Stephen Russell and I are on our way back from Birmingham covering the Eric Bledsoe press conference in which he just announced his decision to play his college basketball for the University of Kentucky. Was his decision surprising, well yes if you consider the fact that if Bledsoe had chosen Memphis there is no question he would have been the Tigers number one point guard the minute he signed his name to the dotted line. However at Kentucky there is a good chance Bledsoe may not even start if the Wildcats are also able to land John Wall the nations top high school point guard. So the question is why would Bledsoe do that. I mean obviously he knew how much of a hot commodity he was in Memphis. He said it today in his press conference. "When I came they treated me like I was O.J. Mayo. I thought I was just going to come in and check into the hotel but when I came it was camera's everywhere." So again, why chose Kentucky over Memphis? Well here is the quick answer. Bledsoe never really considered coming to Memphis in the first place. It had always been his dream as a kid to play basketball in the SEC. When I asked Bledsoe if Coach Cal had still been in Memphis would he be a Tiger he said "probably not." Next question If coach Cal had remained at Memphis would you still have gone to Kentucky? Answer, "no, I think I would have gone to Florida." Which means Calipari wasn't enough to get Bledsoe to come to Kentucky it was the school, the tradition and the conference. And if it took all that to get him to Lexington there was no way a first year head coach in C-USA was going to get his services. See Bledsoe grew up in Birmingham which is the SEC headquarters, the central city for most of the major SEC events. He had been a fan of the SEC his entire life, it has been a life long dream of his to play college basketball in the SEC. Coach Pastner did a great job of getting Bledsoe to narrow his choices down between Memphis and Kentucky but when it was all said and done as long as Coach Cal wanted Bledsoe he was going to get him even if Bledsoe knew he would have to come off the bench his first year in Kentucky Blue. As unfortunate as it is the University of Memphis is behind the eightball big time now when it comes to landing the top players in the nation because lets face it. Kids don't grow up with dreams to play college basketball in C-USA.