UNC vs Kentucky Alumni Game: Sep. 13th on ESPNU

[Skooby]

The Kentucky Wildcats Alumni Charity Game vs. former North Carolina Tar Heels will tip off this Sunday, and it will be broadcast on national television.

The UK Alumni Charity Game will be telecast on ESPNU at 5:30 p.m. EST and will feature UK players either currently or formerly playing professionally against North Carolina players either currently or formerly playing professionally.

Per NBA rules, the University of Kentucky cannot confirm individual players participating in the exhibition game, but among those expected to play include Phoenix Suns guard Eric Bledsoe, Sacramento Kings forward DeMarcus Cousins, and Golden State Warriors forward Harrison Barnes. Former NBA forward and UNC alum Rasheed Wallace is also participating in the game.

Tom Hart will call the game alongside UK Athletics Hall of Famer and former UK men's basketball star Tony Delk, who recently had his jersey retired in Rupp Arena, and former North Carolina forward Jason Capel. Kaylee Hartung will serve as the sideline reporter.

Tickets for the 2015 UK Men's Basketball Alumni Charity Game are still available for the public, though availability is limited. All seats are reserved and priced at $50 and $100 (premium lower level), $25 (lower level), $10 (premium upper level), and $5 (upper level). Tickets can be purchased at the Rupp Arena box office, online at Ticketmaster.com, at any Ticketmaster Outlet or by phone at 1-800-745-3000.

Doors to Rupp Arena will open Sunday at 4 p.m. ET.

 

[Skooby]

Rosters haven't been announced yet...but this is how they would do it: UNC vs. Kentucky Alumni Games: The Rosters

UNC Alumni Game Roster
Point Guard: 2 (Ty Lawson, Kendall Marshall)
Ty Lawson is the easy first choice here. Although he is being shopped by the Nuggets, he is still an All-NBA quality player and maybe the team’s best all-around star. Kendall Marshall is the backup PG.

The only other option here is Raymond Felton, but I’d rather have Marshall because of the chemistry he has with some of his teammates from the early 2010s and because his passing ability is far better than Felton’s. The Tar Heel team doesn’t need scoring, rather, they need a point guard who can get the ball to the other weapons on the court.

Shooting Guard: 1 (Danny Green)
Danny Green is one of the great success stories for Carolina basketball alumni, and I didn’t think twice about putting him in the first shooting guard spot. The Carolina team will need his shooting and killer transition defense.

Small Forward: 1 (Harrison Barnes)
Barnes is the team captain in the real game, so I had to put him in the starting lineup, right? Either way, Barnes deserves the selection. He can help spread the floor and guard multiple positions on the wing. Another easy pick.

Power Forward: 2 (John Henson, Brandan Wright)
I’m not sure who will start between these two guys. Henson is much younger than Wright, but Wright’s stats were just a touch better.

Center: 1 (Tyler Zeller)
Tyler Zeller is carving out a nice career for himself in the NBA, and I think he would make a fine starting center in this game. He would have trouble guarding Boogie Cousins or whoever the Wildcats throw out at Center, but he also may be able to take advantage of that C on the offensive end.

Guard: 1 (P.J. Hairston)
Yes, P.J. counts for the Tar Heel team. I thought about Reggie Bullock here, but Bullock’s career hasn’t quite blossomed like Hairston’s has for the Hornets. Bullock would have offered up more defense and size on the wing, but Carolina needs shooters, and Hairston gets the nod for that reason.

Forward: 1 (Ed Davis)
Ed Davis had a nice season last year for the Lakers and is a talented big man who can do a lot of things well. He is a nice addition to this team.

Captain’s Choice: 1 (Vince Carter)
Vince is the perfect captains’ choice for this game. Yes, Vince is getting up there and was drafted in 1998, when some of the players on this team were probably in elementary school. However, Vince could come in and hit a clutch shot if the team needs him. Vince is the clear choice.

