Addressing the Jodie Meeks, Kevin Galloway, and Matt Pilgrim rumors

We’re going to take a hiatus for a couple days from our look at UK’s targets for the class of 2010. Look for a breakdown of the shooting guards and small forwards John Calipari is pursuing to be a part of his second class as UK coach on Saturday.

The hiatus tonight is because of everything that’s been floating around this afternoon. Rumors simultaneously started flying about Jodie Meeks making a decision to return to UK and Matt Pilgrim and Kevin Galloway leaving the program.

The Jodie Meeks rumors were very interesting, because Jodie still has a workout scheduled with the Chicago Bulls tomorrow. Some reports said Jodie would be announcing his decision as soon as Thursday, which is difficult to see happening.

The Kevin Galloway and Matt Pilgrim rumors were also interesting and they were even more interesting because of the timing. In other words, I think the Jodie Meeks rumors are related to the Pilgrim/Galloway rumors.

We’ve waited for three plus weeks to find out what the final UK roster is going to look like and by this point we all know the numbers. If Jodie Meeks stayed in the Draft, the roster count would be at 14 and one more player would have to go. If Jodie Meeks returned, the count would be at 15 and 2 more would have to go.

That meant that Calipari did not want to make a final decision about any of his players until Jodie Meeks had made his final decision about the Draft or Calipari at least had a strong indication about his decision.

I believe that John Calipari has gotten that strong indication about Jodie’s return to UK and therefore Pilgrim and Galloway will be moving on. Calipari would not have “cut” both players if he still thought there could be room for one of them if Jodie Meeks stayed in the Draft.

I’m not predicting that Jodie will announce his decision tonight, tomorrow, this weekend, or anytime before 5 pm on Monday, but I do think that John Calipari believes he doesn’t have space for two of his players and they have made a decision to move on accordingly.

I also want to take a minute to wish the best for both Matt Pilgrim and Kevin Galloway, if the reports that they will leave the program are indeed true. These are two talented kids who were the victim of a glut of talent. This is a tough situation for them both. Pilgrim has two years of eligibility left and having spent his redshirt tranferring from Hampton, he will likely attend a non-D-I school next year and potentially come back to D-I for his final year. Galloway has just one season of eligibility left but does have a redshirt still available.

Here’s hoping that they have some great options for their future and, as Coach Cal would say, they can “chase their dreams”. We never really got to know Matt Pilgrim, but I will certainly remember Kevin Galloway’s performance against Florida in Rupp this year. He flashed some serious potential and I sincerely hope he realizes it.