John Calipari sat down with SlamOnline.com and did an interview and talked about Enes Kanter.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]The article is written in question/answer format and Cal gets as candid as usual when talking about the NCAA and how they did Enes Kanter wrong.
You can read the [URL=”http://www.slamonline.com/online/college-hs/college/2011/06/john-calipari-interview/”]entire interview on Slam[/URL], but I want to focus on what Cal would do if he was the ruler of the world and how he would change the NCAA’s ruling of European Players.
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Hes one of the great kids that I’ve coached. When I say that to the NBA guys, that goes a far way. I’m going to be truthful to the NBA guys, but I’m never going to hurt one of my guys. I said that you cannot coach DeMarcus Cousins like he’s 25 years old. He’s 19 years old and you have to coach him like he’s 19 years old. I told those guys that. The European background that this kid has will help him. He played against Jared Sullinger and absolutely killed him….and Sullinger is one of the very best players in college basketball. IT’s just unfortunate. Even if they would have penalized him for the year….sit out this year, and you can play next year. The money that your dad used for education, pay it back. What’s the big deal? I don’t understand. Another kid can take money and pay it back because he didn’t get it from a pro team. I don’t know what the difference is. You took money and knew that you weren’t supposed to take money. The difference is that this kid didn’t know and did everything under the assumption that he was going to stay amateur. I think that Fenerbahce knew that if they gave him any money, they then could say that he’s a pro. I really believe that the club did that. With that said, at the end of the day… the only thing that was hurt in this was our program. It would have no effect on him. [B]He’s still going to be part of our family, he’s still going to practice where pro scouts can see you, and he’s still going to go where he should have in the NBA Draft. You know what, it’s true. This hasn’t hurt him. It’s hurt the nation not to see what a great kid, terrific competitor, and great player that he was. They were cheated too. All of the fans of college basketball were cheated, he was not.[/B] He’s not nailed down like Ricky Rubio who owes $6 million to the club. Any young European player has to look at what was done to Rubio and know that this kid has none of that. At the end of the day, it has all played out perfectly.
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Kentucky fans were cheated out of #8…no ifs, ands, or buts….
