By LARRY VAUGHT
If Noah Hawkins is right, Kentucky basketball fans are going to like John Calipari’s most recent signee a lot.
“He is 18 years old but has the maturity of an adult. You would think he is 50,” said Hawkins, who has known Hart since he was 5 years old. “The UK fan base will love him and how respectful he is. He’s a great kid and player.”
The 6-5, 180-pound Hart is a top-five player in Indiana and averaged 23.7 points per game for Linton-Stockton High School and shot about 40 percent from 3-point range. The Miners were Class AA state runner-up with a 29-2 record and he was named to the Indiana All-Star Team but missed the game against Kentucky because of a turf toe injury.
He was part of a sectional championship team four years and has more versatility and athleticism than some expect.
“He is an excellent shooter. His biggest strength in his shooting is he is open when he is not open. He can get his shot off. He knows the difference in the SEC versus high school but he’s 6-5 and has a great vertical (jump) that he uses well on his jump shot,” Hawkins said. “He has a very high release point on his shot.
“He’s got more bounce to him than most people realize and uses it on his shot. He gets open because he shoots above the defense. A 6-9 guy was on him in the state finals and he went up above him. He can get his shot but he’s also going to attack the rim and score.”
Hawkins’ 11-year-old son watches basketball a lot with his father. They go to Bloomington to watch the Indiana Hoosiers play and also go to Indiana Pacers games.
“We were sitting on the baseline at a IU game watching warmups and he said he wanted to go to the concession stand. I said didn’t he want to watch what the players were doing. He said, ‘No, Joey does all that.’ He had no interest in watching them dunk and stuff because he sees it every day with Joey,” Hawkins said.
Off the court, Hawkins says Hart is very mild mannered and a player youngsters really like.
“Joey is an incredible role model for my son and other kids,” Hawkins said. “I organize our youth basketball program and kids love Joey to death. As a coach and dad of a young boy, Joey is the kid you want your son looking up to.
“He doesn’t complain about things. He is very quiet off the court and I really don’t know how to emphasize just how quiet he is. He’s never in trouble. He’s a gym rat and just a good kid.”
Hawkins always thought he was a gym rat but says Porter showed him what a “real gym rat” was really like.
“I open the gym at 6:30 (a.m.) and he will already have a workout done and be ready to go for another one,” the coach said. “He’s always working. His dad coached against me in high school and then I started coaching with his dad.
“We are a small southern Indiana town but a basketball hotbed. People live and die with every game around here. His athleticism and bounce are the kind you just don’t see in this area. He’s not just a catch and shoot guy.”
Hart originally signed with Central Florida but got his release from the school in mid-May. Once he did, Kentucky got involved quickly.
“I was honestly surprised that there were not more Power Five schools involved all along with him,” Hawkins said. “There are roles to fill on every team. As a coach, you’ve got to have kids to fill roles. You don’t need five guys who can score or five who can rebound. You’ve got to have guys who fill roles and do their jobs. He can fit most systems and fill roles, so I was not surprised to see Kentucky reach out or him pick Kentucky.”
Darren Williams pitched four seasons at Eastern Kentucky University before transferring to Kentucky and pitching in nine games in 2023 before needing Tommy John surgery on his elbow when he was 3-0 with a 0.93 ERA in 29 innings.
The Mason County native was 4-2 this season with a 4.26 ERA in 63 1/3innings and was one of the main players Kentucky coach Nick Mingione used in UK’s march to the Super Regional. Kentucky’s season ended at LSU but Williams said it was still a “dream” year for him.
“I couldn’t even throw a baseball a year ago. And to be able to do what this team did, I’ll never forget it. Nobody picked us at all at the beginning of the year. And just the togetherness, the grittiness, unselfishness, like Coach always talks about. It’s so true,” Williams said after the final game. “That team loves each other, tight group, on and off the field. The dream season — what a Kentucky kid wants to do if he plays for Kentucky.”
Williams played against Mingione and UK when he was at Eastern Kentucky but joked he had “gotten so tight” with his coach over the last two seasons.
“One of the most influential men in my life, not just a good coach, a hell of a person. One of the best human beings I’ve ever met. And when I tore my elbow last year, he was just as emotional as a family member,” Williams said. So he means the world to me. I’m sure we’ll stay close forever.
“He lets us control the locker room. He’s not some crazy psycho coach that you’ve seen videos of before — genuine, honest to you. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I’ve loved to play baseball for that man. I wish I could do it again. I’ve had a hell of a two years with him. I appreciate everything he’s done for me.”
Williams knows UK’s 40-win season will have a lasting impact on the program but he says it started last year when UK lost three starting pitchers early in SEC play and somehow came back to make a run like no other No. 12 seed ever had in SEC Tournament play.
“We were down a whole weekend (pitching) rotation. In this league you don’t come back from that you don’t have any success after that. And what we did in the last month of the 2022 season, coming together with unselfishness, nobody cared what their role was anymore. They just wanted to win, somehow find a way to win,” Williams said.
“We made the best run a 12 seed has ever made in Hoover last year. That changes a program. And Coach recruited specific kinds of guys for this year’s team out of the transfer portal last year who just wanted to win. All they cared about was winning.
