Entries from October 2009 ↓

Kentucky Coach John Calipari just tweeted that freshman John Wall has been cleared to play this season. But Wall will have to sit out two games and repay expenses in order to regain full eligibility.

Wall will miss UK’s first exhibition game against Campbellsville on Monday and also the season opener against Morehead State on Nov. 13, Calipari said in a tweet.

The University of Kentucky planned to stage an open practice Sunday in Louisville’s Freedom Hall. It’s been cancelled.

The Kentucky Exposition Center announced the cancellation and declined to explain.

UK Coach John Calipari issued a statement several hours after the announcement.

“We originally planned a practice at Freedom Hall on Sunday afternoon to give our guys a chance to practice in an arena that we will compete in later this season,” Calipari said. “The passion of our Kentucky fans in Louisville made it impossible for the word not to get out about the practice at Freedom Hall. Due to the publicity created by several media outlets, we will no longer be able to conduct a preseason practice off campus this weekend. We will schedule an open practice at Freedom Hall and make sure all our fans in Louisville know about it.”

NCAA rules prohibit schools from publicizing a pre-season practice. Such open practices can be publicized during the season.

So why was the practice cancelled?

Perhaps UK feared that the publicity surrounding the practice could be viewed as a possible rules violation.

The University of Louisville could have blocked the practice. U of L’s women’s team has an exhibition game Sunday afternoon against Northern Kentucky University. By contract, that game gives U of L the rights to Freedom Hall the entire day and night.

But U of L did not block the UK practice. “Louisville had nothing to do with this,” U of L spokesman Kenny Klein said.

Here’s another possible factor. The Kentucky Fair & Exposition Center has a crowded schedule of events on Sunday. There’s the Kentucky Flea Market in the West Wing. There’s a Kenny Woods Gun & Knife Show in the West Hall. There’s an International Construction and Utility Equipment Expo. And the Kentucky Kingdom amusement park has its Halloween Fright Fest from noon until 8 p.m.

Concerns about crowd control led to a request that UK move its practice from 6 to 7.  Instead, UK decided to cancel the practice.

UK spokesman DeWayne Peevy said the cancellation led to angry calls to the school. But UK wanted to get the word out on the cancellation to prevent fans from going to Freedom Hall expecting to see the Wildcats practice, he said.

I just had a pleasant conversation with Tywanna Patterson, the mother of Kentucky  big man Patrick Patterson. She asked that a clarification be made about the game story on UK’s Blue-White Game.

Patterson did not drive his vehicle, a Lincoln Mark LT, to the game.

His parents did buy him the Lincoln Mark LT. The truck was “a gift for all his hard work,” his mother said.

The car remains in Huntington. Patterson’s parents intended the car as a Christmas present, she said.

Kentucky’s Patrick Patterson and John Wall are among 50 players named to a pre-season watch list for the Naismith Award, one of the trophies recognizing a college basketball player of the year.

Patterson, an all-Southeastern Conference player last season, bypassed the NBA draft to return for his junior season. Wall is a freshman many project as the first pick in the 2010 NBA draft.

Patterson and Wall are among eight SEC players named to the watch list. The others are Devan Downey of South Carolina, Tasmin Mitchell of LSU, A.J. Ogilvy of Vanderbilt, Tyler Smith of Tennessee, Jarvis Varnado of Mississippi State and Terrico White of Ole Miss.

In late February, the Atlanta Tipoff Club will release a list of top 30 candidates for the award. Four finalists will be announced in March.

On the same day that University of Kentucky president Lee Todd said he did not want a player facing eligibility questions being the subject of newspaper stories, the school’s Media Information department made John Wall available to a USA Today reporter on Tuesday.
The reporter, Marlenn Garcia, asked Wall about the amateurism issues that cast a cloud over his eligibility. Wall said he’s been waiting five months for a resolution.
“I’ve just been waiting,” Wall told Garcia. “It’s a process you have to go through. I’m sitting back and relaxing.”
In a separate interview, Patrick Patterson told Garcia he was unconcerned about Wall facing any serious consequences.
Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive said last week that Wall’s eligibility had not been certified.
On Tuesday, Todd twice referred to Wall as a “child” that the president wanted to protect from reporters.
“Why drag some child and his mother through all that because people want to sell newspapers?” Todd said.
Todd could not be reached to comment on his Sports Information staff making Wall available and the story in yesterday’s USA Today. Garcia said an assistant Media Information staffer, John Hayden, sat in on player interviews.
DeWayne Peevy, the head of UK’s Media Information department, said Wall was free to make any comment he wanted.
As for Todd’s wishes, Peevy said late yesterday afternoon that he had not read the president’s comments nor had he read the USA Today story. “It’s hard to comment without knowinng exactly what was said,” Peevy said.

It’s hard to be sure of anything with the questions surrounding John Wall’s eligibility. But NCAA spokesperson Cameron Schuh sent an e-mail this morning which indicates that Wall can play in Kentucky’s annual Blue-White scrimmage game Wednesday night.

