Calipari was defiant in rebutting charges that there is an NCAA investigation into the men’s basketball program.
“It’s not true,” Calipari said. “It’s not true. When you’re coaching at Kentucky, you’re held to a different standard and like in politics there is a core group that absolutely loves you and everyone else is trying to unseat you in any way they can — anything to trip you up, that’s what it is.
“If you’re not up to that, then don’t coach at Kentucky,” he said. “If you are faint of heart as they come at you, there’s no way to defend everything, then you march on.”
When asked specifically about the New York Times story concerning Eric Bledsoe, Cal said, “Stop. There’s nothing there. I’m not going to talk about it.”
Louisville basketball showed a profit of $16.8 million last year, best in the nation. Kentucky’s profit was $6.1 million. Interesting side note is that Minnesota ($7.8 millions) showed a higher profit than did UK.
Rick Bozich of the Courier-Journal catches up with Eric Bledsoe in Indianapolis: “Draft and workout questions were the only ones Bledsoe would answer Wednesday after a late-morning workout for the Indiana Pacers, who have the No.10 pick in the first round, two more picks in the second round and a massive need at point guard. Bledsoe declined to answer any questions about the New York Times story last Friday that said the NCAA was re-examining his eligibility for the freshman season he completed at UK.”
Eamonn Brennan of espn.com on whether UK should have known better: “Third, this means Kentucky has to be really, really, really careful when it clears its athletes. People are going to pay more attention to Kentucky’s recruiting classes with John Calipari at the helm. You could argue that this is fair, given the success of Calipari’s recruiting efforts at Kentucky and the Rose-related infractions that followed his departure from Memphis. You could also argue that it’s unfair, given that plenty of programs have the same problems, and, hey, why aren’t people writing about them as much?”
Eric Crawford of the C-J reports that John Calipari compares his job to politics: “‘One thing, I will say this: Coaching at Kentucky is like being in politics,’ Calipari said. ‘You’ve got your core group that absolutely loves you, and the others are trying to unseat you. That’s just how it is when you’re at Kentucky. … We’d rather not have (controversy), but I can’t control if someone chooses to write something. I don’t have any control over that.’”
Garry Parrish of CBS Sports says no school has stood up to Calipari: “Instead, Kentucky chose to not take a stand, which isn’t a surprise given that no athletics director has ever been able to properly stand up to Calipari and tell him something was off-limits the way multiple athletics directors told their coaches last year they could not enroll Lance Stephenson. Kentucky left Bledsoe’s status up to the NCAA and only the NCAA without recognizing that its new coach’s old school had just been burned by that same approach.”
Jody Callahan of the Memphis Commercial Appeal on Calipari giving $1 million to a Memphis charity: “Bennett’s organization, founded in 1987, was instrumental in helping former Tiger Antonio Burks turn his life around after a discouraging childhood. Calipari grew close to Bennett and the group after recruiting Burks to the Tigers in 2000. The group was founded to work with youths of the Foote and Cleaborn Homes communities. Bennett’s oft-told story is that he began his organization with just a van and a basketball.
