The buzz on Antonio Reeves
Last night Davis Mosely, the new basketball insider for 247, held whatever Twitter calls it when you can listen to a live audio conversation. He said two interesting things that I haven't seen discussed.
First, while Mosely didn't say so explicitly, he strongly implied that if Reeves enters the portal he intends to transfer to Michigan.
Second, he said that Kentucky is holding things up by threatening to somehow block Reeves using an NCAA rule that may or may not apply, or might not even exist. Recall that Reeves began his career at Illinois State before transferring to Kentucky. Putting Michigan admissions shenanigans aside, that means that Reeves would need a waiver to be immediately eligible at Michigan unless he comes in as a grad transfer. That's Reeves' plan, except that he reportedly will take his last few credits at Illinois State and graduate from there.
This is where things get tricky. Davis said that Kentucky told Reeves he can't do so--that the NCAA wouldn't allow Reeves to go back to ISU, not be on the ISU roster, yet transfer from ISU to Michigan. But it doesn't seem that anyone has attempted this move, so it's not clear whether it's allowed despite there being no clear NCAA prohibition. Nor is it clear whether Kentucky is just giving Reeves advice or threatening to seek action from the NCAA, either in the hopes of persuading Reeves to stay.
Last, to the extent that Reeves' status is unclear for much longer, it would put Michigan in a pickle--wait to see if Reeves is cleared or take another player without comparable problems. Plus, to the extent that the NCAA drags its feet (if it actually has any say), Reeves wouldn't be able to practice with the team while Michigan waits for the NCAA to determine his status.
I assume that Reeves could ask the NCAA for guidance in advance, but someone who knows NCAA rules better than I do will have to answer that.
Stay tuned, I suppose, in the latest bizarre twist in Michigan's attempt to field a competitive basketball team.
I mean, they do seem to recruit to those standards. They mostly go after grad transfers or guys they assume/are told will be graduating. I know nothing about how engaged UM is with Reeves but he's been in college for 4 years; the assumption is that you'd be graduating from college then. Both with Love as well as Shannon UM was under the assumption those guys would be grad transfers - that was the whole issue because their current institutions were seemingly not making it easy for them to get those final credits. You rarely if ever see UM going after even 2nd-year players, let alone third-year ones who aren't grads.
Could there be better communication between Howard and the admissions office? Yes, but it sure seems like as big of an issue is the fact that UM doesn't facilitate credit transfers to such a degree that a guy can't even "retake" a year of school at UM to get his degree. That is the difference between UM and other schools, it seems - transfers aren't put in a position where they'd have to retake/take a handful of similar courses to get credit but instead have to retake large swaths of past courses (with logical analogs elsewhere) in order to keep up.
Even if they accept lots of classes - they aren't going to transfer in more than 60 credit hours.
Want a Michigan degree, you'll have to take at least half your credits at Michigan.
If all of his credits transferred to UM, he'd have to sit out a year because it would his second transfer. Same thing if he tried to transfer anywhere else without graduating.
The only way he can be eligible at any school other than Kentucky next year is by graduating, unless he gets a waiver, but the NCAA announced a few months ago that they plan to be stingy with those going forward.
While I agree with most of the above, this situation with Reeves doesn’t apply. He has been in school for fours years and has only earned 96 credits. Picking up 24 credits in summer school just isn’t realistic. I don’t doubt the fact Reeves would like to leave UK. He just has zero leverage. If he wants to play D1 basketball next year, it will have to be at Kentucky. #facts
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Thank you.
I don't know who this person is or what year this applies to but I hope he comes to Michigan!
I always find it funny that people make these posts and just assume people know all about these players.
you do if you follow basketball
Perhaps in addition to working on NIL Michigan needs to raise funds for a witness protection program that helps prospective transfers change their identities for a year or two.
If you're giving them a new identity, I assume eligibility is going to reset. Fakey McFakerson still has four full years to play, right?
Ridiculous. Nothing is ever easy when Michigan is involved. Paging Tom Mars I guess.
Btw- thanks to the OP for the substantive Hoops post. We get so little useful information on basketball these days.
it would put Michigan in a pickle--wait to see if Reeves is cleared or take another player without comparable problems
Don't we have 2 roster spots open?
yes, per last MGoRadio hour on WTKA
Not sure that we could get Mulcahy and Reeves, however because they sort of fill the same role and both want enough time on the court to use next year as an NBA audition. I have no inside knowledge, but I bet if we get one that closes the door for the other.
He'll fight like hell. Overcome the NCAA and overcome UK's BS. He'll do the impossible. And then be denied by Michigan.
college basketball has become the worst
Clearly, a lot of UK hating and automatically assuming this is UK and Coach Cal being vindictive. One and done’s have been transferring out last 10 years under Cal, but now they’re stopping Reeves? Reeves is great but not that great. Not buying it.
Cal has alienated the fan base and UK boosters (myself included wants him out if rumors are true, which seem to be). Boosters have stopped fronting $$ for the basketball team and started funneling it to their football, hence why UKs football recruiting has ramped up. Recently, Cal has given up the NIL crap and has someone else running it that appears to be a good person for it.
On Reeves, the idea was he was transferring to ISU to finish his degree and get a grad transfer to finish elsewhere. From what people are saying on UK is kind of up in the air. Some are being told Reeves is back especially with this new NIL collective deal. That said, Cals camp has gone silent. At this point, it’s a crap shoot with this guy. But asides from this new 247 guy, no one has made any claim about UK (or Cal) holding him back, which to me, seems a bit ridiculous given the last couple of years. I predict he’s still a Wildcat. 50/50
But one and dones aren't transfers, unless you consider them "transferring" to the NBA.
