by Kent Sterling
John Calipari will do anything he has to. There is no barrier he respects enough to allow it to dissuade him from improving his team. Gather the best possible players, and reload after they go to the NBA. Fill the rest of the roster with studious kids who will get his team GPA high enough to not be an embarrassment. WIN!
My opinion of Calipari runs deep into the earth’s bedrock. He uses the skills of kids to feather his own nest to the tune of $4-million per year, but it’s that blind ambition that has allowed him to separate from the rest of America’s college coaches. While others sweat the development of kids as people and players, Calipari is recruiting one-and-done kids with as much interest in an education and degree as they have in becoming neurologists.
Enes Kanter is a kid that 346 D-1 coaches knew was a professional and would never play one minute of college basketball. The 347th is John Calipari.
Some coaches pretend they are paid big bucks to produce well-rounded graduates ready to tackle the challenges of adulthood. Calipari understands why UK pays him more than any other college basketball coach, and it’s all about winning. The one-and-done kids need to play someplace, why not aggregate them all at Rupp Arena?
There is hypocrisy throughout college athletics that is maddening. Agents pay kids and their families, boosters buy and lease cars for kids’ cousins, schools hire tutors to write papers, and then present the product like a holy bastion of amateurs’ love of the game. That hypocrisy doesn’t exist in Calipari.
He has no such need, desire, or impulse to present his starters as anything more than kids doing their time in college until they are eligible for the draft. Kanter as a pro from Turkey might wind up being taken in the middle of the first round, but after playing on national TV 35 times this season for the Wildcats and becoming a marquee player at a top program, he might elevate his stock into the top five. For Kentucky, they would get a year from a game changing player.
There is something oddly admirable about a guy who is unapologetic in using the inherantly corrupt system to build a hugely successful career. Calipari occasionally talks about grades, but he knows he’s full of shit. Reportedly, some basketball players sit at the study table while “tutors” complete their work (that comes directly from a member of the Kentucky women’s tennis team). There are wonderful professors at Kentucky who work hard to help students learn – none of them are paid more than a tiny fraction of Calipari’s salary.
There is nothing wrong with that. The guys and ladies who sit in the overstuffed leather chairs and jackets with elbow patches in Lexington made the decision that winning is most important to them, so they paid top dollar for a guy best suited to produce those results, and that is exactly what he’s doing. Kanter would have helped, so Calipari rolled the dice. He crapped out, but is now appealing the decision.
If that appeal process is as deliberate as the original investigation, Kentucky will get its answer right around the deadline to declare for the 2011 NBA Draft.
Some joke the $33K that the NCAA say caused the finding of professionalism might have made Kanter the lowest paid starter for the Wildcats. Some say it without laughing.
You’re a moronic jackass.
I just got dumber by reading this article. Seriously, stupidist thing I have ever read.
Of course I guess by commenting I helped this trash website a little.
You really are a complete ass! Your hatred of Calipari and UK is apparent but what about the kid, Kanter, who’s future is at stake here? Just because he didn’t grow up poor and struggling doesn’t make him any less deserving of fulfilling his dreams.
His future is secure as a first round pick next year. One year at UK would have been a nice showcase for him, but he’s going to be just fine. Any UK fans who cries about injustice to the kid is mistaking disappointment over the loss of a top-five kid for compassion.
Kent waiting on that article about Indiana Elite and IU connections! Is it true that Mark Adam’s is using his AHOPE foundation to pay for Hanner Perea 30000 per year education abd living expneses? Also is it true that one of Indiana Elite’s coaches/adviser’s has a son that is a work on at IU, Barnett might be the name, not sure! Have you done any research on these connections or his it ok since Coach Crean is doing things the right way!!!!!!!!!
Fulfilling his dreams??? His dreams are to get to the NBA and make a boatload of money. UK was chosen because it was proven last year that it is the best place to do that. His dreams have nothing to do with actually attending the University or getting a degree. Therefore, he’s going to be just fine.
Why do people go to college?????
So when they get out they can make money, whats wrong with some kids doing that in a year?
That’s not a good reason to go to college. Higher education should be about learning, maturity, enrichment, and preparing for a career – not simply to cash checks. The only reason the one-and-done kids go to school is because they aren’t eligible for the NBA Draft. That is not a quality reason to go to college.
amen.
