It came, we saw, UK Conqurer. The Draft Cats took the first spot in the 2010 NBA Draft, when John Wall, unsurprisingly, went to the Washington Wizards. Wall managed to sneak his way in between the 4th and 5th spot too with his Reebok commercial (featuring the John Wall Dance).
Evan Turner soon left for Philly at #2 and Derrick Favors went to the Russian New Jersey Nets. Wesley Johnson was paired up with former 'Cuse star Johnny Flynn.
The next Cat went off the board at #5 to the Sacramento. While Demarcus was a King at Kentucky, he'll now be with the Kings of California. Wearing a purple shirt and tie, Boogie seemingly knew he was perfectly suited for the Kings. Jay Bilas praised him highly, which was a surprise, and Jeff Van Gundy said it plainly that he doesn't know about any off-court issues, but Cousins can rebound and any good coach can get him in shape. He'll be playing with Cal's #4 pick Tyreke Evans next season.
The Warriors chose Ekpe Udoh from Baylor with the 6th pick. Udoh was the highest pick from Baylor in school history.
The Detroit Pistons took Greg Monroe out of Georgetown at #7. The 6'10" PF is another big man from a school known to send size to the NBA. The only question is, will Monroe turn into a Patrick Ewing or a Hasheem Thabeet
For the #8 pick, the LA Clippers selected Al'Farouq Aminu from Wake Forest. "Al-Farouq" meaning "The King has Arrived", Stewart Scott says Aminu comes from a line of Nigerian Kings.
Using New York's 2010 first round pick, Utah selected #9 and took Gordon Hayward from Butler. I think this would have been a good spot for Kentucky's Patrick Patterson, but playing for Jerry Sloan and the Jazz should be a good fit for both the player and the team. Bilas says Gordon Hayward reminds him of Luke Jackson... Jackson averaged 3.3 ppg in his 4 years in the NBA.
The Pacers bypassed Ringo and John and picked the other pair of Beetles with Paul George from Fresno State at #10.
Kansas' Cole Aldrich went to New Orleans as the #11 overall pick. Aldrich reminds me of a Greg Ostertag - other than Ostertag had all of his teeth. If he's going to make it in the league, Chris Paul will need to teach him a thing or two - mainly to bend his hat bill.
#12 the Memphis Grizzlies take Xavier (remember it's Zaa-vee-yay) Henry of almost Kentucky fame, but instead he was KU's second in a row. Henry planned to go to Memphis last year, but he'll get paid to play there now.
The only remaining Canadian team, the Toronto Raptors, selected Ed Davis from North Carolina at #13. Davis missed 13 games of 2010 during his sophomore year due to a broken wrist, but managed to lead his team to the NIT finals. That must count for something, as the Raptors selected him over Patrick Patterson - a leader and player with more points, skills, maturity, etc. etc.
The Rockets, having Yao Ming injured this year, started Chuck Hayes in every game at Center. Hayes a high quality, high caliber guy, is a mirror image of the #14 pick Patrick Patterson. Patterson comes in with leadership, attitude, and effort and sneaks into the lottery as Kentucky's third selection.
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That wraps up the lottery analysis. I'll be back on late tonight or in the morning to wrap-up the rest of the 1st round and let you know where the rest of the Cats and if any Cards went! Follow me on twitter (http://www.twitter.com/sportsthat) for up-to-date live results!
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