Calipari proposes transfer guideline without any penalty

Alex Scarborough, ESPN Staff WriterOct 18, 2023, 02:07 PM ET

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• Covers the SEC.Joined ESPN
• in 2012.
• Graduate of Auburn University.BIRMINGHAM, Ala.– As the transfer portal

continues to affect college basketball, Kentucky coach John Calipari suggests tightening player eligibility.At an SEC basketball preview event on Wednesday, Calipari stated he would allocate

players 5 years to play 4 seasons– without exception.”If you wish to move without penalty,” he stated,” you can one time. If you had any other problems– household stuff, psychological health– you take the year off to obtain together and then you play. But you have five years.”NCAA waivers, integrated with the blanket extra year of eligibility granted as a result of the COVID-19 in 2020,

has resulted in an abundance of 6th-and seventh-year elders.”We don’t wish to have 28-year-olds playing versus 18-year-olds,”Calipari said.”In high school, you get a lot of terms and you’re done. You can’t have a 15-year-old playing against a 21-year-old. It’s the very same thing.” Calipari may be coming from a prejudiced viewpoint, nevertheless, as he acknowledged the youth on his group. Kentucky signed 8 players in its 2023 recruiting class, compared to 4 in each of the previous 2 classes.But those eight players represent the No. 1 total class in the country, according to ESPN, and includes five-star potential customers in Justin Edwards, D.J. Wagner, Aaron Bradshaw and Robert Dillingham.Outside of Tre Mitchell, a senior transfer from West Virginia, and sophomores Ugonna Onyenso and Adou Thiero, Calipari stated,”Everyone else is young.

“”Everybody else is 18, 19 years of ages,”he stated.”But I’m not complaining. I enjoy the group. I love walking into practice every day. They wish to improve. They’re coachable. And we’re talented. We’re just young. “Roster structure in the age of the portal is various, Calipari described, saying there were groups late in the summer season with only 8 or 9 players. “We’re all going through the exact same thing,”he stated.” And the one thing that’s taken place to everyone today is new groups, like they got 7 and 8 new guys, and I’ve

been through that one or two times in my career. And it’s amazing since it’s so brand-new to you as a head coach and to them, but it’s likewise challenging to get ’em to come together. How quickly can you do it?” Calipari said it’s a fight they’re all experiencing before correcting himself.Tennessee, which was chosen by the media to win the SEC, returned crucial players Santiago Vescovi, Zakai Zeigler, Jahmai Mashack, Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka.

“Well, “Calipari said,” we have actually got a couple in our league that have groups back and they have a huge benefit. And they should– they got a lot of guys back. However the truth of it is we have a good group being available in.” Kentucky ended up 22-12 last season, consisting of a loss in the first game of the SEC tournament.The Wildcats beat Providence in the first round of the NCAA competition however were gotten rid of

in the 2nd round by Kansas State.Kentucky, which was selected by the media to complete fourth in the SEC, will

open the season at home versus New Mexico State on Nov. 6. A week later on, on Nov. 14, the Wildcats will host No. 1 Kansas.