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Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
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Saturday / November 23.

UK Issues Statement; Cal’s Mother Has Cancer

Kentucky issued the following statement in response to the New York Times article about the NCAA investigating Eric Bledsoe’s high school record.

“Often high profile student-athletes are selected for an extensive prospective student-athlete (PSA) review. Eric Bledsoe participated in the normal academic review process and also an extensive PSA review by the NCAA Eligibility Center and was cleared academically.”

In other Kentucky news, head coach John Calipari revealed on his Website that his mother, Donna, is battling cancer and that he would need to focus on her for the near future.

“My mom, Donna Calipari, is battling cancer and I’m going to spend some time these next few days trying to figure out the best course of action for her medical care. At some point here in the near future, I will tell you all about my mom. For now, please know this is the woman who gave me my drive and my mindset to dream big dreams. She is a fighter and an incredibly strong woman,” he wrote.

“Right now my family’s focus is on getting her the care she needs. I hope you understand this will take me away from Lexington and my focus will shift away from basketball and to providing support, help and comfort for my mom. Anyone who has gone through this knows it’s devastating for all involved.”

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Latest comments

  • Best Wishes to Calipari’s mother, Alot of bad things are said about Calipari on this site, but we all need to respect him and his mother as she battles cancer.

  • Cali’s Mom, best to her. Cali is doing this because he as I do also believes that aliens have invaded this planet. Truth sux I know but Bruce Pearl is one of them.

  • The big fat sweatanitians have arrived?

  • I hope Cali takes time off and takes care of his mother.

  • AZ,

    TOLD you about Kensucky.

    Those illegal ways continue to follow.
    Memphis did it knowingly.

    Kensucky did it also.
    Knowingly admitt him.

    I HOPE all the KIDS have OUT CLAUSES

    Kensucky is going on SANCTIONS.
    MAJOR PENALITIEs for Kensucky.

    They knew about IT..

    Just saying..

  • Memphs didn’t do it knowingly, dumbass. Try again. Memphis alerted the NCAA about a discrepancy they discovered about Rose, and they cleared him. THREE TIMES.

    What more do you want?

    I’ll play devil’s advocate here, and tell you that the NCAA only looked into Bledsoe, not UK.

    In any case, the term “strict liability” is applied, however.

    Most UK fans aren’t worried about. Some(a smarter group) are. We’ll see what happens.

  • Best of wishes to Mrs. Calipari.

    I ran into her once when Cal was at Memphis. Nice woman.

  • Comment by JessieWildcat
    2010-05-30 19:03:40

    AZ,

    TOLD you about Kensucky.

    Those illegal ways continue to follow.
    Memphis did it knowingly.

    Kensucky did it also.
    Knowingly admitt him.

    I HOPE all the KIDS have OUT CLAUSES

    Kensucky is going on SANCTIONS.
    MAJOR PENALITIEs for Kensucky.

    They knew about IT..

    Just saying..
    —————————————————-

    Wrong again…..

  • Lots a chatter that Bledsoe will indeed file a lawsuit…

    Hope he brings these clowns down…

  • Why, is the kid ashamed his poor academics were made public? Im sure a law suit will raise more questions and concerns regarding the “improbable” academic turn around. I say go for it Eric!

  • I think the NYT wasn’t suppose to make his private records made public and not even sure if they should have even had access to them…So,if it goes to court hopefully the NYT will be held to divulge how they came about getting his private records…

    Your comment is silly,Eric isn’t the one that would be on trail and he has nothing to hide as far as his grades are concerned they have been thoroughly reviewed by UK compliance and the NCAA already,they won’t change now…

    I’d love to find out the source that leaked Eric’s personal and private information to the NYT…

  • fearthephog25-

    Example-Say you had AIDS….

    The paper takes that info and makes it public without your consent,it’s the same thing taking private info and releasing it w/o your permission…

    I guess you wouldn’t mine if that happened?
    How would you feel?……..(Ashamed) or Pissed off or both?

