The 2009–10 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team represented the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

during the

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

season of 2009–10. This season was the first of

John Calipari John Vincent Calipari (; born February 10, 1959) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach at the Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball, University of Arkansas. He has been named Naismith College Coach of the Year three times (1996, 2 ...

's tenure as

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

; he accepted the position on March 31, 2009. The Wildcats set several records this season. They became the first men's college basketball program to reach 2,000 wins by defeating the

Drexel Dragons The Drexel Dragons are the athletic teams of Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The school's athletic program includes eighteen NCAA Division I sports including nine men's and nine women's teams, with most sports teams competing in ...

on December 21. Coach Calipari set a record for the most consecutive wins for a first-year Kentucky basketball coach at 19–0, surpassing

Adolph Rupp Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 – December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. Nicknamed the "Baron of the Bluegrass", he coached the University of Kentucky Wildcats to four NCAA Division I men's basketball tournam ...

's previous mark of 11–0. Kentucky also extended their existing records for most wins all-time, SEC regular-season championships, SEC tournament championships, NCAA tournament berths, and NCAA tournament wins. The team was briefly ranked #1 in both the ESPN/Coaches poll and AP poll, and posted the best record in the NCAA (35–3) Off the court, Coach Calipari spearheaded an effort to raise money for victims of the

2010 Haiti earthquake The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake that struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (departm ...

, yielding $1.5 million and a congratulatory call from President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

Departures

Class of 2009 signees

Class of 2010 signees

Roster

Depth chart

Schedule

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Statistics

The team posted the following statistics:

Honors

Watch Lists

Weekly Awards

SEC Awards

Wall was named SEC Player of the Year. Cousins, Patterson, and Wall were chosen to the first-team All-SEC by coaches and the media. Cousins was the SEC Freshman of the Year, and he, Bledsoe, and Wall were All-Freshman team selections by the coaches and media. Calipari was named SEC Coach of the Year by the coaches media.

National District Awards

Wall was named District IV (Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida) Player of the Year, Calipari was named District IV Coach of the Year and Patterson was named to the All-District IV team by the USBWA. Cousins and Wall were listed on the

National Association of Basketball Coaches The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American organization of men's college basketball coaches. It was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the men's basketball head coach for the Univ ...

Division I All-District 21 first team, while Patterson was listed on the second team on March 12.

All-American and National Awards

Wall was a consensus first-team

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

, and Cousins was a consensus second-team All-American. The

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

named Cousins and Wall as first-team All-Americans. The

USBWA The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) was founded in 1956 with the urging of National Collegiate Athletic Association director Walter Byers to serve the interests of journalists who cover college basketball. Scholarships The U ...

named Wall a first-team All-American and Cousins a second-team All-American. The NABC named Wall a first-team All-American and Cousins a second-team All-American. The ''

Sporting News ''The Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a ...

'' named Wall a first-team All-American and Cousins a second-team All-American. John Wall became the first Kentucky player to win a National Player of the Year award as he won the

Adolph Rupp Trophy The Adolph F. Rupp Trophy was an annual college basketball award given to the top player in men's NCAA Division I competition. It was awarded between 1972 and 2015. The recipient of the award was selected by an independent panel consisting of nat ...

. Wall also won the two Freshman of the Year awards as he was named

USBWA National Freshman of the Year The USBWA National Freshman of the Year, with the men's and women's versions respectively named the Wayman Tisdale Award and Tamika Catchings Award, is an annual basketball award given to college basketball's most outstanding freshman male player ...

and Freshman of the Year by the Sporting News.

Rankings

2010 NBA draft

On April 7 five players announced their intentions to enter the

2010 NBA draft The 2010 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2010, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The draft, which started at 7:00 pm Eastern Time Zone, Eastern Daylight Time (2300 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC), was broadcast in the ...

. Five players declared themselves eligible for the draft: Bledsoe, Cousins, Orton, Patterson, and Wall. Leading up to the draft Wall, Cousins, and Patterson were projected as lottery picks. Meanwhile, Bledsoe and Orton were projected as possible first round draft picks. In the draft Wall was selected No. 1 by Washington. He was followed by Cousins, who went to the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

at No. 5; Patterson, who was taken by the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...

at No. 14; Bledsoe, who was chosen No. 18 by the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Confer ...

; and Orton, who was chosen No. 29 by the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

. Wall became the first player in Kentucky history taken first in the draft. The five players taken in the first round tied the record for most players taken from one school in the first round.

NBA draft selections

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2009-10 Kentucky Wildcats Men's Basketball Team Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball seasons

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30, ...