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As Kentucky freshman Dakari Johnson continues to contemplate whether he should return to UK for his sophomore season or put his name into the NBA draft in hopes of being a first-round pick in June, remember that no player probably enjoyed the Wildcats’ season more than him.
Johnson knew plenty about Kentucky basketball. He lived in Lexington and played middle school basketball at Sayre and his former high school teammate was Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, one of the stars on UK’s 2012 national championship team.
He patiently worked his way into Kentucky’s starting lineup and his personality/enthusiam often helped the Wildcats at the most opportune time. While the pressure of playing at UK seemed to burden some teammates, Johnson embraced the limelight and his smile was infectious — and a favorite for UK fans.
That’s why it was no surprise that he had a message for Kentucky fans earlier this month after UK lost 60-54 to Connecticut in the national championship game.
“We proved a lot of people wrong. We had a great season other than this last game. We just had a tremendous season and shouldn’t feel down,” said Johnson. “I just want to say thanks to the fans for sticking with us even when we were not playing the way we should have been playing. They stuck with us and I thank them for that. I know I’ll never forget that.”
It was right after that when Johnson said he didn’t even want to think about next year or what he might do, which was exactly what he should have been saying minutes after the national championship game ended. But when he had an opportunity to say he did plan to be back, Johnson also said he was not ready to make that claim, either.
As I looked back over some of Johnson’s other comments, it was clear that he cherished what UK had done — but it might also have sounded like a player who knew it might be in his best interests to leave.
“It hurts. We made it this far. It hurts. That’s all I can say. You don’t get chances like this all the time,” Johnson said. “I will probably always rememer the run we made. We proved a lot of people wrong. We had a tremendous season. This month was fun. We had fun but it is tough right now to get over this loss.
“We have a team that fights, so I knew we could come back (against Connecticut). Losing hurts but it doesn’t take away from the season. Cal (John Calipari) told us there was no reason to be down and we have to believe him and move on. We’ll always be able to talk about the great run we had no matter what we all decide to do.”
But what will Johnson do? If he returns, he’ll compete with Willie Cauley-Stein again for playing time. An improved Marcus Lee will be in the mix for playing time, too. Then there is incoming 7-footer Karl Towns. If he goes to the NBA, he’ll have to improve his defense dramatically since he’s not a high riser and rim protector like Cauley-Stein and Lee.
Those are the issues Johnson is facing and Sunday’s deadline looms for players to either opt for the NBA or stay in school — and if Johnson does return, the memories of he has of the postseason run along with the good feelings generated by UK fans could be the reasons that help persuade him to stay at UK.
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