Here comes the massive PR campaign to save Cal and UK.
Some of this feels plausible because the whole May graduation story is definitely fishy. It still leaves a lot of questions as a narrative though. If this really was an eligibility issue, then why not just say that? It makes the player look like a punk and the coach look like a fool to present it as a mutual decision for him to voluntarily sit out if it was actually out of anyone’s control.
Also, if the October graduation was verifiable, then why was that not enough for him to be eligible? If there was a good reason why not, was there any plan to rectify the problem in time for next year amidst all the promises that he’d be back?
Finally, I’m not sure the assertion that Sharpe and his family only found out he was draft eligible after it was too late to do anything differently than they did quite squares with how they handled things. The stories from credible sports analysts have been out there for months that he was going to be eligible. Rather than push back directly on that assertion, they acknowledged such stories by framing it like he was coming back by choice in order to chase an even higher draft spot next year.
Even if this new version of events is completely true, it still paints all involved as handling everything terribly at best and being outright liars at worst.