John Calipari: Shaedon Sharpe will not play for Kentucky basketball in 2021-22

Jon Hale, Louisville Courier Journal

February 7, 2022 at 1:10 PM·5 min read

LEXINGTON — John Calipari is ready to end the conversations about the status of Kentucky basketball freshman guard Shaedon Sharpe.

"After talking with Shaedon and his parents, we want to end all of the speculation by again saying that he will not play for us this season," Calipari tweeted Monday morning. "He is committed to bettering himself and our team in practice this year and being better prepared to lead us next season."

Before he announced he was graduating early to enroll in classes at UK in January, Sharpe was ranked as the top high school recruit in the class of 2022.

After Sharpe announced he was leaving Dream City Christian Academy early, the recruiting services moved him to the class of 2021 rankings. There, he was slotted at No. 3 overall in the class, behind Gonzaga freshman Chet Holmgren and Duke freshman Paolo Banchero, by the 247Sports Composite, which averages the ratings of the major recruiting services.

Kentucky basketball: How John Calipari is pushing back at critics as UK piles up wins

Sharpe's initial plan was to only practice this semester in order to prepare for a starring role next season, however both members of Sharpe's inner circle and Calipari opened the door to Sharpe playing this season if needed after he arrived on campus.

That speculation reached a high point two weeks ago when starting guards TyTy Washington and Sahvir Wheeler were sidelined by injures in a loss at Auburn. Two days later, Calipari threw fuel on the fire by saying Sharpe was showing improvements in practice.

Kentucky player Shaedon Sharpe warms up before the game against Mississippi State January 25, 2022.

"The last couple days he’s stepped on the gas a little bit and done some things," Calipari said on his radio show. "I think our team would like me to put him in. We’re doing stuff and something happens in practice, he does something, they all kind of look at me like, 'Come on now, If that’s who he is, put him in.'"

Since then, the need for Sharpe to play has decreased with Washington and Wheeler both returning to full health. Kentucky already has a full back court with those two players plus super senior guards Kellan Grady and Davion Mintz. After Saturday's win at Alabama, Calipari also said he still would like to find more minutes for freshman wing Bryce Hopkins.

"This was kind of always the plan, for him to kind of take this year to practice, develop his body and then get ready for next year," UK assistant coach Jai Lucas said Monday after Calipari's tweet. "But, when you get here, you get around the team, you kind of get excited. You want to play in the games, you see the fans and stuff like that. I think that became a part of it, but this was always the plan.

"I think it started to get a lot of noise and stuff. Shaedon and his family were ready to kind of move forward and get ready to focus on the next step. That’s just him knowing he’s not going to play and continue to develop and continue to grow his game and get ready for the following year."

Kentucky player Shaedon Sharpe -- in black track suit -- sits on the bench during the game against Georgia January 8, 2022. January 8, 2022

The confirmation that Sharpe would not play this season — Calipari's tweet came after a report from 247Sports earlier in the day that Sharpe would not play for Kentucky — is unlikely to completely end any speculation about his future.

Kentucky basketball: How abandoning reliance on freshmen helped John Calipari revamp program

ESPN reported in January that Sharpe was in fact eligible to apply for early entry into the NBA draft despite an earlier report from the website last year that he was not. Sharpe satisfies the NBA's age requirement (that a player turn 19 in the year of the draft), but there was some question about whether he satisfied the second requirement that a player be a year removed from his high school graduation.

While some fans and reporters have speculated that eligibility might lead Sharpe to turn pro without ever playing for Kentucky, Calipari and Sharpe's former AAU coach and mentor have dismissed that possibility, insisting the plan is for Sharpe to play for Kentucky next season.

ESPN's most recent 2022 mock draft projected Sharpe as the No. 7 pick if he does turn pro after the season.

"It doesn’t change anything," Calipari said of Sharpe's draft eligibility after the ESPN report. "... He plans on being here next year."

In the past, Calipari has encouraged all of his underclassmen to at least test the draft waters in order to receive feedback from teams on areas of improvements after workouts. That was the path former Wildcat Hamidou Diallo followed after enrolling midway through the 2016-17 season and only practicing. He eventually elected to return to Kentucky shortly before the draft deadline and played one season in 2017-18.

Speculation about Sharpe's draft decision is unlikely to end until an official announcement about whether he tests the waters after the season. Until then, Sharpe will remain a constant presence in Kentucky's practices and on the bench during games. It is not clear if he will continue to participate in pregame warmups has he has for the last few weeks.

Kentucky basketball: Could a Wildcat averaging less than 2 points per game be key to title hopes?

"He’s a high-level practice guy," Lucas said. "You’re not going to run into too many practice guys like that. He has that ability. You got to guard him. He’s coming at you, he’s getting aggressive, he’s getting more comfortable in practice.

"That’s the biggest thing for a lot of these guys, especially when he’s somebody who’s missing a year of high school. Just the adjustment to the speed, the pace, the strength. So, it’s good for him too, but it’s good for the others because he’s a different type of athlete you don’t see every day, he’s a different type of shot-maker that you don’t see every day"

How to watch Kentucky basketball vs. South Carolina

Game time: 7 p.m. (Colonial Life Arena; Columbia, South Carolina)

Television: ESPN

Radio: 840 AM

Streaming: WatchESPN

Email Jon Hale at jahale@courier-journal.com; Follow him on Twitter at @JonHale_CJ.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Shaedon Sharpe: Kentucky basketball guard will not play in 2021-22

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