Prepare for an invasion of angry hill-jacks from the UK message boards, Ken!
Look, everyone on the planet knows that Calipari is scum. Even UK fans knew it before he replaced his drunken lout of a predecessor.
Just keep telling the truth about him. He won’t continue to get away with it forever.
Martha , Isin’t Halloween over ?
Get bent Martha, how appropriate you have a “broom”. I bet you do you sick little monkey.
Calipari has never once been personally admonished by the NCAA. Unlike your boy Kelvin Sampson and the “ethical Hoosiers” like Bob Knight who really cared about the kids especially when he was hitting them or berating them into submission. Calipari has been great for the University of Kentucky and college basketball. The only reason whiny little bitches like UNC and IU complain is he is taking the kids that they can’t get. UK is like the Yankees and the Cowboys. Everyone loves to hate the best. So hate on, because it only furthers what everyone knows is true that UK is going start stockpiling NCAA titles like the blue chip recruits!!!
What has Calipari done? NOTHING. He hasn’t won anything. ANYTHING. He is a loser.
cowboys….hahahaha….they suck….ok your like the cowboys…..hahaha
Shouldn’t you be swapping the UGLY ASS IU FLOOR!
I knew when I saw your name this would be lies and crap! Why do you write about things you know nothing about. Some day you will have to face a higher power for your acts here on earth! Then you can go to HELL!
Atta boy, Joe Ed. Condemn me to HELL. If I face a higher power for thinking Calipari is a self-serving mope taking advantage of a bad rule and talented but less than worldly kids and families to the tune of $31.75 million, I’m might get some kind of suite in heaven.
Ken, how are they less than worldly kids? What proof do you have to back up that allegation. If you are worried about coaches using less than worldly kids to bring in personal fortunes why not look at Rick Pitino’s recruitment of Tony Woods, or maybe a better example, Urban Meyer. And to your point that 346 D-1 coaches knew Kanter wouldn’t play, wasn’t he heavily recruited by Lorenzo Romar at Washington. PLEASE RESPOND.
And then Romar backed out. Indiana recruited him too.
Like I said, there is nothing wrong with getting the kid to come to campus and enroll. UK lost nothing. It was a good thing. Where did I write that signing Kanter was a mistake? It wasn’t.
HEAVEN TO YOU IS PROBABLY HAVING THAT SUITE FULL OF NAKED MEN YOU CAN SERVICE FOR ETERNITY, YOU FLAMER!! DOESN’T YOUR MOUTH HURT FROM ALL THE SORES AND RUNNER YOUR COCKSUCKER CONSTANTLY?
You sure picture me doing a lot of interesting things.
Kent Sterling a blogger with a dilusional personality. Get a job and become a man with integrity before you slander a great coach and a greater university. Oh and your one fan Martha is full of crap too.
How in the world do you know the psychological definition of “delusional personality” but don’t know how to spell it correctly. One additional correction, the word you are looking for to describe what you believe to be untrue and negative assertions in written form is “libel”, not “slander”. Again, no one says Calipari isn’t operating outside the rule, just that I’m an asshole for talking about him in less than glowing fashion.
YOUR NOT AN ASSHOLE! YOUR A DICK INSIDE AN ASSHOLE! LOSER!
Oh look everyone Martha’s_Broom has something to say. I guess this is the part where I should act all dumb and grammatically ignorant, he-yuck. What exactly is a hill-jack….is that what you do to Kent (his name by the way, not Ken).
Wow…another no name blogger trying to generate web traffic by posting something negative about UK and John Calipari…LOL. Hey, I guess it works…I’m here and responding. I guess until we all learn to ignore people that post or publish crap like this…it will continue.
I’m sure Kent Sterling thinks he and his opinion matters. This is just pure horse manure designed to stir up the UK fan base. I ain’t mad at ya…just wish these guys would go away…but like I said…I am just giving this guy more motivation to write some more crap.
Guys like this make me actually think that I should start my own site and post my opinions. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can stoop as low as some of these guys.
