Brad Calipari to redshirt

The Kentucky Wildcats will redshirt junior guard Brad Calipari, the school announced Monday.

If he doesn’t play in 2018-19, he will have two seasons of eligibility remaining afterward, which means he’ll be at Kentucky for three more years.

“Brad came to me about a month ago and asked me to redshirt this year,” UK head coach John Calipari said. “He’s graduating in three years with plans to go to graduate school for two years here at Kentucky. This will give basketball eligibility during those two years of grad school. He will continue to be a part of our team this year and will still practice and travel with us. However, he will not play in any of our games.”

Brad has played in 27 career games in his first two seasons as a Wildcat and has recorded 11 points and five rebounds. The younger Calipari played in five of UK’s six exhibition games in the preseason, totaling three points, three rebounds and two assists in 40 minutes.

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while,” Brad Calipari said. “With where I am in my basketball career and with what I plan to do academically, this just made the most sense. I plan to remain around my brothers and continue to work on my game.”

With a loaded backcourt featuring Ashton Hagans, Immanuel Quickley, Quade Green, Tyler Herro and Jemarl Baker, this seems like a good opportunity for Brad to take a year off playing in games and position himself for later on down the road.

The Wildcats have a significant amount of depth in the backcourt, so there shouldn’t be too many concerns with that aspect of it.

The other part of this message from John is that Brad is planning on staying at Kentucky for grad school, which should seem like good news for those who are curious about John’s future plans at Kentucky. Brad will be around Lexington for at least three more years it seems, and who knows what his plans are after that.

Nonetheless, good for Brad. This seems like a good opportunity for him.