Seems like these days the only kids that want to compete for playing are the ones that go to Kentucky...
Let's be honest, it's not like Martin had 3 MCD AA he would be fighting for PT..
Kids today......V
It's a function of perceived benefits. Kentucky produces pros, period. Getting any material pt there is a safe bet to making the pros, whereas here, not so much. So a recruit will roll the dice if Coach Cal comes knocking that he will crack the lineup, as opposed to Lavin, who has to sell reasonably assured pt to entice good talent. Compounding matters, we just land Thomas, who will directly compete with him for pt during his last season. Martin would have been nice, but not sure he would have been the difference between making the NCAA tourney vs. NIT or worse.
+1. You can be a sixth man on UK and still find yourself drafted (see Daniel Orton). And above all else kids care about getting to the league.
Everything else is decoration.
The question that I revisit now and then is not simply how many players make it to the NBA from a certain school, but which schools have the most impact players.
When UK fans were getting all cocky about Cal's first good year with Wall, I used to retort that they hadn't had any good pros since Mashburn & Walker (along with citing Ricky's failed UK Celtics teams).
Since then, there a few very promising pros including Wall, but the statistical and visual truth is there haven't been any game changing players out of UK in a long while. If I'm a coach, I'd point to how many very good, all-star caliber pros went to other schools (or none at all). It's one way to strlke down the UK 2 NBA hype machine.