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The Kentucky Wildcats have exceeded most experts (outside of the state of Kentucky) predictions for performance during the 2009-10 NCAA basketball season, as Coach Cal has relied upon starting 3 freshmen most of the season. Kentucky’s three star freshmen, John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, and DeMarcus Cousins have started most of the season along with Patrick Patterson, and Darius Miller. Darnell Dodson has started at times in place of Miller and once for Eric Bledsoe. The following are the starters averages through the Sweet 16 of the 2010 NCAA Tournament for the 2009-10 Kentucky Wildcats basketball team.

2010 Kentucky Wildcats Basketball Starting Lineup

2010 Kentucky Wildcats Starter – Point Guard – John Wall

John Wall was named the NCAA freshman of the year, SEC player of the year, SEC Freshman of the year, and to the first team all-SEC Team this season. Wall is averaging 16.6 ppg and 6.6 apg on the season. During the NCAA Tournament his scoring has been down a tad averaging 13 points a game but his assists per game have increased to just under 9 apg. He may lose the 2010 Naismith Award to Ohio State’s Evan Turner (just due to the number of future NBA players on Kentucky’s squad that results in a depression of his per game numbers), but Wall has been a consensus #1 pick in the 2010 NBA draft for the majority of the 2009-10 NCAA basketball season.

2010 Kentucky Wildcats Projected – Power Forward – Patrick Patterson

Patterson bypassed the 2009 NBA draft although he was projected to be a first round pick. He came back to improve his outside game, finish his degree, and to finally participate in a NCAA Tournament. Patterson has accomplished all of the above. He has been the team leader of the Wildcats this season with being the only junior starter. Patterson’s scoring and rebounds are down a tad this season at 14.5 ppg and 7.3 rpg, but he has demonstrated an ability to hit from 3 this year as well as to guard players on the wing. Patterson is currently projected to be a first round/low lottery pick in the 2010 NBA draft. Patterson was named to the first team All SEC Team and to the SEC all-defensive team this season.

2010 Kentucky Wildcats Projected Starter – Center – DeMarcus Cousins

DeMarcus Cousins has not disappointed this season. He was named to the first team All SEC team and the All Frshmen team. For the season to date, he has averaged just under a double-double at 15.1 ppg and 9.9 rpg. He also gets just under 2 blocks a game, and he does all this with only playing 23.4 minutes per game. Cousins play his freshman year has been likened to former SEC big man, Shaq. With his improvement in play this season, Cousins has improved his draft odds on most 2010 NBA mock drafts to a high lottery pick.

2010 Kentucky Wildcats Starter – Small Forward/Wing Guard – Darius Miller

Darius Miller has had ups and downs this season. When he has been hot, the Wildcats have been almost unbeatable. As Miller continues to improve, look for him to be one of the leaders on the 2010-11 Wildcats roster. For the 2009-10 season, he has averaged 6.6 ppg, 2.5 rpg, and 1.6 apg while shooting 35% from 3. He had a career high of 20 points against Wake Forest in the 2^nd round of the 2010 NCAA tournament and has scored in double figures 7 times this season.

2010 Kentucky Wildcats Starter – Shooting Guard – Eric Bledsoe

Bledsoe gets lost in the press a bit due to playing with Cousins and Wall, but when he’s been hot, he has been almost unstoppable. He averages 11.4 ppg this season with shooting just under 40% from 3, and gets just under 3 assists per game and 1.4 steals a game. Bledsoe was named to the 2010 All SEC Freshman team. Bledsoe has started showing up in some 2010 NBA mock drafts, but its unknown whether he will declare in 2010 or return for his sophomore season to improve his draft status as the primary point guard for the Wildcats.

2010 Kentucky Wildcats Starting Line-Up:

PG: John Wall

SG: Eric Bledsoe

SF: Darius Miller

PF: Patrick Patterson

C: DeMarcus Cousins

Haven’t seen the John Wall Dance? We’ve collected some of the John Wall dance videos on the web for you to check out.

The following is a guest post from Andy Charles who regularly contributes to Bet Fair.

Kentucky’s hopes of going a long way this season have been boosted by the news that point guard John Wall has been cleared to play by the NCAA.

Although Wall will have to sit out two games – only one of those a regular season outing – he will be eligible from their November 16 clash with Miami (Ohio) and gives the Wildcats a real prospect to work with.

Wall has long been considered one of the top high-school players in the country and Kentucky were desperate to get him on board for the season, coach John Calipari’s first in charge since his sterling efforts with the Memphis Tigers.

His status had been in doubt over a possible relationship with his AAU coach Brian Clifton, who is a certified agent, since any connection with him would have left his amateur status in tatters and probably meant a move to play professionally in Europe.

The freshman out of Raleigh, NC, joins a roster full of talent and including a pre-season All-American in Patrick Patterson, who averaged 17.9 points per game last season    on a team he and Jodie Meeks, now involved in the NBA Picks, dominated.

But in Wall the Wildcats have a far better (and less greedy) ball handler than Meeks and he could rival many of the recent star point guards in college, with Calipari already saying he was more advanced at this stage than either Derrick Rose or Tyreke Evans – high praise indeed.

