Freshman Kentucky big man Nerlens Noel might not be making headlines on the court these days, but he’s still getting plenty of pub off it. After suffering a torn ACL last month in a game at Florida, Noel’s ability to zip straight to the NBA became a hot topic. That discussion lasted for all of about eight hours. Once a gaggle of NBA scouts let it be known that the Wildcats’ center would still be top 5 pick even with the injury, the topic cooled.
Could it now be heating back up?
Noel briefly shares rapping duties in “Number 9,” a song posted to YouTube.com yesterday and referred to as a “New UK Basketball Anthem by Wes Grams.” It’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a college/sports rap about a hoops team aiming for its ninth all-time national title: “Feelin’ straight ’cause we got number eight, now it’s time that we grab number nine.”
Uh, OK.
But at about the 1:50 mark of the song Noel takes the mic and shares the following:
“They talk about the draft, be me in? Don’t sweat it. I might come back, but I don’t know yet.”
Now, I have no problem admitting that I might have missed that “be me in” line. My rap tastes run toward Public Enemy and not the modern stuff, so maybe there’s a new phrase or two that I’m just not hip to. Hard to believe, I know.
But it’s the last line that’ll pique Kentucky fans’ interest. Might Noel really pass on millions of guaranteed NBA dollars in order to spend another year risking yet another injury in the college game?
If you believe so, then you’ve probably already set “Number 9″ as your ringtone.
