Just a couple of quick items from around Big Blue Nation:- This time a year ago, men’s basketballs stars John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton were preparing for their college debuts. Now, just a year later, they’re preparing for their professional debuts. Wall, Cousins, Bledsoe, Orton and Patrick Patterson are all set to play Tuesday night in their first NBA preseason action. Wall’s Washington Wizards will kick things off at 8:30 p.m. against the Dallas Mavericks, followed by Eric Bledsoe’s Los Angeles Clippers against the Portland Trailblazers and Cousins’ Sacramento Kings versus the Phoenix Suns at 10 p.m. Orton and Patterson will go head-to-head at 8:30 p.m. in the Orland Magic-Houston Rockets game.- In light of the beginning of the NBA season, Patterson has begun blogging about his NBA experience. Check it out on Patterson’s website at patrickpatterson.com.- UK has announced a partnership with Coca-Cola Enterprises to increase recycling awareness. Coca-Cola Enterprises will provide 100 large Coca-Cola syrup barrels that have been repurposed as recycling receptacles and will locally recycle 100 percent of the bottles and cans collected in the receptacles at UK home football games. Once collected the materials will be transported to the recycling center and eventually turned into new bottles, bags or apparel. Those attending the UK/Auburn football game will also get to interact with the mobile recycling activation trailer on Saturday. The trailer is a self-contained vehicle equipped with video screens, interactive displays and games, all designed to educate consumers about the benefits of recycling. – Kentucky women’s basketball forward Victoria Dunlap is one of 30 candidates on the 2010-11 John R. Wooden Award preseason top-30 list. Dunlap joins the list with the likes of Tennessee’s Angie Bjorklund, Baylor’s Brittney Griner, and Connecticut’s and last year’s Wooden Award winner Maya Moore. According to a news release, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball.  It is bestowed upon the nation’s best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his or her university that he or she is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a minimum cumulative 2.0 GPA.  Previous winners include such notables as Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Candace Parker (’07 and ’08) and Maya Moore of Connecticut (’09). Ohio State’s Evan Turner and Connecticut’s Tina Charles won the Award in 2010. The 35th annual Wooden Award winner will be announced at a ceremony on the weekend of April 8-10, 2011. Full list is below: