William Wesley, right, with Ron Artest.
Update from Rick Bozich’s blog has Wesley saying, “What’s going to happen is going to be monumental for college basketball. It’s going to be exciting. It’s going to be great.”
With John Calipari’s name atop the UK buzz list, with most believing he is mulling an offer from Kentucky, you may have heard talk about William Wesley, the confidant/powerbroker type who has been connected with Calipari.
Here is a New York Times profile that ran last year on Wesley.
An excerpt:
Wesley has close ties to the Memphis Tigers, one of the four teams here this weekend. Wesley has been friends with Memphis Coach John Calipari since the mid-1980s, when Calipari was recruiting in New Jersey, where Wesley grew up, for Kansas.
In February, a day before No. 1 Memphis played No. 2 Tennessee in the regular season, Wesley grabbed rebounds for one of the Tiger players shooting free throws. On game day, he mingled on the floor with the team, sat directly behind the bench, walked off the floor with the players at halftime and joined them in the postgame handshake line.
At the Nike-sponsored LeBron James Skills Academy last summer in Akron, Ohio, Wesley worked his connections.
Michael Gilchrist, a 6-foot-6 high school freshman who has already said he will play at Memphis, did not play in the camp. But he hung around there, mostly with Wesley and the Memphis star Chris Douglas-Roberts.
At one point, James told Wesley, “Hey, I’m going to grab some lunch.” Wesley responded, “Why don’t you bring Little Mike with you?”
It is vintage Wesley, using one relationship to build another.
The NCAA will never get control of the AAU powerbrokers. I have not found anything that World Wide Wes has done that is illegal, nor Coach Cal, but it is shady. Just like the speaker fees by UK to Daniel Orton’s dad were not illegal, but also seemed shady. Many coaches/schools have these connections and I don’t see how it will ever be controlled.
Will World Wide Wes now become a UK fan or stay a Memphis supporter?
Eewww! That type of hanging out would not sit well at UK….
Perhaps we need to wait for Mr. Izzo?………
Seems kind of shady. A fifth wheel (Wes) is only good as a spare tire.
That being said, if Wes was doing any illegal NCAA stuff, he would have been caught- unless hiding in plain sight?
I guess everbody has a weakness.
If this is the worst skeleton in Calapari’s closet, I say GO FOR IT
im sure sandy bell knows all about what needs to be done to make sure UK
stays in complicane with NCAA rules
If you think having World Wide Wes associated with UK basketball is anything but the best thing that could possibly happen to the program, you are fooling yourself. This guy has been making things happen for 20 years. Look him up.
He also deals with Denny Crum and Rick Pitino so he must be legal??
Not sure this s good. Looks Like Cal is using WEs to talk to the recruits he had going to Memphis. Boosters set up a Call with Henry’s Bro and Xaiver. looks Like Wes has been working the phone lines and telling him not to do Kansas and to leave Memphis. Wanted Xaiver to sit on the phone while he conferenced in Cal. Henry’s folks made him Hand up
The NCAA are a bunch of nancies. Cal will own them at KY. They will turn their noses just like UCLA, Wooden and Sam Gilbert = UK, Cal and World Wide Wes.
See the pattern?