    Wouldn’t you want to know how the paper got your medical records that are confidential,you could also go after the source that leaked the info such as the doctor,nurse etc…

  • Raise more questions,it’s been all over the net and in numerous newspapers already,the damage has been done..By filing suit it won’t make his grades change…

    Try again!

  • Talk about really hurting his draft status. This whole fiasco could send bledsoe into the second round, thus leaving him without a guaranteed contract. Due to his bad grades, you know that is in the back of his mind. Then who do you balame? calimari for pushing this poor kid to the NBA Draft. And nobody really wants to play over seas. It’s to late to turn back now, what’s done is done.

  • No I don’t think his grades will matter at all with the draft but,if it does,U could blame it on the NYT…..

  • Isn’t he already pushing real late second round? No NBA team wants a negative image for drafting a player involved on contraversy. Basketball is a business and it’s about marketing and selling the best product available.

  • Oops, I meant to say late first round. My bad.

  • he’s being strongly considered for the pacers lotto pick. you know whats funny. GM’s that are needing a PG are looking at Bledsoe who’s body of work is little, yet he will be drafted before Sheron Collins who’s body of work is huge. i would consider Cal “pushing him into the draft after a year” a better option than playing 4 years and going second round. if he would have done good the whole tourney we would be talking 5 lotto picks.

  • I think it is fine that NYT wants to dig up an old story and try to make sensational headlines. I also know the writer of the article is a “grab the headlines” guy and has always had it out for Calipari.

    Where I find a major issue is that he implies Bledsoe is too dumb to make such an improvement in grades without soem outside help. Anyone who is in touch with academic GPAs knows getting a D removed and replaced with a B alone is huge. I guarantee there are many non-athletes that make this kind of improvement once they truly commit themselves. To imply the only way Eric could have done this is by cheating is criminal.

  • IS CALI GONE!!!

    Almost everyone says..>YES…

    YOU maybe RIGHT.
    EB+ will surely send Cali out of UK.

    And..

    THE NCAA is looking like FOOLS!!

    Big TIME FOOLS!

    Kensucky had SIX violations prior to the FALL period.
    Kensucky KICKED one of its staff OUT…due to NCAA gross violations.

    And Kensucky KNEW about the EB situation.
    A number of Kensucky folks knew about it.

    SO, WHAT does the NCAA do.
    Already looking like FOOL.

    The NCAA will birng IN the , CLOSER.
    THE CLOSER.

    NO MORE chances for Kensucky.

    Time to PAY.
    Just like Memphis Rats.

    When you play dirty….YOU start to smell.

    And it STINKs all the way , in the WEST.

    WILL the FOOLISH NCAA finally do something…

    Some say.. YES.

    Have you HEARD anything yet…………..

  • JessieWildcat
    You sir are a dumba**. Hopeful wishing on your part, since your once relevant basketball program is now as relevant as Arizona St, which means NOTHING. Kentucky will not incur any violations over something they had no control over, and an extensive NCAA search found NOTHING and the NYT found a bunch of maybe he said she said garbage, yet you spend more time trying to hate on another program because of your jealousy then trying to figure out when your team will make the NCAA tournament again.

    You should use your time more efficiently vs. wasting hopeless break and time wishing for a fall of the UK program, which will NEVER happen especially over something that they didn’t control or has NO LEGS. The 6 violations you mention, name them, no Coach was OUTed due to violations, Strickland was demoted because he got a DUI, but I guess if that is an NCAA violation, we’ll have numerous schools punished as that seems to be a typical offense for numerous coaches around the nation. Get a life, and go cheer for your school vs. hating on another school, so when KY doesn’t get any punishment and has the most talented team EVER in 2011, are you going to come back on this site and say YOU WERE WRONG?

  • Wow. Your whole post is not only uninformed, but severely lacking in grammar.

    Try again, fool.

    WAIT

    I mean TRY again FOOL.

  • LOL Bledsoe is no where close to a lotto pick. Nice fail though.

    10. Indiana Pacers – Xavier Henry, SG, Kansas: The Pacers could use more help on the inside, but Henry might be too good to pass up. At 6-6½ in shoes, Henry shot 41.8 percent from 3-point range as a freshman and was impressive in the vertical-leap tests at the predraft camp.

