Weems in, Batley out at Kentucky
September 8th, 2009 | 
Author: By LARRY VAUGHT
Kentucky apparently has added another member to John Calipari’s staff, but there has also been a defection.
Brandon Weems is now a graduate assistant at Kentucky according to FoxSports.com. That may not sound impressive, but consider that Weems was a teammate of NBA superstar LeBron James in high school and remains a close friend. That’s probably why it was no coincidence that James showed up at UK during the summer and likely will come more times in the future — which has to be a good thing for recruiting.
While rumors continue to spread that there is going to be a national writer breaking a story dealing with UK basketball any time, the only confirmed news from UK is that Bilal Batley is gone.
“Bilal Batley is no longer a member of the basketball staff at Kentucky,” DeWayne Peevy, UK’s associate athletics director for media relations, confirmed in an e-mail Tuesday night.
Batley was assistant director of basketball operations/manager last season at Memphis under Calipari and came to Kentucky to fill the same spot after Calipari was hired. Before that he was a graduate manager for a year at Indiana under coach Kelvin Sampson where he organized the program’s recruiting information and mentored student-athletes. He took graduate courses in Indiana’s sport management program. Prior to that he was a student-manager at Oklahoma for two seasons where he assisted with practice preparations and pre-game setup and organized recruiting mailings.
He’s also worked as an assistant coach/personal assistant at the John Lucas Pre-Draft Camp in Houston.
Batley served as an undergraduate assistant coach at Navarro College in Corsican, Texas, from 2001-04. In addition to his coaching duties, he managed study hall for the players and helped arrange promotional events for the team.
So why is he leaving Kentucky? No one is officially saying. Or at least not at this time.
Could his departure have something to do with the continual rumors about a breaking national story on UK basketball? Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows?
All that we do know is that Weems is at UK and Batley is not. After that, it’s all speculation.
Posted in UK Basketball
Larry,
The more I hear, the more I am coming to think that this is all MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. Speculation is fine, but the only real fact that I think is in evidence is this…NO JOURNALIST, WHO WANTS TO KEEP HIS STORY OR HIS JOB, WILL SIT ON A “HUGE” STORY!!! If this unknown journalist had any evidence we would have been reading the story days ago instead of sitting around guessing.
Justin- Kentucky may take awhile to get their sea legs, but by tournament time John Wall will be the best player in college basketball and he’ll have a blue chip supporting cast. I’m not a UK fan, but they are definitely “back.”
Think I have to agree with you Jim
Rumor here in Lexington is that Sandy Bell found out that Bilal made improper phone calls to recruits, hence he was fired. Trying very hard to hush it up. Since he worked under Coach Sampson at Oklahoma, he appears to have learned from the master.
Sandy is the best at what she does. If that is true, he should have been fired and Cal should be disciplined, too
All these rumors are disgusting. I hate when the media says, “something is brewing” and all this type of stuff comes to the surface.
As far as all the rumors meaning UK is back…well, that’s not something to be proud of. UK is always on the minds and in the hearts of the true Blue Kentucky fan, but this is not one way to look proud.
When UConn and duke are held accountable, then I will have respect for the NCAA IF they find something on Coach Cal and not a minute before.
I’m just telling what I know, not rumor’s but facts. I could write a book and make a movie on Cal at Memphis that makes Blue Chips look like preschool cheating. UK better hope Sandy Bell can try to keep Cal in check because he’s already running wild, at Memphis he was reckless and didn’t take big measures to keep things as hush hush as needed, now at UK Cal will have to use his runners more to do his dirt, Bilal was one and he got caught so of course he’s gone but don’t worry Larry Brown and John Lucas will take care of him $$. Your never to far out of the circle with Cal, his friends are connected and money flows like a river to recruits, families, AAU/HS coaches and in return WWW gets 1% of your pro contract. Of course Leon Rose’s agency is owned by WWW(go see who wrote Cal’s contract for UK), shhh nobody supposed to know that though and go look at his clients, a majority of former players of Cal’s. Tyreke and Rose didn’t go with Leon but Leon was compensated by Tellem you best believe he was. I could go on and on and on
Cal basically ran the athletic department at Memphis. I can’t believe the AD there (R.C. Johnson) hasn’t been fired yet. Incompetent buffoon.
UK may be a lot of things, but stupid is not one of them. I’m sure there are all sorts of checks and balances in place to try and make sure Cal doesn’t get too out of control.
Despite that, know there will always be rumors and speculation. It was bad when he was at Memphis (the usual line was “The only way he could be getting these players to Memphis is to pay them.”). It will be worse at Kentucky….Much bigger fan base and spotlight.
Yes, I’m a Memphis fan and alumnus. I loved it when Cal was at Memphis, but I was never sure everything was on the up and up. In fact, I was at the Missouri game (ironically, Cal’s last game) out here in Arizona. I told my buddy who was at the game with me that “I’m pretty sure Cal is up to something…I’m just not sure what it is…He’ll eventually get caught, I’m sure.”
UK better hope that the first thing that is directly linked to Cal doesn’t happen while he is there.
I think UK hopes nothing is linked to Cal — or any coach they have. Don’t think that is the way Lee and Mitch want to operate. They want to follow NCAA rules
Well, you guys hired Billy G., that makes you stupid. Now you have Cal. hung around your necks and that makes you screwed! Your fate will be worse than our because he was a “first offender” when he was with us, but you guys should have known better.
Dallas,
Cal was already an offender when Memphis picked him up. Its no coincidence that both teams that Cal took to the Final Four have had their appearance stricken. Cal is slick but more importantly he’s surrounded by shrewed and connected people with deep pockets. Eventually, he’ll get his. Until then the UK program will be dirty but tough to beat.
UK has sold their soul to the devil. Win now-pay later.
I think UK fans certainly don’t want that, but I will see how they respond.