“And that’s what it takes in baseball. It’s a team game. You need one through 27 to buy in, not care about roles, just want to win for the guy next to you. That’s how we won 40 games this year.”
Do not tell Kentucky defensive line coach Anwar Stewart, a former UK player, that with SEC powers Georgia and Alabama both on the schedule that an eight-win season in 2023 would not be all that bad for the Cats.
“We don’t have to take a backseat to anyone,” Stewart said. “Having Liam (Coen) back offensively is really going to help. He is such a smart OC (offensive coordinator). He already has those guys dialed in.
“Definitely we are going to be ready to roll. We are a complete team. So when you say eight wins, I think we are better than those predictions. The next eight or so weeks are big for the development part of the entire team.”
That certainly includes the offensive line where Kentucky had issues last year. Coen said rebuilding the Big Blue Wall was his top priority when he returned to UK.
Stewart said he talks almost daily with UK offensive line coach Zach Yenser about how they can help each other during drills/practice.
“Let’s say we are installing and they are going to run outside zone schemes for the day. We will get together and work those blocking techniques,” Stewart said. “Me and Yenser work very closely together so he can get what he needs and I can get what I need for my guys.
“I have got to have that type of relationship and communication with the offensive line coach so we can both make our guys the best players they can be.”
Kentucky signee Emory Donaldson of Ballard was part of only the third team in Kentucky High School Athletic Association history to win consecutive state championships (Owensboro Catholic 1998-99 and Greenwood 2007-08 were the other two).
Ballard (36-1) also had a state record 61-game winning streak over the last two seasons.
“Both titles were different in their own way. The first one was the first state championship in Ballard history which was awesome,” said Donaldson. “This one was more bittersweet knowing it was my last game with this team.
“I think the first one was harder trying to get there and accomplish what we did. This year was a lot more fun because we knew we could do it because we had already done it.”
Donaldson hit .457 this season with 49 RBI’s, 12 home runs, 11 doubles, seven triples and 24 stolen bases.
Donaldson doesn’t think she’ll feel any added pressure at UK as a two-time state champion because of the talented recruiting class she’s part of.
“My parents attended UK. I grew up a UK fan attending softball and football games,” Donaldson said. “I got the call (from coach Rachel Lawson) and it was a dream come true. After my visit I knew if I got offered I was going. She extended the offer and I said I would absolutely like to go here.”
County music singer JD Shelburne has been a Kentucky basketball fan as long as he can remember and cannot wait to have a chance to take his young son to the Final Four the next time Kentucky gets there.
“I would give up my music career to play one year for Calipari in Rupp Arena,” Shelburne said.
He won’t be playing a season for Kentucky coach John Calipari but he will be playing in Rupp Arena when he participates in the John Calipari Fantasy Experience for adults 30 years of age or older Aug, 25-27.
Shelburne will be performing Aug. 25 at WinStar Farm as part of the fantasy camp experience.
“I will get to play some songs, tell him(Calipari) how wonderful Kentucky basketball is and wish him the best of luck next season,” Shelburne said. “They asked me about doing this at the (Kentucky) Derby and of course I immediately said yes.”
Shelburne will not be able to participate Aug. 26 because he has a concert in Louisville at the Kentucky State Fair.
“I have never done the fantasy camp so I will do the fist day, go to the state fair for my gig the second day and then be back for the last day of camp,” Shelburne said. “But the way I look at it, I am going to be a UK player for a weekend.
“I always wanted to be a UK player. I am excited to have Cal on my side and really excited about getting a Kentucky jersey.”
He is also singing the national anthem at Great American Ballpark for the Cincinnati Reds Aug. 19 and says he’ll “get a jersey with my name there, too.” Shelburne is also trying to work out a way to sing the national anthem at a Chicago Cubs game when he’s performing in Chicago.
He also dreams of singing the national anthem at Rupp Arena before a UK game.
“I have been waiting on that call for several years and still hope it will come,” Shelburne, a UK graduate, said.
Quote of the Week: “College basketball’s title game outdrew the closeout game of the NBA Finals. Like it does most years. Yet the way the media covers the NBA you’d think the league could do no wrong, and that college basketball is dead as a sport,” FoxSportsRadio host Aaron Torres on TV ratings for college basketball and NBA.
Quote of the Week 2: “I just take these lessons and I apply them to the next season. Whenever we go through adversity, I’m always going to look back and be like, we’ve been through adversity before. Having the 8 seed in the Finals isn’t normal. It isn’t easy. People think it depends on what seeding you are is how good you’re going to be. To me, that’s bull—-, and obviously this season showed different. I’m always going to believe that we’ve got a chance,” former UK player Bam Adebayo after the Miami Heat lost to Denver in the NBA Finals.
Quote of the Week 3: “So happy for Jamal and his family. (Parents) Roger and Sylvia sacrificed for this moment. Still remember when Jamal committed in my office and I listened to their story. It was emotional. He’s more than a GREAT player. He’s a great teammate. He’s a great player who remembers his past. Tyler Ulis and I sat together in Miami for Game 4 and Jamal called us down to the floor before the game to hug us,” John Calipari on Twitter after Murray helped Denver win the NBA championship.
