Farewell John Wall

John Wall takes Preston Knowles to school. I hope Preston took notes.

With all of the excitement going on in the Big Blue Nation yesterday and in the past couple of weeks, a little bit of sadness has swept over the land. Yesterday, John Wall gave his farewell press conference and reminded us all why he is so special.

Wall said that he owns only one suit right now and that was the one he wore to the press conference yesterday. He will have enough money to buy as many suits as he wants soon enough. He talked about how he is excited to help his mom buy a house and a car. He loves his mom, a lady that had to work two or three jobs at a time to make up for the loss of Wall's father when Wall was 9 years old.

He left the conference in time to make it to his geology class. There are many smarmy haters that have proclaimed that Wall dropped out of classes back in December and didn't care about school. Wrong. Wall will finish out the year and take his exams, improve on his 3.4 GPA and return to Lexington during the summers to finish his college degree, something that he promised his dying father that he would do.

Wall talked about how much he loved playing for Kentucky and how much he loved the fans. He proclaimed that he will always be a Wildcat and that he cherished his short time in Lexington. He talked about how he viewed John Calipari as a "father figure" and how much Cal helped him mature and develop into a better player. I have a feeling that we will see Wall as the "Y" in Kentucky and he will be a staple at games much like Ashley Judd. He and Boogie will have seats together, I am sure.

Am I happy that Brandon Knight is going to be UK's point guard next year? Absolutely. Am I excited to see Marquis Teague commit to play in 2011? You bet. Would I trade their commitments for Wall staying four years at the University of Kentucky? In a heart beat. That is not a knock against Knight or Teague, I can't wait to see them in the blue and white, but I already know that Wall can play and I know that he is a quality person. I'll miss the exuberance, that cockiness he displayed when he made that Sportscenter highlight dunk, the killer look in his eye when he was about to take the game over and the clutch plays. He only played for a year but I will miss John Wall as much as I miss Chuck Hayes and as much as I will miss Patrick Patterson. Players like Wall don't come around very often.

He has the talent of Derek Rose and Tyreke Evans but they lack his charisma. I doubt the fans in Memphis felt the attachment for those players that the fans at UK have for Wall. I'm not sure how Wall will do in the NBA and honestly I don't care. I know how good he was for the Cats. He didn't win a national title but he started the wheels into motion for one. He electrified a stale program and showed us how to win again and win with pride and gusto. He also introduced the country to the John Wall Dance, something that we will all be doing for years to come.