Jeff Shepperd set Big Blue Nation a buzz when a video surfaced with some harsh comments he made while speaking to a group of UK fans in Northern Ohio. It was bad enough that he said too much emphasis was being put on draft picks, but when he referred to John Calipari as "THE ENEMY" and went on to say that he felt more comfortable going into the Louisville Basketball offices' (because of Pitino) versus going into the Kentucky offices with John Calipari. Now in Jeff's defense, he no doubt feels more comfortable around coach Pitino than he does around Cal, but to say he felt more comfortable going into LOUISVILLE offices' instead of Kentucky's was over the line and something I'm sure he regrets saying. Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio had Jeff on his radio show this week to give him a chance to clarify some of his comments and he did, somewhat. When Matt asked him directly if he thought John Calipari talked too much about draft picks, Jeff claimed that Matt was trying to "set him up" and seemed to get a bit agitated. I agreed with Matt when he told Jeff, "I'm not trying to set you up, you made the comment". Now in all fairness it was a great, friendly interview and everyone ended it on a friendly note, but I still think Jeff has some fence mending to do with Kentucky fans in the future.
Louisville's National Championship team visited the White House and President Obama this week and as you can see, Chane Behanan was just jumping with anticipation to meet the Prez. Way to represent the state boys.
Speaking of the 'Dirty Birds', their championship team received their championship rings this week which bear a striking resemblance to something you would find in a bubblegum machine, but hey, at least Pitino had the decency to have the university buy the guys rings unlike his '96 Kentucky team, but no worries, Cal made things right.
(The Championship ring the '96 team never received)
The number 11 ranked player in the class of 2015, Derrick Jones has said he plans to visit Kentucky in the next few weeks and it will more than likely take place on the same day as the 2010 vs. 2012 Alumni Game. I couldn't think of a better day to have one of the best players in the class of 2015 to visit because it's not every day that you have that many former and current NBA players in the same building at one time.
There has been some MAJOR concern amongst fans about the Harrison Twins and James Young not being ruled academically eligible, yet. This is nothing new when it comes to top players in the class, especially when they attend elite schools like Kentucky. If folks only knew how many guys each year had to wait until a couple of weeks before the start of the season to find out if they were eligible or not they would panic each and every year. Well I'm telling you now, everyone I have talked to has told me there are no problems expected when it comes to the guys gaining eligibility and ALL players are expected to be on campus and enrolled in classes by next month, but only time will tell.
John Calipari caught up with former Cats MKG, John Wall, Demarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis out in Las Vegas during the Team USA mini camp. It's a known fact that John Calipari keeps in touch with his former players better than ANY coach in the country and judging from the picture above, the players love it.
News is slow during the summer months when it comes to basketball, aside from recruiting there's not much else to talk about during the off season. But, when there is some news we'll do our best to bring it to you. Thanks to my shift change at work, it makes things a little more difficult when it comes to the site, but we will continue trying our best to get you up to date information as soon as we receive it.
