Why didn’t Sharpe play for Kentucky?

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Bingo Bango

Bingo Bango

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Something is a little weird about this story. Calipari has said that Sharpe could have been the #1 pick in the draft next year if he stayed at Kentucky, yet he didn’t think he was good enough to play for the Wildcats in 21/22. If Sharpe was that incredibly good, couldn’t Calipari have used him this past season? And if Calipari didn’t want to use him this past season, what was the reason?

Been doing a lot of research on this, and the gist of it seems to be that Sharpe “wasn’t ready” to play, according to Calipari. That could mean anything, but I’m wondering if it means Sharpe has a hard time playing team basketball, or he doesn’t understand defensive schemes. Calipari has been very cagey about the topic, and is clearly trying to be vague about it all, perhaps to protect Sharpe’s image. He claims he didn’t want to mess with the team chemistry by putting Sharpe in, but that also seems strange when the guy is the #1 high school recruit in the nation. Calipari also claims Sharpe had to “get his body ready,” which is kind of funny considering that Sharpe has always been a pretty impressive physical specimen, and is now jumping into the much more physical world of the NBA without out ever having played for Kentucky.

This article explains about as much as I’ve been able to find on the subject:

https://amp.kentucky.com/sports/college/kentucky-sports/uk-basketball-men/article258133413.html
 
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He joined the Kentucky team late, in January, and his team advised him to take a redshirt year to learn the system and not force his way to play. He then decided to forgo staying with Kentucky and declared for the draft after seeing he'd be a lottery pick.
 
He was scheduled to graduate high school last month in 2022 and was the #1 proposect. He skipped part of his senior year, got an exemption to enter the draft, and practiced at Kentucky in January.

He was not a full time full year member of Kentucky's basketball team. Think of him as a high school prospect that got to visit college.
 
Driew said:
He joined the Kentucky team late, in January, and his team advised him to take a redshirt year to learn the system and not force his way to play. He then decided to forgo staying with Kentucky and declared for the draft after seeing he'd be a lottery pick.
Click to expand...
It's funny, because people have red-shirt years all the time in college football, but this Sharpe thing is just blowing everyone's minds.
 
theprunetang said:
It's funny, because people have red-shirt years all the time in college football, but this Sharpe thing is just blowing everyone's minds.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's not considered a bigger deal in college football because you need to be a junior to declare for the NFL draft anyways. So usually you have at least two years of tape for NFL scouts.
 
SharpesTriumph said:
He was scheduled to graduate high school last month in 2022 and was the #1 proposect. He skipped part of his senior year, got an exemption to enter the draft, and practiced at Kentucky in January.

He was not a full time full year member of Kentucky's basketball team. Think of him as a high school prospect that got to visit college.
Click to expand...
So he didn’t graduate from high school? I thought you had to have a high school degree to play NCAA basketball.
 
RR7 said:
Doing a lot of research and the conclusion you're coming to is Calipari didn't think he was ready or capable?
Click to expand...
Deleting your first post because you realized it was stupid?
 
Bingo Bango said:
Deleting your first post because you realized it was stupid?
Click to expand...

RR7 said:
I didn't delete anything.
Click to expand...

Bingo Bango said:
Yes, you did. I saw your original post.
Click to expand...

RR7 said:
You saw it as well as you research then, I guess. Didn't delete anything in here. I imagine a mod could see deleted posts.
Click to expand...

It was @GoBlazersGo that deleted a post. RR7 has not deleted any posts in this thread.

And for the record he has not paid me to delete any posts or to say he didn't delete any posts.

But for $50 I will say he deleted 17 posts.
 
Bingo Bango said:
Something is a little weird about this story. Calipari has said that Sharpe could have been the #1 pick in the draft next year if he stayed at Kentucky, yet he didn’t think he was good enough to play for the Wildcats in 21/22. If Sharpe was that incredibly good, couldn’t Calipari have used him this past season? And if Calipari didn’t want to use him this past season, what was the reason?