AGREED ^^^^
im afraid friend…THATS everybodys opinion, outside of bullit county…
So Kent, let me see if I’ve got this straight. So do you suggest that all coaches including Coach Cal should boycott the one and done players that come out of high school and not recruit them at all? Do you not understand that just about every recruit that Coach Cal lands was recruited vigorously by just about every other top program in the country. I guess they’re all guilty of recruiting one and dones but you seem to be the last to know.
No. I’m saying that taking full advantage of the idiotic one-and-done rule is the way to win, and Calipari does that better than anyone else. I guess I just can’t praise a guy.
BUT YOU CAN BLOW A GUY AND FINGER HIS BUTT AT THE SAME TIME!
I would be happy with every coach not recruiting the one and dones, at least we would have true student athletes and the college game would be better off.
HA HA HA Good one, Kent!
I’m also upset because I love Indiana basketball and we got our ass kicked last year, and the same is going to happen on December 11th, so maybe when Kentucky beats us I can write another bullshit article saying how Calipari is a cheater
No one ever just comes out and says Calipari doesn’t cheat.
You know I am a non-student athlete and I know that a large percentage of people I go to school with are only here to get a good job, the education is just the mandatory evil. These players are the same way, it just doesn’t take 4+ years.
CALIPARI DOESN’T CHEAT! DOUCHE! UNLESS WE’RE TALKING ON YOUR MOM WITH YOUR SISTER.
CALIPARI DOESN’T CHEAT, is that good enough?
Hey jerk off your beloved iu offered kanter before kentucky did. Cody Zeller sucks like the rest of the Zellers too
Nothing wrong with offering him. That’s what I wrote. Calipari lost nothing by offering him but a scholarship for one year. Why not offer the kid? If all you are doing is running a basketball factory, Kanter is exactly what you are looking for.
He was also a Washington commit at one time. Kanter was a chance that I think any coach would have taken if given the opportunity to have him.
I guess making slanderous comments is accepted in today’s journalism.
sorry if i come off as an ass. you dont know how it feels to have 7 dildos up your ass at the same time. please forgive me, i actually love coach cal. im just going through a hard time.
ADD A FEW MORE DILDO’S UNTIL THEY PUSH SHIT OUT OF YOUR MOUTH AGAIN LIKE THEY DID WHEN YOU WROTE THIS HORSESHIT!
This guy is just a blogger who has no real information. What he writes is just his opinion. Its not UK or Calipari’s fault that Indiana is a horrible basketball team now. Its not our fault Indiana cant get decent players. Thats why this guy is mad. Its all out of jealousy. He has no reason to actually hate a school or a coach that he doesnt know personally. Thats truely pathetic. Every article about Kentucky that you write just makes you look sad pathetic moron. Do you honestly think people listen to anything you say? NO. Your a blogger! As for the tutoring part…well I honestly have no idea but I am pretty sure that isnt just at UK thats at every college. My last thing to say to you is get a life and get off UK and Coach Cal’s ****.
Dude, putting TRUTH at the top of your page does not make your OPINION any more than a random diatribe of your common IU fan. I’m sure that’s what you’re going for though, yeah. Where you can write random diatribes absent of logic and motivated by emotion and the people will embrace you. How glorious!
No one has ever accused the state of Indiana of being intelligent though.
And meanwhile, the IU coach is friends with your fictitious Boogie Man. I ask, if Calipari is a cheat, what does that make Tom Crean for being pals with the guy? Things that make you go, hmmmmmmmm.
Just face it. Kentucky owns Indiana, and you’re jealous. It’s pretty obvious. Just admit it.
you’re a douche
Kent Sterling will do anything he has to. There is no barrier he respects enough to allow it to dissuade him from writing his columns. Slander the best possible players, and reload after they go to the NBA. Fill the rest of his articles with enough insinuations about the Kentucky team to get his hits high enough to not be an embarrassment. WIN!
And about no one coming out and saying Calipari doesn’t cheat? No one has also come out and said that you don’t kill people on the weekends! That doesn’t make it any more true.
I’ve never said a single bad thing about any of the UK players – other than the one I didn’t name whose tutor did his work. The kids aren’t the problem. The team last year was fun as hell to watch. I’m still steamed the Pacers didn’t draft Eric Bledsoe.
