In our continued series of features on the 2011-12 Kentucky Wildcats, junior Jon Hood is up next. The guard suffered a torn ACL during a July pick-up game and is currently recovering from reconstructive surgery. Cat Scratches sat down with Hood to talk about the injury, his recovery, his relationship with Coach Cal and his pursuit of a record owned by a UK legend.Cat Scratches: Take me through how the injury happened.Jon Hood: I was playing a pick-up game with the guys. We were playing over in Memorial (Coliseum) and everybody was playing well. I came down in transition and attacked. I took the ball behind my back as I came down the lane, crow hopped in between two guys and when I came down my knee went in and my ankle went out. I felt a pop.CS: How long did it take you to find out that the injury was as serious as you feared?JH: By the feel of it, the doctors had a pretty good idea probably 30 minutes after it happened, but they didn’t know for sure until the next day when I had an MRI.CS: When did you have reconstructive surgery? Were there any complications?JH: August 12th. Surgery went well and everything was fine.CS: A number of fellow athletes who have had similar injuries like UK Hoops point guard Amber Smith and Purdue guard Robbie Hummel have reached out to you. What has it been like to receive that kind of outpouring of support?JH: It’s great. Robbie is a class-act and all of the people who have talked to me have been top-of-the-line from Robbie to (former Florida forward) Chandler Parsons to everybody else.CS: What has been the most valuable piece of advice you’ve received?JH: Robbie and Amber said the same thing: ‘Don’t get your head down and don’t rush back and hurt yourself.’CS: Your rehab has already started. What does it consist of right now and how are you approaching it.JH: I do leg lifts and knee bends. I can’t run yet but I can walk. Most of it is quad strengthening stuff. I’ve got to keep an open mind, keep my head up and push through it. There’s really nothing you can do besides that.CS: Reports from pick-up games this summer were that your game had really taken a step forward. What had you done to improve before your injury?JH: I had upped it from where I was the year before. I was better. My shot was going down consistently, I had put on a bunch of weight and gotten a lot stronger. I was up to 218 (pounds) July 18 then it happened and I weighed the day of my surgery and had dropped to 205. I started lifting though and I’m going get that weight back soon.CS: You’re obviously limited in the actual basketball work you can do, but what can you do to better yourself as a player during the recovery process?JH: You can watch tape and do whatever else. I’ve watched tape on Chandler. I watched some Robbie Hummel tape. It’s not so much about modeling your game after them, but if you get a bunch of solid guys and take bits of pieces of each of their games and put it all together, you’ll become a better player.CS: Last season, Enes Kanter was in a similar position to you in that he could not play games. You won’t be able to practice with the team like he could, but can you learn from his example last season?JH: Enes helped out tremendously with his attitude and on-the-court stuff. I won’t be able to help out on the floor for a while. I’ll try to do the same thing as Enes and come in with a positive attitude and help everybody out. Hopefully that helps.CS: This will be the third freshman class you’ve seen arrive on campus to play for John Calipari, including your own. What is the most important thing this group can learn from those in the past?JH: It’s the same thing with every freshman class: they need to listen. The sooner you give up the steering wheel and stop driving your car and get in the bus with Coach Cal, your stock jumps. You can ask anybody. Everybody is grateful to Coach Cal. He’s a great coach. He knows how to make you better as a player and a person.CS: Coach Cal has proven over the past few years how much he values his relationships with his players even after they leave. How much does it mean to you knowing he’ll always be an advocate for you?JH: He’s an advisor that’s free. He can tell you what you need to work on, what people are saying about you and he can do all that for free. It’s great. Coach is unbelievable in that aspect and a lot more.CS: Coach Cal has talked about the possibility of redshirting you due to how long it will take to recover from your injury. What do you think about redshirting?JH: I would get another year if that happens. I can break Jeff Sheppard’s (unofficial record) for most wins (159) in a five-year career.CS: Being from Madisonville, Ky., you obviously have an appreciation for the UK program. Did you discover that record on your own?JH: I really just found about through my own curiosity. Somebody mentioned it to me and said they didn’t know who had it. When I talked to them, I was thinking ‘Let’s see, who was here for five years?’ Shep was the only guy I could think of that was on a really good team. He’s got two national titles and a Final Four appearance from ’96-’98. That’s solid. I kept thinking about it and I had 35 wins one year, 29 wins the next and then I calculated what I need to do to break Shep’s record. If we win 32 games a year the next three years, I would have it.CS: Sheppard is a player with whom you seem to share some similarities. He was on some exceptional teams early in his career and didn’t play much but emerged late to win Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament UK won in 1998. Do you have aspirations of following in those footsteps?JH: I would hope everybody would aspire to be the MOP of the tournament. That’s something everybody wants to do. You don’t ever want to be the guy that doesn’t help. You want to be the guy that helps.