John Calipari, Kentucky Hurt More than Others by Derrick Rose Allegations

On May 27, news broke that Derrick Rose, a standout on the 2008 Memphis Final Four team, may have had his academic grades changed during his senior year in high school.

At the time, many people believed this would be an investigation dedicated solely to the Memphis athletic department. In the two weeks since the information was released, the bulk of the blame has been placed on former coach, and accused cheater, John Calipari.

Calipari has been called everything from a liar to a greasy slimeball since the allegations of alleged cheating was released.

Many people do not realize the effect that these accusations could have on Calipari and the program he now runs.

It was announced today that Will Barton, a high school senior-to-be and top 10 recruit, committed to the University of Memphis, when it was known that Kentucky was the clear leader for his services.

In an interview conducted after his verbal announcement, Barton stated that coaches at Memphis told him that Calipari was the source of the problem, and were he to play at Kentucky, he would be representing a liar and a cheater.

All the negative publicity and criminal accusations have many Kentucky fans wondering if they missed the news when Calipari was found guilty and to blame for this behavior.

The answer is no. Calipari has not been charged in any way, and in fact, the NCAA cleared Calipari before UK hired him, as these accusations were known for months by the two universities.

As it stands, the old saying "innocent until proven guilty" is not being used in this situation.

It seems the college basketball world is doing all it can to rain on the Kentucky parade.

When Kentucky wrapped up perhaps the greatest recruiting class in NCAA history, there were the Duke, Louisville, and Tennessee fans to crown Calipari a cheater and to announce that there is no way Eric Bledsoe or DeMarcus Cousins could qualify—which they both have.

But where does Memphis stand in all this? The program that let Derrick Rose in, the program that looked at Robert Dozier's two SAT scores and cleared him, and the program that is currently under investigation has been using the Calipari card the entire time.

Memphis signed Latavious Williams last week, a player known around the recruiting world as having grade issues himself.

They just took Will and Antonio Barton from Kentucky simply by claiming their own mess was someone else's fault.

In no way does it appear that Memphis' reputation will be questioned, but Calipari and Kentucky, however, will face the persecution of the nation and will be ushered in as the next band of cheaters who are trying to ruin this perfectly run game.