Kentucky Wildcats Quickies: Beat Missouri Edition

The Kentucky Wildcats will play the Missouri Tigers tonight in Rupp Arena at 8:15 on ESPN but the world of college basketball will find it hard to focus on actual games in the wake of the biggest scandal in the history of the sport.

Kentucky players were implicated in the spreadsheet obtained by Pat Forde and Pete Thamel of Yahoo! Sports. Bam Adebayo allegedly took over $36,000 as a loan from Christian Dawkins. Bam’s high school coach has come forth and categorically denied everything.

Kevin Knox was alleged to have had a meeting and possibly a meal with Christian Dawkins. Kevin Knox Sr. told Kyle Tucker and Alan Cutler yesterday that this meeting never happened and he wouldn’t be able to identify Andy Miller or Christian Dawkins.

Right now there is no immediate fall out for John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats. Cal held a press conference yesterday and while he took very few questions about the scandal, he did indicate that Kevin Knox will play today against the Tigers.

This, as Sean Miller showed us last night, is far from over.

Tweets of the Day

This is hysterical. Dakich reported that the NCAA fine for Louisville’s stripper/hooker scandal would but $15 million. Actually it was $600,00.

Quickies

Wiretaps of Sean Miller discussing payments to DeAndre Ayton | ESPN- As the dust from yesterday’s nuclear blast started to settle, another bomb was dropped after 9:00 PM. Sean Miller, who was already embroiled in this scandal, was recorded discussing payments of $100,000 to five star recruit DeAndre Ayton. Miller is the only other head coach besides Rick Pitino that has been directly involved with paying players. Miller might be done as of today and he may be done permanently when it comes to college basketball.

DeAndre Ayton had an offer from UK but there wasn’t much interest on Cal’s part | Lexington Herald Leader- Ayton’s final three were Kansas, Kentucky, and Arizona but nobody thought he would pick UK. There were worries about his eligibility from the start and Calipari backed off his recruitment. Now we know why.

Calipari addresses scandal | SEC Country- Cal was one of the few coaches to speak about the scandal. He denied any dealings with any agents for any of his players. So far neither Cal nor Kentucky have been tied to any of this. Call me naive but I 100% believe Calipari.

Kentucky’s surge is better late than never | CoachCal.Com- Two straight wins by double-digits and a win on the road at Arkansas has this team looking like it’s turning things around. Get ready for that signature late season surge.

Cuonzo Martin confirms Michael Porter, Jr. has been medically cleared | Rock M Nation- One of the biggest stars in the 2017 recruiting class was sidelined with a back injury before the season even started. The prevailing thought was that he wouldn’t play college basketball but he’s been cleared. Will he play against Kentucky today? My guess is no and I think it’s against his best interest to play at all.

Sean Hjelle pitches a gem in win | UK Athletics- The Kentucky ace gave up one hit in 7.2 innings and struck out a career-high 13 pitches in a 10-1 win against Oakland. The Cats are chugging along at 5-1 and will play Oakland again this afternoon if the weather holds out.

How can the NCAA fix college basketball? | CBS Sports- Gary Parrish has a good idea:

The fix really is simple. What the NCAA should do is eliminate the black market by allowing student-athletes to secure representation and accept fair-market value in this billion-dollar industry where just about everybody connected to the biggest sports in the biggest conferences are legally getting rich but them.

The silly idea of amateurism is outdated and it has gotten college basketball in its present predicament. First off, fire Mark Emmert because he got us here, then enact a plan where college athletes can make money off of their talents and names.

Texas sidelining guard Eric Davis | Burnt Orange Nation- Davis was alleged to have taken $1,500 from Christian Dawkins. The Longhorns have decided to withhold Davis from play until further notice.

What college coaches said in wake of FBI probe info | CBS Sports- This thing is widespread and far reaching. College coaches are scared to death because, as we are finding out, things are going on behind their backs and it has potential to wreck their programs. But then there are the guys like Sean Miller and Rick Pitino who actively participated.

I think Tom Crean summed it up best:

I‘m not naive enough to think I coached all these years and nothing happened -- that would be completely stupid,” Crean said, then added, “Do a lot of things have to change? Yes they do. Are there going to be instances where coaches had no idea something of those things were going on? Absolutely. Are there going to be instances where coaches were involved behind the scenes, a couple layers removed? Absolutely.

USA wins curling gold | Sporting News- Captain John Schuster and Team USA defeated Sweden for the gold medal, the first ever for the sport of curling.

Anthony Davis puts up historic numbers against the Heat | NBA.com- Anthony Davis put up out-of-this-world numbers in the Pelicans one point win over the Heat. 45 points, 17 rebounds, 5 blocks, and 5 steals. That’s completely insane.

He may be the best player to have ever played at Kentucky. I’ll die on that hill.

Don’t forget I’ll be on ESPN 680 after the game tonight for the UK postgame show. I’ll talk about the game against the Tigers but I also have more to say about the college basketball scandal.

Here’s how to listen:

Give me a call 502-267-9680