by Paul Jordan
Another holiday weekend is upon the Bluegrass …. and yet another rumor designed to blindside John Calipari and the Kentucky basketball program. On Memorial Day, the BBN was thrown into hysteria by Pete Thamel and his allegations of an investigation into Eric Bledsoe eligibility. Since the source was the New York Times and Thamel was a (semi) respected writer, all the buzz was that this was the story that was going to break Calipari’s back … and then once the hysteria faded, nothing was left but a bunch of Alabama High School officials launching their own investigation and looking for someone to blame because Pete Thamel said something was amiss.
So here comes the fourth of July and the celebrity gossip site TMZ.com had a “staff report” that the NCAA was “aggressively” looking at at least four UK players and their dealings with agents. The story went that two of the players were recently drafted in the NBA and the other two were current players. There were no names given, no timetable for this happening, and really no formal charges. Just the “questions are being asked” story.
Then to try to add credibility to the TMZ, a sports blog (SportsbyBrooks) put out a story stating that the NCAA was investigating Kentucky and took the sleaze a step further by naming the John Wall/Brian Clifton relationship as the source of the investigation. The SportsbyBrooks linked to a lot of articles that are public domain that detailed the NCAA investigation of Wall and Clifton in 2009, and then took the giant leap that because Brian Clifton helped to broker Wall’s Reebok deal, something was shady in Lexington and then claimed to have a “source” that said UK was being investigated.
Pretty scary article on the surface and a lot of Kentucky fans re-tweeted this news as a dire omen. But SportsbyBrooks is not really the bastion of credibility he claims to be. He got a lot of attention a few months ago when he and his sources declared that the 96 team NCAA Tournament was a “done deal” This news got a lot of attention and SPB received a ton of hits for the story, but it was dead wrong.
It should be noted as well that the NCAA has already investigated the John Wall/Brian Clifton relationship back in 2009, and as a result, Wall had to sit out two games and pay back around $800 of benefits. I know that the fact that Clifton apparently brokered Wall’s Reebok deal makes some UK fans nervous, but as far as I know any one can represent the financial interests of a player as long as they are not an agent. And since Clifton has been a father figure to Wall, there is no NCAA violation as long as this was all done after Wall finished his UK season.
I have had a couple of people familiar with the NCAAregulations tell me that the Wall/Clifton relationship would be a tough one to penalize for the NCAA, but it appears that right now, there is not even an investigation. Throw in the wild rumor that the TMZ staffer is actually from Louisville and this starts to take on the feel of a witchhunt …. or just another case of reporters crying wolf again.
I find it odd that ESPN has not touched this rumor yet, and most national media has shied away. Mike DeCourcey from The Sporting News had a blurb about it, but basically said that his source at UK said there was no investigation.
As for now, it appears we can relax and enjoy the holiday. I am sure that the NCAA and Kentucky brass are scattered across the country right now, so there will be no official denials till possibly Tuesday … if they even come then. I am not trying to be glib, but for now, this feels as if nothing will come out of it.
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