The Krebs's and Seibert's have been family friends for a long time. This is amazing. I know from personal experience that this kid busted his tail to put weight on and get stronger. This is some much needed good news for his family. I will have a brand new reason to root for UK. Couldn't have happened to a better person.

I don't know anything about this kid at all. Is he good enough to walk on at Duke or UCONN?

 

What does that have to do with anything? He didn't walk on at Duke, he walked on at UK. He's a 6'5 shooter that may never play quality minutes, but he's going to give everything he has everyday in practice. Who wouldn't cheer for a good Kentucky kid living his dream?

Rekalin Sims didn't have to sit out a year. Neither did Nate Knight. Neither did Antwain Barbour...

JUCO's...

I think that this is great for this kid. The UK program, I'm sure, has no cost ( scholarship, recruiting time ) in this kid, so it is a no lose situation for the Cats. And who knows if this kid will ever see the floor or not, I'm sure that every practice of every day he will bust his butt in practice which will make the other players better. It's not like they could have recruited a top 100 kid to fill this need. Just like the movie 'Rudy', a kid's dream is fulfilled and he might possibly one day be able to contribute to this team.

I didn't know Tubby was holding open tryouts

I didn't know Tubby was holding open tryouts

 

I'm just hoping he'll show up at the Morehead City League this winter. I have two years of eligibility left!

I'm just hoping he'll show up at the Morehead City League this winter. I have two years of eligibility left!

 

:lol:

 

It worked for Dick Vermeil... I think Tubby and Donna have been going to the movies lately. Hey, anything to fix our recruiting.

:lol:

 

It worked for Dick Vermeil... I think Tubby and Donna have been going to the movies lately. Hey, anything to fix our recruiting.

 

I would definately pull some of that old school Danny Adams, Magoffin County mid-90's defense out on the superstars. I couldn't compete athletically, but I guarantee you that I'd take some charges, dive into the scorer's table on a regular basis, give anyone that makes a cut a reality "CHECK", drive potential rebounders out of bounds with proper boxing out techniques, and above all give 110% every single practice and every single game.

 

If any of you remember Danny Adams, you'll know what I'm talking about.

I didn't know Tubby was holding open tryouts

 

 

Every school has open tryouts for walk-ons.....

I believe UK will end up with 4 walk ons this year. Krebs, Coury, Eric Allen, and Dwight Perry.

Here's an article from the Cincy Enquirer from Mark's senior year at NewCath.

 

 

A Mother's Love, A Son's Game, A Family's Battle

By Shannon Russell

Enquirer staff writer

 

His new baby frantically wailed and Mark Krebs didn't hear a sound.

 

His shoes smacked the slick court as he pressed forward, a rough-skinned basketball in his right hand. Newport Central Catholic trailed Kentucky's No.3 team, Lexington Henry Clay, and he furiously fought the clock.

 

Terri Krebs soothed her 'grandchild,' a school Child Development doll designed to give students glimpses of parenthood. Little Wayne was a lump of plastic and wires, swathed in the NewCath baby shirt Mark had wedged between his mattresses after he outgrew it.

 

She laughed at the situation: Her, caring for her Mark's plastic, crying baby while he played one of his biggest games this season. Reality crushed her smile.

 

It could be the closest she comes to holding her own grandchild.

 

"It makes me sad thinking of my grandkids," she said. "Not seeing Mark as a full grown adult. I know he'll be a proud dad."

 

Welcome to reality.

 

Cancer is consuming Terri's 43-year-old body. But hope is also there, strengthening her through 126 chemotherapy sessions in 150-minute intervals, calming her as she wills the drip, drip, drip of chemicals to eradicate the malignance.

 

The breast cancer is in Stage Four, the last stage. It is, in her words, "everywhere, incurable, terminal." It has sapped her energy, infiltrated her spine and weakened her bones. They snap when she stumbles or tosses laundry.

 

In the midst of it all is Mark.

 

After Henry Clay won 43-35, Mark knew the sting of defeat didn't matter because his mom was there to watch. Terri never strays from his thoughts in this, his senior season, as he scores his 1,000th career point, keeps No.5 NewCath in Northern Kentucky's top 10 and aims for a college scholarship.

 

"It means a lot when she's at my games. She doesn't have to be there. Sometimes you can tell she's in pain," he said. "I'm glad when she does come."

 

Every time he jogs into a gym, he scans the crowd for her, even when he knows she's too sick to leave home. He swallows the lump when she is there, wincing, because she hurts everywhere, all the time.

 

"There are days when he just isn't here, days when his mind just isn't on basketball," NewCath coach Rob Detzel said. "A couple of times we've sat down and he's said, 'It's not you. I'm sorry I'm acting the way I am.' That's when I know it's beyond basketball."

 

Terri had been healthy her whole life - nothing more serious than an earache - until she learned otherwise Dec.1, 2001. A routine 40th-birthday checkup yielded devastating news.

 

"It was such a shock," she said. "Everyone was crying, and my brothers and sisters were at our house. (The doctor) said it was just bad luck. Too much estrogen."

 

Twenty days after the diagnosis, she had a mastectomy. Her doctor called Christmas Eve to say the cancer was worse than Stage Two, as was first diagnosed. It was in her lymph nodes.

 

Through the chaos, Mark maintains stability by cleaning his room, helping around the house, doing laundry, keeping curfew and studying. He has a 3.9 GPA. "He's a good kid," Terri said, just like his sister Mandy and brother Andrew. "He doesn't get in trouble."

 

He pours his life into basketball, a sport that has been a constant since he tagged around his father's practices as a toddler. Mark Krebs Sr. is a former NewCath player and coach.

Because cancer has ravaged family funds - Terri's medicine alone costs $600 monthly - Mark is banking on a basketball or academic scholarship for college. He has received attention from Division III schools, which don't offer full rides for athletics.

 

Mark scores 19.8 points a game and leads the Thoroughbreds in rebounding and steals, and could easily play Division II ball, Detzel said. Mark wants to stay close to home "so everyone can see me," because family is everything.

 

Detzel said there's rarely a night cars aren't lined up in their driveway, relatives yakking inside over dinner and cards. Terri is often the most enigmatic personality of all. The trick, she said, is pretending she is not sick.

 

"We'll be joking around and I'll say, 'Markie, you're killing me! No, that's the cancer,'" she said.

Mark and his parents, sitting in NewCath's cafeteria on a frigid Friday, laugh when she says this.

 

They don't obsess about death, Mark Sr. said.

 

"It'll happen when it happens," Mark Sr. said. "There's not a day goes by that you don't think about it. But you don't dwell on it."

 

Terri continues her treatments, plans vacations and enjoys her family, knowing she will never be in remission. Mark said the most important thing his mother taught him is not to give up, and he knows she won't either.

 

Four months after she started chemotherapy, Terri said she thought she would never laugh again. She and Mark dissolved into giggles when talking about Little Wayne, an experiment Mark was happy to exchange for an 'A.'

 

"I remember praying for laughter. My prayers were answered," Terri said. "I don't believe in miracles - I depend on them."

Wow. That one hit home. Thanks...

That's all you need to know about the kid. This is a great person from a great family living out a dream. This is what people should get behind, and I believe that most people will.

Has anyone figured out whether he would have to sit or not for a year?

Has anyone figured out whether he would have to sit or not for a year?

 

 

There is no scenario where he would be required to sit out.