    29. Orlando Magic – Eric Bledsoe, PG, Kentucky: It’s difficult to tell whether Bledsoe would have done more or less as a college freshman if he wasn’t playing next to John Wall. The 6-1½ guard does have some fans among NBA scouts.

    Bledsoe was pushed to the NBA Draft because he would of failed out of uk. cal pushed 2 players to the draft because they failed to meet academic standards at uk, hence the horrible gpa.

  • Xavier Henry didn’t go to class at all,you won’t see it in the media because no one cares about that program..He avg. a D-

    It will be the same with showtime “not going to class” selby…

    Other thing KU’s A.D. is known to deal with convicted criminals,that says a lot about his character,taking gifts,ticket scams etc.

  • LOL Gonna have to dig deeper lil buddy. Keep trying.

    uk2k*

  • NCAA investigating one of Calipari’s recruits? Who saw this coming? How bout EVERYONE! The sad part is when you compare the number of National Championships Cal has won with the number of violations and investigations into his teams and former players. The difference is staggering. When will these poor Wildcat fans learn? I hope its before their program gets put on probation.

  • Hey Calipari!

    Answer your phone!….NCAA infractions committee has questions!…..and you have no answers.

  • have a source, because everything I’ve heard/read suggests otherwise

  • Xavier was on the deans list first semester. That is a fact. He did not average a D- like EB did. you completely fabricated that.

    Nice shot at lew perkins too, you know he has never gotten in actual trouble for any of that stuff, just happened under his watch. sound familiar?

  • your coach also has violations and NCAA inquiries than national championships jack ass. but hey what ever helps get over Northern Iowa. this supposed investigation has been going on for almost a year and UK has heard nothing. UM knew they were looking at Rose, y not let UK know about anything. with people like Thamel, Forde, Tipton, ONeal UK and Cal will always be under these supposed investigations but nothing will ever come off it because the NCAA does the punishing not fagot bloggers like you and JessieWildcat nor Pat “Mrs. Pitino” Forde. your program is in more danger of NCAA violations than UK

  • Everyone is jealous of Kentucky! You all want Calipari to slip up because he is getting all the talent. Look at what he is doing to poor little Ricky Pitino at The Ville and Washington not once, but twice. Teams like Kansas who do have some talent can’t even get to the Sweet 16, those poor fans. Arizona is down. UCLA stinks. UCONN not looking good. Indiana is god awful! Kansas will not win the Big 12 because Selby is a ball hog and head case! 2011 is all about Kentucky, Duke, Purdue, Ohio State, and watch out for those North Carolina Tar Heels!

  • Memphis will be a major player too! Syracuse?

  • LOL Everybody is an expert! Maybe everyone should just shut their mobile devices and computers down. Mr. Basketball himself wallflower2010 is here to set the record straight. 😛

    Sounds like someone is still butt hurt over Showtime Selby get’n every uk faithful’s hope up. Sorry, he didn’t even care to make an appearance in lexington. I remember to way back when, all uk fans could talk about was Selby and knight playing together – and they were so certain it was going down that way. Now they want to turn around and bash every player that does not choose the pussycats. TYPICAL. 🙂 Sorry you were played by the #1 recruit in the land. Didn’t Elijah Johnson do that to poor uk too? Yes. LOL

    Are you mad because KU dominates the Big 12? Sounds like it, and I would love to hear you compare the sec to the Big 12. Exactly….

    Getting quality talent doesn’t mean anything. It didn’t get you to the final four with an NBA type line up this past season, did it? The 1-3-1 zone ripped uk a new ass hole. LOL Your so called coach cannot adjust to coaches with higher basketball IQ in close game situations. And that is why he will get beat everytime in big games. His track record speaks for itself, that is what you paid for and hired. An un-proven coach who has never even been to a final four. LMAO!