Been doing a lot of research on this, and the gist of it seems to be that Sharpe “wasn’t ready” to play, according to Calipari. That could mean anything, but I’m wondering if it means Sharpe has a hard time playing team basketball, or he doesn’t understand defensive schemes. Calipari has been very cagey about the topic, and is clearly trying to be vague about it all, perhaps to protect Sharpe’s image. He claims he didn’t want to mess with the team chemistry by putting Sharpe in, but that also seems strange when the guy is the #1 high school recruit in the nation. Calipari also claims Sharpe had to “get his body ready,” which is kind of funny considering that Sharpe has always been a pretty impressive physical specimen, and is now jumping into the much more physical world of the NBA without out ever having played for Kentucky.

This article explains about as much as I’ve been able to find on the subject:

https://amp.kentucky.com/sports/college/kentucky-sports/uk-basketball-men/article258133413.html
Click to expand...
The guy probably never had any intention of playing there. If you want to fault him for that, go right ahead, but I don’t blame him one bit for not playing after he joined the team mid season and hadn’t played in a year. He was already a top 10 prospect and all he would have most likely done is hurt his draft stock. It was not a good situation. Trying to play with a new team, new system, and tons of expectations, completely on the fly.
 
I think it's safe to say his agent had something to do with his not playing knowing he was a lottery pick lock. Everybody wants a paycheck now, not a year from now
 
Natebishop3 said:
The guy probably never had any intention of playing there. If you want to fault him for that, go right ahead, but I don’t blame him one bit for not playing after he joined the team mid season and hadn’t played in a year. He was already a top 10 prospect and all he would have most likely done is hurt his draft stock. It was not a good situation. Trying to play with a new team, new system, and tons of expectations, completely on the fly.
Click to expand...
If he never had any intention of playing there, why bother joining the team?
 
I'm not going to delete this post. It's just a hunch and purely speculation.
My thinking is Sharpe is not a great student. He doesn't like school and doesn't want to be held accountable for studies on any subject.
This was a roundabout way for him to get through high school and actually be on a team in college but never have to make the academic cut.
He simply declared for the draft at his earliest possible chance.

I know this is boring and isn't full of conspiracy theories. It's just a simple kid not being a great student.
 
Fairly-Hard said:
I'm not going to delete this post. It's just a hunch and purely speculation.
My thinking is Sharpe is not a great student. He doesn't like school and doesn't want to be held accountable for studies on any subject.
This was a roundabout way for him to get through high school and actually be on a team in college but never have to make the academic cut.
He simply declared for the draft at his earliest possible chance.

I know this is boring and isn't full of conspiracy theories. It's just a simple kid not being a great student.
Click to expand...

Didn't your momma ever tell you, if don't have anything nice to say... don't make up conspiracy theories.
 
HailBlazers said:
Didn't your momma ever tell you, if don't have anything nice to say... don't make up conspiracy theories.
Click to expand...
Well that is as far from a conspiracy as anything you will read about the situation. I think he found a way to just go play pro and get Kentucky to say he was a student there.
 
Bingo Bango said:
If he never had any intention of playing there, why bother joining the team?
Click to expand...
He practiced with the team and trained with their staff at the facilities...said he got bigger and healthier and they offered him a spot if he didn't want to enter the draft...his agent I'm sure didn't want to waste time for a partial season where he'd ride the pine ...he knew he was a lottery pick and his agent wants that commision
 
The part I find weird about it is, why were they so tight lipped? If indeed he graduated early and joined Kentucky mid-season, why not just say so all along? Seems like it was only in the past week that that became general knowledge, after all the articles said he didn't want to answer questions about why he didn't play at UK. When was that explanation first made public?

It's either a really bad PR job, or a cover story for whatever was going on at the time. It doesn't feel like a conspiracy situation, so I'm leaning toward the former.
 
Fairly-Hard said:
I'm not going to delete this post. It's just a hunch and purely speculation.
My thinking is Sharpe is not a great student. He doesn't like school and doesn't want to be held accountable for studies on any subject.
This was a roundabout way for him to get through high school and actually be on a team in college but never have to make the academic cut.
He simply declared for the draft at his earliest possible chance.

I know this is boring and isn't full of conspiracy theories. It's just a simple kid not being a great student.
Click to expand...
Do you have any evidence at all that he doesn't like school or what his grades were in school or is this complete speculation?
 
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