Kentucky Basketball: Paul Biancardi Says Nerlens Noel Will Be Fine

There was some sturm und drang around the Big Blue Nation last week after well-respected Draft Express analyst Jonathan Givony made some negative comments on Twitter about Noel's performance at an event in California a few days back.

This morning, Larry Vaught has a post up on his blog that includes some comments from Paul Biancardi, ESPN's recruiting analyst, essentially telling any Wildcats fans tempted to take Givony's comments to heart that they should not be concerned:

“When you don’t play or practice as much as you normally do, it will show but it won’t hamper him long term. He has to do more come fall to catch back up, but it is all part of the learning curve when you are playing catch up,” said Biancardi. “He is battle tested. He has played AAU at the highest level. He went a high level prep school. He has done everything you can in the high school ranks."

I can't emphasize enough that Noel was working very hard this summer to complete his academic requirements for reclassification, which is not a trivial matter. It isn't as though he were retaking courses to shore up his grades, these were additional courses required to complete the reclassification requirements.

For this reason, Noel fell behind a bit athletically, and that's going to take some catch up work. But when he arrives on campus next Monday, that effort will begin in earnest. So those of you alarmed by Givony's comments, try to relax -- Noel will be fine. Hat tip: John Clay.