NEWARK – The University of Kentucky basketball program has had a pretty good year.
The Wildcats capped off a 38-2 season with a national championship on April 2. And Thursday, Kentucky became the first program in history to produce the top two picks of the NBA Draft.
We’ve known for quite some time that Anthony Davis would be the No. 1 pick. And a month ago, we learned that the New Orleans Hornets would be the lucky team to get him.
But then the Charlotte Bobcats surprised us a little by selecting Davis’ teammate Michael Kidd-Gilchrist with the No. 2 pick. To do that, the Cats passed on Thomas Robinson, who most draftniks had pegged as going second.
Charlotte, of course, needed help at every position and on both ends of the floor. There were multiple reports that they discussed trading the pick, but they apparently decided to keep it, and they apparently decided that Kidd-Gilchrist was the second-best player in the draft.
“It’s crazy,” Davis said of he and his teammate going 1-2. “Michael is a great player. We have two down and four more to go.”
The four more Wildcats followed: Terrence Jones went to Houston at No. 18, Marquis Teague went at No. 29 to Chicago, Doron Lamb at No. 42 to Milwaukee, and Darius Miller at No. 46 to New Orleans (where he’ll join Davis).
