NCAA Tournament C Usa

Nothing like the threat of having a bitter in-state rival possibly poaching your coach to force another contract extension, even after a somewhat disappointing season. Memphis was hoping to land Bruce Pearl from Tennessee, with a whopping seven-year, $21 million contract according to some reports.

Memphis was reportedly looking to make a big splash after losing John Calipari to Kentucky. Rick Pitino was not going to be walking through that door. Neither was Tim Floyd coming from USC -- despite apparently listening. Bruce Pearl may or may not have been interested, but Tennessee was not going to let Pearl even appear to be considering an offer from Memphis.

The fallout of John Calipari leaving Memphis looks to be immediate and swift. John Wall is obviously not going to Memphis without John Calipari. The disintegration of one of the best recruiting classes ever is the first and obvious casualty.

DeMarcus Cousins has not signed his Letter of Intent (LOI), so he is free to sign with another program with no encumbrance. All of the other recruits that have signed LOIs -- Xavier Henry, Will Coleman, Nolan Dennis and Darnell Dodson -- they apparently have an additional clause to their LOIs. Specifically, if Calipari is not the coach at Memphis, they will be released from their LOIs without restrictions.

The Kentucky press conference to announce the hiring will not be until tomorrow. John Calipari, though, texted ESPN college basketball reporter, Andy Katz, to let him know that he would leave Memphis for the Kentucky job.

That Calipari is taking the job surprises no one. Despite Memphis reportedly offering him a more lucrative financial package to stay, it is not like Kentucky low-balled him.

John Calipari's courtship with Kentucky is over and the Memphis coach is heading to Lexington.

According to ESPN's Andy Katz, Calipari agreed to terms with the Wildcats on a eight-year, $35 million deal.

UPDATE: USA Today reports Calipari contacted former Wildcat coach Joe B. Hall to inform him he has taken the job. It appears as though Calipari intends to embrace the UK tradition from the get-go.

Earlier: According to Fox13 Memphis and Memphis' News Channel 3, John Calipari has officially accepted a very lucrative offer to become the head basketball coach at the University of Kentucky. More details to come on the amount and length of the contract, not to mention the expected roster turnover at both Memphis and Kentucky.

For now, though, the anticipation appears to be over. John Calipari seems to be the Kentucky Wildcats' basketball coach. He'll join up with one of the most hallowed basketball programs in the nation, as Kentucky has won more national championships than anyone but UCLA. "Coach Cal" sports a resume that fits the bill, though.

Everyone keeps tuned to sports sites and ESPNews for the latest plumes of smoke from Memphis and/or Lexington regarding John Calipari and whether he stays at Memphis or goes to Kentucky. The flip side is that the move has paralyzed nearly every other coaching search as programs and coaches in-demand wait to see what happens.

Oh, sure some little things have happened. Viginia Commonwealth has apparently hired Shaka Smart to be their next head coach. As with the last hire of VCU's former coach, Shaka Smart is a Florida assistant.

Everything else, though, appears to be on hold, if only for a moment.

With the seemingly inevitable move of John Calipari from Memphis to Kentucky, there promises to be a scramble of young talent in the wake. Not only will there be obvious upheaval at both Kentucky and Memphis -- again, assuming Calipari takes the job -- but the move has the potential to reverberate throughout the nation.

John Wall, the top-rated point guard in the nation, has previously expressed plans to attend Memphis and play for Calipari. With the coaching status of Memphis currently a bit in limbo, however, Mike Krzyzewski of Duke has swooped right in.

As things progress on the John Calipari-to-Kentucky coaching front, one can't help but get a feeling of inevitability. Monday, we covered the swirling rumors and now it appears Calipari is going to accept the offer any minute. According to a source for the New York Times, one claiming to be a longtime friend of Calipari's, he will accept a very lucrative deal to become the Wildcats' next coach. It's worth noting Calipari is already one of the highest paid coaches in college basketball, so he'd likely become far-and-away the highest paid coach in the nation.

More interesting, perhaps, could be the immediate impact of talent to Kentucky -- at the expense of Memphis' once vaunted recruiting class.

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Once Kentucky finally showed Billy Gillispie the door last week, rumors immediately turned to Florida coach Billy Donovan as his successor, for obvious reasons. It took Donovan mere hours to say he wasn't interested in leaving Florida, and ever since then the hot name in the rumor mill has been John Calipari. A Memphis TV station even put up a streaming video feed outside Calipari's office.

Depending on where you get your information, Calipari is either ready to be offered the job, or he hasn't yet met with officials from Kentucky. We do know that, Monday, the Wildcats' brass received permission from Memphis to talk to Calipari.

For all the "Memphis was overrated" talk since Thursday night's loss to Missouri, we seem to have fallen short on giving credit to the winning team. Missouri entered the NCAA Tournament on fire, having won the Big 12 conference tournament. They've now won 31 games and head to the Elite 8. A defining moment from this run is Thursday night's three-quarter court shot at the first-half buzzer from the hands of Marcus Denman. Enjoy: