Kentucky Wildcats 5 for Friday: Perry Ellis "shocks" Duke by cutting them from his list

On Monday I reported that 2012 recruit Perry Ellis had cut his list to a Final Four of Kentucky, Kansas, Kansas State, and Duke.  That was partially incorrect.  Ellis has confirmed some of the speculation on his Final Four.  He is down to a Final Four, but the Wichita State Shockers has supplanted Duke in his Final Four.

Shocked?

I know that Duke spent a ton of time on this kid and it is a pretty big hit to not make the Final Four.  And I guess it just speaks to the appeal of Kentucky that they are the only “non  Kansas” school on Ellis’s list.  We will just have to hope that Calipari can get him out of the state.

Darius Miller scored 8 points and grabbed 7 rebounds in a Team USA 88-61 exhibition win over New Century in China.  Vanderbilt’s John Jenkins led all scorers with 24 points and was the only player in double digits.  Miller tied for the team lead in boards.  While Miller is not starting, it appears that really does not matter, at least in this game.  All of the USA team but one played 17 minutes, so it appears that the minutes will be spread very evenly.  Team USA hits the court next versus Mexico in the World University Games at 6:00AM Saturday morning local time.

The NCAA has made a decision that I actually have to applaud.  Now, if teams are not cutting it in the classroom, there is no postseason play.  All teams not have to have a four year average APR (Academic Progress Rate) of 930 to be able to play in the postseason.  Just for reference, Kentucky’s most recent APR was an average of 974.

It is interesting to note that had this rule been in effect last year, National Champion Connecticut would not have made the Tournament at all.  Chew on that for awhile.

Louisville fans can also play the “what if” game as Morehead State would not have been able to shock the world and knock off the Dirty Cards.  Ohio State, Syracuse, Florida State and five other teams would have missed the NCAA.  When you turn to football, eight teams would have not made bowls:  BYU, UTEP, Louisville, Southern Mississippi, Tulsa, North Carolina State, Maryland and Michigan.

John Calipari has his mind on his money and his money on his mind.  And he is concerned about your money also.  At least according to a release from the University of Kentucky:

University of Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari today announced a new initiative to bring financial literacy education to children across the state of Kentucky.

The Calipari Family Foundation for Children will partner with local banks and EverFi, Inc. to provide the VaultTM Understanding Money online learning program to hundreds of elementary schools across the Commonwealth in the coming academic year.

The program will help to teach the kids the value of saving money and on a personal note, would hope the program includes some real life lessons like how to read and analyze a credit report and how to build your credit.

Say something bad about this, Pat Forde.  I predict that Pete Thamel comes out with an article in the next six months saying that Calipari working with the banks is just a way to funnel funds to UK players.  I wish I was joking.

NFL preseason kicked off last night and several former Wildcats had good starts to the exhibition season.  Let’s take a look:

• Braxton Kelly had 7 tackles in the Denver Bronco’s 24-23 loss to Dallas.  Kelly led all tacklers in the game.  Wesley Woodward had 2 tackles in that game and I do not see and stats for Jeremy Jarmon. 
• Alfonso Smith led the Arizona Cardinals in rushing with 5 carries for 30 yards.  Beanie Wells is expected to start for the Cardinals but maybe Smith can work in a few carries as the season goes on.  Arizona defeated the Raiders 24-18.  I could not find any stats for Ricky Lumpkin. 
• Derrick Locke had 2 carries for 15 yards in the Philadelphia Eagles 13-6 win over Baltimore.  One of the carries was a 12 yarder. 
• Glenn Pakulak had 2 punts for 81 yards in the Oakland Raider’s 24-18 loss to Arizona.  One of the punts was downed within the 20. 
• I could not find any stats for Myron Pryor in New England’s 47-12 win over Jacksonville. 

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