Kentucky Wildcat's 5 for Monday: Bad Sunday on the recruiting trail
By Paul Jordan
In the two years in the Bluegrass, John Calipari has pretty much gotten his man when it comes to recruiting. This fact made the news that big men Braeden Anderson and Stan Simpson picked other schools than Kentucky a bit of a headscratcher. Anderson made his commitment to the Kansas Jayhawks while Simpson will be a Memphis Tiger.
Don’t get me wrong. Neither bit of news is a deal breaker for Kentucky’s season next year, although most people expected Kentucky to add another big to next years team. This also raises a couple of possibilities which could be good for Kentucky.
1) Kentucky know that Terrence Jones will be back next year, so another big is not needed.
2) Kentucky has a good feeling about Trevor Lacey, so neither Anderson or Simpson were offered
Just pure speculation, but you can always hope.
The weekend came and went with no news on what Kentucky’s players will do in regards to the NBA Draft and they have until the 24th to make their mind up. Everyone knows that Brandon Knight’s academics are important to him and there is some that hopes that the possibility of a college degree soon is enough to keep Knight around another year. Apparently, Knight is a lot closer to that college degree than we all thought:
"Brandon Knight came to UK with a well-chronicled history of academic success in high school. His grade-point average of 4.3 created headlines and applause. With him apparently mulling a decision to enter this year’s NBA Draft, Knight’s academic career will be a consideration, his mother, Tonya Knight, said. Knight is much further along academically than UK fans might suspect. His mother said he brought 22 college credit hours to UK. Counting his freshman year and classes last summer, a college degree is within sight."
"“He has only a year, a year and a half left,” Tonya Knight said. “… (A degree is) within striking distance.”"
Don’t believe the hype about John Calipari possibly becoming the coach of the New York Knicks. Former Calipari star pupil John Wall is not buying it at least:
"“If he makes that decision, that would be good, but I think he will stay at Kentucky,” Wall said. “That was his dream job. The Big Blue Nation is a crowd that really love college basketball; they’re the best fans I have been around. They love him there.”"
Meanwhile, CBS’s Gary Parrish has a differing view and he definitely thinks Calipari will bolt to the NBA if he gets a chance to coach the Knicks:
"What I can tell you, though, is that this is not the first time I’ve heard a Calipari-Knicks rumor. One was brought to me before the Final Four, for what it’s worth, but it’s difficult to separate fact from fiction with this stuff, especially when the Knicks are still playing with a coach still under contract. In other words, we’ll have to wait and see where this goes, then see what happens next. But similar to how I stated that Calipari would’ve left Kentucky last year for the opportunity to coach LeBron James, I have no doubt Calipari would leave Kentucky this year for the opportunity to coach Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony (and perhaps Chris Paul) with the Knicks."
Here’s a subject for debate this morning. Who had the better opening pitch? Kentucky’s Enes kanter or Howard Stern’s Bobba Boey?
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