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Dominican Republic Interested in Coach Cal

Let’s get this out of the way. Regardless of if Coach Cal is interested or not, I am sure the Dominican Republic is interested in Coach Cal. At least that is what’s being reported by the blog Inside Puerto Rico Basketball and confirmed by [URL=”http://www.zagsblog.com/2010/12/19/pitino-to-puerto-rico-calipari-to-dominican/”]Adam Zagoria[/URL].[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

[B]Here’s an excerpt from the [URL=”http://insidepuertoricobasketball.blogspot.com/2010/12/dominican-national-team-interested-in.html”]post[/URL]:[/B]
IPRB confirmed earlier today that the Dominican Republic Basketball Federation is considering retaining the services of University of Kentucky Head Coach, John Calipari. IPRB confirmed through sources that Calipari was contacted over a month ago about the position through a third party and would consider coaching the team given its roster of NBA players and the fact that one of his players, 6’11 Junior, Eloy Vargas is Dominican. IPRB has not been able to confirm if in fact an offer is officially on the table.

Said a reliable source who spoke to IPRB late last night,”If the Dominican Basketball Federation can bring in a well respected coach they have a real chance of qualifying for the 2012 Olympics. They have four very good NBA players in Horford, Villanueva, Garcia and Ariza plus a bunch of very talented role players. They put those four NBA guys together with Cal and its a wrap.”

There are a couple of interesting points if this would come to fruition:
1. Calipari coaching Dominican Republic and Pitino coaching Puerto Rico.
2. Calipari would be given this additional time to provide further developmental work with Eloy.
3. This would take away time on the recruiting trail, but that probably isn’t an issue considering the commitments from the 2011 class.

We’ll follow this news going forward. At this point, it’s nothing more than someone saying they are interested in Coach Cal. Heck, I’m interested in Enes Kanter taking the court against Winthrop…doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.

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