Photo by Shane Bowman.
Update: Jerry Tipton is reporting that A.J. Stewart has been told he will not be on the team next year.
UK coach John Calipari told ESPN’s Andy Katz on Thursday night that he has already talked to three players who won’t be coming back to UK next season.
Excerpt:
Kentucky coach John Calipari said late Thursday that he has already talked to three players who will not be returning in order to get the Wildcats down to the NCAA maximum of 13 scholarships.
UK went over the maximum with the high-profile signings of John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe — coupled with the return of Patrick Patterson from the NBA draft. Calipari wasn’t ready to name the players who are affected.
But Kentucky officials had previously acknowledged that under former coach Billy Gillispie one reserve knew that he was on a one-year scholarship, another had already graduated but had a year of eligibility remaining while a third was apparently not talented enough for the SEC. There could be more attrition to come, according to Calipari. The Wildcats will need to come up with one more scholarship if Jodie Meeks withdraws from the NBA draft by June 15.
Calipari also said that Darius Miller will try out for the USA Basketball 19-and-under team this summer.
Speculation on who these three are? I don’t know the situation well enough to know who already graduated or whatever, but I assume some pretty well educated guesses could be made and I’d love to hear them…
Williams….Stewart…..and/or Harris or Galloway
Its pretty obvious on the first two….He is talking about williams who had been on the one year deal, Carter is the only player who has graduated and still possibly could be eligible although I’m not sure anyone ever counted him as being part of the scholarship equation for next season. The third person mentioned is unclear. It could be Stewart who has been rumored to also be in trouble academically but he seems to at least hae the athletic ability to play in the sec, could be harellson, even though some reports say he is safe, outside of those two I don’t think anything was said to any rising seniors, so those would be the players I think they are talking about. I’m pretty sure Liggins and Galloway both have the talent to compete in the SEC, I don’t think we will see them leave unless its for academic reasons or one of them wanting to go elsewhere for the potential for more playing time.
Donald Williams is the one on the 1 year scholarship. Michael Porter is the graduate with 1 year of eligibility left.
Jared Carter used up his eligibility. He was also honored on Senior Night. A team doesn’t honor a senior and then get him back the following year.
Carter could have applied for an extra year because of medical hardship.
By the way, Jerry is reporting that A.J. Stewart was one of those informed he will not be on the team next year. http://ukbasketball.bloginky.com/2009/05/22/stewart-two-others-possibly-off-uk-team/
I’m predicting that Josh Harrellson will be a Kentucky Wildcat next season. It makes sense to have a 5th big man in case of injuries to one or more of Patterson, Stevenson Cousin and Orton. Also, Josh has 2 years of eligibility left, and after this year Patterson and Stevenson will be gone for sure, and Cousins also. So that would leave 2 holdover frontcourt players for 2010-11 in Orton and Harrellson combined with recruits. But I doubt he will barely see any action, probably your 12th or 13th man.
I have to confess ignorance on Matt Pilgrim, one commenter said he has NBA talent but I don’t know if that’s true or not. But I’m also assuming that Calipari will not drop both Liggins and Galloway, I’ll predict he keeps one of them so as to have another point guard after Wall and Bledsoe. So if Meeks comes back and we have to say goodbye to 4, I will say Williams, Pilgrim, Stewart and either Galloway or Liggins are let go (again, I am clueless on Pilgrim).
Any word on what the 10 am presser is about? Some sites are saying it is non basketball related but is bad news.
i hate it that some of these guys will have to leave, but they really haven’t contributed to the betterment of the entire team and with the new players, we know they won’t contribute. I hope Galloway gets to play somewhere. As for Pilgrim, I just don’t know. Nobody has seen him play, or not many. Strange.
John, i predict that Deandre Liggins and Matt Pilgrim will join Stewart in leaving. Unlike Stewart, who was told he could not play at the level required by Calipari, Liggins & Pilgrim cut themselves fromthe team due to not getting it done in the classroom.
If Harris is dismissed it will be a shame, and I believe we need Galloway as a slashing small forward to help score if Meeks goes . . . .we’re all point guards and centers. Liggins is only a soph but he can’t score so . . .I don’t know.
This is the negative part that no one wants to deal with as we all want to celebrate what we have coming in, but we have to remember these guys who Calipari is cutting gave their hearts and year(s) of their life that they will never get back to play at UK. If you can contemplate the excitement of everyone coming in, it should be pretty uncomprehensive to know the disappointment in these guy’s soul.
If you haven’t seen Pilgrim play, go check out the couple of clips on Youtube about him. I’m pretty sure none of you will expect him to be missing from the team then.