The new guys are on campus, taking part in early practices, and speaking excitedly about the overall competitiveness of the next Kentucky basketball team. That squad — a group filled with new faces, mostly freshmen — will play against outside competition for the first time in next week’s GLOBL JAM in Toronto, four months before the real season begins. Yet for all of the early excitement, one UK scholarship player will go unheard from during this week’s round of introductory interviews. And the status of that one player will continue to be a question that looms over the Wildcats’ upcoming season.
Aaron Bradshaw might be the most intriguing player on Kentucky’s 2023-24 roster, but — sidelined with a foot injury — he won’t debut for the Cats next week, and he will be the only scholarship player left out of the team’s series of preseason meetings with reporters this week. UK Coach John Calipari cleared up some of the speculation surrounding Bradshaw during his first offseason press conference last week, confirming that the much-hyped freshman had suffered a foot injury and elected to undergo a medical procedure that will leave him sidelined for the foreseeable future. Calipari did not put a specific timetable on Bradshaw’s return to the court, though — clearly aware of months-long rumblings that the recruit might never play for Kentucky — the coach did stress that Bradshaw very much wanted to be a Wildcat and would be working to get back to basketball as soon as he can. “All I can tell you is every time he grabs me, he says, ‘I love you, Coach.’ Like, this kid is so excited about being here and wants to help us win,” he said. Calipari talked at length about Bradshaw’s desire to play for UK and his competitive attitude — “With him, winning matters,” the UK coach declared — but he didn’t say much about his actual game. Bradshaw’s new teammates have filled in the blanks there over the past couple of days. And while Kentucky remains in wait-and-see mode regarding when exactly the 7-footer will return to the court, his fellow Wildcats seem sure that he’ll have a major impact whenever that time comes.
Fellow freshman DJ Wagner — projected as the team’s starting point guard — knows Bradshaw better than anyone in the program. The two players were teammates at Camden High School in New Jersey and also competed for the same program on the Nike EYBL circuit. “He’s going to have a great impact,” Wagner said. “Just on how good of a player — a great player — he is, and a great teammate he is. He’s still making an impact, just being a great teammate, supporting all of us. So we’re definitely excited for him to come back.” Wagner added that having a versatile big like Bradshaw should help the Cats’ spacing, and that will lead to good things.
“Just the type of player he is — just opening up the floor and stuff like that for us,” he said. “He’s a great player. Everybody who’s on the court is a threat. All of us. That’s how I see it. Just opening up the floor and making the game a lot easier for all of us.” The final 247Sports rankings had Bradshaw as the No. 5 overall prospect in the 2023 class. Wagner was No. 6 on that list. The top Cat, however, was small forward Justin Edwards at No. 3. All three are projected as possible NBA lottery picks next year. While Edwards doesn’t know Bradshaw’s game as well as Wagner, he does have plenty of experience playing against him on the Nike circuit, as well as their time together at various camps and national all-star games.
Edwards has seen enough to back up Wagner’s takes. When asked what Bradshaw would ultimately bring to this UK team, he grinned and mentioned that unique versatility that most big men lack. “He’s a really good player,” Edwards said. “Just by him being able to stretch the floor, I feel like he’s going to be a good piece for our team, and how we play so far. It is kind of rare. I’m looking forward to playing together.” Though a handful of players were ranked ahead of him in the 2023 class, Bradshaw has perhaps the most upside of any freshman recruit in the country. He has flashed unique skills for a player of his size, with an ability to stretch the floor with his outside shooting and the length, instincts and quick-twitch capability to be a possible game-changing rim-protector.
247Sports national analyst Travis Branham ranked Bradshaw at No. 7 in a 2024 NBA mock draft released a couple of weeks ago. Longtime national recruiting analyst Eric Bossi gave Bradshaw the “best big” award after McDonald’s All-American week, when the UK recruit tallied 18 points and eight rebounds in the game itself, while also showing off his ability to get to the line and make shots there (10-for-13 on free throws). It was in that game that Bradshaw suffered the foot injury that currently has him sidelined, but he clearly showed the strides he’d made over the past year, leaving the fans who watched — and, undoubtedly, UK’s coaches — salivating over the possibilities for this season in Lexington. Another Kentucky freshman, Reed Sheppard, joined Bradshaw, Edwards and Wagner as a McDonald’s All-American, and he, too, came away impressed by his future teammate.
