Field of 68 says John Calipari 'making a strong push' to retain Antonio Reeves

Where Antonio Reeves plays basketball next season remains unclear, but it seems there’s a better chance now that he returns to Kentucky for another season with John Calipari. College basketball insider John Goodman broke down the situation on a “Field of 68” podcast with Robbie Hummel.

According to Goodman, Calipari is making a concerted effort to try and get Reeves back in the fold on what would other be a freshman-laden team. Reeves was apparently already looking elsewhere but now returning to Kentucky has emerged as an option, Goodman indicated.

“Like this team, right now — and there’s one moving part right now,” Goodman said of Kentucky. “I tweeted out the other day that Antonio Reeves was likely to go in the portal. And he was at that point. He’s registered for classes, enrolled in classes at Illinois State, where he started, according to my sources. Had planned on going in the portal. But now, Cal is making a strong push to keep him. Because he needs him. And it’s — obviously NIL is going to be pivotal here. There’s some question marks on whether Reeves would be eligible, graduating now from Illinois State. Taking these classes, credits transferring over and all that. Potentially, I’m hearing —”

Hummel cut him off, wondering why Reeves had resumed classes at Illinois State, where he’d begun college prior to transferring to Kentucky ahead of the 2022-23 season.

“Hold on, hold on. He was at Kentucky, and then was taking classes at Illinois State because that’s where he was at before?” Hummel said, clarifying the situation. Goodman concurred.

“Why?” Hummel then asked.

The answer, apparently, has something to do with credits transferring and trying to graduate, but even Goodman didn’t have a concrete explanation. Basically, some credits that Reeves had earned at Illinois State didn’t transfer over to Kentucky, meaning he was setback in terms of being on pace to graduate. Goodman explained that by resuming classes at Illinois State, Reeves could move back closer to graduating and with a degree from Illinois State, instead of Kentucky.

But Goodman wasn’t ironclad about what, exactly, Reeves has been doing or what his plans might be.

“Well, we don’t know the real story of all this. So, again, it’s a little bit — I don’t want to dig too deep into it because I don’t know all the specifics. I don’t think anybody really knows all the specifics. From what I’ve been told, there were some credits that might not have transferred from Illinois State to Kentucky when he went. Well if you go back to Illinois State, you’re getting those credits back. Like if you got a D, for instance, in a class at Illinois State, and you go to Kentucky, that D might not transfer to Kentucky, to graduate. But if you go back to Illinois State, that D might still be OK as far as being able to graduate,” Goodman said.

Whether or not this affects Reeves’ eligibility in 2023-24 remains to be seen, but one thing Goodman wasn’t unsure about is the fact that Calipari would like the veteran back in the fold.