Famed Rucker Memorial Playground, where players such as Julius Erving and Connie Hawkins once roamed, Jamal Mashburn honed his incredible basketball skills to a fine point. The Cardinal Hayes High star would go on to become what many believe to be the most important recruit in the history of Kentucky.
Mashburn signified the emergence of Kentucky from the dark days of Eddie Sutton and ushered in the dominating reign of Rick Pitino. From 1990 to 1993 Mashburn was unstoppable and by his junior year had become a first team All-American and future top-4 pick in the NBA draft.
Mashburn meant more to Kentucky than just his incredible contributions on the court. He meant that Kentucky had once again staked its claim as college basketball's ruling dynasty and over the course of the next decade after Mashburn's recruitment Kentucky would go on to win 8 SEC Tournament Crowns, appear in 4 Final Fours, 3 NCAA Championship games, and win 2 NCAA Championships.
Now comes Patrick Patterson under the helm of an equally driven coach. A man possessed by the game of basketball. Billy Gillispie is consumed by the game and is coming in to Kentucky after one of the most disappointing runs in school history that saw Kentucky lose 10 or more games in 5 of Tubby Smith's last 8 seasons. Unprecedented in all of Kentucky's storied history.
Deja Vu? Have we seen these things before?
I believe we have. We are witnessing the dawn of yet another unstoppable Kentucky Dynasty and you can feel history surging. A critical mass building towards some fantastic explosion of tournament crowns and NCAA Final Fours.
Kentucky is primed and hungry and is ready to feast. The college basketball world casts a wary eye on the horizon as the lions have awakened at Kentucky and they mean to hunt. You better believe Billy Gillispie's amazing job has them wondering who or what will be able to stop him.
Patrick Patterson is our next Jamal Mashburn. While Mashburn himself never won a National Championship at Kentucky, he is responsible for ushering in one of the greatest runs in Kentucky basketball history. Not only does Patrick Patterson mean we are back, he means its time add another shelf to the trophy cabinet as Billy Gillispie is not afflicted with the NBA aspirations that drove Pitino from Camelot and to his ultimate humiliation in Boston.
Gillispie will build it, and once again they will come. Only this time, we're not leaving.
The Crow Nation - 05/17/07
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