“Aaron’s a great dude,” Sheppard said. “Off the court, and on the court. He brings a different type of energy. He’s going to play his hardest every game, and bring everything he has. He’s a great shot-blocker. He can make plays. He’s really good at just bringing energy.” That’s an interesting takeaway from Sheppard, considering that a lack of sustained effort was one of the biggest knocks on Bradshaw throughout his high school career, though those criticisms seemed to fade more recently. (It’s also worth noting that an uneven motor was one of the top outside criticisms lobbed at Chris Livingston during his high school career, and he proved himself to be a high-energy player for the Wildcats as a freshman last season). The consensus is there: Once Bradshaw gets healthy — and as long as he brings the effort — he could be the next great big man of the Calipari era. Of course, he’ll have some company in the frontcourt.
Calipari has talked about playing Bradshaw at the “4” — and that could still happen — but the Cats did add veteran power forward Tre Mitchell to the roster as a late transfer, and he projects to get the majority of the minutes at that spot. For now, Ugonna Onyenso is the only healthy “5” on the team, and he played sparingly behind returning national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe last season. Onyenso said Thursday — and perhaps he was joking — that he knew Bradshaw was a “pretty good” player but hadn’t taken the time to look up video highlights so he could get a full sense of the newcomer’s game.
“No, he’s my teammate. Why would I watch a video? I’m not playing against him,” Onyenso said to laughter from reporters. Calipari has also said that he’d like to play Bradshaw and Onyenso at the same time, a scenario that could give Kentucky an intriguing shot-blocking tandem in the post. Whether that actually happens — or how often it occurs — Onyenso certainly sounded open to the possibility. “I’m going to leave that to Cal,” he said. “I think we’re going to really do good (together). That’s all that matters, you know. I don’t have to watch a video to see how he plays. Cal knows what he’s doing. So if he’s planning on putting us both together on the court, he has a reason for doing that. So I will leave that to him.”
Aaron Bradshaw might be the most intriguing player on Kentucky’s 2023-24 roster, but — sidelined with a foot injury — he won’t debut for the Cats next week, and he will be the only scholarship player left out of the team’s series of preseason meetings with reporters this week. UK Coach John Calipari cleared up some of the speculation surrounding Bradshaw during his first offseason press conference last week, confirming that the much-hyped freshman had suffered a foot injury and elected to undergo a medical procedure that will leave him sidelined for the foreseeable future. Calipari did not put a specific timetable on Bradshaw’s return to the court, though — clearly aware of months-long rumblings that the recruit might never play for Kentucky — the coach did stress that Bradshaw very much wanted to be a Wildcat and would be working to get back to basketball as soon as he can. “All I can tell you is every time he grabs me, he says, ‘I love you, Coach.’ Like, this kid is so excited about being here and wants to help us win,” he said. Calipari talked at length about Bradshaw’s desire to play for UK and his competitive attitude — “With him, winning matters,” the UK coach declared — but he didn’t say much about his actual game. Bradshaw’s new teammates have filled in the blanks there over the past couple of days. And while Kentucky remains in wait-and-see mode regarding when exactly the 7-footer will return to the court, his fellow Wildcats seem sure that he’ll have a major impact whenever that time comes.
Fellow freshman DJ Wagner — projected as the team’s starting point guard — knows Bradshaw better than anyone in the program. The two players were teammates at Camden High School in New Jersey and also competed for the same program on the Nike EYBL circuit. “He’s going to have a great impact,” Wagner said. “Just on how good of a player — a great player — he is, and a great teammate he is. He’s still making an impact, just being a great teammate, supporting all of us. So we’re definitely excited for him to come back.” Wagner added that having a versatile big like Bradshaw should help the Cats’ spacing, and that will lead to good things.
