As you hopefully read in Tuesday’s edition of The Commercial Appeal, John Calipari on Monday suspended sophomore center Kareem Cooper from the team.

The news wasn’t surprising. When Cooper missed Thursday’s practice — along with freshman Hashim Bailey — Calipari said they could be back Friday. But only Bailey came back Friday, and Cooper was gone all weekend.

Though Calipari didn’t talk about why he suspended Cooper, he did characterize it as “all-compassing.” A lot of other folks around the program have told me that there wasn’t necessarily one specific thing that led to the suspension.

After watching Cooper for a couple weeks in practice, here are my observations. 1) He wasn’t even close to being in the kind of physical condition he needed to be in, and 2) He wasn’t having much fun on the court.

I think it’s also worth nothing that Memphis had some very good scrimmages this past weekend (without Cooper). Sunday’s practice was so good, in fact, Calipari stopped it 30 minutes early — kind of like George Costanza in that old Seinfeld episode where he tells a good joke and leaves the room on a high note. The team had good chemistry, competed hard and appeared to really enjoy playing with one another. Monday, Calipari said this team was the most enjoyable group to coach that he’s had at Memphis.

In other words, there are some serious questions about whether Cooper will ultimately come back to the team or look for an opportunity elsewhere.