John Calipari wants older, tougher players next year and certainly Adou Thiero fits that description. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Maybe Adou Thiero is not leaving Kentucky after all. Maybe he will be on a similar journey that Antonio Reeves had a year ago before returning to UK and averaging 20.2 points per game last season.
Thiero put his name into the transfer portal Thursday but then released a statement on social media Saturday leaving the door open to a return to Kentucky
The 6-8 guard/forward from Pennsylvania is the kind of “older, tougher” player that coach John Calipari has talked about having to have since his team’s NCAA Tournament loss to Oakland when Thiero played only six minutes.
“After talking to Coach Calipari, I feel it is best at this time to test the waters professionally, entering my name in the 2024 NBA Draft, while keeping all of my options open, including a return to Kentucky. I’d like to thank the fans, my coaches and teammates for their support over the last two years. I look forward to going through this process to determine the next step for me,” Thiero posted on social media.
The sophomore did not mention the transfer portal in his announcement about testing his draft stock — where he likely will learn his best move will be to return to college.
Since he did not mention the transfer portal and did mention a possible return to Kentucky, make what you want out of that.
Players who enter the 2024 NBA draft have until May 29 to take their name out of the draft without impacting their collegiate eligibility.
Players who enter their names in the transfer portal can return to their current schools as Reeves did last year.
Thiero, who turns 20 in May, averaged 7.2 points and 5.0 rebounds in 21.3 minutes over 25 games He missed eight games with a back injury but did make 19 starts.
Kentucky players were scheduled to meet individually with Calipari to discuss their futures.
“If someone says to me, ‘I’m coming back.’ I’m sayin’, ‘Under eight months, and we got the first game of the year. Let’s go!’ Just under eight months, and we’ve got the start of next year,” Calipari said on his radio show Monday night. “Because I want this taste out of my month, and I want it to go forward. So if any of them say that, that’s what my comment will be to them.”
Now the waiting game can start officially with Thiero.
40 Responses
How many years of failures, lies, deceit & destruction by the fraud does it take to realize nothing will change the declining program status as long as the fraud & his personal banker minion AD are holding the millions of purse strings that have tied UK BB down as long as they choose to prolong their pretense of caring about UK?
I had enough long ago & do not need another hour to realize UK BB is only going to continue pampering the 1&done pets selected by the fraud.
If you have had enough long ago. Why mention anything all. Clearly you haven’t.
Every voice is needed on line and anywhere possible to call out the fraud for destroying the gold standard. As UK grad over 1/2 century ago, I’ve seen the high quality of BB which UK produced and will continue to call for firing the fraud and his money minion AD until they are both gone.
To have “had enough” does not mean I will either wait quietly for the program to be crushed even more. If nothing else, the blind fraud-lovers need to be drowned out by we who post to about our diaapproval.
Exactly
Absolutely!!! I love this comment and I wish that everyone who cares about the program would get together and choose a day to meet in front of the Rupp around the water fall/ fountain area or wherever just as long as it’s on the path of Broadway and have all of Lex news there, and protest all day long peacefully and let them know that we’re not going to tune in or buy tickets as long as he’s the coach! It’s a JOKE AND HE DOESNT GIVE A DAMN! Of course he chooses to stay with a contract like he’s got, it’s a no-brainer!! I’d love to know how much he’s made this year alone from betting against the cats? I’m sure it’s in the millions and like you said, I’m basically done with this too! To hear him blame it on freshman when that’s his deal, come here and play one and go into the draft! I hate to say this name in a way, but Pitino used to stay fit because he worked out with the guys, and I’d bet if Cal ran the floor twice he’d fall over from exhaustion!! Come on , I enjoy a beer from time to time but his beer gut is much much bigger than mine!!!!!!!! He’s just a sorry excuse for a school like UK!
Bro there 330+ other D1 teams out there, if you are that miserable then find one that will make you happy. You act like we have been bad for 10 years, we’ve had some pretty good seasons in the past few years, just had some unlucky breaks in March, it’s f-in March, it happens. We had one of the oldest teams in the nation 2 years ago too and a good mix of upperclassmen this year too. Maybe kids would stay longer if miserable fans like you didn’t trash the program and the players because your unhappy. Move on, we will not miss you
Just one glance at the nasty face of the fraud yelling at a player for something that would be allowed without a whimper from the fraud if one of his pets did the same thing over & over!
It’s sad that many UK fans have become like the zombies in NYC who can walk past a major crime against an innocent Senior Citizen and not even call the police, much less at least try to yell for help from others to chase the criminal away.
