Popular Canadian rapper Drake is no stranger to basketball and can usually be found multiple times a year attending a game courtside.
Most of the time, the Toronto native is watching his beloved Raptors or some other NBA team take the floor. But this week, Drake found himself wrapped up in a few college basketball headlines as he was (again) involved in a self-reported Kentucky NCAA violation while Drake also attended a WCC game on Thursday night.
We’ll start with Big Blue Nation.
It’s well-noted by this point that Drake and Kentucky head coach John Calipari are friends and the rapper has made the Wildcats his semi-official college basketball team of choice. Drake has airballed jumpers with Kentucky in warmups at Big Blue Madness and already been apart of one minor, self-reported Kentucky recruiting violation for taking a photo with former recruit and current freshman Charles Matthews at that same Big Blue Madness event.
According to a report from Jerry Tipton and Ben Roberts of the Lexington Herald-Leader, Kentucky self-reported a second minor violation involving Drake back in Oct. 2015 after they realized that sophomore point guard Tyler Ulis had received some special treatment after a Drake concert in Chicago on May 29, 2015.
Ulis was reportedly attending a party after the concert when a member of Drake’s management team recognized him and invited him to meet with the rapper. Drake met with Ulis for three or four minutes, according to the report, and the duo posed for a picture that Ulis posted on his Instagram on May 30, 2015.
[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/3UlnyAwEbU/[/embed]
After following NCAA procedure, Ulis was declared ineligible by Kentucky but his eligibility was restored on Oct. 14, 2015. Considered a Level III violation, the NCAA defines the incident as “isolated or limited in nature” with any competitive or recruiting advantage being “minimal.”
So, Drake seems to get into warm water (they are minor violations, so the water can’t be hot) with the NCAA every time he simply takes a photo with Kentucky basketball players -- depending on the time and nature of the incident.
Thankfully, nothing came of this concert incident and Ulis was allowed to play all season without any further incident.
On the lighter side of things, Drake attended Pepperdine’s home game against Pacific on Thursday night to show support for family friend Lamond Murray Jr., a junior guard on the Waves and the son of former Raptors guard Lamond Murray.
Murray Jr. scored 31 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, his first career double-double to help Pepperdine to a WCC win as Drake did the “Hotline Bling” dance on the Firestone Fieldhouse scoreboard.
[embed]
That time when @Drake was on our network... #WCChoops pic.twitter.com/L5gCnmrljB
— WCC Network (@TheWCCNetwork) January 8, 2016
Then after the game, Pepperdine head coach Marty Wilson had Drake step in and say some words to close down the postgame huddle, with the rapper mentioning that he might return for Pepperdine’s Saturday home game against St. Mary’s.
[embed]
Great team win tonite. With a nice post-game surprise visit by @Drake #MALIBU #Pepperdine #WCChoops pic.twitter.com/wl0ooYcd49
— Mark Amaral (@CoachMarkAmaral) January 8, 2016
Overall, an eventful week for Drake in the world of college hoops and it’s probably only a matter of time before he’s attending another game or taking another photo with a Kentucky player.