Kentucky Wildcats Basketball

Kentucky head men's basketball coach John Calipari is set to donate $1 million he received as part of a Facebook Watch series last year.

According to Tom Schad and Steve Berkowitz of USA Today, Calipari was paid $1 million for access to his team during the filming of Inside the Madness: Kentucky Basketball. Rather than pocketing the money, Calipari intends to put it toward several different charities.

The coach discussed his decision in the following statement provided to USA Today: 

"In a perfect world, some of the money we made from the Facebook series would have been distributed to our players. Our rules simply won't allow it. Instead, I'm proud of how they chose to allow themselves to be part of doing something that would make a difference in the lives of so many other people through charitable donations."

Of the $1 million, Calipari said more than $600,000 will be donated to nonprofit organizations, including the Jimmy V Foundation. Also, $141,000 was used for debt relief for 19 students in Kentucky's College of Education and another $100,000 went toward "an educational fund that will distribute money to relieve college debts of staff, managers and former players who have made a difference in our programs at Massachusetts, Memphis and Kentucky over the years."

Calipari is in the midst of his 10th season at Kentucky after previous stints at Massachusetts and Memphis.

Per USA Today, Calipari is by far the highest-paid coach in college basketball with total earnings of over $9.2 million this season. The next closest is Duke's Mike Krzyzewski at just over $7 million.

Kentucky deputy athletic director DeWayne Peevy told Schad and Berkowitz that Kentucky initially turned down the docuseries, which was originally supposed to air on Showtime.

Peevy said the school later agreed to be part of the series when it moved to Facebook: "We felt like we were getting a lot of stuff about people being disconnected from our team because of the changeover in roster. So really we thought it was a vehicle for people to be able to get to know our kids."

The series followed a Kentucky team that was seeded fifth in the NCAA tournament and reached the Sweet 16 before it fell to Kansas State.

This year, the Wildcats are a No. 2 seed and will face No. 15 Abilene Christian in the opening round. Per Bovada, Kentucky is tied with Michigan State as the fifth choice to win the NCAA tournament at +1200 (12-1) behind only Duke, Gonzaga, Virginia and North Carolina.

5-star small forward Keion Brooks announced his intention Friday to attend the University of Kentucky.

Five-star 2019 forward Keion Brooks of Fort Wayne and La Lumiere announced his commitment to Kentucky. pic.twitter.com/6PSmxemKVQ

— Jeff Rabjohns (@JeffRabjohns) March 16, 2019

Brooks, who plays at the La Lumiere School of Fort Wayne, Indiana, is the No. 23 overall prospect and sixth-ranked small forward in the 2019 class, per 247Sports. The 6'7", 185-pound senior has modeled his game after taller playmaking forwards who can handle the ball. 

"I like watching guys like Ben Simmons, Paul George, even LeBron, just how they're bigger guys but they're able to handle the ball with the best of them," Brooks said, per Chris Fisher of 247Sports. "I enjoy doing whatever I can to help my team win."

Brooks, who is the third-ranked player in Indiana, had offers from all over the country. Tom Izzo and Michigan State had an early lead in the process, thanks in large part to the Spartans coach's persistence. He also received interest from Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville and North Carolina among others. 

"I was just honored and blessed to have coaches at my house sitting on my couch. It just shows the hard work I've put in is paying off," Brooks said. "They all made a very good impression with just talking about how they want to use me and build a relationship with me."

Brooks has a slight build for his height, so he's going to need to bulk up a bit. He's also going to need to add a more consistent jumper to his arsenal but provides some off-the-bounce versatility and good finishing skills at the rim.

The Wildcats' recruiting class will nonetheless take a massive boost after landing Brooks. They currently sit 11th in the Class of 2019 rankings, with Brooks joining a group that already includes guard Tyrese Maxey and Kahlil Whitney.

"Kentucky's pitch has been they feel like I'm cut for Kentucky, everybody doesn't succeed at Kentucky," Brooks said, per Adam Zagoria of FloHoops. "Coach Cal believes I'm one of the guys that can do that. He believes that I can go in and reach my dreams, me and him working together."

John Calipari and Mike Krzyzewski have been the most consistent producers of lottery talent, so it's possible Brooks winds up soaring up draft boards in Lexington. 

No coach is ever going to catch John Wooden on the list of career national championships in Division I men's college basketball, but Kentucky is gearing up to move one step closer to UCLA (11) by winning its ninth title next month.

Somewhat lost in the shuffle of Zion Williamson's exploding shoe, Gonzaga's impeccable streak of consecutive blowout wins, Kansas' Big 12 streak possibly coming to an end and the constant discussion of whether bubble teams even want to play in the NCAA tournament this year is that Kentucky has evolved into a behemoth.

