Of all the things that the new NIL (name, image, likeness) rules were supposed to bring to college basketball, legal disputes between former players and their coach was not one of them.

Yet that is exactly what’s happening at Florida State University, and among those players is former Wildcat Cam’Ron Fletcher.

Fletcher played for Kentucky during the unfortunately notorious 2020-21 season, where the Cats would finish 9-16 on the season, and 8-9 in the SEC. He played in nine games, averaging 1.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.6 steals per outing.

More Money, More Problems

Along with Fletcher, five more athletes, Darin Green Jr., De’Ante Green, Josh Nickelberry, Primo Spears and Jalen Warley, officially filed suit on Monday, Dec. 30, against Coach Leonard Hamilton.

Hamilton, who remains at FSU, has led the Seminoles to a 9-4 start so far this season. He is being accused of shorting each of the six plaintiffs $250,000 in promised NIL payments. None of the athletes remain on the team this season, with Fletcher specifically transferring to Xavier.

The situation supposedly stretches back into last season, where, according to the lawsuit, the aforementioned athletes walked out of a practice and nearly boycotted a home matchup with the Duke Blue Devils, which they’d go on to lose, despite ultimately participating in the contest.

Allegedly, Hamilton promised the money by way of his “business partners.” The grievance includes interactions over text between multiple players, as well as some between players and Hamilton.

FSU athletics released a statement regarding the incident, noting: “Upon learning recently of the allegations made by former men’s basketball athletes, the University has worked diligently to determine what transpired last season. Though our inquiry is not yet complete, at this point we know of no unfulfilled commitments by FSU in terms of scholarships or other appropriate benefits or the Rising Spear Collective relative to NIL payments owed to the athletes,” they said.

“We support Coach Hamilton’s right to defend himself against these allegations and look forward to an expeditious resolution of this matter.”

No attorney was listed for Hamilton in the lawsuit. He and the Seminoles are set to face Syracuse at home on Saturday, Jan. 4.

Fresh off a 10-day break between their gut-wrenching loss to Ohio State, Coach Pope and the Cats came back home to take on the Brown Bears of Providence, Rhode Island. With this being the last game before their intimidating conference schedule, Kentucky needed a convincing win to raise spirits and get back on the right track. The Wildcats managed that, and then some.

Slow and Steady

But as has been the pattern for the team this year thus far, Kentucky struggled to find their footing early on. Despite an immediate 3-0 thanks to a triple from Jaxson Robinson, the Cats could only tally one more point by the 15-minute mark, where they led 4-2.

The rest of the half was back-and-forth, with Kentucky jumping out to a 19-9 lead spurred by seven straight from Andrew Carr, only for Brown to answer with a 5-0 run of their own, drawing within five at 19-14.

Still, the Wildcats finished the first half on a high note thanks to a Travis Perry three (for which the crowd erupted,) and seven more from Carr. His 14 at the half set the team high.

What the Stats Said

Despite Kentucky forcing a staggering 14 turnovers in the first period, they were equally stifled by Brown’s 21-10 advantage on the glass. Kentucky has struggled mightily with physicality all season, and the Bears were able to keep the game within arm’s length for that very reason.

The Cats led at the end of the first half 39-27.

The Pope’s Plan

Yet Mark Pope always adjusts, and his team came out of the half with a newfound precision on both ends of the floor.

Kentucky broke off a 13-3 run to get things started, seven of which came unanswered from Otega Oweh. Amari Williams also got in on the fun with a back-to-the-basket floater to extend the Cats’ lead, 50-30, hardly five minutes into the second half. 

From there, it was all Wildcats.

Finishing Strong

Ultimately, Kentucky would outscore Brown 49-27 in the second half and win the game 88-54, their largest margin of victory in more than a month. While the defense remained consistently strong throughout, the offense stood out, found their footing, and hit a stride that they’d been missing the last couple of games.

Among a flurry of encouraging stats, perhaps the most impressive was the Cats’ tally from the free throw line: 18/23 (78%.) This is a solid 5% above their season average, showing real improvement in a category in which the team has struggled often this season.

In addition, Kentucky shot 10/28 from long range (36%,) and 30/60 from the field as a whole, landing them at 50% total on the night. Questions about the team’s recent scoring struggles should be satiated for now, at least.

The Wildcats will carry this dominant win with them into conference play this weekend, where they’re set to kick things off against the undefeated, sixth-ranked Florida Gators at home on Saturday, Jan. 4th. You can cheer on the Cats on ESPN at 11:00 a.m.

Kentucky’s performance against Ohio State was very uncharacteristic. They didn’t look prepared on either side of the ball, shooting just thirty percent from the field but allowing the Buckeyes to shoot nearly sixty percent.

On his weekly call-in show, Mark Pope was asked specifically about the Cats’ poor performance on the defensive side, specifically in ball screen situations, and what he attributed to it.

“I was really surprised by that, ” Pope said. “Just very much surprised that issue actually arose. Some of that is on me, it’s my responsibility. It’s probably a bunch of stuff. It’s a little bit personnel. It’s a little bit us getting a little extended. A little bit being distracted by other things.”

Pope made sure to mention that this loss is something they don’t want to repeat, referring to it as a potential turning point in the season.

“We’re gonna lose a lot of sleep over this,” Pope said. “It’s hard to go into a break with a loss like this. We gotta find a way to do better when we are under duress like this. This is going to be one of the lynchpin moments in the season that is going to change us for the better.”

The Cats will resume play against Brown on New Year’s Eve, ten days after the 20-point loss to Ohio State.