You are assuming facts not in evidence.
Yep. Calapari pays players, uses them for personal gain, and then recruits studious players for the GPA. Great article full of solid fact on Calapari and UK no opinion in it whatsoever.
ha!
P.S. Brandon Knight HS GPA- 4.28
John Wall had around a 3.5
So, as you said, his highly touted point guards are clearly not studious.
Wow, this is cute.
I read this article twice, and I didn’t find anything to be slanderous. Apparently I’m the only UK fan that isn’t okay with being under investigation every single year. I knew about Cal before he came here, accept it, the guy does not have a great history. He has been under investigation at every job he’s ever had, his only championship win is in the NIT, hell Billy Gillispie almost did that. Even with 5 straight Atlantic 10 tourney wins, when he finally reached the final 4 the wins were vacated and the University fined. Don’t forget what happened the next time he took a team to the final four,… you guessed it, vacated. Why do you think ticket prices were raised this season??? Better security, cleaner restrooms, it certainly wasn’t spent on parking or better food, there aren’t new seats in Rupp. It’s because they need better lawyers on retainer. He has a boatload of W’s, but there aren’t any W’s in Championship. STFU Marthas Broom.
Sadly you seem to be in the small minority of UK fans. One day they’ll wake up and realize they sold the soul of one of college BB’s most storied programs to a guy who has absolutely zero interest in promoting student athletics.
Maybe the only thing that will shake them is if the NCAA implements Sec of Education Duncan’s rule that if you don’t graduate 40% or more of your players you are banned from post-season play.
Also,… IU sucks, but I would rather have Bobby Knight than Calipari anyday.
My god, look at all of the hilljack UK fans coming out of the woodwork to defend their beloved Cal. They don’t care that all he is doing is running a NBA farm team that has only the slightest resemblance of having student athletes. They have consistently the lowest GPAs and graduation rates in the country, but that means nothing to UK fans. As long as they get their NBA guys in for a season, then reload with an entiely new set the next year, that’s fine with them. Too bad that formula has won Cal exactly ZERO championshipts. It because championships aren’t the most important thing to Cal…he’s said as much himself that last year’s NBA draft was the “Greatest moment in Kentucky BB history”. Who said that winning a title without making a bunch of 19yr olds millionaires would be a “failure”.
That’s all you’ve got UK fans. A one year NBA farm team, year after year. Get used to the dirty one-night stand feeling of a cheap whore.
Joker you just know it all your right Cal has won zero championships, wonder why maybe because he has been at Kentucky for one year how many great coaches won a championship in one year? stupid ass. It was a great moment to have FIVE players to be drafted in the first round. OH and you sound like you might be used to having dirty one night stands with a cheap whore.
Typical maturity of a UK fan on display here.
My question to you sterling, is why aren’t you writing about Calhoun or pearl? They have been caught cheating. They’ve admitted they cheated. Why hate on a coach whos never been caught cheating, just cause he’s gonna crush iu. How about you get some facts or sources for your stories. If they told you I’m sure they’d love to tell the rest of the world. Here’s another tip for ya bud if someone say I want to stay an unamed source the next thing that comes out of they’re mouth is probably shittier then your opinions. Oh yea didn’t you get fired from a real sports media establishment?
You promise one question and then ask a bunch of them. I’ve written about Pearl – a lot. I’ve avoided Calhoun and UConn because I have no opinion about the guy or the program. They are a program that has played good basketball for a long time, but I never found anything about them to be remotely interesting. If it’s boring to me, I don’t write about it. UConn might be a great story, but I don’t care about it.
Fact – $33,033 to Kanter from a pro team in Turkey. Fact – Calipari gets a lot of one-and-done kids – four in his first year at UK. Fact – I was told by a UK tennis player whom I trust that she watched a tutor (many times) do the homework of a prominent basketball player while he texted. That she doesn’t want her name attached to a story stating that is understandable.
Again the equivocation of a Kentucky fan saying that Calipari has never been caught cheating. No one is willing to say that he doesn’t cheat. And sadly no one at Kentucky cares.
