Kentucky Basketball: It was Tony Barbee who allegedly didn’t handle DJ Jeffries’ decommitment well
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Jeffries’ father also gave a big reason why his son decommitted.
By
Jeremy Chisenhall@JSChisenhall Jul 31, 2018, 9:30pm EDT
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Jeremy Chisenhall
DJ Jeffries’ father, Corey Jeffries, has been dishing dirt left and right this week, making more headlines than his son. On Tuesday, he revealed who the Kentucky coach was that didn’t act “professional” when his son decommitted from Kentucky.
“it wasn’t Cal that took it so bad,” Corey Jeffries said,
according to Mark Giannotto of the Commercial Appeal. “It was the main recruiter (assistant coach Tony Barbee).”
Barbee was the lead recruiter on Jeffries. The four-star recruit’s father also talked about why his son decommitted from the
Kentucky Wildcats: There were no coaches watching him at the end of the July live period in Las Vegas.
“It was the last game of his summer career, so he was expecting somebody to be there,” Corey Jeffries said, according to Giannotto. “I think it kind of bothered him. That kind of shook him up a little bit.”
Kentucky wasn’t watching Jeffries this past weekend, but Kentucky
was watching four-star wing Dontaie Allen, an in-state star who could end up taking Jeffries’ place in the 2019 class.
Giannotto also said that Jeffries has talked to Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway since his decommitment, and he’ll visit Memphis and Mississippi State.
Jeffries is still a four-star recruit who’s ranked the No. 37 player in the class by the 247 Sports Composite.
As for Barbee, if this is true and he didn’t handle the decommitment well, it’s just the latest story in what’s been a not-so-great year for him on the recruiting trail. He was under fire last year for not doing more on the trail as Kentucky missed on many of its biggest targets over the last two classes, including Mo Bamba, Marvin Bagley, RJ Barrett, Bol Bol, Cam Reddish and Zion Williamson.
Barbee also had an incident this past March where he
appeared to be trolling Auburn while they were getting demolished by Clemson in the
NCAA Tournament. Auburn is where he was a head coach before being fired in 2014.
To his credit, he is listed as the lead recruiter for Tyrese Maxey, Kentucky’s lone commit in 2019.
And really, we may never know if he really did act unprofessionally to Jeffries and his family, or if this is an exaggeration of the truth.