John Calipari doesn't think Damion Lee should've been able to join Louisville
Damion Lee transferred to Louisville in hopes of finally playing in the NCAA tournament, but John Calipari believes he shouldn't have had the chance.
The Kentucky head coach isn't a fan of bigger programs taking a player as a graduate transfer that a smaller school has developed.
"The NCAA has a rule that a kid can leave a program like Drexel after being coached and molded for three years and go to another school without having to sit out," Calipari told Kyle Tucker of the Courier-Journal. "If Lee is there, they're in the NCAA tournament. … It's not about the school that took him. It's about we let it happen."
Lee played three seasons at Drexel before joining the Cardinals and his departure was felt by the Dragons. The team won only six games, costing head coach Bruiser Flint his job. Flint was a former assistant under Calipari at UMass.
Even though Calipari admits he has taken advantage of the rule in the past, he didn't feel good about doing so.
"Understand, I've been in a dogfight to say this is ridiculous," Calipari said. "We took a kid because I saw Duke did it. Even then, I was like, 'It disgusts me that we're doing this.' The kid was going to go somewhere, so why don't we take him?"
Of course, Lee ultimately never got the chance to participate in March Madness, as Louisville placed a self-imposed ban on postseason play this year in the wake of an alleged escort scandal involving recruits.
- With h/t to College Spun