NCAA Investigating Eric Bledsoe's High School Academics

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. The NCAA is looking into the academic history of a star point guard who played for John Calipari. Of course, the investigation didn’t heat up until the player was already on his way to the next level.

That’s the same basic fact pattern as the Derrick Rose affair, but this time the investigation centers on ex-Kentucky guard Eric Bledsoe. According to a report in the New York Times, Bledsoe’s high school transcript shows a shocking jump in GPA during his senior year. The report also raises the possibility that Bledsoe received improper benefits — that a high school coach may have paid the rent on Bledsoe’s family’s apartment, and alleges that a high school coach asked for a payment from a college looking to recruit Bledsoe.

Of course, if Bledsoe’s transcripts are as iffy a the Times’ investigation indicates, one has to wonder how Bledsoe was cleared to play by the NCAA. The same was true with Rose – the NCAA Clearinghouse declared him eligible to play, but raised questions about whether or not he’d faked taking the SAT well after the fact. I don’t raise the point to absolve John Calipari or the Kentucky staff from any wrongdoing — Coach Cal has been involved in too many of these cases to be above suspicion at this point — just to make the point that there’s something very broken about the process in general.

Bledsoe has declared himself eligible for the upcoming NBA draft, and is expected to be selected in the bottom half of the first round. Our latest mock projects him going to the Miami Heat with the 18th overall pick.