Kentucky held its basketball media day today, and head coach John Calipari commented on many aspects of the program.
But before he had a chance to talk specifically about Kentucky’s roster, he was asked about his thoughts on the ongoing FBI investigation into the world of college basketball recruiting.
“Obviously what’s out there right now is a black eye,” Calipari said. “But here’s the thing for everyone here: I don’t want to come across as uneducated or dumb.”
“None of us know where this thing is going. What’s happened to this point isn’t good. At this point, I don’t think me commenting on it is the right thing to do.”
Of course, that didn’t stop the questions. And that led to this interesting exchange between Calipari and longtime Kentucky beat writer Jerry Tipton:
Jerry Tipton just checked John Calipari.
"This is a media day, not coach day." pic.twitter.com/R6Pf718dbn
— Clayton Abernathy (@ClayKY1) October 12, 2017
Calipari was also asked about NCAA president Mark Emmert releasing a statement on Wednesday that touched on his decision to form the Commission on College Basketball.
“I liked the statement because he mentioned the students,” Calipari said. “At the end of the day, this is about the student athletes. If we make decisions about these kids and what’s right for these kids, we’re gonna be right.”
“If the NBA is worried about the NBA and the NCAA is worried about the NCAA – each individual institution is worried about themselves – and the last thing we’re worried about are these kids, we’re gonna make the wrong decisions.”
Here is the link to watch the entire press conference.
Lovell’s Analysis
I think we all expected the barrage of FBI questions considering that it was Calipari’s first open press conference since the NCAA scandal started a few weeks ago.
The Tipton exchange obviously got a ton of attention, but the only thing to come out of it was what we already know: Kentucky hasn’t been contacted by the NCAA and doesn’t anticipate being contacted at any point in the future.
We’re still in that stage where fingers are being pointed in a lot of different directions. Log onto social media, and accusations are thrown all over the place.
But, as I’ve repeated over the past few weeks, there are still way too many unknowns to be able to accurately predict where all of this is headed next. Therefore, speculation at this point is just that: speculation.
However, what’s not speculation is the fact that Calipari has a loaded roster this season in Lexington.
While the injury to Jarred Vanderbilt isn’t ideal, this Kentucky team has depth and versatility at many key positions. And that should be enough to put the Wildcats in the running for yet another SEC regular season crown.
But with SEC Media Day set to take place next week, Calipari and many other coaches around the SEC will likely face more questions on the current state of college basketball.