Of all the former University of Kentucky Wildcats currently in the NBA, of which there are a lot, Rajon Rondo produces the most lukewarm response from the Big Blue Nation. He was a highly rated recruit brought in by former head coach Tubby Smith from Louisville’s Eastern High by way of Oak Hill Academy in Virginia. By joining fellow high school All-Americans Joe Crawford and Randolph Morris, Rondo was the jewel of the 2004 recruiting class that seemed poised to return the Wildcats to the Final Four.
In his two uneven seasons in Lexington, Rondo showed flashes of promise, but could never nudge the Wildcats back to the national semifinals.