beard
4.Chris Lofton
5.Jim McDaniels

 

[BlueWorldOrder74]

The argument that Lofton couldn't be offered a spot because of our recruiting class isn't true. Lofton wanted to play at UK anyway, and we offered Brandon Stockton his ride.

Tubby simply missed on Lofton.

Not suprising.

Trash Can Juice!

 

[UK90]

Maybe I was thinking the argument at the time was he took Stockton but wouldn't take lofton and I conflated it. It's been a while. But it seems like he stiffed lofton for someone at the time who didn't turn out. My memory has gotten worse since I left my 20's.

No kidding. Brandon Stockton?

Fwiw, the three guards actually in our 05 freshman class were Rajon Rondo, Joe Crawford and Ramel Bradley. I think Tubby can be forgiven for offering those guys over Lofton, considering all three were far higher rated prospects at the time. I think almost any coach would've made the same decision.

 

[JimBR]

Kenny Higgs. I believe he played with Macklin at LSU.

 

[Kentucky fan 1989]

Would Lorton be the same player under Tubby like was at UT?

 

[catsfanbgky]

This thread is a good education for me. I didn't know about a lot of this. Nobody mentioned the Kentucky boys who went to Vandy. Nobody missed Cox and Goheen? Am I remembering the right names?

There was another kid that could fill it up from Marshall Co., Terry Birdsong.

My list consisted of people i actually watched play. Lots of the guys, Unseld on back was before my time.

 

[nickhorvathsuxazz]

1. Unseld
2. Griffith
3. Lofton
4. Houston
5. Elton Scott (to get a little marion county pipeline going)

 

[CELTICAT]

Unseld on Rupp's Runts changes history significantly.

 

[morgousky]

No kidding. Brandon Stockton?

Fwiw, the three guards actually in our 05 freshman class were Rajon Rondo, Joe Crawford and Ramel Bradley. I think Tubby can be forgiven for offering those guys over Lofton, considering all three were far higher rated prospects at the time. I think almost any coach would've made the same decision.

Yea I think I confused Stockton's recruitment with Bradley's.

Bradley was a four star, Lofton was Kentucky Mr. Basketball with a clutch shot. Tough call, and in Tubby fashion he made the wrong one. I love Bradley, but would have much rather had Lofton those years. He single handedly made Tennessee more attractive than UK during that run.

 

[The Simple Truth]

Kenny Higgs. I believe he played with Macklin at LSU.

Higgs and Rudy on different teams

 

[The Simple Truth]

Unseld on Rupp's Runts changes history significantly.

Amen Thad Jarecz at center was solid but Unsed was a Man among boys

 

[TeoJ]

Wes Unseld
Butch Beard
Mike Silliman
Clem Haskins
And no list complete without
King Kelly Coleman