By LARRY VAUGHT

The more John  Calipari tried to avoid the question, the quicker the next question came about exactly what is freshman John Walls’s playing status.

“He was good today. I thought he played well,” said the Kentucky coach after the Blue-White Game Wednesday night. “He has to give it (the ball) up a little earlier at times.”

Calipari knew that wasn’t what anyone wanted to know about “Wall’s situation” even though he basically repeated the answer again.

Wall’s playing status remains in limbo even though he had 25 points and 11 rebounds while displaying all the quickness, leaping ability and court awareness that made him the nation’s top prep player last year. But the NCAA continues to investigates the relationship between Wall and his former AAU coach, who was a licensed agent for a short period during Wall’s high school career. The NCAA could force Wall to sit out several games as a penalty.

“He has gone through the (NCAA) clearinghouse. He has been cleared. All that stuff is good,” Calipari said.

Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive, though, acknowledged last week that Wall’s playing status was being investigated.

“That is all stuff that is a private matter. There are probably 10 to 15 kids going through the same thing. He is cleared in every way,” the Kentucky coach said. “There are all kind of different levels of clearance. There are 10 to 15 players going through same thing.”

Kentucky did make Wall available to the media for the first time since the questions about his eligibility surfaced. If it was bothering him, he didn’t show it.

“Right now I am just focusing on playing ball. I am not thinking about any of that,” Wall said. “Right now I really have no comment about any of that. It is what it is. I just don’t have anything else to really say.”

Wall could have to repay expenses for trips and other benefits he received from Brian Clifton, his AAU coach, and could have to sit out games based on the NCAA’s findings.

“I hope it will all work out,” Wall said. “Really, there’s nothing else I can say. I hope it works out and I am confident that it will.”

Kentucky junior Patrick Patterson says Wall is “fine and cool” with everything that is going on.

“He’s not worried at all. We all believe he’s going to pay. He’s not paying attention to what the media is saying or people are saying about him. He just wants to play,” Patterson said. “I haven’t had to say anything to him. Nobody has. We don’t even talk about it. He’s confident he’s going to play and doesn’t pay attention to what is being said or written.”

Other teammates insist Wall is not bothered by a potential NCAA penalty.

“He is enjoying himself just fine,” freshman Eric Bledsoe said. “It doesn’t worry me at all. John said it is all good, and that’s good enough for me.”

DeMarcus Cousins, another freshman, says Wall has not spoken a word about the situation to him.

“Why should he? It’s not an issue to him,” Cousins said. “People on campus don’t ask me about it. It’s only the media making a big deal out of it. To the team, it’s really not an issue.”

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