Go back and look at the list of players from the 70's and 80's. A lot were solid players but many didn't live up to the hype. Many didn't have the college careers some kids in the 90's and 2000's had.

Bennet,Kimbro,Forrest,Farmer didn't pan out like most thought.

DeWayne Morton and Jason Osbourne didn't do what folks thought they would in college based on high school hype.

Name the last great University of Kentucky player from the state of Kentucky.

 

That's as much a UK issue as it is a Kentucky High School issue.

 

UofL and UK have both discovered that to win national championships these days you better grab the best guys in whatever state you can find them.

 

I also think that the point about Derek Anderson, Rajon Rondo, and D'Angelo Russell is a legitimate one. They left because prep schools have become such a big deal. They'd have been absolute Kentucky high school legends had they stayed.

 

Eastern would have been awesome with Rondo.

 

I'm still convinced that Central would have been the best team in the city in 2012-13 if Russell had stayed to play alongside Stuart Jackson and the rest of that team.

60s----Clem Haskins, Butch Beard, Jim McDaniels.

Jim Rose of Hazard played about this time. Was starting 6'4 guard on the WKU team that made it to the FF in 1971. I think that's the year.

 

His high school team was in the state tournament throughout his high school career. Lost to Breckinridge County and Butch Beard in a close game in the semi's in 1966. Breckinridge went on to win the title.

Elijah Pittman?

 

Elijah Pittman has been playing professional ball in Morocco for the Wydad Casablanca Basketball team, and has immediately risen to be considered the top player of their team.

 

Missteps along the way got him booted from Marshall, and kept out of the NBA, but I'm happy to see that he's playing somewhere, and in a strange way he's probably having the time of his life playing ball in an exotic country. Hopefully he continues to have great success there and that his future translates to only good things for him.

 

Who knows, the idea of him coming back to play in the NBA one day is still not a lost cause and is very doable. He's only 23. Obviously there could be some Moroccan temptations that could cut his chances short, but ultimately if he can do over there what he pleases and still play basketball, then maybe Morocco is a perfect fit for him anyhow.

I was adding him to the list not questioning him.

I was adding him to the list not questioning him.

 

Cool... I just thought that it would be a good time to add an update on him since you brought him up.

Has anyone mentioned Rudy Macklin from one of the Louisville high schools in the early 1980s? UK thought they had him and I believe he had told them he was going to sign with them, then at the last moment he changed his mind and signed with Dale Brown and LSU. He was about 6'7 or 6'8 and was built strong. A lefty, he was a great scorer and rebounder. He had a great career at LSU.

I always hated that UK missed on him.

Has anyone mentioned Rudy Macklin from one of the Louisville high schools in the early 1980s? UK thought they had him and I believe he had told them he was going to sign with them, then at the last moment he changed his mind and signed with Dale Brown and LSU. He was about 6'7 or 6'8 and was built strong. A lefty, he was a great scorer and rebounder. He had a great career at LSU.

I always hated that UK missed on him.

 

Rudy Macklin played at Shawnee. Definitely deserves to be part of the discussion.

I can't believe probably the best high school player barely mentioned would be in the conversation for the best ever in Kentucky, Wes Unseld from Louisville Seneca. The man was just a beast. If he would have gone to Kentucky his legend would be monumental, but we all know why he didn't or couldn't in the mid-60's.

 

Some others not mentioned, Leonard Coulter from Danville, Ron King for Louisville Central, Eugene Lyons from Virgie, these guys could play.

Ron King was a great player went on to play at Florida State

A couple more, Rick Wilson Atherton and Floyd Smith Flaget

Because the older you get, the better you were.

100% spot on.

Ron King was a great player went on to play at Florida State

Great player! I think he scored 44 points in the state championship game when Central won it. Played with a small guard at Central named Otto Petty, who was also very good and played very well at Florida State with King.

I think the Seminoles made the Final Four during their years there.

To answer the question I think a lot of it has to do with technology and the way the game has changed. Back then people who knew how to play the game of basketball could flourish. Nowadays your athleticism tends to outshine how well you play the game. Fundamentals were huge back then and the better your fundamentals were the better of a player you had a chance to be. Fundamentals aren't crap these days. It's all about athleticism. I see too many kids touted as having a bright future, long, athletic, potential to be high level D-1 and when you watch them play live they cannot dribble, shoot or create their own shot. If being long and athletic is all it takes to be a D-1 basketball player then we will no longer produce legends like we used to.