UK Athletics Photo
When Kentucky takes on Indiana in the annual all-star series June 9 in Owensboro and June 10 in Indianapolis, it appears Kentucky Mr. Basketball Reed Sheppard will not be playing.
Multiple sources confirmed Monday that Sheppard will be involved in two-a-day practice sessions at the University of Kentucky in preparation for the team’s July exhibition trip to Canada on the days the Kentucky-Indiana games are being played. Summer school will also be starting and presents some conflicts for him.
Sheppard is a McDonald’s All-American — only the fifth player from Kentucky to play for UK and be a McDonald’s All-American joining Dirk Minniefield (1979), Winston Bennett (1983), Rex Chapman (1986), and Rajon Rondo (2004).
Sheppard will also miss the scrimmage on Saturday against the Kentucky juniors that would have paired him against Lyon County’s Travis Perry, the state’s all-time leading scorer. The two played against each other last season with Lyon County winning.
Sheppard averaged 22.5 points, 8.4 rebounds, 8.5 assists and 4.0 steals per game last season while shooting 49 percent overall from the field and 89 percent at the foul line.
He is the state’s third all-time leading scorer with 3,727 points — behind only the record-breaking 4,359 points by Lyon County junior Travis Perry and 4,337 of King Kelly Coleman. He finished his prep career with 1,050 rebounds along with 1,214 assists — the second best total in state history behind 1,352 by Michael Jones of Harlan from 1989-94.
He also had 653 steals — again the most in state history based on the Kentucky High School Athletic Association record book.
For his career, he was a 52 percent shooter from 2-point range and 37 percent from 3 despite being the focus of almost every team’s defense for three years. He averaged 22.59 points, 6.37 rebounds, 7.35 assists and 3.98 steals per game in his career.
Sheppard was scheduled to wear the ceremonial No. 1 jersey for the game and also likely will still be featured on the all-star game program — a tradition for Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball.
9 Responses
Ridiculous. Mr. Basketball should play in the game. He can miss a few practices at Kentucky. If this is the case then they should ban all-star games.
This is yet another extension of recent changes in our culture.
Players should want to play. For players, this should not be viewed as a choice.
We see it with football players opting out of bowl game
We see it with Calipari’s players first priorities that allows players to attach himiself to the UK brand without ever playing a second.
I don’t care if the player’s name is Sheppard, Sharpe, Levis, Rodriguez, or any other name.
The only reason for a player to not play in his team’s games is injury, not the risk of injury. If it is risk of injury, no player would ever play for any team in any game.
I’m old school myself Professor, but time has change and just got too adapt to it.
Saw this game at freedom hall many moons ago.. saw Roger Harden play Todd May.
Before jumping to conclusion why he’s not playing. He stated that he has academic orientation at the same time frame that couldn’t be reschedule and is planning to be at UK on May 31st.
The Marine.
Not a very good impression for young kids. But maybe afraid to loose to Indiana.
Just like Calipari’s priority of moving kids to the NBA as quickly as possible, whether they play a single second for UK and whether UK wins or loses, is his choice, so is scheduling a matter of priority.
I don’t recall a single Kentucky Mr. Basketball ever opting out of the Kentucky Indiana game due to scheduling conflicts.
If that is his choice let it be. What should be done is that he is stripped of the Mr. Basketball title and award it to the person who finished second. I am from Indiana and I know it’s a great privilege to be named Mr. Basketball in either state.
Very big honor Jim