PJ Washington isn't going to win national player of the year, but he at least belongs in that conversation and has arguably bypassed Grant Williams as the favorite for SEC POY. Tyler Herro has been lights out in SEC play. Keldon Johnson is making an incredible all-around impact. Ashton Hagans has been invaluable since becoming the starting point guard. Nick Richards and EJ Montgomery combine to make a great shot-blocking rebounder.

It's all coming together the way most analysts pictured it before the season began.

It started with the late-December wins over North Carolina and Louisville and culminated* in beatdowns of Tennessee and Auburn in the past two weeks. Kentucky has racked up nine Quadrant 1 wins and another four Quadrant 2 wins just in the past 10 weeks, which is better than what 99 percent of teams can boast about their entire seasons.

*Kindly disregard the close call against Arkansas on Tuesday night. Isaiah Joe was on fire in the first half, and that was a prime spot for a letdown game for Kentucky, three days after destroying Auburn and four days before the rematch with Tennessee. The Wildcats actually showed toughness in battling back to get that win, even though it's a game they should've won easily.

That 34-point loss to Duke to open the season feels like it happened a decade ago—both because Kentucky is much better now and because Duke (12-of-26 from three-point range in that game) has only shot better than 40 percent from distance three times since mid-November. Williamson or not, if they meet again in the tournament, it should be one hell of a game.

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves by dreaming about a rematch in the Final Four, let's take a look behind, because one of the incredible things about Kentucky is that while the roster changes at an alarming rate from year to year, the story rarely does.

This is now the fourth consecutive season that the Wildcats have done all of the following:

1. Opened the year ranked in the Top Five of the AP poll thanks to yet another phenomenal recruiting class.
2. Suffered exactly two losses in their first 12 games, leading to questions about whether one of the most talented-yet-inexperienced rosters in the nation can be trusted.
3. Lost at least one January road game to a conference foe going nowhere fast and subsequently spent at least one week ranked 15th or worse in the AP poll, dropping almost entirely out of the Final Four conversation.
4. Made a nice late-January impression in the SEC-B12 Challenge—usually against Kansas—even if they didn't necessarily win the game.
5. Got back into everyone's good graces by obliterating a bunch of decent-to-good SEC teams in February.

If they continue down this familiar road, they'll once again win the SEC tournament in two weeks and will enter the NCAA tournament as one of the trendy picks to win it all.

For Big Blue Nation's sake, here's hoping that's where the similarities end because none of the previous three seasons ended with Final Four appearances, let alone national championships.

One major difference from the past three years, though, is that this year's team is in great shape to get a No. 1 seed. And that almost always bodes well for this program.

Kentucky has earned a spot on the top line 11 times in the past 35 years. In all but one of those tournaments—the infamous second-round loss to UAB in 2004—the Wildcats made it at least as far as the Elite Eight. More than half of the time (six of 11), they reached the Final Four. Twice they won the national championship.

Most bracketologists (including yours truly) seem to have Kentucky rated fourth overall on the seed list at the moment. However, a road win over Tennessee on Saturday would almost cement the Wildcats onto the 1-line and would probably even move them ahead of Duke. If they lose at Tennessee but win the SEC tournament, they'd still most likely be a No. 1 seed.

Win all remaining games, and the No. 1 overall seed is a strong possibility.

But just finishing ahead of the second-best ACC team would be huge because Duke and Virginia are currently projected as the No. 1 seeds in the East (Washington, D.C.) and South (Louisville) Regions. The ACC tournament winner (provided it's Duke, Virginia or North Carolina) will get the top spot in the East, but Kentucky could still easily jump up to No. 2 overall to lock down the South Region and one of the most geographically favorable paths to the Final Four ever.

Not only have the Wildcats been hotter than the sun for the past two months, but they would get quite the home-crowd advantage by going through Columbus (less than 200 miles from Lexington) in the first two rounds followed by Louisville (about 75 miles from campus) in the subsequent two rounds.

And here's some bonus good news if that happens: Louisville isn't allowed to play in the South Region because it is the host for those two middle rounds, so the selection committee wouldn't even be able to put those rivals in the same region.

As long as Duke doesn't completely collapse down the stretch and remains a No. 1 seed, a spot on the top line would also guarantee that Kentucky would get to avoid the Blue Devils at least until the Final Four.

Before the first game between Kentucky and Tennessee, I wrote about how a Tennessee win might signal the passing of the SEC's torch from John Calipari to Rick Barnes. Suffice it to say, that didn't happen. But the upcoming battle also has major ramifications because—with Williamson's status at Duke still unknown—a second win over the Volunteers may set up Kentucky as the most likely team to win the national championship.

