Los Angeles Lakers power forward Julius Randle. (Photo : Reuters)
The rosters for the NBA Rising Stars Challenge are out and there are some notable names that were snubbed.
It was a curious fact that some of the so-called "snubs" were products of the University of Kentucky.
Two of them were pointed out by their respective fan sites: Julius Randle and Willie Cauley-Stein.
Lake Show Life lamented the exclusion of power forward Julius Randle but the team already had ample representation in the event with Jordan Clarkson and D'Angelo Russell both being named to the USA team.
It should be noted that the tournament format was blamed for the exclusion. The NBA scrapped the Rookies vs Sophomores format for the USA vs the World selection as more international-born rookies were picked every year.
To emphasize the point, the last three players picked no.1 are playing for other countries: Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins are both Canadian players and Karl Anthony Towns represents the Dominican Republic.
However, Towns will play for the USA selection as he was born in the US. The same rule applied for Jordan Clarkson, who is reportedly playing for the Philippines in FIBA-sanctioned tournaments-but was also born in the USA.
Because of the US vs World format, some US born players could not be included in the roster and the Sacramento Kings site A Royal Pain was presenting a case for their big rookie, also from Kentucky, Willie Cauley-Stein.
The site argued that his stats - 5.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game. He is also posting a Player Efficiency Rating of 15.80, which is ranked 8th among all rookies, should merit his inclusion.
A Royal Pain's Rafe Wong said that if they just selected the top 20 rookies or sophomores regardless of geography, WCS should be a shoo-in. So would Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns, another Kentucky Wildcat who is now playing bigger minutes with his team.
Should the NBA revise the selection format? If Clarkson and Towns were transferred to the World selection, Booker, WCS or Randle could have taken their places in the US team. While it is just an exhibition game, it does matter to the fan base, especially for teams that lack representation in the other events.
Is there a bias against Kentucky? Probably not an issue as the main takeaway from this story is that UK simply has a lot of talent. They have two players in the event, Towns and Nerlens Noel who is technically a sophomore as he was injured in 2013-2014 and did not play.
Kentucky's recruiting rival, Duke, has three players in the event.