“Just the type of player he is — just opening up the floor and stuff like that for us,” he said. “He’s a great player. Everybody who’s on the court is a threat. All of us. That’s how I see it. Just opening up the floor and making the game a lot easier for all of us.” The final 247Sports rankings had Bradshaw as the No. 5 overall prospect in the 2023 class. Wagner was No. 6 on that list. The top Cat, however, was small forward Justin Edwards at No. 3. All three are projected as possible NBA lottery picks next year. While Edwards doesn’t know Bradshaw’s game as well as Wagner, he does have plenty of experience playing against him on the Nike circuit, as well as their time together at various camps and national all-star games.
Edwards has seen enough to back up Wagner’s takes. When asked what Bradshaw would ultimately bring to this UK team, he grinned and mentioned that unique versatility that most big men lack. “He’s a really good player,” Edwards said. “Just by him being able to stretch the floor, I feel like he’s going to be a good piece for our team, and how we play so far. It is kind of rare. I’m looking forward to playing together.” Though a handful of players were ranked ahead of him in the 2023 class, Bradshaw has perhaps the most upside of any freshman recruit in the country. He has flashed unique skills for a player of his size, with an ability to stretch the floor with his outside shooting and the length, instincts and quick-twitch capability to be a possible game-changing rim-protector.
247Sports national analyst Travis Branham ranked Bradshaw at No. 7 in a 2024 NBA mock draft released a couple of weeks ago. Longtime national recruiting analyst Eric Bossi gave Bradshaw the “best big” award after McDonald’s All-American week, when the UK recruit tallied 18 points and eight rebounds in the game itself, while also showing off his ability to get to the line and make shots there (10-for-13 on free throws). It was in that game that Bradshaw suffered the foot injury that currently has him sidelined, but he clearly showed the strides he’d made over the past year, leaving the fans who watched — and, undoubtedly, UK’s coaches — salivating over the possibilities for this season in Lexington. Another Kentucky freshman, Reed Sheppard, joined Bradshaw, Edwards and Wagner as a McDonald’s All-American, and he, too, came away impressed by his future teammate.
“Aaron’s a great dude,” Sheppard said. “Off the court, and on the court. He brings a different type of energy. He’s going to play his hardest every game, and bring everything he has. He’s a great shot-blocker. He can make plays. He’s really good at just bringing energy.” That’s an interesting takeaway from Sheppard, considering that a lack of sustained effort was one of the biggest knocks on Bradshaw throughout his high school career, though those criticisms seemed to fade more recently. (It’s also worth noting that an uneven motor was one of the top outside criticisms lobbed at Chris Livingston during his high school career, and he proved himself to be a high-energy player for the Wildcats as a freshman last season). The consensus is there: Once Bradshaw gets healthy — and as long as he brings the effort — he could be the next great big man of the Calipari era. Of course, he’ll have some company in the frontcourt.
Calipari has talked about playing Bradshaw at the “4” — and that could still happen — but the Cats did add veteran power forward Tre Mitchell to the roster as a late transfer, and he projects to get the majority of the minutes at that spot. For now, Ugonna Onyenso is the only healthy “5” on the team, and he played sparingly behind returning national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe last season. Onyenso said Thursday — and perhaps he was joking — that he knew Bradshaw was a “pretty good” player but hadn’t taken the time to look up video highlights so he could get a full sense of the newcomer’s game.
“No, he’s my teammate. Why would I watch a video? I’m not playing against him,” Onyenso said to laughter from reporters. Calipari has also said that he’d like to play Bradshaw and Onyenso at the same time, a scenario that could give Kentucky an intriguing shot-blocking tandem in the post. Whether that actually happens — or how often it occurs — Onyenso certainly sounded open to the possibility. “I’m going to leave that to Cal,” he said. “I think we’re going to really do good (together). That’s all that matters, you know. I don’t have to watch a video to see how he plays. Cal knows what he’s doing. So if he’s planning on putting us both together on the court, he has a reason for doing that. So I will leave that to him.”