Sadly Kent your a douche bag and IU is going to get their asses handed to them on Dec. 11
What makes a female tennis player a reliable source? Hey peyton manning former teammate told me he took some kind of brain juice, thats why he’s a smart qb. Print it, it must be true it came from peytons former teammate. Maybe it’s just someone who was dating an athlete and she got pissed cuz when he got drafted he dumped her.
Why would a girl at a study table watching a player text while the tutor did all the work not be a reliable source? That kind of source is good enough in a court of law, why not for this? The quality of the source is equal to the trust the writer has in her.
I think you have really screwed the pooch, coming up with this drivel. The only source you allude to is a women’s tennis player. I think a little more reliable source would be needed for this crap to have any merit at all.
This entire article shows how little you know about college sports. Instead of writing about programs like Georgia and Florida, where kids get into legal trouble, you write about my coach giving a kid from Turkey a chance to do what he always wanted to do. Coach Cal has done nothing wrong. We arent like your Indiana team. Am I wrong or are they on probation for actually cheating? You are a joke of a writer and I am more intellectually stimulated having conversations with my 4 year old. Save us all time and get out of the business.
What a nice guy Calipari is! Giving a kid a chance to play basketball. That’s outstanding. What a humanitarian. I’m sure that if he wouldn’t have been a top five frosh that his arms would have been open just as wide.
Well actually they would be check out his freshman walk on. Who’s been playing. The kid played for a public highschool with about 800 students total in it. The kid didnt have any scholarships to any decent division one schools. But he suits up in blue and white every game like the rest of your one and dones. That kid will never play pro ball but calipari took him in. By the way he’s not that great of a student either, so there goes that idea.
He could suit me up and sit me on the end of the bench. That isn’t going to win or lose him games. He doesn’t need 13 pros. He needs five.
What a stupid comment. That kid is on the team for one reason only, its because he had a 4.3 GPA coming out of HS. He is there to boost the team’s average GPA. If you cannot see that you are truly blind.
I guess the wrong hate crime target was chosen @ IU.
You do know that the $33K was for educational expenses while he was traveling with the club, correct? Out of that, only $20K was used prior to him coming to the US. The other $13K sits in an account unused and the Kanters have been more than willing to pay it back to the club. The ONLY reason he was declared ineligible was because club did not pay the tutor and educational expenses directly. They paid the Kanters who then paid the expenses. The Kanters did not know that rule. The NCAA looks at this in black and white terms and doesn’t take into account any circumstances. However, the appeals committee does take into consideration specific circumstances.
Here is a couple of questions for you:
1. If Kanter wanted to be a pro, why wouldn’t he have signed a multimillion dollar deal with the club when he turned 18?
2. Why, when invited to join the Turkish Nat’l team this summer for the Worlds did he turn it down to stay in summer school at UK. By finishing second, each team member received a condo and split $18 million between them.
Sounds like if he wanted to be a pro he would have done so by now. Finally, Orton and Bledsoe were not looked at as one and done players. Cal’s system and playing with good players got them drafted. Thanks for your responses.
Kent only sees what Kent wants to see. Don’t confuse him with facts. It’s much easier to fall back on sour grapes, puerile accusations, and callow perceptions than to offer even the slightest pretense of objectivity.
Kent is a lost cause, a bitter, defeated IU apologist without a modicum of respect for what he writes. I should know: I’m his frontal lobe.
I know it’s the beginning of college basketball season when Kent writes his annual hit piece on Calipari. And as usual, it’s nothing more than a yearly troll for attention. You bring nothing new to the table, Kent. We had this same discussion last year, Kent, and you still refuse to acknowledge the truth.
So against my better judgement, Kent, let’s try this again.
1. Who has Cal recruited that many, many other coaches haven’t?
2. Why is Cal a bad guy because he succeeded in signing said players?
3. Why is Cal a bad guy because he makes $4 MM per year?
4. Why is it Cal’s fault that four of his players last year were good enough to get drafted in the first round?
5. Do you think Cal recruits the best of the best *because* they *may* be OAD, or because they are, umm, the best players out there?
6. Should Cal stop recruiting all 5-star recruits so people like you, Kent, will stop accusing him of being a OAD factory?
7. Wow, you have a tennis player who claims to have witnessed academic fraud at UK? Wow…earth-shattering. Of course, there is no *proof* of this, but why not blog about it since it helps to make your case?