Remember Charles Matthews? Lance Ware, Savhir, Bryce Hopkins, Johnny Juzang(!). That’s just a few off the top of the head. There were plenty of other 5 stars that transferred out.
Ok, so not one and dones. Gotcha.
I agree to an extent that it's unlikely to be purely UK/Cal's doing about the transfers but I also wouldn't be shocked if because of his earlier transfer Reeves has a tougher transcript than usual and UK isn't going to try to make it easier for him to square the credits and graduate since he isn't sticking around. Schools do that a fair bit - a big hold-up with Terrence Shannon last year was Texas Tech not making it easy for him to graduate and that was apparently also a factor in the Love situation this year with UNC - and UM's response is different than other schools that basically say "don't worry about it, come with your credits and we'll get it so you can graduate reasonably easily from us." UM instead seemingly throws up roadblocks and it leads to guys either being downgraded significantly academically from a class standpoint or needing to take a large number of credits in a short time to stay on track. And that's annoying, and if your goal is to play basketball and be a student any place that makes one harder than the other will be dinged.
So yeah, I don't think UK is purposely singling out Reeves but I also suspect that the school could make this easier if they wanted to and they aren't.
Agreed. Seems Murky at best. The analysts on UKs side never really mentioned about UK purposely holding him back. That’s not to say these other lingering issues with transfers and playing time might hold things back. I’m not sure on that front how those things work. From what I have read, Plan A was to go to NBA. Runner up was transfer (due to incoming class along with NIL) and now they’re saying Cal made mends. So who the hell knows.
When you say he has alienated the fan base and boosters - do you mean by lack of recent success?
What are the rumors you mention?
Fan base side- if you listen to his interviews, Cal has publicly criticized the fan base along with the home media. As of late, he has created this holier than thou character where he just seems like an asshole. Sure, winning will help out, but when rumors are coming out that behind the scenes is in total disarray and they have not had a good time in years is making the fan base heated. Last year was the year they were supposed to do really well and his lack of X’s and O’s philosophy was shown it was bad. But think Brady Hoke with Dave Brandon’s personality and that is what UK is dealing with lol.
Booster side- was in deep with the 2/3 biggest donors of UK. Last 5 years or so he had lost them due to some sort of issue. Those said donors took their money to football because Stoops had actually had a relationship with them. Multiple people have come out and have said that boosters/donors can’t even get to cal to talk to him. This is all from Matt Jones their reliable in the know guy that has been covering UK ball for ages. Now, this new NIL deal is with other donors that I need to read up on but there appears to be a glimmer of hope with this and Cal finally reaching out to Mitch (UKs AD) and going to Washington for that NIL meeting.
Dark times for UK basketball.
Dark times. Lol. Drama queens.
Interesting - thanks for the response. Surprising given the success he's had.
I wonder what changed other than winning. Maybe as NIL has evolved at other schools he no longer has the competitive advantage? Or maybe just the shift in postseason success to teams w/ more experience.
+1, insightful
ISU summer session began on May 22. So, unless he's already enrolled there and taking classes (probably on his own dime, since he won't be on scholarship or able to use NIL), being a graduate transfer in the fall is probably out of the question. He's been in school for 4 years, just pulled out of the draft. I have to imagine if he's going back to school (whatever school it is), he'd like to finish his degree while he's there. Even if he got in at Michigan, most schools prefer students graduate with more than half their credits from the degree-conferring school. I imagine that will be a reeeeeach with Reeves. It would be great to add a 35% 3-pt shooter to the roster, but it's pretty unlikely. Hope I eat my words.
I don't know about ISU, but my college had Summer I and Summer II (and some mid-summer options).
Oddly enough, the Torvik RosterCast doesn't project any improvement by adding Reeves and Mulcahy. Offense gets slightly better, defense gets slightly worse, pythag record stays almost exactly the same, overall ranking of 55 stays the same.
Not sure how to explain that, other than maybe it's just pushing a slightly silly projection tool past the point of utility. Adding those two causes Torvik to drop Tschetter and Jace out of the active lineup, and neither of them have great projections for next year.
Yea I usually like the model, but in our case it is making assumptions that I would disagree with. Specifically, that:
- Michigan has nothing at center. Tarris Reed is a net negative
- There is a glut of talent at the wing, especially Terrance Williams and Jaelin Llewellyn who will be stars
So, adding more 2/3/4 and not fixing the predicted issue at center doesn't change anything. The model says all this does is push guys who could contribute out of the rotation
- There is a glut of talent at the wing, especially Terrance Williams and Jaelin Llewellyn who will be stars
Rick Snow build this predictive model?
Top 100 recruits as seniors/5th years and who have played well in the past. Model says send it to the moon.
Good points. The other thing I've noticed as I've played around with various scenarios is that it really doesn't know what to do with Khayat (understandably). Informed fans can be reasonably hopeful that he takes a significant step forward as a contributor next year. A somewhat rigid projection model sees an overseas recruit who has done basically nothing so far and just dumps him at the bottom of the bench.
Doesn’t Shea have a good attorney?
If he does enter the portal, it’s hard not to envision Michigan going full Sideshow Bob, once again, and stepping into 12 different rakes, completely unprovoked, and ruin it for themselves again.
If there's one thing I know, it's that the NCAA will do what's right.
/S (duh)
A thought ran through my mind, and - it is related to Mythology. Is there an “anti-Midas” touch?
This would be an effect that turns anything it touches to garbage instead of gold. If so, it seems the NCAA would be the god that possesses this “turn anything it touches to garbage” power / gift.
Michigan admissions are the polar opposite of "shenanigans"
Michigan's attempt to field a competitive basketball team.
Let's be a bit optimistic. Michigan already has a competitive basketball team without Reeves. A lineup of Dug-Burnett-Jackson-ON-Reed will in the top half of the Big10 and has a good shot of making the tourny.