Missed the cut: Marvin Williams, J.P. Tokoto, Raymond Felton, James Michael McAdoo, Reggie Bullock, Tyler Hansbrough**

Marvin Williams was the toughest to leave off the roster. I thought about putting him at the forward slot, but Kentucky has so many talented bigs that the Tar Heels are going to need depth dow low just to keep up. Also, sorry Mr. Tokoto and Mr. McAdoo, our two most recent alumni who will be watching the game on ESPNU with the rest of us.

As for Tyler Hansbrough, he was an amazing college player but not good enough to make this roster. If we were to take a time machine and play a game of the 2009 UNC team vs. the 2009 Kentucky team while everyone was still in college, Hansbrough would be the starting power forward. But today, in 2015, he doesn’t make the cut.

 

[Silkk]

So not playing?

 

[Skooby]

Kentucky Alumni Game Roster
Point Guard: 2 (John Wall, Eric Bledsoe)
Right off the bat, you see how much talent Kentucky has to pick from. Bledsoe would make a fine choice for starting point guard, but instead, he is backing up one of the top five or six point guards in the NBA today in John Wall.

Shooting Guard: 1 (Jodie Meeks)
This is Kentucky’s weakest position. Meeks is an excellent shooter but he isn’t on the same level as Wall or Cousins or some of Kentucky’s other top talents. Still, a career 37.3% three-point shooter is not a bad pick for shooting guard.

Small Forward: 1 (Michael Kidd-Gilchrist)
MKG wasn’t the star that Charlotte wanted to pick with the second overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, but this dude can flat-out play defense, and his presence automatically makes this Kentucky team’s defense a formidable one. Don’t expect any offense, though.

Power Forward: 2 (Anthony Davis, Terrance Jones)
Anthony Davis is one of the three best basketball players on the planet now, and he may be the best in just a year or two. Tar Heel fans hate seeing Davis on this list and hope he doesn’t come play in the real game.

Jones is a stretch four who can provide spacing, defense and shooting for Kentucky. He is a good player for the Rockets and averaged 10.2 points per game in the 2014-15 NBA postseason.

Center: 1 (DeMarcus Cousins)
Even I have to admit a starting lineup featuring a Anthony Davis-Boogie Cousins front line is absolutely terrifying. Like Davis, Boogie Cousins is an All-Star and All-NBA candidate every season, and is just a talented basketball player. Easy pick here.

Guard: 1 (Brandon Knight**)
Brandon Knight is a great option for the Kentucky team as their third point guard, playing behind Eric Bledsoe and John Wall. Knight is a solid young player and could play alongside Wall or Bledsoe as a two-guard.

Forward: 1 (Enes Kanter)
Another big body for the coach of Kentucky’s alumni team to utilize. Kanter just signed a 70 million dollar offer sheet with the Trailblazers that the Thunder are expected to match. Kanter is a better offensive player than defensive player.

Captain’s Choice: 1 (Karl-Anthony Towns)
Why not the first overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft? The sky is the limit for this kid, and the Timberwolves sure are happy to have him. He probably won’t get a lot of playing time in this game, but if he can come in and provide some energy and playmaking for Kentucky, he will be worthy of the selection.

Missed the cut: Nerlens Noel, Patrick Patterson, Julius Randle, Archie Goodwin, Willy Cauley-Stein, Rajon Rondo

Any of the four bigs listed above would have made the Carolina team. Kentucky just has a deep reserve of big men to choose from, and unfortunately the roster wasn’t big enough to keep them all.

I went back and forth between Nerlens and Towns for the last spot, but I thought that Towns would be a better offensive spark off the bench and could still do enough on defense to warrant the selection.

 

[hayesc0]

So not playing?

He missed the cut

 

[Brozay]

UK has so much more talent, damn

 

[bdkane]

UK has so much more talent, damn

Yeah. Had this game been played ten years ago UNC would mash easy. They actually tried to do this back then.