8. Can you provide one iota of evidence that you really know what Cal thinks, feels, or tells his players?
9. What wrongdoing has Cal been found to have perpetrated?
10. Are you aware of the incredible amount of time spent and money raised for the Haitian relief effort? I suppose because it was Cal, he had some nefarious reason for doing it, kids be damned.
11. Do you have the stones to be objective about any of these questions or to be objective about anything with respect to UK? No?
Okay, carry on with your inane drivel. It’s old and tired, but if it gives you something to write/hate about, go for it. We all need a little attention now and then, even if it IS only once a year.
I love answering questions
1. Who has Cal recruited that many, many other coaches haven’t?
No one. He just wins all the battles
2. Why is Cal a bad guy because he succeeded in signing said players?
He’s not a bad guy for signing them, but it is interesting that the kids who want to get paid in 12 months all seem to roll his way.
3. Why is Cal a bad guy because he makes $4 MM per year?
Because the kids make nothing for the year they play for him, which is the fault of the NBA’s one-and-done rule. The kids who win games for him have no interest in education, and he has no interest in them getting an education. Kentucky is at fault for giving someone that much money to coach at a way station for the NBA.
4. Why is it Cal’s fault that four of his players last year were good enough to get drafted in the first round?
Not his fault. It’s the fault of the ridiculous and previously cited NBA Draft eligibility rule that he takes full advantage of.
5. Do you think Cal recruits the best of the best *because* they *may* be OAD, or because they are, umm, the best players out there?
They are one and the same, so I’m not sure what his motivation is. It sure is nice though to know you can clear space for five or six freshman every year to make room for the next wave.
6. Should Cal stop recruiting all 5-star recruits so people like you, Kent, will stop accusing him of being a OAD factory?
I would like that. What I would prefer is for the NCAA and NBA to work together to enact a rule similar to baseball so college can be more than a short-term minor league option for kids who would prefer to monetize their talents.
7. Wow, you have a tennis player who claims to have witnessed academic fraud at UK? Wow…earth-shattering. Of course, there is no *proof* of this, but why not blog about it since it helps to make your case?
This comes down to a matter of trust – my trust in the source, and your trust in my trust for the source. Your trust in me, I’m guessing, is rather limited.
8. Can you provide one iota of evidence that you really know what Cal thinks, feels, or tells his players?
I can only judge by the results, although I wasn’t being critical at all of Calipari for his handling of the Kanter situation.
9. What wrongdoing has Cal been found to have perpetrated?
Al Capone was charged and convicted only of tax fraud.
10. Are you aware of the incredible amount of time spent and money raised for the Haitian relief effort? I suppose because it was Cal, he had some nefarious reason for doing it, kids be damned.
He has also spent time visiting an Indianapolis kid who played basketball for Franklin Central in the hospital without any fanfare. He’s not the Harvey Keitel character from “Bad Lieutenant”.
11. Do you have the stones to be objective about any of these questions or to be objective about anything with respect to UK? No?
I have written several very positive posts about Kentucky – one about the Kanter deal last week. I also wrote about how much fun the UK team was to watch last year. No one has read them.
I would be better off for readership purposes if I did nothing but throw flames, but I don’t like doing that. It’s not interesting to read, and I don’t enjoy writing it. When I write something that can be interpreted as negative about UK, it gets posted on fan message boards. When I write something positive, it doesn’t.
So long story short you lied and twisted damn near eveything you said. Top notch journalism Ken. Holy shit i cant belive you through Al Capone in there. You are truely an ignorant bastard.
Did you get fired by an actual sports media station? Fact or fiction? Kent should be hung, he only uses hot negative topics to get his measly web page a few more hits. He uses words like scandal, cheater, and violation. Because they draw hits. He doesnt do real research because that would take work. Calipari doesnt cheat, players the NCAA clears to play cheat. Did I mention they were both cleared to play. At umass and Memphis. Name one coach who wouldn’t have play campy and rose when they were approved. Name one time calipari has been stuck with any penalty. I think calipari handled the kanter situation as good as any coach. He benched him before he even had to just to make sure there would be no problems. He’s appealing the decision as any caring coach would, this kid wants to play college ball bad. Calipari is trying to help. Maybe the NCAA should do their job and investigate before they clear someone. But hey that would take hiring more then 6 people to do the investigating. Really sounds like their worried about the whole situation of cheating doesn’t it. As far as the other situations at umass and Memphis those were more like sorry we f***** up and even though it was our fault were still taking your wins.