    And say comments about NIU, we all know what happened already. Tell me something I haven’t heard before. Fact is KU and uk went home empty handed with Zero Banners and Zero Final Four Money. A smart talented coach would of won with patterson, wall and cousins in their line up, don’t even matter who the other 2 scrubs would of been. (i.e. Izzo, Williams, Huggy Bear, Self, Coach K and even your buddy Bobb Knight.) LOL

  • Won’t make his grades change, but it will magnify Discrepancies and Suspicion. I am all for a lawsuit, its not like I am going to lose anything. 🙂

  • No.I have no source because I made it up(the part about Henry,it was in response to fearthephog25 which also made up that E.B. was failing his classes),just like half of these comments on this board are false with nothing more than an opinion or hatred for another program …

    Funny thing is when I do in fact support my comments with a validated link or source,most peeps on here won’t respond to it,its not till I falsify the “Facts” that anyone cares to respond…

  • your team had similar talent you idiot(plus experience) and didnt even last as long. UK played like freshman (cuz they were) and Kansas played like freshman (but they were sooo experienced). you say TELL ME SOMETHING I HAVENT HEARD BEFORE yet you repeat your same lines over and over “no FF, vacated season, he’s not a good coach”. your coach with EQUAL TALENT lost to what should be a NAIA school.

    Self is a better coach cuz he can adjust to what teams are doing???? did you see Farouqmanish (who?) dominate you all. Why is that different than UK getting beat by WVU who should have been a one seed. You guys barely got by a 16 seed. EVEN A BLIND SQUIRREL CAN GET A NUT SOMETIMES.

    And if Thamel would investigate why your Selby is driving a BENZ maybe we would have a real story.

    And to say Selby got our hopes up is ignorant. Yeah we hoped that would happen, but if you listen to Selby’s reason why he didn’t consider UK he said “Cal hasn’t called me in like 3 months”. but you can make it seem like you won out on him, when really you know if Cal wanted him he would have went after him instead of Knight and Lamb.

  • Typical poser on here,trying to bait with hate…

    Cal to NBA
    Travis Ford
    Vacated season
    UK2K
    E.B. failing classes(straight up lie)

    That’s exactly what makes this comment section worthless,Someone who has nothing worth while to talk about…Just keeps bring the same comments over and over,trying to flame on others is all you bring to the discussion….

    No facts,just an opinion!

  • ^^^ Above comment directed to fearthephog25

  • True,I gave my reason above why I made that comment on Henry…It was in response to the lie that was made about E.B. from fearthephog25….

    How did he do in the 2nd semester?

  • My job is done here. I got in on this conversation for one reason and one reason only and that was to piss a certain Kansas fan off!!!! I did my job. Nobody and I mean nobody is a bigger idiot than this guy. Everything he writes about is geared towards his hatred and jealousy of Kentucky. Calipari stopped recruiting Selby because of his hot shot attitude. My Kentucky brother is right that if Cal would have wanted him he would have got him! See ya phagboy 25!

  • fearthephag is def. a d-bag but i take him over JessieWildcat anyday.

  • Is JessieWildcat an Arizona fan? Poor fella, he really is on hard times. The only thing more depressing than than being an Arizona fan right now is being a fan of Indiana, UCLA, or Connecticut.

  • EB didnt average a D-. he would have been eligible to play next year. X may have been Deans list, but he wasnt on any list in the second (including a class roster list). Daniel Orton dropped out of school, and thats why we have a poor GPA in spring.

  • well this guy is regarded as a PACERS INSIDER lets see what he says.
    http://blogs.indystar.com/pacersinsider/archives/2010/05/scrambling_for.html

  • looks like the whole bledsoe thing is blown out of a proportion by a select few media media members who are out to get cal.

    in the wake is eric bledsoe, an 19 year old kid that did nothing wrong but now has his entire life, which is very tragic, on display. the good news is that he may have grounds to file charges against all those involved in this criminal behavior.