Thanks for clarifying that Larry, I wish people will wake up of how college basketball is run has changed with this NIL floating around. The old school days are over these players will do what’s beneficial for themselves and you can’t blame them. In my opinion I think Thiero will be back and I have been wrong. Folks get used to this we will go through this more often than you want every year
I am a little bit pleasured by the fact that Cali-Fraudi has been exposed on the local and national stage for the failure he has become. When the Oakland player wanted to throw a little trash talk his way, apparently he backed off because Cal already had that "defeated" look in first half. What a national embarrassment to have to read this crap. Cal has taken us from the Gold Standard to laughing stock in last five plus years of DECLINE.
Agree with what you wrote, Mike. Especially about being a "national embarrassment."
UK basketball has gone backward since 2015. Even a new coach would find it very
difficult to right all the wrongs. But I don’t think Cal will ever change. The future of
UK basketball doesn’t look very promising.
If Theiro wants to be in a system where bigs (6’8" and taller) are valued for scoring and not just rebounding and blocking shots he should not consider coming back. The offense, though improved this past season, will feature guards running in circles and continue to be the focus of the offense. The bigs will not have sets where ball movement and posting (ala Hunter Dickerson at KU) will be part of the offensive flow. Big man development is just not something done by Cal. Key inside baskets in late game moments will not happen unless a guard beats his man and just happens to find a big. There will not be one big that you can expect to score inside regularly on a first shot.
Unfortunately basketball is not played like that anymore! The bigs as you call them spend more time on the 3 point line then inside because that’s what is going to get them drafted.
The Townsend guy for Oakland beat Kentucky doing it. You can play outside and inside. Don’t have to post up 100% of the time. Just have it as on option.
Yes he did Fisher
In one game in the tournament, your not going to make through the brutal SEC season playing like that against other bigs. We tried it with Tre Mitchell which worked against the smaller non conf bums we were playing, but look what happened when we played Kansas, Dickinson did whatever he wanted and we couldn’t stop him
One other thing. What the NBA wants is versatility. The ability to shoot the ball outside and inside. Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid and Giannis can shoot the ball from outside, but they still have a major impact in the paint.
Whether he stays or goes, nothing is going to change for UK basketball. Next year is just going to be another year of disappointment.
Big Blue Nation needs to find another god to worship.
Someone ought to let NC State and Purdue that Bigs playing big have no place in COLLEGE basketball. We aren’t talking the NBA.
Minutes in Oakland game were low because Thiero go hurt and had to go to locker room for potential dislocated shoulder 🤔
Brings into ? the Thiero toughness thing just a bit I agree.
A wise move by him, a great overall learning opportunity.
Hopefully he also explores various options to help him with him back and any other nagging injuries. Possibly try regenerative medicine i.e. PRP and a Platelet Lysate epidural in his low back.
I agree with every thing from everyone except Jeff on this post. I would not blame Adou for not coming back. This season is going to be a toxic nightmare and we all know it. He has plenty of staff to research the portal for older players but he will not. That Oakland crap is like kicking a dog when he is already down and they should be ashamed of themselves for such POOR sportsmanship! I thought that the two coaches were old friends. Would you treat an old friend like that? I keep getting online every day to see which players are coming back but I am beginning to think that no one is coming and I can understand why that would be considering his history of only playing his favorite 5 stars.
I have been a Kentucky basketball ball fan all my life. I even remember the Dan Issel team that lost in the tournament. The point being, John Calapari has done a lot for this program over the years. Sometimes Kentucky fans are not realistic. You can’t win a national championship every year. With these 5th year seniors,and players jumping to the NBA after one year,the game has changed. Calamari has done well over the years adjusting to the changing landscape. Fans who trash him every year don’t stop to think that this could effect the players that he is trying to recruit. I say lay off Calapari and give him at leat one more year to turn the program around. I will always support the program and the players who put that uniform on. Go cats and let’s getem next year.
good points Jeramie
What has he done specifically in the last 5 years that says he should keep his job & get paid $9Million per year?
Actually, he has shown that he is a poor coach in tight situations much earlier than 2017, or so. UConn tournament games, UNC tournament game, Clemson tournament game, Memphis/Kansas tournament game, Wisconsin tournament game. The list goes on.
Adolph Rupp won 4 NCAA championships and 1 NIT championship when it meant the same in 41 seasons. That’s about 1 every 8 years,
Joe Hall won 1 NCAA championship and 1 NIT when it meat more than it does today in 13 years. That’s about 1 every 7 years.