At the very least, the Wildcats are among the top candidates to cut down the nets in Minneapolis. They took a bit of a winding road to get here, but they are every bit the threat that everyone was expecting before the season began.

         

NET rankings and Quadrant data courtesy of WarrenNolan.com. NET rankings accurate through start of play Wednesday.

Kerry Miller covers men's college basketball and college football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @kerrancejames.

The No. 4 Kentucky Wildcats improved to 11-2 in SEC play with a 66-58 victory over the Missouri Tigers on Tuesday, but lost forward Reid Travis to an injury in the process after the team announced he suffered a sprained right knee.

On Wednesday, coach John Calipari announced Travis would be out "a week to 10 days," but added it's a preliminary timeline and he hasn't received the test results yet. 

Travis played just 13 minutes and finished with three points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal vs. the Tigers.

Travis arrived at Kentucky as a graduate transfer from Stanford and has quickly established himself as one of the most important players on the team. He is averaging 11.6 points and 7.1 rebounds a night as a double-double threat and is shooting 51.9 percent from the field.

Some of his best performances have come against notable competition, as he finished with 22 points and seven boards against Duke, 20 points and seven rebounds against North Carolina, and 18 points and 12 rebounds against Kansas.

He is one of four Wildcats averaging double figures in scoring this season alongside PJ Washington, Keldon Johnson and Tyler Herro.

Kentucky will continue to rely on Washington to anchor its frontcourt if Travis is forced to miss time and will likely turn toward the combination of EJ Montgomery and Nick Richards for depth purposes.

PJ Washington scored 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting to help No. 5 Kentucky beat No. 1 Tennessee 86-69 on Saturday at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.

The Wildcats' Keldon Johnson scored 19 points, and Tyler Herro added 15 points and 13 rebounds.

Jordan Bone scored 19 points for the 23-2 Volunteers, who are tied for the SEC lead with LSU at 11-1. The 21-4 Wildcats aren't far behind with a 10-2 conference mark.

     

PJ Washington Emerges as SEC Player of the Year Favorite

Tennessee walked into a lion's den on Saturday and couldn't find its way out. The Rupp Arena crowd was ruthless all night, and the Wildcats' physicality proved to be too much for the Vols on the glass and in the paint.

Kentucky forward PJ Washington was the catalyst for that effort, and in turn, he became the front-runner for the SEC Player of the Year.

The hype had been building in the seven games leading into Saturday, with Washington averaging 20.7 points on 52.0 percent shooting and 8.6 rebounds.

Against Tennessee, Washington simply could not be stopped down low. He shot 75 percent from the field and helped UK outscore UT 36-20 in the paint. The Wildcats also shot 29-of-53 from the field against a Vols team that was tied for 13th in defensive field-goal percentage allowed at 39.0 percent before the UK game.

Kyle Tucker of The Athletic noted how well Washington has been playing recently:

For the last month, and tonight especially, PJ Washington has been the best player in the SEC.

— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) February 17, 2019

PJ Washington hits a pair of free throws, has scored four straight, and UK leads by 15 again; he has his seventh 20-point game in the last eight. SEC Player of the Year, perhaps?

— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) February 17, 2019

And Aaron Torres of Fox Sports Radio noted how Washington's recent play makes them competitive against the rest of Division I:

Before the season I picked Kentucky to win the title, because I thought PJ Washington would an SEC Player of the Year type guy. In his last three games, Washington is averaging 21 points and 10 boards per game. If Kentucky gets THIS PJ Washington, not many teams beating them

— Aaron Torres (@Aaron_Torres) January 30, 2019

The scariest part of Washington's game may be his newfound offensive versatility. He's making 43.1 percent of his three-pointers compared to 23.8 percent last season. At 6'8" and 228 pounds, he's now able to dominate all over the floor, which helps spread out a potent Wildcats offense.

Before the game, Washington told Bilas that the difference between last year and this year is his "confidence." Washington is now Kentucky's clear go-to guy this season, especially in the last eight games with him averaging 14.3 field goals per contest compared to 8.1 for his first 17.

Washington's biggest competitor for the SEC Player of the Year award is Tennessee forward Grant Williams, who won the honor last year. Williams has been sensational with 19.4 points and 7.4 rebounds entering Saturday, but momentum is on Washington's side right now. Williams has averaged 13.3 points per game in his last four, while Washington is one of the hottest players in the country.

Round 1 also went to Washington on Saturday, as Williams and any other Vol could not stop Kentucky down low. Williams finished with 16 points.