    it appears that pitino jr started it all by sending eric’s transcript to steve massiello. pitino jr left ul and joined billy d’s staff. uf was recruiting eric at the time and had access to his records. but sending those records to another assistant coach is a no-no. ul was not recruiting eric so why do they care to have his records? to give to the media of course to hope to get cal into trouble. hurting bledsoe in the process. and who does ul have friendly relations with? pat forde of course!!! long time pitino friend and business partner. it should be noted that massiello is also in trouble for scamming derby tickets so the pattern of unethical behavior is there.

    the big question is to what level of involvement does pitino sr and billy donovan have in this. and what should happen to those assistant coaches directly involved in illegal and unethical acts.

    laws were broken here, not by eric or uk. but by others. where is the investigative reporting into that? there is a story here, but not the one cal haters want to read. will journalists do their job and investigate what really went down? or are they too lazy or unwilling to write something that isnt anti calipari?

  • The source also said Bledsoe would have been academically eligible at Kentucky had he returned for his sophomore season.

    http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5231161

    So,there’s your proof that fearthephog25 was WRONG Again on his misleading facts that Bledsoe was failing his classes at UK…

  • Point on…Hopefully the assistant coach will be found out and held accountable for his criminal actions….

  • A whole lot of Excuses and Denial is all I hear. Blah Blah Blah! LOL Kind of like how cal conviently backed off all the other recruits he was after huh? That is very funny! How many target recruits did cal lose this past recruiting season, and doesn’t he still have a scholly available? Nobody wants to hear lame ass excuses, and who just backs off the #1 recruit? Selby just wasn’t buying into what calisleazy was selling, end of story. So all this crap you guys are spitting, you better hope you have two ply toilet paper. Because your farts are giving you away! LOL “if cal wanted him, he would of got him” you just made my day with a stupid remark like that, what a fool.

  • Poor uk – everyone is out to get them. It all a concpiracy! LOL If it wasn’t uk it would of been Florida or sum other university, so quit being so egotistical. I couldn’t give two shakes or a piss about kentucky. This is what you signed on for when you guys hired the douche as coach, so you better get used to it. That is if he isn’t banned for 5 years like Sampson was. LOL With Mr. Emmert as NCAA President now, a person can only expect that there will be more investigations. So brag about promising two UW recruits Nike contracts and a lot of playing time. It will all come back on uk. LOL 1 season at uk and already rocked by violations. I know, I know uk was not involved or knew anything about it. Just like UMASS and MEMPHIS knew nothing about it. Same old song and dance, this time there is a new DJ though (Emmert). Sleep well sweet pea…….

  • Could you wipe me? Please! We all know how smart you are and none of us hick Kentucky fans could ever debate with you. Selby was not always the #1 recruit on rivals, it was Brandon Knight until about a month ago. He may be #1 recruit on Scout, but I can’t remember at the moment. Have a super duper day and don’t lie to much on here it might give you gas.

  • I would worry about my own scandal if I was you. Kansas has got problems of their own. Why don’t you try and solve theirs and quit worrying about ours. And you do worry about ours because you talk more about Kentucky then you do Kansas. You sleep well to honey bunch!

  • Administration problems are not going to cause is to vacate any wins. LOL uk2k* the season that never happened. Im obviously not losing any sleep over anything like the uk faithful. Thank you, I do sleep well.

  • Last I read we lost nothing. 35-3 will stand and next year will be even better. Nothing will come of this and if it does I’ll be the first to admit I was wrong. Unlike you I can admit if I’m wrong. Can you? If I’m wrong on this I will get on this blog and apologize to you and all other Kentucky bashers and Calipari haters. How about if you are wrong? Will you apologize to all the Kentucky fans that you always hate? How big a man or boy are you?

  • To end an argument that goes on and on wallcuz. Yeah I can do that for you, if I am wrong. Odds are in my favor though, 2/3 schools cal has effected increase my chances. If cal still coached at Memphis, uk fans would still be bashing him too. That is a known fact, and just as bad as pitino too.

