Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
One of the main arguments Calipari’s detractors cling to is his alleged partnership with William Wesley, otherwise known as “World Wide Wes.” The common thought in these circles is that Wesley forms friendships with talented high school prospects, encourages them to commit to Calipari’s teams, and then reaps the benefits when those players sign with the Creative Arts Agency, for whom he works.
The fly in the ointment as of late? Only two of Cal’s Kentucky players to sign with agents have chosen CAA and their main guy, Leon Rose. Rose, who is close friends with Wesley, signed Eric Bledsoe back in 2010 and recently added Michael Kidd-Gilchrist to his portfolio, which includes LeBron James, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony. The most notable player not to sign with CAA has to be Anthony Davis, who signed with Wasserman Media Group’s Arn Tellem and Thad Foucher on Friday.
The Dagger’s Jeff Eisenberg noted the trend, which he thinks disspels the theory that Cal and Wesley have an unethical relationship. In a 2011 Sports Illustrated interview, Wesley said that the only way he “influences” players to attend Kentucky is by telling the truth: he trusts Cal and considers him one of the most loyal coaches in the game, and if they’re going to ask for his opinion, he’s going to give it.
“Love is an action,” Wesley says. “You’ve got to show it. That’s what Cal’s done for his players, his coaches, and he continues to do it. If you call me and you have a son and you say, ‘Who would you recommend?’ I’m going to say there’s one coach I trust impeccably.”
Looks like the haters are going to have to come up with a new argument against Cal, because this myth has been debunked.
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June 19th, 2012 at 12:02 pm
That’s because Wes didn’t have anything to do with Davis’ recruitment. Remember, Cal gave him $200,000, so Wes didn’t have Davis in his back pocket.
June 19th, 2012 at 12:18 pm
If you just watch Cal, he really does the right thing for his players. No one, and you really can’t even argue this, promotes his players more and helps them go to NBA as soon as they are ready.
June 19th, 2012 at 12:24 pm
You can’t debunk anything to the haters. They are too close-minded to even consider that they are wrong. “Cheating” is the only reason they can come up with as to why UK is better than their team…it helps them sleep better at night.
June 19th, 2012 at 12:24 pm
>Looks like the haters are going to have to come up with a new argument against Cal, because this myth has been debunked.
That’s where you’re wrong. Logic and facts don’t matter to haters.
June 19th, 2012 at 12:24 pm
@3 – LOL…great minds think alike (at the same time, I might add
June 19th, 2012 at 12:33 pm
In the minds of Calipari-haters, Cal has never signed a recruit that he didn’t cheat to get. If Brad Calipari plays for UK they would claim that Cal passed him cash under the table.
Logical thought is not strong suit when talking about rivals. On the Scout Board UofL fans are claiming that Jabari Parker’s family hates Calipari (and he’s not a player that is looking for handouts). Never mind that Sonny Parker called Cal after the national championship to congratulate him. Meanwhile UofL is a “darkhorse” in the Parker recruitment. That’s right, a devout Mormon is considering playing for an admitted adulterer who encouraged and financed an abortion (2 really big no-nos for Mormons). Furthermore, Parker is leaving after one year either for the NBA draft or an LDS mission, Pitino is on record saying he couldn’t recruit a kid if he knew he was leaving after one year.
June 19th, 2012 at 12:35 pm
You wanna know whats wrong with basketball? check my timeline https://twitter.com/#!/DaveTelep
June 19th, 2012 at 12:51 pm
Goodman is obsessed with http://WWW... has multiple tweets per week referring to http://WWW... Most of which are negitive in tone and associate WWW, Cal and UK in some manner.
June 19th, 2012 at 12:52 pm
ok those links are suppose to be (WWW) for world wide wes…
June 19th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
3 & 4) you’re exactly right. You can’t blind haters with facts. It only gets in the way of their bias. They always respond the same way….”When there’s smoke there’s fire.” That is nothing more than haterspeak for “We still think he’s cheating even though we have no proof!”
#Letemhatewegot8!
June 19th, 2012 at 12:57 pm
Telep) He is crazy inconsistent. He is basically saying the kids shouldn’t leave early cause college is fun…then faulting the parents for not making them stay. What would you do if you were offered millions to stay Telep? I would have left…and I’m currently working on my Masters.
June 19th, 2012 at 1:07 pm
5 – yeah, we know our haters well. they’re just that obvious.
June 19th, 2012 at 1:56 pm
check this out: http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2012/06/18/america-s-25-most-crime-rattled-colleges-from-yale-to-duke-photos.html#slide18
#L9C4
June 19th, 2012 at 2:04 pm
What gets my funny bone is all these IU and UL haters crying in their beer saying Cal does this and Cal does that. Listen, to you IU fans, I have two questions for you
(1) Who was the last school to go on probation?
(2) AND what coach got caught texting a prospective recruit just last summer?
UL FANS I have only one question for you,
When was your last basketball Championship? My guess half you dimwits weren’t even a glimmer in your mama’s eye when that last happened.
Now go play nice and remember you’ll never be UK no matter how much you try.
June 19th, 2012 at 2:13 pm
Trust me Cal has a huge advantage with World Wide! Also Wes had MKG locked down from the start and he was the influence to have the other players sign with UK cause those players do the recruiting for him. MKG was the key and it all dominoes from there. Remember Leon Rose is Lebron James agent. Wes and Rose knows they don’t need to get all of the players, they have James and Melo no need to get greedy! When you get greedy is when you end up in trouble. Also Cal will have coached 4 number 1 picks so he doesn’t need to pay players to come to UK cough cough anymore! He tells them I will make you a millionaire its a easy sell when you look at what he has done in the past few years! I’m not defending Coach Cal, I think some of his stuff is a act. But at the same time he has helped kids reach their dream isn’t that the american way?
June 19th, 2012 at 2:29 pm
>>>
June 19th, 2012 at 7:15 pm
Calipari haters have proven over and over that facts aren’t important to them.
June 19th, 2012 at 10:31 pm
Debunking includes the use of facts and the only two facts in this article are that WWWes signed two of Cal’s players. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
June 20th, 2012 at 6:26 pm
when factoring the recruit-signs-with-Rose&CAA factor, which you currently have at 2 of last 10, i don’t even think we should factor MKG’s decision when speaking in ‘our own circles’. sure, if talking to others who are gonna find reasons to think your shifting the truth…you might as well say 2 of 10. that said, when you look at the lifelong relationship between MKG and Wes (uncle, longtime family friend, godfather, whatever the exact relationship is), ANYONE with a brain would know he was going to sign with Rose & CAA…no matter where he went to college or who he played for! So for my 2 cents, I’d say 1 of 9 players that wasn’t already related to Wes chose both Kentucky and Leon Rose. (I’ve met Rose at a couple Sixers games over the years, and he’s actually a much nicer and down-to-earth guy than a handful of the other agents that come through the building.)