Rick Pitino won 1 NCAA championship in 8 years.
Tubby Smith won 1 NCAA championship in 10 years.
John Calipari won 1 NCAA championship in 15 years.
UK will never win another NCAA championship with Calipari as head coach.
Cal has been digging his own grave for years, with the help of Mitch removing incentive to perform with the lifetime contract.
It started with the 1 and done model, putting the NBA before UK.
Then he bent the knee to the marxist terrorist BLM over his own country. I know several long time fans that walked away then.
Then the double masking for a virus with an IFR no different than flu and blaming that season’s failures on the same harmless virus.
He talks to fans, on that rare occasion, like they are morons who have never watched a basketball game.
Everything about the man screams elitist Leftist in a state that is solidly conservative.
Now the last few years have been an abysmal failure because he refuses to adjust his model and refuses to teach fundamentals. KY is no longer the gold standard. We are iron pyrite!
And the nail in the coffin is Cal starts his podcast as a national known sports figure at the winningest bball program in history and who does he invite on his first show? Kenny Walker? Anthony Davis? Some other KY basketball ambassador? No. He invites the most divisive leftist marxist this country has ever known, Barry Obama!! Are you kidding me?! It’s time for Cal to go. I’m born and raised Kentuckian. I’ve loved UK bball long before Cal and I’ll love it long after but while he’s coaching UK there will always been a stain on the program.
Superior post!!!
Pblue, you have nailed every item mentioned with solid backing based on events & the fraud history.
Barnie & the fraud need to be fired & investigated
Anyone who thinks the fraud should get “1 more year” AGAIN was not born, was blind & deaf or just does not understand BB after the fraud blew the 2010 season with all those star players, lost TWICE to less talented UConn teams in years UK should have won it all and told course the most pathetic theft UK BB has ever experienced when he STOLE the game from the 38-0 team by playing pets instead of 2 great guards, with Booker now one of the best in the NBA and he had to play behind a Harrison who was not 10% the player Booker was & is!
And those failures mentioned were BEFORE the long stretch of no FF’s including the past 5 years of dudsville !!!
It’s not the players – it’s the fraud anyone who says give him another year should have their thinking faculties checked
You should go back to school and learn some science. I lost lots of friends to a virus that ravished the world. As far as Cal goes, everybody was happy the first 6 years and as far as the Wisconsin game the pressure on those kids was enormous. Cal didn’t trust the portal and it showed. He is the best recruiter in the game and will in time be one of the best at using the portal. Don’t talk about shit you know nothing about. You’re as bad as that blabbermouth little baron.
Go root for ARK now…….
my fear besides the bad decision of bringing cal back is that it will take forever before these guys make a decision about leaving or staying and with that all the top transfers will go everywhere else but to us or cal will be so picky with who he’s after or wait to long and we’ll end up what’s left in the portal. we should recruit like arkansas offer everyone.
valid point Steve
Oh we helped the kids and so many families blah blah blah… The kids he referred to are 5 stars and a few fours. He should take some 2 star and 3 star kids and develop them into great players over 3-4 years and stop with the 10+ season losses, bad conference tournament results, and upset flameouts. He hasn’t helped 5 stars get to anywhere that that wouldn’t have gotten to without him. Develop some lower skilled players into a team and develop their skills and them maybe he would be spot on. The problem is… HE CAN’T!
Calipari, Calipari, Calipari, Calipari, Calipari,Calipari, Calipari, Calipari,Calipari, Calipari, this is a maddening and recurring nightmare of the greasey headed screaming monster breaking into a Ky child’s bedroom while he sleeps, stealing his BIg Blue BB out from under his arms, pulling the UK banners from the wall along with Cawood Ledfords photo and stomping them, burning them while the Ditch Mitch Express screams Eli’s a coming for mo of yo money.
No more uk games for me until he’s gone. Same BS.Mitch should have made Cal a recruiting coach. Hire a new coach that can coach during a game.Let Cal be a spokesperson for the NBA.Thats what’ he’s done since he got the lifetime contract. ROLL TIDE.
Glad yo see you go! Maybe Your a cardinals fan and just never knew it.
let’s go guys , you leavin or stayin, don’t drag this on and on. can’t believe we are interested in so many guys in portal, that’s one promise i hope cal fulfills. we still need a center that can score and defend and a forward as well. i dislike the nba because of their draft deadline, it needs to be moved up to.
Ulis for president!!
So many 🛋 coaches in these comments! If you didn’t coach a team in the NCAA tournament.Your comment is invalid.