Wall and Patterson’s talent mean it is imperative that Kentucky does not match last season’s failure to even make the NCAA Tournament in March – indeed failure to make the Elite Eight would be a disappointment given the resources at hand.

And Calipari will be aware that in both of the last two seasons, the Wildcats have suffered early shock defeats (2007 to Gardner-Webb and last year to Virginia Military) which put them behind the eight-ball before things had really gotten started.

As for pre-season top five basketball picks, there is no room for that kind of error, and Wall will have to get up to speed quickly with early December games against North Carolina and Connecticut on the slate and a tough SEC season to look forward to as well.

I, for one, can’t wait for the games to start!

I have to admit, I thought Patrick Patterson would go pro in the 2009 NBA draft when he started being projected to be a first round pick. He stayed in college for one more year to finish his degree and spend a year under new Kentucky Coach, John Calipari’s tutelage to help enhance his “away from the rim” skills. Patterson may see his overall numbers dip a bit now that the Wildcats have a few more options than have Jodie Meeks shoot the 3ball and Patterson shoot it inside, but he enters the 2009-10 season as one of the best inside-men in college basketball. The defending champion North Carolina Tar Heels, however, have Ed Davis coming back to help lead their national title defense. Two freshmen make my “top ten ” of power forwards based on their pedigrees entering their freshman seasons: Kentucky’s DeMarcus Cousins, and Georgia Tech’s Derrick Favors. Yes, Cousins would be labeled a center at most colleges, but don’t be surprised to see him listed as a second PF on the lineup. Favors will get more touches at Tech, and look out for these two highly touted Frosh.

Top 10 2009-10 NCAA Basketball Power Forwards

#1 2009-10 NCAA Basketball Power Forward - Patrick Patterson, Kentucky

Now that Kentucky has two big time post players to complement Patrick Patterson in DeMarcus Cousins and Daniel Orton, we’ll finally get a chance to see what Patterson can do this season. Not that his 17.9 points per game last season were any small effort, but by making Patterson free to not have to guard the opposing center every game, Patterson could quickly become one of the Naismith Player of the year candidates this season at Kentucky. Expect to see him go high in the 2010 NBA draft.
#2 2009-10 NCAA Basketball Power Forward -Ed Davis, North Carolina
For the Tar Heels to have a decent shot at defending their 2009 NCAA Tournament title, Ed Davis will need to have a huge year. He’s capable of doing so, and now that he’ll be one of the primary focuses of the North Caroline offense, regular double-doubles out of Davis may become the norm when watching the Tar Heels play this season.

#3 2009-10 NCAA Basketball Power Forward -Al-Farouq Aminu, Wake Forest
It was surprising to see both Aminu and Patterson pass up a chance to go to the NBA in the 2009 draft. WIth Aminu returning for another season at Wake, expect to see his numbers increase and for Wake Forest to be in the thick of the ACC race.
#4 2009-10 NCAA Basketball Power Forward -Devin Ebanks, West Virginia

Devin Ebanks really started to grow-up as a basketball player last season at West Virginia. Over the last third of the Mountaineers season, he averaged more than 10 rebounds a game. He’ll be playing a key role in West Virginia’s Big East title hopes this season.
#5 2009-10 NCAA Basketball Power Forward -Craig Brackins, Iowa State
Craig Brackins has continued to increase his scoring and rebounding production over the past two seasons. Now he just needs to show he can help his team win more ball games this coming season.
#6 2009-10 NCAA Basketball Power Forward -Derrick Favors, Georgia Tech
One of two incoming frosh on my top ten. It was a toss-up to me on whether to list Favors or Cousins in this spot, but since Favors figures to get more touches on offense, at first glance it apears as though his numbers will be higher this season than Cousins.

#7 2009-10 NCAA Basketball Power Forward -DeMarcus Cousins, Kentucky
If you keep up with Kentucky basketball news, then you’ll know that Coach Cal has nothing but great things to say about Cousin’s inside game. Since it doesn’t seem to be “en vogue” to be listed as a center now-a-days if you’re under 7′ tall, expect to see Cousins listed as a second PF on Kentucky’s roster this season next to Patterson in the starting lineup.

#8 2009-10 NCAA Basketball Power Forward -Trevor Booker, Clemson

If Clemson can reliably get him the ball game in and game out, we’ll see a huge season out of Booker this year in the ACC.

#9 2009-10 NCAA Basketball Power Forward -Lance Thomas, Duke
I know, if you’re not a Duke fan you might be like ? Well, Lance Thomas didn’t crack the 6 ppg mark last season, but he nailed over 60% of his field goals and now that he’s entering his senior year, he’s primed to have a big season for the Blue Devils at the PF position.

#10 2009-10 NCAA Basketball Power Forward -Lazar Hayward, Marquette
Hayware averaged 16.3 points per game last season without ever really being the primary focus for the offense. Expect a big year from him this season.

Close to Making my list:

Renardo Sidney, Mississippi State - If we ever get to see him play alongside Vernado, then he enters the top 10 somewhere near Favors and Cousins….but we’ll just have to wait and see.
Daniel Orton, Kentucky – Its just not right to list 3 bigs from the same team. I don’t see Cal getting all three of his premiere bigs enough touches this season to list Orton, Cousins, and Patterson on the same list. It won’t surprise me, however, to see some big games out of Orton this season.