Of course, Williams is the clear second choice, but Washington gets the current edge thanks to his streak of great play. With the postseason arriving in less than a month, this run couldn't come at a better time.

         

Despite Loss, Tennessee Still Deserves No. 1 Seed over Kentucky

Before the game, the ESPN College GameDay crew debated the merits of Tennessee or Kentucky earning the NCAA tournament's hypothetical No. 1 seed if the season were to end today. Duke, Virginia and Gonzaga have their spots sewn up right now, but Jay Bilas of ESPN saw the UT-UK game as a play-in for the last No. 1 seed.

That's certainly a fair argument, especially with Tennessee at No. 1 and UK ranked No. 5 in the Associated Press poll leading into that matchup.

And if you only watched the Saturday game and had to choose which team would be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, then Kentucky would be the easy choice.

But there are a few other factors to consider.

First, Tennessee's best win came against one of those No. 1 seeds in Gonzaga, and that was on a neutral floor. The Vols also took down No. 16 Louisville.

Second, Tennessee has only two losses: one to No. 14 Kansas and one to No. 5 Kentucky.

Third, Tennessee had simply been dominating opponents leading into Saturday. The Vols had beaten 14 of their past 16 opponents by 10 or more points. Granted, the SEC isn't as strong as in previous years with just three Top 25 teams, but that's not an easy task.

Kentucky's main blemishes are its losses to Alabama and Seton Hall, each of whom resides outside the Top 25. Duke also beat UK by 34 earlier this season.

Of course, the Wildcats' win over Tennessee is the team's most impressive feather in its cap. They also beat Kansas and are even ranked higher than the Vols in the Sagarin ratings.

But if you're looking at both teams' entire bodies of work, then Tennessee gets the slight edge over Kentucky as of this moment.

That may not end up mattering much, as these two teams are meeting in Knoxville on March 2 and could face off in the SEC tournament. If Kentucky wins either (or both) of these games, then it's much harder to back Tennessee as a No. 1 seed.

But as of now, Tennessee had an understandably bad night in one of the toughest places to play in the country, against a Top Five team no less. The Vols deserve a pass.

                   

What's Next?

Both teams play on Tuesday. Tennessee will host in-state rival Vanderbilt, and Kentucky will travel to Missouri.

John Schnatter appears to have changed his college allegiance. 

The Papa John's founder had been a significant booster for Louisville, but he was seen sitting in rival Kentucky gear behind the team's bench Tuesday night:

Papa John appears to have dropped Louisville almost as fast as they dropped him 😬 pic.twitter.com/3YJAd2tADl

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) February 13, 2019

Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio confirmed he was in attendance for the Wildcats' home game against Louisville.

Schnatter's relationship with Louisville soured last year after it was revealed he used the N-word on a conference call. The school's football stadium had been known as Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, but the company name was removed in July.

It seems he has responded by moving across the state to find his new team.

Basketball Hall of Famer, current Inside the NBA panelist and former Auburn center Charles Barkley interrupted Kentucky head coach John Calipari's press conference after the No. 12 Wildcats' 82-80 road win the No. 14 Tigers on Saturday.

Christina Chambers of WBRC provided the footage (Warning: video contains profanity):

When #charlesbarkley surprises @UKCoachCalipari in his press conference after beating @AuburnMBB 82-80 lol. (Excuse Barkley’s language) @KentuckyMBB @NBAonTNT pic.twitter.com/UhgF9GuJAn

— ChristinaChambers (@ChristinaChamb) January 19, 2019

Kyle Tucker of The Athletic provided a brief transcription:

Charles Barkley walks into Cal's presser, interrupts. Cal makes a joke about Barkley, who says, "I was yelling at you, too (during the game). I was saying, 'Fuck John Calipari.' " They have a big laugh and handshake and move on. Ha, welp.

— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) January 19, 2019

The Round Mound of Rebound was on the baseline for Saturday's SEC battle, which came down to the final seconds. After Auburn took an 80-79 lead, Kentucky knocked down three free throws in its next two possessions. A desperation three-point heave fell short for Auburn, leading to the two-point loss.

Calipari and Barkley have a good relationship. Of note, Barkley was Calipari's first guest on his podcast, Cal Cast. Calipari never had Barkley on any of his teams, although he coached against him when he led the New Jersey Nets in the mid-1990s.

Barkley played three seasons at Auburn and was named the SEC's Player of the Year after posting 15.1 points and 9.5 boards per game during the 1983-84 season. He went 3-5 against the Wildcats, including a loss in the 1984 SEC championship. Barkley also played at Auburn at the same time as Bo Jackson, who eventually starred in the NFL and MLB.