Entries Tagged 'players' ↓

While noting a perceived lack of coditioning against Campbellsville on Monday, Kentucky Coach John Calipari suggested that maybe the Cats expended too much energy during warmups.

“What would wear you out?” Calipari asked reporters. “Anxiety. Not knowing how to warm up.  They warmed up like they were out of their minds. Dunking.”

If that was th eproblem, two fans helped out before the game against Clarion. The fans asked freshman Daniel Orton to stop warming up and pose for a picture. Orton posed.

Kentucky players and Coach John Calipari look forward to welcoming freshman John Wall back to active duty against Clarion Friday night.
Wall sat out the opening exhibition against Campbellsville as part of the punishment for accepting an agent, his AAU coach Brian Clifton, paying for some recruiting expenses.
Coincidentally or not, UK did not attack the basket against Campbellsville like the dribble-drive requires.
When asked if Wall’s absence led to the timid play, Mark Krebs said, “You want to say it didn’t mess with it because we’re all supposed to pick up the slack. It definitely afffects you.
“In the future, we have to take up the slack better.”
Calipari noted how seeing Wall play against outside competition for the first time should excite UK fans. The coach also said that Wall is the team’s vocal leader
Freshman DeMarcus Cousins wished aloud for the game when Wall and Eric Bledsoe both play. That might not happen against Clarion because Bledsoe might be rested because of a sprained ankle incurred against Campbellsville, Calipari said.
It won’t happen in the opener against Morehead State on Nov. 13 because that’s the second game Wall must sit out.
“I can’t wait till we get them both,” Cousins said. “Then we’ll have a story.”
And the name of that story?
“The unstoppable duo,” Cousins said.

Kentucky’s dependence on freshmen will lead to losses this season, two ESPN analysts said on a teleconference Wednesday. But the experience those players gain through the season should make UK a formidable team in the post-season.

“They will get beat along the way on a number of occasions because someone is more experienced,” said Fran Fraschilla, a college basketball commentator for ESPN. “But by March 1st, they should be a very, very good basketball team capable of getting to the Final Four and winning it.”

Paul Biancardi, ESPN’s director of recruiting, saw the Kentucky freshmen  hitting a wall.

“Talent will win games for them,” he said, “but there’s going to be a point in the season when as freshmen they’ll hit that mental wall. They’ll be there physically, but mentally they won’t show up.

“And you’ll see that against experienced teams, especially in the SEC. That will come back and haunt Kentucky on those nights.”

Both analysts lauded Kentucky’s freshmen as superior talents.

Fraschilla noted how the top-level competition played in high school and the AAU circuit makes it easier for high school stars to adjust to the college level.

From watching Kentucky practice in September, Franschilla said he saw the kind of good attitude and willingnenss to learn as signs of a smooth adjustment.

“The guy that jumps out at me in terms of attitude and work ethic is John Wall,” said Fraschilla, who added that former UK star Tony Delk put in a good word for Wall. “When Tony Delk tells you someone has a great attitude, you can kind of take that to the bank.”

Kentucky Coach John Calipari said Sunday that he did not make the decision on what games heralded freshman John Wall must sit out as part of the punishment for having some recruiting expenses paid by an agent.

In announcing Wall’s punishment Friday night, UK said the freshman would sit out Monday’s exhibition game against Cambellsville and the season opener against Morehead State on Nov. 13.

Calipari said that “they” told him what games Wall would miss. The UK coach did not identify who “they” were.

Were “they” the NCAA staff? UK’s athletic administration?

As part of the punishment, the NCAA ordered Wall to pay back $787.58. That payment would go to a charity, the Lexington Hope Center, which  UK said would help pay for thanksgiving meals for the homeless.

Calipari said he did not know how long Wall would have to make the payment or how many recruiting trips the $787.58 represented.

UK spokesman DeWayne Peevy said that Wall must make the $787.58 payment before he can compete in Friday’s exhibition game against Clarion. Peevy said that UK’s compliance officer, Sandy Bell, had advised Wall to save his Pell Grant money in anticipation of having to make such a payment. So Wall would have no difficulty making the payment.
When asked if Wall’s punishment was fair, Calipari noted that a judgment had been made. “It’s behind us,” he said.

Wall was not made available for interviews.

With heralded freshman John Wall sitting out Monday’s exhibition against Campbellsville, Kentucky may start sophomore Darius Miller at point guard, Coach John Calipari said on Sunday.

When asked who would backup another freshman, Eric Bledsoe, at the point, Calipari said it would be Miller.

“Or he may start,” Calipari said of Miller, a former Kentucky Mr. Basketball from Mason County.

Miller has played the wing almost exclusively for UK. But Calipari said he had noticed that Miller’s play improved when he had the ball.

“He’s like Tyreke Evans,” Calipari said, referring to the star freshman he had last season at Memphis. “When you put the ball in his hands, he’s much better.”

Miller said he had not played much point guard during practices, but he sounded confident of playing the position in an emergency.

The expected starter, freshman John Wall, will sit out the Campbellsville exhibition as part of his penalty for having an agent, his AAU Coach Brian Clifton, pay for some expenses during the recruiting process.

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.