Thursday, May 24, 2007

UK news

Yesterday, former UK player Tayshaun Prince was one of eight players added to the U.S. roster of potential Olympian basketball players. Also added were fellow NBA players; Jason Kidd, Deron Williams, Mike Miller, and Tyson Chandler. The roster already included other NBA players like; Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Chauncey Billups, and Michael Redd. All of these players will attend a training camp in July. There will be a total of 31 players at the camp competing for 12 roster positions. If Prince makes the cut he would become the first UK basketball player to compete in the Olympic games in almost 50 years. Sam Bowie would have played in the Olympics in 1980 if the U.S. hadn't boycotted the games that year. In case you're wondering, the last Kentucky player to compete in the Olympic sport of basketball was Adrian Smith in 1960.

I don't know how everybody else feels about UK buying its way out of the UMass game this season but I think it is a bad move. UK signed the home and home contract and should have honored it. Not because of the buyout cost. $50,000 is all it cost UK to get out of the game. I just think it is a dishonorable thing to do. Mitch Barnhart says that UK bought its way out of the deal because he and Gillespie wanted to schedule another home game against an opponent of their choosing. I sure hope that is the truth and that it didn't have anything to do with Gillespie and Barnhart worrying that UMass might be too tough to beat up in Boston. This seems like an awful big slap in the face to UMass coach Travis Ford. Travis is doing a good job resurrecting the UMass program and getting Kentucky to come play in Boston would have surely been a great help for his recruiting, especially if UMass won the game.

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