John Calipari set to sign Kentucky Wildcats contract extension

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Talk about synchronicity. Yesterday was a perfect example of that in the world of Kentucky Wildcats athletics.

First, Mitch Barnhart was named the Under Armour Athletic Director of the year. Then a few hours later, New Orleans Pelicans coach Monty Williams was fired. And almost before the annual “John Calipari will go to the NBA” buzz could begin, the word came out that Calipari is set to sign a new contract extension with the Wildcats. Granted, I did not actually see Mitch Barnhart enter the phone booth and emerge with his superhuman AD powers, but kudos to all involved for squashing the NBA rumors before they became a thing.

"In perhaps a preemptive strike against the latest round of slowly building buzz about John Calipari returning to the NBA, the University of Kentucky and its basketball coach are close to finalizing a contract extension through 2022 worth $8 million annually, a source close to the situation said Tuesday night. Calipari is also set to earn a $1.6 million longevity bonus on July 1, which is part of his existing contract. The new deal, which will pay Calipari $54 million over seven years, should be official in “a few days,” the source said. The coach has led the Wildcats to five Elite Eights, four Final Fours, two NCAA championship games and one national title in six seasons at the helm. Set to be inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame this fall, Calipari has received an extension and raise after each Final Four appearance (2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015). He was bumped to $5.2 million annually after the 2012 championship and to an average of $7.5 million a year last June."

Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

LaGerald Vick has started his round of official visits and should have a decision soon. As of now, Vick does not have an official, known offer from the Kentucky Wildcats but the Wildcats will cap his week of visits which can be a good thing. Vick apparently enjoyed his visit to Kansas State.

"LaGerald Vick, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Memphis (TN) Douglass, enjoyed his visit to Kansas State and has two more visits planned. “He had a really good visit to Kansas State last weekend,” Team Thad coach Norton Hurd told SNY.tv. The No. 17 shooting guard in 2016 according to 247Sports.com, Vick is also looking at possibly reclassifying to 2015, making him an attractive wing target this late in the game. “He has qualified but he has not decided on 2015 yet,” Hurd said. Next up he will trip to Kansas on Wednesday-Thursday and then Kentucky Sunday-Monday. Vick initially committed to SMU in October over Georgia Tech and Western Kentucky. “He’s a really athletic scorer/shooter who can create for himself and others,” Hurd said."

Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

If Cerutti Brown gets his way, he will have top of the top 25 members of the Class of 2015 signed, sealed, and delivered to his Las Vegas Dealers semi-pro team which would then apparently go on a cross-country tour of exhibitions. Brown has said that he can pay $700,000 to McDonald’s All American level talent and $400,000 for other players. All of this years talent, sans Caleb Swanigan, have committed to college and most have signed letter of intents. Most media is rightfully cynical of Brown and for good reason … no one seems to have heard of him and he really has no online footprint.

"A search for Brown’s previous business ventures came up empty, so we asked him about some of his previous forays. He said they were “in other fields” outside of sports and involved him “just coming up with an idea” and “having other companies employ (him) and (his) small little staff to think outside the box and generate more revenue.” A domain search of the Dealers’ website, created April 25, returns domain ownership by a proxy website, meaning that whoever registered the domain wanted to keep his or her information private. The number he used to call Sporting News appropriately displayed a single word — “anonymous.” Despite Brown’s enigmatic identity, many have lauded the foundation of the idea behind the Dealers — offering a financially lucrative alternative to a year of the college game — but some of the nation’s top recruiting analysts who have spent months interacting with the country’s top high school basketball players have serious doubts about the credibility of this particular venture. Said Brian Snow of Scout.com: “The kids and the parents around them are pretty savvy. They know that taking money to go to Europe is a proven commodity, and even China is somewhat proven. These people are going to look at this like, ‘I’m not risking my son’s millions on this.’ ” Scout’s Evan Daniels, who was at an EYBL event in Houston this past weekend, concurred, telling SN’s Mike DeCourcy that none of the prospects he talked with seemed interested in the idea."

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