Where did I bad mouth Calipari for anything he did with Kanter? He did exactly what I would expect him to – take a chance that a kid might be granted eligibility, because if he is, maybe you get to hang another banner. It was a no lose deal. I’m confused by the amount of vitriol given the post indicts Calipari for nothing more than taking advantage of a bullshit rule that allows college basketball to be used as a minor league for the NBA that doesn’t allow anyone to be paid but the coaches.
Oh yea I really like the part about uses the talent of kids to help his career. I’m sorry maybe he should pick kids with no talent and high GPAs to come play basketball. That makes sense. Holy cow it’s catching on like wild fire saban just quit and got hired by harvard to be their new defensive backs coach. He really wants to get personal with these kids and help em graduate. Holy cow lane kiffin just torn up the commitments from his whole 2011 class to bring in the av club from orange county high. I heard the projectionist can run a 6.8 fourty he’ll make a hell of a corner.
Why can’t every comment be like this? Funny, on point, contrary. I started to wonder if every UK fan was a humorless turd.
Former college athlete wins the prestigious Kentsterling.com Comment of the Day Award!
Kent your a pussy
I believe you mean “you’re” or “you are.”
I’ll take the bait and comment this one time only on one of your articles.
I have never read something that made me laugh so hard in years. Keep on bashing of Cal and we( UK ) will keep on winning.
Where did you go to Journalism school at? Or did you go at all?
What an entertaining read. Obviously Kent hit a sensitive button in UK world. As they say, the truth is often more biting than fiction. What’s the big deal…..the guy obviously doesn’t have an issue with one and done….Many fans of college basketball (and college) do. He states that he is giving UK exactly what it wants. Obviously true since so many UK fans don’t have an issue with calaprini’s approach…..However,it is fair game for a commentator (or anybody) to say they do….I will add my voice. I think it is a complete joke that any coach would intentionally recruit a one and done player. It is a slap in the face to the entire NCAA and the entire eduation system.
I would object if my beloved Izzo started intentionally recruiting one and done. Thankfully, he seemed to have learned a lesson several years ago and has moved on….
Suck it up UK fans. Not everyone thinks Calaprini is a God. Some see him (as I do) as a force working against the principles of our beloved games….Deal with It…you will survive this too.
You know that the only reason you say such stupid things is so you can get a reaction out of UK fans. Get a life! I am a grown adult and can’t believe I am commenting on this but I am so tired of all you so called ray barone sports writers commenting on things you know little of. I know it is easy to pick on the dynasty since we are the dynasty but go put Duke under a microscope for awhile would you? And really get a little dorkier looking picture, if that’s possible, on facebook! Idiot! My advice to you is to never visit Rupp Arena. Your face is probably posted at every door as WANTED!
Dynasties come with more than a trip to the Elite Eight. Kentucky hasn’t been to a Final Four since its freshmen were in Kindergarten. One SEC title in five years. There’s some work to do before you can claim any measure of dominance.
Kent sorry but IU hasn’t won a championship since before your freshmen were born, and it doesn’t look like they’ll be winning any championships in the near future. The only reason your talking about Kentucky is because now they look like they can win one every year. What is wrong with the OaD’s coming to Kentucky? If they didn’t they would go somewhere else and make the same decision. I’m sure you wouldn’t care if all of them went to IU right?
I keep trying to tell you rubes that my anger is with the NCAA and NBA for mandating that a kid who could make millions in the NBA waste his time pretending to give a shit about academics. My anger isn’t with Calipari or Kentucky’s success, it’s with the knuckleheads enacting and preserving idiotic rules.
Do I believe Calipari is a fine and upstanding guy? No, I don’t. I think he’s a turd who uses the skills of these young men on the cheap to pay a bloated mortgage.
