Stanjames Sports Blog

Top basketball stars no when to accelerate their game and when to defer to their teammates. A top basketball star like Jamal Mashburn was at Kentucky proved that a top basketball star should know when to take a game over and when to include solid players like John Pelphrey and Ritchie Farmer into the offense. Showing off these top basketball skills not only guaranteed Jamal Mashburn a spot in the NBA Draft, but it also helped him rise to the top basketball level in the world and be picked in the lottery of the NBA Draft. A top basketball coach like Rick Pitino who had the proper balance between the NBA and the college game was able to aide Jamal in his rise to the top basketball rankings in the game. Even though Jamal only spent five seasons with the Dallas Mavericks I don't think many prognosticators including those on http://sports.stanjames.com can argue that it was not a top basketball selection and a smart decision to take Mashburn with the fourth overall pick in the 1993 Draft.

Because of Pitino's work with the likes of Mashburn. He was then able to recruit top basketball high school blue chippers like Ron Mercer and Walter McCarty to come to Kentucky. Pitino's teams at Kentucky were often loaded with top basketball talent. Pitino had his guys get out and pressure the basketball with one of the fiercest top basketball defensive schemes out there. Mercer and McCarty would also spend some years in the NBA with some of the top basketball organizations around. Pitino even tried the NBA again himself as a coach by bringing some of his Kentucky players to Boston in an attempt to make Boston a top basketball franchise again.

Pitino's work at Kentucky also helped his successor Tubby Smith be able to land another top basketball recruiting class. Smith was able to keep Kentucky as one of the top basketball programs in the country by winning a national title on his own right during his time at the top basketball institution that is the University of Kentucky.