Last week Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive said that “amateurism issues” had to be answered before Wall and Mississippi State freshman Renardo Sidney gained full eligibility.

A player in that position can practice with the team but cannot play in competitions until full eligibility is certified, Schuh said in an e-mail earlier this week.

That raised a question: Does an intra-squad scrimmage count as a “competition?”

Schuh responded Wednesday morning by citing NCAA Bylaw 17.02.8, which Schuh said defined a competition as a game against an outside opponent.

Of course, it cannot be that clear cut. The bylaw also says such a player cannot compete in the uniform of the school. So we won’t know for absolutely sure until the Blue-White scrimmage. But it appears Wall can play.

Wall’s association with AAU coach Brian Clifton is at the heart of the amateurism issue that must be answered. Clifton had been a certified agent for FIBA.

Without ever saying John Wall’s name, University of Kentucky President Lee T. Todd Jr. acknowledged Tuesday that one of the school’s basketball players faces questions about his amateurism that could affect his eligibility.
Last week, Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive told ESPN.com that the UK player was heralded freshman John Wall.
“I think the commissioner made his statement which I’m not sure he intended to make, but he made it,” Todd said after a meeting of UK’s Board of Trustees.
Todd said he felt “very comfortable” with no UK official admitting a question existed on a player’s eligibility until Tuesday because “there’s no reason to expose him to a whole lot of newspaper articles when it’s not necessary till we get a final decision.”
Todd declined to comment about his confidence that Wall will ultimately gain his eligibility or how long it will take the NCAA to render a decision or if Wall can play in Wednesday night’s Blue-White Game.
An NCAA spokesperson said last week that players who have not gained academic or amateurism eligibility can practice but not play in competitions. The spokesperson did not respond to a follow-up question about whether an intrasquad scrimmage qualified as a competition. Or whether the competition had to be against an outside opponent.
When asked if Wall faced a serious threat to his eligibility, Todd said, “No comment. If we chose to talk about it, we would have talked about it a long time ago. You’ll know about it (the decision) when we know about it.”
Todd defended the UK decision not to comment.
“It may come out that there’s nothing there,” the UK president said, “so why drag some child and the mother through all that because people want to sell newspapers.”
Todd said he felt no obligation to simply inform UK fans that a question existed about Wall’s eligibility.
“I think the fans would like to know what the outcome is,” he said. “But I don’t think they need to know all the ins and outs because it’s a child’s life we’re trying to protect. And there are privacy rules that we abide by and I feel very comfortable abiding by those privacy rules.”
Another SEC school, Mississippi State, has admitted for weeks, if not months, that amateurism questions must be answered so one of its heralded freshman, Renardo Sidney, can gain his full eligibility. Obviously, MSU does not share Todd’s allegiance to privacy rules.
“I’m not making decisions for anybody else,” Todd said.

UK just announced that tickets remain available for the Blue-White Game on Wednesday, the two exhibitions and the opener against Morehead State.

Here’s the release:

Tickets can be bought at the UK ticket office from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. during the week or by calling 1-800-928-2287 or 859-233-3535. Tickets can also be bought at UKathletics.com, Ticketmaster.com or Ticketmaster outlets.

Tickets to the Blue-White Game cost $10.

The exhibition games are against Campbellsville (Nov. 2) and Clarion (Nov. 6). UK opens the season against Morehead State on Nov. 13.

There will be a fund-raiser on Friday for Mark Krebs’ mother, Terri, who is battling cancer.

The fund-raiser will be at the Ft. Thomas Pub beginning at 9 p.m. Admission is $5. There will be live music and items to be auctioned.

Mrs. Krebs, 48, has been battling cancer for eight years. Her son, a senior guard for Kentucky, said that she had undergone more than 340 chemo treatments. She’s also had two surgeries in the last six months.

Kentucky was nearly an unanimous pick to win the Southeastern Conference regular-season and Eastern Division championships in the 2009-10 basketball season, according to a media poll to be released Monday afternoon.

UK received all but two of the 30 votes to win the Eastern Division. For the regular-season championship balloting, UK received all but five of the votes.

The media has not voted Kentucky the favorite to win the Eastern Division since the 2005-06 season. The Cats were picked third the past two seasons

While Kentucky might enjoy being picked to win SEC championships, the media vote is no guarantee. Last season UK guard Jodie Meeks did not make the media’s first or second teams.

The media voted Patrick Patterson to its pre-season first all-league team. Joining him were Devn Downey of South Carolina, Jarvis Varnado of Mississippi State, Terrico White of Ole Miss and Tyler Smith of Tennessee.

UK freshman John Wall led the All-SEC Second Team. Other players on the second team were LSU’s Tasmin Mitchell, Vanderbilt’s A.J. Ogilvy, Ole Miss’ Chris Warren and Auburn’s DeWayne Reed.

Here’s the predicted order of finish for the overall regular-season championship: Kentucky (20); Mississippi State (3); Tennessee (2)

Eastern Division: Kentucky (23), Tennessee (2), Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia.

Western Division: Mississippi State (22), Ole Miss (2), Alabama, LSU, Arkansas, Auburn.