In all fairness, we IU fans love our Eric Gordon as much as anyone, and we’ll have some one and dones in the future. Granted, Gordon actually honed is bb skills in Indiana, unlike Kentucky which produces one solid player every several years (Check ou the IN v. KY All Star Game series). I’m a fan of the Izzo, K, Williams model of molding top flight talent over 3 or 4 years to form a well oiled machine, but everyone gets some one and dones here and there.
You can’t help that some kids get good enough to jump to the NBA. I doubt that Butler was ever worried in the recruiting of Gordon Hayward that he was going to jump after two years.
Having it happen, and using the rules as a systemic tool are two different things.
Actually, I really don’t take any offense to Sterling’s comments. I am a huge UK fan, have been for over thirty years. Yet, I am also a realist and recognize Calipari’s role and think it is mostly commensurate with Sterling’s article.
@KENTSTERLINGISAHOMO – While I think you lack tact, you have some hilarious one-liners.
Kent, I have read a few of your articles and this piece is the latest that I have read, I don’t read a lot of the stuff you pen but some of it, anyway the feeling I get when I read one of your “ramblings” is that of a young man that is throwing a temper-tantrum. I try to see what you see, feel what you feel and so on but I still keep sensing that you are eating sour grapes, pouting and that you want to take your ball and go home. I guess you feel that you can GAIN more readers by bashing an IU rival, am I getting close? By getting more readers you are more exposed and noticed . . . correct?. When you say that Coach Calipari is only interested in 1 and dones your actually thinking to yourself “WHY CAN’T IU GET THESE GUYS???” I wish these 4 & 5 star recruits would stay all 4 years, college basketball would be so much more enjoyable for everybody! I have many relatives living in Ft. Wayne, we love to bash and rib each other when basketball season rolls around so I don’t take your ramblings seriously, I have had my share of “ass-whoopins” from those relatives down through the years and I enjoy giving those whoopins too, hey it’s fun. So really I view your articles on Kentucky Basketball as that of one of my loving relatives from up north, and in closing . . . tell Martha’s_Broom “The Hilljacks” will welcome her arrival to Rupp Arena next month : } Hey folks . . . it’s all in fun
What’s funny is that 99% of these appeal cases get over turned. If Enes ends up playing I’m going to laugh my ass off.
BTW WTF is a hilljack?
Coach Cal has said many times that he is opposed to the NBA rule that says a kid must be 20 before he can play in the league. Cal wants kids to be able to go straight to the NBA from high school. If that were the rule, I am sure he’d have a different kind of roster — and a different style of recruiting. Dick Vitale has told him he can’t win a title with a team of one-and-dones, but Cal wants the kids to get prepared for a bright future in the NBA. Hey, I’ll take 35-3 and no title every year. Sure beats 10-loss Tubby and 10-win Billy.
He does what he does to get the best players. I don’t think it’s the way a college basketball program should be run.
Dick Vitale hasn’t said or done anything relevant or even mildly interesting since 1987 when he stood on his head when Austin Peay beat Illinois. He wants to cash checks, not enlighten.
Kent, What really hurts people like you is that Coach Cal gets the top recruits and he coaches at one of the top programs that has the BEST fan following. Then when the NCAA violation record books are opened and looked at and you see Roy Williams, Rick Pitino, Bill Self, Bruce Pearl, Calhoun, and the list goes on who have violations by their names but GUESS WHAT John Calpari’s name IS NOT in the book with violations by it. And that just PISSES all you AS**OLES off. Now I just sit back and drink my KENTUCKY WHISKEY and enjoy how much it makes me happy.
Wow! Ken you really need to think god every day for the internet. Where else would and complete douchebag hater (such as yourself) be able to vent. So 346 teams knew Kanter would be unable to play huh? Maybe you should do some research numb nutts. What about romar at washington who originally recruited Kanter? Forgot bout that huh? Or how bout the kid at MSU who did the same exact thing as Kanter? One major difference Kanter told the truth about what he got and this kid lied the whole way through. But you have nothing to say bout Izzo. Tell the truth Ken your sick of UK treating IU like their bitch.
I try not to nitpick spelling because I make some myself, but you spelled words like bastard, bitch, and shit correctly, but you spell “truly” as “truely”? Only in Kentucky.
STOP………………