In case you missed it, Kentucky has made an appeal to the NCAA to have Matt Pilgrim eligible to play this season.
Pilgrim transferred to UK from Hampton during the off-season. Under normal NCAA rules, he would have to sit out this coming season.
UK Coach Billy Gillispie hinted that the normal rules might not apply when he said that Pilgrim “probably won’t be able to play” this season.
That prompted a followup question: Probably?
Gillispie said he hadn’t heard anything yet to suggest the NCAA would waive the rule on sitting out a season as a transfer.
“He was going to look into possibly (appealing) because he had family hardships,” Gillispie said. “I don’t know any details on that.”
UK spokesman DeWayne Peevy acknowledged that UK had filed an appeal with the NCAA to grant a waiver on behalf of Pilgrim. “Due to precedent and Pilgrim’s private circumstances the University of Kentucky determined there was enough information to warrant an appeal,” Peevy wrote in an e-mail.
Meanwhile, Gillispie noted how Pilgrim, a 6-foot-8, 233-pound power forward, can help toughen the Cats in practice.
Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald- Leader has covered Kentucky basketball since the 1981-82 season. That time includes five coaches, five Final Fours, four athletic directors, two interim athletic directors and many memories. Before coming to Lexington, Tipton worked eight years for the Huntington (W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch. He covered Marshall’s basketball team for two seasons before coming to the Herald-Leader.
