So as the day goes on more info (scant though) comes out about the alleged investigation into four UK basketball players and their “associations” with professional agents while in high school. While gossip magazine TMZ may have heard “something” from a “source” that may or may not know anything, it bears a little dissection.
The NCAA is always checking around, always. That’s the NCAA’s job and it appears they are doing it. Read this quote from TMZ’s article:
"“According to a source who was interviewed by an NCAA investigator, the agency is interested in at least four players — two current and two who were just drafted by NBA teams.”"
So what do we have here? Supposedly the NCAA is asking some questions of some guy who was interviewed by the NCAA and supposedly the NCAA thinks there may have been some improper agreements with agents while players were still in high school. While it is entirely possible that there is some legitimacy to this report, I want to address a few things some might not have thought of.
First, lest we all start saying, “This is what happens when you hire John Calipari” consider what the article says, “two current and two who were just drafted by NBA teams.” While the two in the NBA could be Cal’s recruits, the likelihood that the other two are Calipari recruits is pretty small.
Are we really to believe that Jon Hood was making agreements with agents while playing on a bad high school team, or that Darnell Dodson who transferred from Miami-Dade Community College and was ranked 130 in 2007 when he graduated from high school was cutting deals?
I seriously seriously doubt that agents would have wasted their time with these guys. So who does that leave that the NCAA could be looking at that’s still currently enrolled at UK? Darius Miller and DeAndre Liggins are the two best returning players that could fit the description. So there it’s that dang Billy Gillispie again. It was two of his recruits. Or not.
When TMZ says two current players, could they mean two freshmen that have never played for UK? Perhaps, but it seems like a reach that they would be called “current” players and if it turns out to be so, that problem is easily solved by UK refusing to let them play.
Furthermore, Mike DeCourcey of the Sporting News is reporting that the University of Kentucky has not been notified of any investigation. That’s usually the first step in an NCAA investigation meaning that currently there is no investigation. There is at most some people asking around just to make sure everything is kosher.
The reality is that no one knows anything, and until something more solid comes from a more reliable source, I’m not going to fret. I’m going to enjoy Independence Day for what it is, a celebration of the birth of the greatest nation in the history of the world. And that’s what I advise all of you to do, because I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that nothing is ever going to come of this. I’m going to sleep just fine tonight knowing that my favorite basketball team has a stellar class coming in next year and keep waiting on eight.
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