Will DeAndre get his chance soon?

DeAndre Liggins has been a man of mystery since arriving at Kentucky last season. Heralded out of high school and conveted by college recruiters, Liggins was the future at the point... or so we thought.

After an up and down first season under Billy Gillisipie, Liggins survived the off season under new coach John Calipari as he sifted the roster to his liking. Considering that Cal had tried to recruit him to Memphis, there was some optimism among UK fans that Liggins would be a good fit in the new DDMO. Yet, after 10 games (12 counting the exhibitions), Liggins has played a whopping 40 seconds on the floor, and we still know very little about what this kid can do in a real game situation.

There have been mixed signals from Coach Cal during the first 10 games, so no one knows for sure what's going on. When asked about Liggins during an early season post-game press conference, Cal said simply "I don't throw kids under the bus," leading most to believe that it was a discipline issue relating to things like poor grades or consistently breaking team rules. Then, during a call in show with Tom Leach, Coach hinted that Liggins had not performed in practice or that his attitude might need adjusting; however, just as before, Cal stopped short of any real details and then changed the subject. There were even rumors circulating that Liggins would red-shirt this season, in the hopes that there would be more playing time for him after the departure of John Wall and Ramon Harris.

Then on Saturday, Liggins was on the floor, and that was very revealing as to his status. His problems can't be from grades because finals are this week, so the semester grades were not finalized last weekend. Playing a brief moment also brushed away thoughts of possible red-shirting. Then, on Monday's call in show, Cal said "we are about to find out in the new week or so if Liggins is going to be able to contribute to this team."

In the end, it sounds like a basketball issue. Even though Liggins made the cut in the off season, there must still be some doubt in Cal's mind as to whether or not he'll be able to contribute anything significant to this team. If that's the case, we might see Liggins transfer to another program.

Of course, all of this is just guess work. The only thing we know about Liggins for sure is that he's been on the bench... and not under a bus. Let's hope we learn more soon.