VAUGHT: Washington status for tomorrow still a mystery

By LARRY VAUGHT

Will PJ Washington play against Wofford Saturday or not?

No one seems to know.

The Kentucky sophomore missed Thursday's NCAA Tournament win over Wofford after he sprained his foot in the SEC Tournament semifinals, according to coach John Calipari. Initially the UK coach said he would play Thursday after X-rays were negative and his foot was in a walking boot. Then Thursday Washington suddenly had a hard cast on his leg.

After the win over Abilene Christian Calipari said Washington might be able to play Saturday during his postgame press conference. Ten minutes later he told ESPN that Washington would not play.

Friday he said that Washington would be "out" for the second round game. Then he expanded on that a bit more.

"What they're going to do at some point is cut the cast off and say how -- they just thought it would heal faster. I know there's all this, it's a conspiracy," Calipari said.

Many Kentucky fans do wonder what Calipari is not telling them. Some are suggesting Washington is not playing to avoid jeopardizing his NBA future -- a theory I simply cannot believe some would even suggest. Others believe Washington's injury is much more serious than reported or that he might have got hurt in practice and not the tournament game.

"I'm telling you, it was negative in every X-ray, MRI. We even did an RIM. It's sprained. But we just -- and you guys that know me know that I'm overly cautious because it's these kids' careers, and I get it," Calipari said Friday.

"I know this, he really wants to play, but I also want to feel comfortable that if he gets on the court that there's nothing he can do to himself, and the doctors have pretty much said that. So it's just, okay, when is it healed enough that he can go."