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No matter the decision, Kentucky basketball fans need to give Reed Sheppard a break

John Clay
·4 min read

Random notes:

▪ I agree with Rex Chapman. At Mark Pope’s introductory press conference Sunday at Rupp Arena, Chapman said UK fans need to cut Reed Sheppard a break. Having completed a stellar freshman season, Sheppard has a tough decision to make. Having his father Jeff’s college roommate as the new Kentucky coach only complicates that decision.

“You gotta just keep in mind: Every athlete is one wrong step from never playing again,” Chapman said Sunday. “And as much as you wanna hang around and you wanna be a kid — you gotta weigh that.”

If Reed Sheppard decides to enter the NBA Draft, where he is projected as a lottery pick, the hope is Big Blue Nation will understand.

Kentucky guard Reed Sheppard is projected as a lottery pick in this summer’s NBA draft, not normally a position from which a college player would decide to stay in school for another year. However, in a world where NCAA athletes are allowed to make money off their name, image and likeness, the decision isn’t the slam dunk it used to be.
Kentucky guard Reed Sheppard is projected as a lottery pick in this summer’s NBA draft, not normally a position from which a college player would decide to stay in school for another year. However, in a world where NCAA athletes are allowed to make money off their name, image and likeness, the decision isn’t the slam dunk it used to be.

▪ Speaking of Rex Chapman, he also relayed a story from Kelvin Sampson’s wife that Pope’s wife Lee Anne baked cookies for the opposing teams who came to BYU. “Who does that? Mark Pope’s wife does that,” said Rex.

▪ If you want an idea of what Kentucky basketball’s approach to analytics will be under Pope, I recommend BYU assistant coach Keegan Brown’s appearance on the Slappin’ Glass podcast dated Sept. 2, 2022.

“There’s a bunch of stuff that we do track that is different,” Brown said on the podcast. “The past year or two we’ve created passing charts and advanced passing data, basically (tracking) efficiency when players are passing from left side to right side of the court and vice-versa. We’ll also look at kind of the playmaking efficiencies that we’ve measured out that I’ve found that I’ll use with our team and the project I’ve used with our team.”

That’s just a small sample.

▪ Of the 12 players on the U.S. Men’s Basketball Team announced Tuesday that will play in the Paris Olympics this summer, only one won a college basketball national championship. That was former Kentucky star Anthony Davis.

▪ You may remember Trey Townsend, the leading scorer this season on the Oakland team that upset Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament. Townsend is in the portal and has scheduled visits to Arizona, Ohio State and Louisville.

▪ Not sure there has been a bigger regular season college baseball weekend around here than this weekend. Ranked No. 3 in the latest D1 Baseball poll, Kentucky plays No. 4-ranked Tennessee in a three-game series, starting Friday at Kentucky Proud Park. Start times are 6:30 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.

UK is 14-1 in SEC play. Tennessee is 10-5. Kentucky is 31-5 overall. The Volunteers are 31-6.

▪ Looks like former Henry Clay pitching star Walker Buehler is close to making his return to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Buehler has been sidelined since undergoing his second Tommy John surgery last August. His third minor league rehab start last Friday was cut short when the right-hander took a live drive off his hand but reported on Instagram, “My knuckle’s fine. Back at it Thursday.”

▪ Loved this quote from new Kentucky quarterback Brock Vandagriff after last Saturday’s Spring Game at Kroger Field. When talking about taking what the defense gives you, Vandagriff recalled advice he got from Marietta, Georgia, native and former Super Bowl-winning quarterback Brad Johnson, who told the QB that “Taking checkdowns got him a 20- by 40-foot pool in his backyard. And he played in the league for 15, 16 years.”

▪ Former Alabama quarterback Steve Sloan died this week at age 79. Sloan was the athletic director at Alabama when Bill Curry was the head football coach. Sloan’s forced resignation in 1989 led to Curry leaving Tuscaloosa to become Kentucky’s head coach in 1990.

Sloan was also the head football coach at Vanderbilt and Ole Miss, where his teams went 0-4 against Kentucky. Sloan’s Vandy team lost in 1973 and 1974. His Ole Miss team lost to the Cats in 1978 and 1979.

▪ My former colleague Jerry Tipton has a new memoir out titled “Deja Blue: A Sportswriter Reflects on 41 Seasons of Kentucky Basketball.” The book’s launch will be May 14 at the Carnegie Center in Lexington from 5-7 p.m. The book is available through Acclaimpress.com/books.

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