When all of Kentucky’s national title-winning starting lineup bolted for the NBA in April, you assumed they would abandon their academics, right? School would simply be a necessary casualty to the suddenly new priority of preparing for the most important opportunity of their lives, you thought. Because “one-and-dones” aren’t in the business of going to class, correct? In a lot of cases, you probably wouldn’t be far off. Heck, even the hallowed Bob Knight believes as much.
And yet, not only was that the wrong assumption here, but the Wildcats’ performance in the classroom was good enough to prove wrong those of you who scoff at those incessant “still think we’re a bunch of dumb jocks?” ads.
According to the Herald-Leader, the entire Wildcats national championship team boasted a 3.12 grade-point average during its spring semester, all the more impressive considering not only some are preparing for the NBA but also the hectic schedule the whole team endured through March and April.
What’s more, freshmen Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague, all of whom are expected to go in the first round of next month’s NBA Draft, received “well above 3.0,” according to a news release, momentarily putting to rest the thoughtless argument that “one-and-dones” aren’t real college students.
Here’s John Calipari‘s reaction to his team’s academic success: “All this stuff bitter old men say that they don’t go to class, it’s not true.”
Translation: “In your face, Bob Knight.”
Granted, this scholarly feat was probably accomplished by schedules padded with cake courses part of undemanding majors like Family Resource Management (no offense to any FRM majors out there). But, hey, the point is they still tried.
Photo: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE
