At the time, it was a shocking recruiting loss for John Calipari and his Kentucky Wildcats basketball team. Calipari had wooed and recruited point guard Emmanuel Mudiay for months, only to lose him to his mentor Larry Brown and SMU. The buzz was that John Calipari was losing his recruiting mojo, that Andrew Harrison would be in the NBA for the 2014-15 season, and that this would be a transition year for UK with no definitive point guard. Calipari was able to add Tyler Ulis, but at 5’9, he was widely seen as a consolation prize for losing Mudiay.

Just look how wrong everyone was.

Kentucky did not seriously focus on the diminutive playmaker until after Mudiay opted not to follow in the footsteps of other attacking point guards — Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, John Wall, Brandon Knight, etc., — and play for Calipari. That’s the truth. And even if Calipari would’ve still theoretically offered Ulis with Mudiay committed, is it reasonable to think Ulis would’ve pledged to the Wildcats had Mudiay been set to enroll in the same class? “No,” answered Evan Daniels, Scout.com’s director of basketball recruiting. “Ulis would not be at Kentucky if Mudiay had committed to Kentucky instead of SMU.” In other words, what looked like a recruiting-loss then is a recruiting-win now. Rather than secure a commitment from a five-star prospect who would ultimately face eligibility concerns and skip college in favor of a professional career in China, UK missed on Mudiay and instead got a commitment from Ulis just 20 days later. And those developments, more than anything else, are why top-ranked Kentucky remained perfect Saturday via a 58-50 win over fourth-ranked Louisville here at the KFC Yum! Center.

Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

Turns out that most everyone had another big misconception about this team coming into this season as well. Aside from Karl-Anthony Towns, the common consensus was that the incoming freshmen would be seen and not heard. How would Trey Lyles even see minutes in the Kentucky Wildcats crowded but talented front court? Turns out the pundits were wrong again. We all know what Ulis did versus the Ville, but the other freshmen were seen and heard.

His freshman backcourt mate, Booker, scored nine points on 3-of-5 shooting, grabbed two rebounds and also didn’t commit a turnover. Combined, the freshmen duo played 54 minutes of turnover-less basketball against one of the most ferocious defenses and environments they will play in all season. “He can make a difference in the game, even at his size, and that’s what you want,” said Coach Cal of Ulis. “And he wasn’t afraid of the challenge.” Nor were his freshman companions. Towns scored 10 points and brought down nine rebounds, including five offensive boards, and Lyles, who played a team-high 30 minutes, scored six points, grabbed nine rebounds, dished out four assists and grabbed one steal.

Dec 27, 2014; Louisville, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Andrew Harrison (5) dribbles against Louisville Cardinals guard Chris Jones (3) during the first half at KFC Yum! Center. Kentucky defeated Louisville 58-50. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

And of course the continued castigation of the Harrison Twins by the Louisville media continues. For some reason, a certain portion of the Louisville media seem to go out of their way to trash the Harrison twins and that continued after this game as well.

Did the Harrisons have a great game? No. However, even though they did not light it up, they were part of the TEAM effort that held Louisville guards Terry Rozier and Chris Jones to a combined 8-33 shooting and ONE assist. You can take your shots at the Harrisons but Andrew had quadruple the assists the whole Louisville team and Aaron matched UL’s assist total and delivered a deadly dagger that sealed the game.

The Harrisons will not be perfect every game, but you see some UL types proclaiming that Rozier was the best guard on the court Saturday, even with that 5-18 shooting and zero assist performance. It’s a new media strategy the UL media has employed. Praising Tyler Ulis while bashing the Harrisons.