Kentucky Wildcat Basketball: Did John Calipari Oversign for 2013?
By MonsterMash
Mar 9, 2013; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari reacts during the game against the Florida Gators in the second half at Rupp Arena. Kentucky defeated Florida 61-57. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports
With the likelihood of Kentucky’s rival, Louisville Cardinals, winning the 2013 National Championship increasing this weekend as they advanced to the Final Four for the second straight year, Kentucky fans continued to turn their attention away from this season and set their eyes on next.
As those gazes linger on a class that currently stands as one of the best (and arguably the best) ever assembled, its natural for everyone else to begin to look and see just what you’re staring at and in this case, those joining may not necessarily have the same blue colored glasses.
Over the next few weeks and months, rather due to your retaliation to some Louisville fan’s bragging of their first championship in 27 years or an Indiana fan’s disappointment and subsequent lashing out over a hyped season ending in the Sweet 16, prepare for the argument over this class being over-signed… of which, you’ll see below, John Calipari is not guilty.
Oversigning – the act of signing more players to scholarship than a team has available (12 per year).
Before agreeing or disagreeing with those UL or IU fans, take a look at where Kentucky stands currently.
| # | Name | Pos | Class | Scholarship | 2013 Status (Projected Status) |
| #33 | Kyle Wiltjer | F | So. | Yes | Scholarship |
| #3 | Nerlens Noel | C | Fr. | Yes | Scholarship (NBA) |
| #22 | Alex Poythress | F | Fr. | Yes | Scholarship (Unknown) |
| #10 | Archie Goodwin | G | Fr. | Yes | Scholarship (NBA) |
| #12 | Ryan Harrow | G | So. | Yes | Scholarship (Transfer – Georgia State) |
| #15 | Willie Cauley-Stein | C | Fr. | Yes | Scholarship |
| #34 | Julius Mays | G | Grad Student | Yes | Graduation |
| #4 | Jon Hood | G | Redshirt Jr. | Yes | Scholarship |
| #5 | Jarrod Polson | G | Jr. | No | Scholarship (Walk-On) |
| #11 | Twany Beckham | G | Sr. | No | Senior |
| #13 | Sam Malone | G | So. | No | Scholarship (Walk-On) |
| #32 | Brian Long | G | So. | No | Scholarship (Walk-On) |
| #21 | Tod Lanter | G | So. | No | Walk-On |
Let’s break the list down:
- Kentucky has 4 players (Long, Malone, Polson, Beckham) who came to the team as a walk-ons.
- Kentucky only had 8 scholarship players last year and gave the 4 walk-ons above scholarships.
- Kentucky has two players, Julius Mays and Twanny Beckham, who will finish eligibility (graduate student and senior).
- Kentucky didn’t use one scholarship (likely for the possibility of an in-season transfer).
That’s 5 scholarships that have an expiration date and one unused for a total of 6.
Kentucky has accepted commitments from 7 players to date:
| Pos | Scout Nat’l Rank | Name School, Hometown |
| PF | 1 | Julius Randle Plano, TX |
| C | 1 | Dakari Johnson Montverde, FL |
| C | 2 | Marcus Lee Antioch, CA |
| SF | 3 | James Young Rochester Hills, MI |
| SG | 1 | Aaron Harrison Richmond, TX |
| PG | 1 | Andrew Harrison Richmond, TX |
| PF | 29 | Derek Willis Mount Washington, KY |
That would put Kentucky 1 above the limit.
Archie Goodwin recently announced, as expected, that he would enter the NBA draft.
That leaves Kentucky even for 2013-2014.
If Harrow, Noel, and Poythress all return (or would have returned in the case of Harrow who just announced he would transfer to Georgia State), Kentucky would simply not be able to extend to Polson, Long, and Malone, putting to rest any statement that Harrow was ‘forced to leave’ like Rick Pitino did to Jared Swopshire in 2011.
Now that Ryan Harrow has announced and with likely the inevitable departure of potential #1 overall NBA pick Nerlens Noel, recent transfer announcement, Kentucky has room for both Polson and one of Andrew Wiggins (#1 2013)/Gordon (#6 2013).
Did John Calipari oversign? No – he just undersigned in 2012-2013 in preparation of the best class ever assembled.