Bledsoe eligible

Kentucky signee Eric Bledsoe has attained academic eligibility, his high school coach said Tuesday.

Maurice Ford, the coach at Parker High in Birmingham, Ala., said Bledsoe gained his freshman eligibility by passing a class.

"We have to send the stuff to the (NCAA) clearinghouse, but he passed the class," Ford said. "We're straight."

Bledsoe is the No. 3 point guard in the high school class of 2009, according to Rivals.com.

Calipari picks Strickland

UK officially named the third of Coach John Calipari's full-time assistants Tuesday.

Rod Strickland joins John Robic and Orlando Antigua as assistants. All three worked on Calipari's staff at Memphis and were present during UK's team workouts this spring.

Strickland was a 17-year NBA veteran and two-time All-American at DePaul. Last season, he worked for Calipari as the director of student-athlete development/manager, a coach-in-training position at Memphis.

Jerry Tipton