The curious case of DeAndre Liggins

It has been the great mystery this season: is DeAndre Liggins a victim of John Calipari’s doghouse or is his inactivity this season the result of something more nefarious? Truth be told, no one really know what is going on with Liggins except for Liggins, the team, and the UKAA. As proven with the whole Jeremy Jarmon situation, the UKAA is very good at keeping something under wraps and obviously whatever is happening with Liggins is buried deep in the “Area 51 section of UK athletics. Only those on a “need to know” basis seem to know the truth.

That said, there are a lot of theories, rumors, and speculation out there. A lot of it is anti-UK propaganda and bile being spread by the haters (and even some UK “fans”) that is not even worthy of being being repeated in the sleaziest of message boards. I have been a big supporter of Liggins and while I am not trying to predict on what may be going on, but am just going to sort through a few of the most prevalent scenario’s.

It’s a practice thing: This is the story that we originally heard when Liggins missed the exhibition games. Calipari sounded out the coaches decree that players that do not perform to their utmost abilities in practice would not see any time in games. So it was widely assumed that this dogma held true to Liggins as he was the victim of an bizarre substitution pattern with former coach Gillispie. The whole “he is uncoachable” refrain started to gain momentum and Calipari played mum on the issue and said that he preferred to talk about players that actually played during the games and that he was not in the habit of “throwing players under the bus” without realizing that a statement like that was in a way, throwing DeAndre under the bus.

Calipari seemed to hint early in the season that the Liggins situation was improving and that he may be working his way back into the lineup. Darnell Dodson seemingly went through the same type of situation but it appears that Dodson’s practice habits have improved his playing time. Liggin’s bench position seemed to keep with this theory as well as during the early games he was separated from the rest of the teams and then he gradually moved closer to the team.

His absence at the Louisville practice was explained to the fact that he had a morning class the next day. The fact that Orton missed the practice for the same reason seemed to make it a viable reason. Liggins also participated in some pre-team shootarounds making it seem he was closer to playing, but he has yet to appear in a game.

It’s a NCAA thing: This is a theory that has recently been brought out by Larry Vaught that Liggins was serving a six game NCAA mandated suspension. This theory came to life about the same time that baseball player James Paxton filed suit against the UKAA. I have no idea what UK baseball player James Paxton is involved with with the NCAA and the UKAA, but Vaught drew a parallel between the Paxton story and “a reference to a basketball player ‘that co-operated’ with the NCAA and got only a six game suspension”.

Vaught mused that that player may be Liggins, but if it were Liggins that were suspended, that 6 game suspension has become 10 games and counting. Vaught mentioned a Herald Leader link to the basketball player story but I was not able to find it so it may not exist anymore.

I don’t even want to speculate as to what the NCAA suspension for Liggins, if it exists may be. I find the NCAA theory a little far reached considering any hint of Calipari, UK, and NCAA would result in immediate 24/7 ESPN coverage and send Pat Forde to his pretty hate machine to churn out another masterpiece. The fact that the haters are so silent on the Liggins issue makes me think that NCAA involvement is not likely. The only national press on the Liggins situation I can find is a blurb by Fox’s Jeff Goodman following the UK/UNC game: “Thankfully, John Wall cramped up.Otherwise, the only reason to watch the second half was to see if DeAndre Liggins, whose been in John Calipari’s doghouse all year, made his season-debut for Kentucky.”

The one thing that points us toward the NCAA suspension is the fact that Liggins has just appeared in Big Blue Madness and the Blue/White game and not in any competition against another team whether scrimmage or regular season, much like John Wall’s suspension. But even then, Wall did play in one of the pre-season scrimmages, while Liggins played in none.

If Liggins is suspended, I would say that it is an internal thing between he and Calipari rather than NCAA mandated. As this is our first year with Cal at the helm, there really is no historical precedent we can turn to to see how long it takes to get out of his doghouse, except for the Dodson situation.

Another possibility in this realm is that Liggins is academically ineligible but the cloud of secrecy surrounding this does not indicate an academic suspension. Usually academic suspensions are made very public and there is no cloak and dagger secrecy as with Liggins.

It’s a transfer/redshirt thing: To be honest, I am not 100% versed on the NCAA rules regarding transfers and redshirting so once again this is more speculation. DeAndre Liggins has worn the “transfer tag” around his neck for pretty much all of his career at UK thus far. He pretty much brought that on himself for his actions in Las Vegas last year, but from my eyes, he seemed to deal pretty well with the stormtrooper like tactics of Gillispie. He very rarely spoke to the press and when he did speak to the press this year, he seemed ready to redeem himself for last year and the Vegas fiasco. Calipari singled him out in the postseason several times and made statements like the fans would not recognize Liggins at all due to his improved play. Alas, all UK fans have seen is a brief appearance in the Blue/White game.

If this is a transfer situation, the fall semester ends 12/19 so if Liggins is not getting time by the Indiana and Austin Peay game, this theory may have legs. However once again, there would not normally be the cloud of secrecy concerning a transfer. UK has had it’s share of very public transfers and the player was here one day and out of public view the next ala Alex Legion. Legion certainly was not hanging out on the bench cheering on his soon to be former team mates.

The redshirt idea is an interesting one as it has become apparent that there may not be enough minutes for Liggins to get quality minutes if added to the mix at this point in the season. Right now, the Cats have Hood, Harrellson, Stevenson, and Krebs getting sporadic minutes. Stevenson and Krebs are seniors and UK may lose up to three players to the NBA which would put DeAndre in a better position. Maybe this can be an “Aaron Boyd” situation where the play is extremely talented and has tons of potential but needs a year off to learn the system. I know that Matt Pilgrim was allowed to practice with the team last year but I don’t recall him sitting on the bench dressed in warmups. And once again, redshirts are a pretty
public thing.

Personally I am still in the guy’s camp and think that he has far too much talent and potential to fight for “victory cigar” minutes right now. Bringing him in now though can also help to disrupt whatever chemistry the Cats have put together through 8 games thus far. it really is a Catch-22 situation with Liggins right now. I feel for the kid and it seems to have evolved into a very uncomfortable situation for all parties involved.

I really don’t care about the details of what is going on. I don’t have to know “the dirt” but I just wish for the sake of all parties involved that this is resolved as quickly and efficiently as possible.

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