John Calipari and EJ Montgomery comment on return to UK

EJ Montgomery has officially pulled out of the NBA Draft and returned to the Kentucky Wildcats.

It took until the evening of deadline day to withdraw from the draft, but it was well worth the wait when Montgomery announced he would rock that Kentucky blue next season.

“Big Blue Nation, I just want to say thanks for all you’ve done for me and my family,” Montgomery said. “I enjoyed putting on a Kentucky uniform with my brothers and playing in front of the best fans in the nation. I appreciate your support for me and my teammates this season.

“I want to say thanks for Coach Cal, Coach KP, Coach Joel, Coach Robic and Coach Barbee for pushing me every single day to be the best I can be on and off the court. I got to compete against the best of the best every day in practice. We had a good season on the court because of our love for the grind. I’m proud of what we accomplished together.

“BBN, I’m back. Year 2.”

After the decision was made, head coach John Calipari released a statement on Montgomery’s choice. As you can imagine, Coach Cal is ecstatic at the thought of getting to work with Montgomery for another year.

“When EJ and his family set out to go through this NBA Draft process, I told EJ he had my full support no matter what he decided,” UK head coach John Calipari said. “I know this was a tough decision for EJ and his family because of the positive feedback he received throughout this process. EJ improved so much during the season and I know how much he wants to show our fans what he can do with another year.

“I’m thrilled to be able to continue to coach EJ. He has a special skill set and he’s only begun to scratch the surface of his potential. EJ knows how hard this is going to be, and I know he’s ready to embrace the grind and do everything he can for this team while continuing to develop into the best version of himself.”

Kentucky now has arguably the best 10-man roster of anyone in college basketball, but more importantly, Montgomery returns to a frontcourt that would have been dangerously thing had he remained in the draft.

Now we can get excited for next season.