Jeff Goodman Resurrects the ghosts of John Calipari and World Wide Wes

College football is starting to take the forefront in the minds of the college sports fan. The Olympics are dominating ratings. College basketball is on the back burner for the most part, other than some recruiting news here and there.

College basketball writers must feel bored or have nothing better to do as they have resurrected a dead horse to beat: John Calipari’s association with World Wide Wes.

CBS’ Jeff Goodman polled 100 college coaches on subjects such as who is the most underrated coach, the most overrated coach and so on. He added this question to the list: How much of a factor is World Wide Wes? 63% of the coaches polled said he was a factor, 37% said he is a non-factor.

One anonymous coach went so far as to say this:

"He’s an agent that cheats. He’s a bag man."

Another gem from a coach:

"I think he’s a factor. He has unlimited access to kids and coaches- and clearly makes it no secret his allegiance to John Calipari."

And then there’s this one:

"Wes’ presence is drastically overblown. His power is only perceived at best, and only because naïve/desperate coaches empower him. If he had any power, he would certainly be using it to the benefit of John Calipari and Kenny Payne, who he has known for 25 years. The fact that coaches are hiring him as an agent is laughable, and the fact that the NCAA does not treat him as an agent due to his close affiliation with Leon Rose is an absolute injustice!"

Last but not least:

"He’s factor. I mean, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, man. That’s a big fish. Even if he’s the only one in a particular year"

And there is more where that came from. Read all of Jeff Goodman’s story if you care to. The fact of the matter is that Wes will be linked to Cal and the University of Kentucky no matter what. Also, there are more guys like this in the NCAA but Wes is the one with the highest profile and the one with NBA ties as well as ties with Coach K and Team USA as he is seen court side in London.

There isn’t anything new or groundbreaking in this story. All it is is a way for Goodman and his buddies to drum up hits from UK fans like you and me. Well, it worked.

And let’s not forget that Michael-Kidd Gilchrist’s mother chewed Goodman out on Twitter because the writer tweeted that MKG would do whatever Wes told him to do. He has an obvious ax to grind here.

Tomorrow Goodman will release the poll of who coaches think the biggest “perceived” cheater in college basketball is. Gee, I wonder who that will be?

Goodman went on to tweet this about Cal and Wes early this morning:

"Personally, I do not believe that World Wide Wes wields much power for Calipari these days. Honestly, Calipari/UK don’t need much help."

It’s funny that Goodman put this quote out on Twitter but left it out of his story.