September 8, 201115 yr Long video and a bit grainy but it's good stuff. For the youngsters the excitement for John Wall was less than the excitement for King Rex when he showed up in Lexington. The shot at LSU when he drives the baseline is crazy! Great memories.
September 8, 201115 yr Behind Mashburn, Rex has always been my personal favorite Cat. I wore the #3 playing sports as a kid for that very reason. John Wall has a level of national recognition that Rex never knew. But within the bluegrass, I believe Rex to be the single most popular UK basketball player of all-time. Mashburn, Wall, & others were better players; but Rex was the man unlike any other IMO.
September 8, 201115 yr Author Behind Mashburn, Rex has always been my personal favorite Cat. I wore the #3 playing sports as a kid for that very reason. John Wall has a level of national recognition that Rex never knew. But within the bluegrass, I believe Rex to be the single most popular UK basketball player of all-time. Mashburn, Wall, & others were better players; but Rex was the man unlike any other IMO. Offensively, John Wall was not as good as Rex Chapman and I'd argue it wasn't really close.
September 8, 201115 yr I do remember when they "discussed" changing the city's name to Rexington. Special player!!
September 8, 201115 yr Offensively, John Wall was not as good as Rex Chapman and I'd argue it wasn't really close. Wall averaged slightly more points per game as a freshman than did Rex. You can certainly make the argument that Rex was better offensively, but to say "it wasn't really close" is a stretch.
September 8, 201115 yr Wall averaged slightly more points per game as a freshman than did Rex. You can certainly make the argument that Rex was better offensively, but to say "it wasn't really close" is a stretch. IMO John Wall was not that great of an offensive player. What John Wall was, was a very gifted athlete who could fly down the court with the ball and in the air. Which was perfect for how Coach Cal had that years team play. When the game was in a half court game though, he rarely was able to create things for teammates, and usually forced things. So I would give Rex the nod as a better offensive player by a good amount over Wall IMO, because I don't base things on just numbers. Wall is one of my all time favorites, because he helped get UK back on top. However that is just what I see when comparing the two.
September 8, 201115 yr Author Wall averaged slightly more points per game as a freshman than did Rex. You can certainly make the argument that Rex was better offensively, but to say "it wasn't really close" is a stretch. Overall offensive games were not close. Wall was great at getting to them rim and getting out on breaks. If Wall could shoot like Rex....good Lord.
September 8, 201115 yr Overall offensive games were not close. Wall was great at getting to them rim and getting out on breaks. If Wall could shoot like Rex....good Lord. Obviously, Rex was a significantly greater shooter from the field & I believe he also had more ways that he could score--more variety to his offensive game & more pure basketball skill. Of that, you would get no argument from me. I also agree with futurecoach that Wall's game wasn't as solid in the halfcourt as it was in the open court. But in my mind, getting to the rim & scoring is just as much a part of being a gifted offensive player as shooting. I guess I define an offensive game as putting the ball in hole & Wall did that with basically the same efficiency as Rex did during their freshmen years.
September 12, 201115 yr Can't really use average points per game as a pure point of comparison. John Wall got a lot of points going to the line at the ends of games because he had the ball so much and teams had to foul because Cats won nearly every game. I remember several games in which Wall would get 6-8 more points at the end after the other team had to foul. I'm not saying that he wasn't talented because he has sick talent. Rex Chapman was the #1 focus of every team John Wall was #2 or #3 scoring focus for opponents. BTW Rex could get to the rim also and when he got there he was a little higher than John would have been. As I say this John Wall was one of the most exciting players that I have ever seen, but stats don't tell the story. Rex was KING for a reason!!!
September 13, 201115 yr Rex is also a great follow on twitter also. You all know I am not a UK fan but Rex and John Wall are my two favorite Wildcats. By far.
September 13, 201115 yr Author Can't really use average points per game as a pure point of comparison. John Wall got a lot of points going to the line at the ends of games because he had the ball so much and teams had to foul because Cats won nearly every game. I remember several games in which Wall would get 6-8 more points at the end after the other team had to foul. I'm not saying that he wasn't talented because he has sick talent. Rex Chapman was the #1 focus of every team John Wall was #2 or #3 scoring focus for opponents. BTW Rex could get to the rim also and when he got there he was a little higher than John would have been. As I say this John Wall was one of the most exciting players that I have ever seen, but stats don't tell the story. Rex was KING for a reason!!! No question.
September 13, 201115 yr Rex is also a great follow on twitter also. You all know I am not a UK fan but Rex and John Wall are my two favorite Wildcats. By far. Rex recently said that Richard "Master Blaster" Madison got his moniker after punching his mom's boy friend when he was four.
September 13, 201115 yr Hopefully this doesn't cause problems... But how much of the love affair for Rex Chapman was also do to the color of his skin? I think its a fair question in the state of KY, especially that many years ago. Maybe I'm off base. I wish I was older and could have seen him play live in a Wildcat uniform.
September 13, 201115 yr Author Hopefully this doesn't cause problems... But how much of the love affair for Rex Chapman was also do to the color of his skin? I think its a fair question in the state of KY, especially that many years ago. Maybe I'm off base. I wish I was older and could have seen him play live in a Wildcat uniform. Fair question indeed. His style and athletic ability were not what we were used to seeing from white kids from KY.
September 13, 201115 yr Rex has been my all-time favorite basketball player since I watched him light up Henry Clay in Memorial for 45 points. Rex brought something to the game that I hadn't seen before and even more than that, he brought something to pop culture in Kentucky. The above question about race is certainly a fair question. When Rex was coming up, I was in 7th and 8th grade and every boy on my team had the same hair cut and our coach took #3 off the team. It caused too much trouble. At least in my part of Eastern Kentucky that I grew up in, our school was all white and I do think that caused more mass appeal. Now, that doesn't mean that we didn't have tons of african american players at UK that we loved as we loved them all really. Rex was just different. I have a friend that played at UK during Rex's stay there and he says that what we see on Twitter is Rex being Rex. He says he was an amazing teammate and was hilarious non-stop. One of my favorite Rex twitter moments is when he said Reggie Hanson should be an 'Unforgettable' also.
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