Kevin Wilson and his Indiana football Hoosiers are done till August.
Officially, that is.
IU wrapped up its final spring practice on Tuesday, and the first spring practice session under Wilson, by basically showing players how the coaches want them to drill to become better players.
The strength and conditioning staff will work with the Hoosiers to improve speed, strength and fitness, but the players have to run summer drills on their own. Coaches want to make sure that the players have structure and purpose to what they do.
Wilson told IUhoosiers.com that all the players will be taking summer school in sessions 1 and 2, mixing athletics and academics.
“We want them to come back in shape, as better players and want them stronger and faster,” he said.
“Coaches love practice. These kids embrace our values. We stayed healthy and hit a fair amount. We’re getting faster and more confident.”
It sounds great, but the bottom line will come in the fall and if the Hoosiers can find a way to win.
*****
We don’t want to worry anyone, but one of the signs of the End of Days mentioned in the Book of Revelation is when Bob Knight publically apologizes to the University of Kentucky.
Guess what? Knight did just that. Here is his exact quote courtesy of a story that appeared on ESPN.com:
“My overall point is that ‘one and dones’ are not healthy for college basketball. I should not have made it personal to Kentucky and its players, and I apologize.”
A cynic might wonder what ESPN officials did to get Knight to say he was sorry. It was certainly more than IU officials did for so many years when Knight dominated/terrorized college basketball.
Knight retains his amazing ability to tick people off. This time it came during a weekend speech at Wabash. He said, and we know this for sure because it appears on YouTube, which has become the definitive source of record for just about anything that happens on the planet, that “Kentucky, year before last, started five players in the NCAA Tournament games that had not been to class that semester. That’s the one-and-done philosophy that we have now.”
Kentucky officials were not happy, especially given the fact Knight was wrong.
One UK starter, Darius Miller, is still in school. Another starter, Patrick Patterson, graduated in three years. Three starters were one-and-done guys –- John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe. UK coach John Calipari said those three finished their class work for the last semester. Wall tweeted that he had a 3.5 grade point average his last semester.
UK athletic director Mitch Barnhart said Knight’s comments were “blatantly erroneous” and that the “University of Kentucky, our student-athletes and their families take great offense.”
Barnhart added every starter finished that spring semester in good academic standing.
One-and-done players were created when the NBA decided to require players wait one year after graduating from high school to enter the draft. So a number of players, including former IU standout Eric Gordon, have played in college for just one year before moving on.
This isn’t the first time Knight has taken a shot at Kentucky and coach John Calipari. Perhaps it will be the last. How will we know for sure? The answer, it seems, is mentioned in the Book of Revelations. You just have to know where to look.
Get your head out of the sand, DiPrimo.
ReplyDeleteYeah, because basketball players never get preferential treatment, so if UK mouthpiece says they were all in good academic standing that spring, that must mean everything is legit! Good enough for me! Wall had a 3.5? lol.....what did Professor Bledsoe have, a 4.0? Kentucky would never stoop to the level of populating their team with guys who don't attend class, would they? It's not like they've accumulated dozens upon dozens of NCAA rules infractions over the years.
Racism, academic fraud, paying players, substance-abusing head coaches, they're fine with all that over the years. They draw the line on this, though. Their players go to class, dammit!