The 2009–10 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team represented the University of Kentucky during the college basketball season of 2009–10. This season was the first of John Calipari's tenure as head coach; he accepted the position on March 31, 2009.
The Wildcats set several records this season. They became the first men's college basketball program to reach 2,000 wins by defeating the Drexel Dragons on December 21. Coach Calipari set a record for the most consecutive wins for a first-year Kentucky basketball coach at 19–0, surpassing Adolph Rupp's previous mark of 11–0. Kentucky also extended their existing records for most wins all-time, SEC regular-season championships, SEC tournament championships, NCAA tournament berths, and NCAA tournament wins.
The team was briefly ranked #1 in both the ESPN/Coaches poll and AP poll, and posted the best record in the NCAA (35–3) Off the court, Coach Calipari spearheaded an effort to raise money for victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, yielding $1.5 million and a congratulatory call from President Barack Obama.
Departures
Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes 43 Center 277 Georgetown, Kentucky Graduated 2 Guard 180 Lexington, Kentucky Left team 3 Guard 215 Sacramento, California Transferred 13 Guard 198 Modesto, California Left Team 23 Guard 208 Norcross, Georgia Entered 2009 NBA draft 30 Guard 185 Durham, North Carolina Left team 33 Forward 225 Cincinnati Transferred 15 Forward 225 Jacksonville, Florida Transferred 25 Guard 205 Baton Rouge, Louisiana Transferred
Class of 2009 signees
Class of 2010 signees
Roster
Depth chart
Schedule
!colspan=12 style="background:#005DAA; color:white;"| Exhibition
!colspan=12 style="background:#005DAA; color:white;"| Non-conference Regular Season
!colspan=12 style="background:#005DAA; color:white;"| SEC Regular Season
!colspan=12 style="text-align: center; background:#005DAA"|SEC Tournament
!colspan=12 style="text-align: center; background:#005DAA"|NCAA tournament
Statistics The team posted the following statistics: NameGPGSMin.Avg.FGFGAFG%3FG3FGA3FG%FTFTAFT%ORDRRBAvg.PFDQAst.TOBlk.Stl.Pts.Avg. John Wall 37 37 1,288 34.8 202 438 0.461 37 114 0.325 175 232 0.754 30 129 159 4.3 72 1 241 149 19 66 616 16.6 DeMarcus Cousins 38 37 893 23.5 206 369 0.558 1 6 0.167 162 268 0.604 156 220 376 9.9 122 2 38 78 67 37 575 15.1 Patrick Patterson 38 38 1,255 33.0 215 374 0.575 24 69 0.348 90 130 0.692 116 167 283 7.4 61 1 36 41 51 27 544 14.3 Eric Bledsoe 37 35 1,122 30.3 144 312 0.462 49 128 0.383 82 123 0.667 19 95 114 3.1 82 1 107 112 12 52 419 11.3 Darius Miller 38 32 804 21.2 86 215 0.400 43 128 0.336 31 39 0.795 31 62 93 2.4 72 2 58 35 22 22 246 6.5 Darnell Dodson 35 7 506 14.5 70 192 0.365 50 144 0.347 19 25 0.760 16 72 88 2.5 40 0 17 23 9 15 209 6.0 DeAndre Liggins 29 0 445 15.3 36 86 0.419 14 44 0.318 23 39 0.590 18 48 66 2.3 42 1 24 17 8 20 109 3.8 Daniel Orton 38 0 502 13.2 48 91 0.527 0 2 0.000 33 63 0.524 45 81 126 3.3 88 5 15 38 52 21 129 3.4 Ramon Harris 36 2 395 11.0 21 62 0.339 5 31 0.161 20 33 0.606 30 45 75 2.1 27 0 23 26 5 11 67 1.9 Perry Stevenson 34 1 259 7.6 18 27 0.667 0 1 0.000 8 13 0.615 13 35 48 1.4 19 0 7 12 20 4 44 1.3 Josh Harrellson 22 0 88 4.0 12 26 0.462 2 4 0.500 2 2 1.000 9 18 27 1.2 8 0 0 6 7 2 28 1.2 Jon Hood 17 0 74 4.4 6 19 0.316 4 11 0.364 4 4 1.000 7 5 12 0.7 6 0 6 4 0 1 20 1.2 Mark Krebs 16 1 44 2.8 2 17 0.118 2 15 0.133 0 0 0.000 0 2 2 0.1 2 0 1 1 1 1 6 0.4 TEAM 38 58 57 115 3.0 0 5 0 Season Total 38 7,675 1,066 2,228 0.478 231 697 0.331 649 971 0.668 548 1,036 1,584 41.7 641 13 573 547 273 279 3,012 79.3 Opponents 38 7,675 875 2,314 0.378 245 783 0.313 473 688 0.688 488 789 1,277 33.6 795 418 531 119 261 2,468 64.9
Honors
Watch Lists
Weekly Awards
SEC Awards Wall was named SEC Player of the Year. Cousins, Patterson, and Wall were chosen to the first-team All-SEC by coaches and the media. Cousins was the SEC Freshman of the Year, and he, Bledsoe, and Wall were All-Freshman team selections by the coaches and media. Calipari was named SEC Coach of the Year by the coaches media.
National District Awards Wall was named District IV (Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida) Player of the Year, Calipari was named District IV Coach of the Year and Patterson was named to the All-District IV team by the USBWA. Cousins and Wall were listed on the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division I All-District 21 first team, while Patterson was listed on the second team on March 12.
All-American and National Awards Wall was a consensus first-team All-American, and Cousins was a consensus second-team All-American. The Associated Press named Cousins and Wall as first-team All-Americans. The USBWA named Wall a first-team All-American and Cousins a second-team All-American. The NABC named Wall a first-team All-American and Cousins a second-team All-American. The Sporting News named Wall a first-team All-American and Cousins a second-team All-American. John Wall became the first Kentucky player to win a National Player of the Year award as he won the Adolph Rupp Trophy.Adolph Rupp trophy winner: John Wall, Kentucky Wall also won the two Freshman of the Year awards as he was named USBWA National Freshman of the Year and Freshman of the Year by the Sporting News.KENTUCKY'S WALL IS 2009–10 USBWA NATIONAL FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Rankings
2010 NBA draft
On April 7 five players announced their intentions to enter the 2010 NBA draft. Five players declared themselves eligible for the draft: Bledsoe, Cousins, Orton, Patterson, and Wall. Leading up to the draft Wall, Cousins, and Patterson were projected as lottery picks. Meanwhile, Bledsoe and Orton were projected as possible first-round draft picks.
In the draft Wall was selected No. 1 by Washington. He was followed by Cousins, who went to the Sacramento Kings at No. 5; Patterson, who was taken by the Houston Rockets at No. 14; Bledsoe, who was chosen No. 18 by the Oklahoma City Thunder; and Orton, who was chosen No. 29 by the Orlando Magic. Wall became the first player in Kentucky history taken first in the draft. The five players taken in the first round tied the record for most players taken from one school in the first round.
NBA draft selections
Year Round Pick Overall Player NBA Club 2010 1 1 1 John Wall Washington Wizards 2010 1 5 5 DeMarcus Cousins Sacramento Kings 2010 1 14 14 Patrick Patterson Houston Rockets 2010 1 18 18 Eric Bledsoe Oklahoma City Thunder 2010 1 29 29 Daniel Orton Orlando Magic
References