Kentucky Wildcats 5 for Friday: Boom Boom Pow! The Kanter fallout edition
By Paul Jordan
The Free Enes Campaign is over. Fin. Kaput. Sure, UK will try to file an appeal in late November, but I would not hold my breath. Sure, some teams, notably Louisville recently, have had success with the appeal route, but from the NCAA’s timeline on the decision, it appears that Kentucky has tried in vain for the last few months to sway the NCAA that the funds Kanter received were for living expenses and not for “pay for play” but the NCAA does not seem to have a lot of wiggle room in their decision. In case you missed it, here is the official NCAA timeline summary:
"The NCAA Eligibility Center staff first contacted Kentucky in March 2010 and Enes Kanter directly on March 24, 2010, with questions about his involvement with a Turkish professional basketball team. From the beginning and throughout the process, the university and the NCAA conducted multiple interviews and compiled documentation pertinent to the case. In June, the NCAA staff provided Kentucky and Kanter with information it received indicating Kanter received benefits from the Turkish team. In August, Kanter and his father acknowledged receiving those benefits. From August to mid-October, NCAA staff assisted Kentucky as it pursued its fair process with factual and interpretive appeals.On Oct. 25, Kentucky agreed to the statement of facts in the case and on Oct. 27 asked the student-athlete reinstatement staff to rule on his eligibility. The staff, after an initial review, asked for more information on Nov. 1. Kentucky responded on Nov. 4 and 8, and the NCAA reinstatement staff made its decision on Nov. 11."
This all opens a lot of questions, but to sum it up, it looks like the NCAA and UK were haggling over this $33K the past several months and UK was never able to sway the NCAA that this was necessary living expenses. Eventually, Kentucky threw their hands in the air and asked for a determination and the NCAA ruled Kanter ineligible.
So what does this mean? I know there is a consensus that Kentucky knew they could not make inroads with this $33K and threw themselves at the mercy of the NCAA, and now with the appeal, will attempt to plead their case with another ruling authority. And say, Kentucky wins the appeal, that can still leave the door open for Kanter to return, say January. Not saying it will happen or that the chance at an appeal is good, but it is our next move.
I have to admit, I saw the red flags with the Enes Kanter a few months ago. And there were plenty of red flags out there. Such as Kentucky’s awkward pursuit of troubled Royce White. And the biggest eye opener for me was with DeAndre Daniels and the perceived notion that Kentucky was attempting to strongarm Daniels into re-classifying into the 2010 class. If Kentucky was so sure of an eligible Enes, I don’t think that Calipari would have spent the time and energy on Daniels and would not have told him that there may not be roon in the 2011 class for him if he did not reclassify into the 2010 class.
Not with an Enes-free future, this does open up yet another spot in the 2011 class and DeAndre Daniels is more than likely going to be the biggest name you hear to fill it. Sitting at #9 in the latest Rivals rankings, you have to wonder if he has moved ahead of Trevor Lacey in the 2011 priority list of John Calipari.
Believe it or not, your XBOX may be the place to catch the Kentucky/East Tennessee game tonight if you can not find it elsewhere. I just checked my XBOX and the game is scheduled on the ESPN portion of the programming. I do have AT&T U-verse for my internet and cable, so I do not know if that is a prequalifier for getting access to the ESPN3 content on the XBOX, but it is worth a try.
By the way, my gamertag is orlandokat32746 so add me if you want to play some college football 2011.
A bit of good news for Kentucky tonight however, as Eloy Vargas will play. I would think that in the absence of Mr. Kanter, Kentucky may turn to a platoon system of Josh Harrellson and Eloy Vargas to fill the void at center. Vargas certainly has the pedigree to excel at this level, and Harrellson has been impressive in the glimpses we have seen so far. I know there is a lot of gloom and doom about no Kanter, but by no means, do I think the season is lost. If Vargas and Harrellson together average 10-12 points and 10 rebounds from the center position, Kentucky can be OK. I think that John Calipari wants to keep Terrence Jones at the 4 position and if Vargas/Harrellson can provide some support at the 5, we can still implement the DDMO as expected. Like I said, I am not ready to throw in the towel on the season. It’s time for Eloy and Jorts to step up!!
And finally, let’s not underestimate John Calipari’s role as a coach in all of this. We know know that Calipari felt that it was a very real possibility that Kanter will not be eligible, so we know that he is too good a coach to not have a plan B going into the season.
Calipari is going to use this as motivation all season long, and for a change, Kentucky will be the underdog and disrespected. It’s a big change from last year’s “greatest team ever” mentality and it will be interesting to see how this team develops chemistry and bands together. I have to admit, I like the idea of Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones, and Eloy Vargas playing with a chip on their shoulder. I think that this team has the potential to be “Team Hustle” and reminiscent of Pitino’s early teams in their heart and desire.
True, this team will take some lumps, but even without Kanter, I can still see a 12-4 SEC record or so, which should have them in competition for an East title. For the season, I think 28-7 is also very plausible and see a sweet 16 berth with a chance at another Elite 8 appearance. Keep in mind, this team is not devoid of talent and that the SEC has not seen the DDMO yet. And as
a silver lining for 2011? Let’s say that this is a 27-8 season …. well, you are not going to see 5 players defect to the NBA from a 27-8 season. That kind of NBA attention comes to 35-3 teams. so this can be a blessing in disguise. This year we are going to have a total team effort where the team is more important than the individual parts. You can can the talk of a disappointing season. This team is going to be fun to watch. ,
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