  • ok phog. From here on out we will agree to disagree. For the record I have never had a problem with Calipari no matter where he was coaching and that is the honest truth. I also wanted Billy Donavan to be our coach after Tubby, but Billy is happy at Florida. I will always believe that if Pitino had stayed we would have at least been to the Final Four this decade. Pitino is the best coach Kentucky has ever had and not to many people would argue that and yes he is a better coach than Calipari and yes he is my favorite coach too. I’m also not a Kentucky fan that just hates the hell out of the Ville either. I hate Louisville one time a year and that is when they play us. Pitino still damn near beat us and we clearly should have beat the sh!t out of them! I love collegebasketball and the last three champions have been three of the five or six all time elite programs Kansas, North Carolina, and Duke. And those were bad ass teams!

  • Elite programs. Duke, Kansas, UCLA, Kentucky, North Carolina, Indiana( even though they are down at the moment), Louisville(i think), and Arizona. We just want to get back their phog. I would also say Connecticut, Syracuse, and Michigan State who should never be overlooked. Anyone else?

  • Thats a respectable comment Wallcuz2010. I know it takes great courage to make a good comment about Pitino. I would like to be able to say the same thing about Anderson at Missouri, but I can’t. We are born to hate each other. I can say one thing though, Kansas State has sure got our attention now and may actually become a good basketball rivalry. Imagine if cousins chose KSU? If im right, I think them wildcats were recruiting him hard too. I never had a problem with UK, its just calipari and his shady practices. Kentucky is not even our rival and I never paid much attention to them, except for players like Prince, Patterson and Rondo.Those are my favorite players from UK. Had calipari went to Florida, he would still be treated the same as he would at any university.

  • I was a HUGE fan of Memphis. they were the most exciting team to watch. thats what i like about basketball, when its exciting. i like fast break basketball. just so happens the school i’ve grown up to love finally got a massive amount of talent. I dont get why he is sleazy. he got 2 programs FF vacated. if thats the best u got its weak. thats sooo bleak. if I’m driving and get hit by a car is it my fault people get hurt? no but it makes me look bad. when he was at memphis he was hearing the same thing as now yet he hadnt done anything wrong in 10 years.

  • LOL Come on man, either you are just plain stupid or naive. Is there anyone else you know that has vacated two final fours? That is “weak”? That is the best I “got”? What more do you need? A third vacated final four at uk? When something really bad happens to cal, I can bet you or a majority of the uk faithful will not be found. I honestly never thought something would happen this fast, his arrogance must of gotten the best of him. I mean did he really think he could steal 2 UW recruits and there will be no consequences. Mr. Emmert has his eyes and ears open and has a very very close watch on cal and www. They should of known that though. Don’t you find it at all odd Memphis fans don’t even like cal? LOL You must be the only UNC, Memphis, and uk fan in the whole nation that does.

    If you love fast paced up & down basketball, then you bust be a fan of Roy Williams and UNC too. 😛 Good to know!

  • Kansas State is closer to taking the Big 12 Title from you guys than anybody. Missouri is right there too. The team I cannot figure out for the life of me in the Big 12 is Texas! I will give you this phog 25 the big 12 is the deeper league. I will not argue with you on that. Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Baylor, Texas, Oklahoma State, and I think Texas Tech. WOW! Oklahoma seems down, but Capel should have them going again in no time. The SEC its this year it will be Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi State, Vandy will be tough, but the West division really is down at the moment. Watch out for Alabama though coach Grant is a solid coach. Coach Fox at Georgia will turn that program around, lok what he did at Nevada!People may think I’m an idiot, gut the Big 10 and Big 12 are playing the best basketball as far as the power conferences go. Agree phog? ACC and SEC are about even and the PAC-10 is really down at the moment.

  • Man I read alot of Memphis stuff and the fans their are not thrilled with Calipari and they do not miss him. Just from an outsiders view Pastner seems like the total opposite of Calipari. If we ever do get in any kind of trouble with Calipari I’ll be the first to sayhe should get out of college basketball, but until that happens he is the man. Now phog I know you hate the guy, but he is good to the kids who play for him and good to the people that know him. Calipari does things a different way and thta rubs alot of people the wrong way. I get that, I really do. If or when Cal leaves Kentucky I hope the powers that be hire a Kentucky guy. Not trying to rush Calipari off either, I’m just saying.

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