Could Eric Bledsoe be one-and-done at Kentucky?

**BestdamnUKfanperiod** Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:41 am

Could Eric Bledsoe be one-and-done at Kentucky?
By Jon Solomon -- The Birmingham News
January 21, 2010, 12:41PM
http://blog.al.com/solomon/2010/01/could_eric_bledsoe_be_one-and-.html

A year ago, few people around the country knew Birmingham's Eric Bledsoe. Now Bledsoe is being mentioned as a potential NBA lottery pick. Not in 2011. Not in 2012. This year.

ESPN NBA Draft Insider Chad Ford wrote this week that Bledsoe is a potential lottery pick in the 2010 draft. Ford cited one NBA general manager who said if John Wall didn't play for Kentucky, NBA teams would be calling Bledsoe a lottery pick.

"I never thought about anything like that," Bledsoe said this week in The Kentucky Kernel. "I was reading it and I was shocked like, 'Is he really talking about me?' Because I went through everything growing up. I guess I had bumps in the road and it's paying off."

Bledsoe, who starred at Parker High School last season, said it looks like he will return to school next season. But if he's projected as a top-10 pick, he said he would likely leave. Who can blame him?

"It'll be something that I talk about with my ma," Bledsoe said. "I love her a lot and whatever she has an input on I'll try and listen to her but we'll see how it goes."

If you think Bledsoe doesn't have a chip on his shoulder, listen to these comments he made in the same article about Birmingham.

"Ain't nothing but trouble because everybody sees I'm succeeding (when) people told me I wasn't," Bledsoe said. "So if I end up going back something bad (will) probably happen. So I just go back every now and then and see my mom when Coach Cal lets me leave."

And then there's this from Bledsoe about Birmingham: "They (are) talking about you behind your back so you just go home and you look like you're doing good. There are people there that are trying to rob you and stuff like that."

In a perfect world, Bledsoe would return to Kentucky and be the lead guard next season since Wall is clearly one-and-done. Bledsoe still must crack down on turnovers (59 turnovers to 51 assists); he still needs to get stronger defensively; and he must continue his recent trend of staying out of foul trouble (he fouled out in one game earlier this season in only 23 minutes).

On the other hand, Bledsoe is a rising star. He's been named SEC freshman of the week twice. He scored 23 at Indiana and 25 at Florida on national TV. He's averaging 11.4 points per game. He has done a superb job developing into a periodical spot-up shooter (47.1 percent on 3-pointers from a player who until recently had an inconsistent release point).

You've also got to consider Bledsoe's background as he ponders the NBA .Last year Bledsoe told me how he grew up taking jobs to help support his mom and siblings, and how basketball was his path to avoid trouble in the streets and his future ticket to a better life.

"I worry about getting to the next level," Bledsoe said last February, just as national college programs started to recognize him. "It's been tough growing up. I love my mom and I'd do anything to help make her life better."

One thing is for certain. Those who doubted Bledsoe's decision to team with Wall at Kentucky, now the last unbeaten team in the country, were dead wrong.

Kentucky wouldn't be Kentucky without John Wall. But Kentucky wouldn't be Kentucky without Eric Bledsoe, either.