Decent read, plus I think last night's second half has started to address some of the article's concerns.
https://www.si.com/college/2019/11/22/kentucky-maryland-indiana-basketball
The SI link offers a review that is very superficial and not necessarily accurate. For example, SI says Juzang is our best three point shooter. That is more dogmatic than factual. It certainly hasn't been proven on the court.
The problems our basketball team has experienced are largely the same problems we have experienced almost every season under John Calipari. Everyone year, the team is very young and inexperienced in November. The players are still learning Cal's system while getting used to the speed and length of the college game. This is why Cal always schedules a bunch of early bunny games in November and December.
This year, we lost one of the bunny games. This happened because of a combination of circumstances, including the usual steep learning curve that we see every year for the freshmen. There were also several key injuries. To think Montgomery's injury didn't influence the outcome of the game would be naive, even for the negative posters who continue to underestimate Montgomery's talent and role.
I have no doubt that this team will play high level basketball in February, just as Cal's teams do every season. As always, the learning process will be evident before January and continue through the SEC season. Those who have seen all of Cal's UK teams know that his modus operandi is to develop his teams to play their best basketball by March. He doesn't care about November, which only represents the first step of team development in Cal's thinking, even though some fans go nuts in November every year.
But there is a caveat. Cal has said publicly that he prefers to have only ten scholarship players at a time. He believes teaching ten players is optimal in the context of the limits of his attention and the available playing time in games. But I think the last couple of years may have exposed the main vulnerability of that logic. As Cal recently acknowledged, his preference for ten scholarship players incorporates an assumption that all ten players remain basically healthy. In recent years, though, the injuries have mounted up-
Vanderbilt
Baker
Washington
Travis
Allen
Montgomery
Quickley
Seldom have recent UK teams been able to practice with ten healthy scholarship players. Seldom has Cal been able to sit players for very long when they weren't playing well, or when he needed to get their attention for teaching purposes.
Cal is a Hall of Fame coach for a good reason. He has my support, and I am not questioning his basketball judgment or savvy. But I would be more comfortable if he would adjust to the lesson of these experiences and keep a roster of 11-12 scholarship players, even if several are high-upside three-stars. Also, I don't think any contending team should try to go through an entire basketball season with only three true bigs. I feel sure Cal is processing all of this.
![[sick]](http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/img/emoticons/sick/sick0006.r191677.gif "Sick [sick]")
