DEFENSE Calipari’s greatest successes during his going-on-15-year tenure as Kentucky’s head coach have come when the Cats’ defense has been suffocating. That hasn’t happened recently. UK’s past four teams have all finished the season ranked 35th or worst in the KenPom defensive efficiency ratings. That happened just twice in Calipari’s first 10 years on the job: the 2013 team that went to the NIT (after shot-blocking star Nerlens Noel was lost to injury) and the 2016 team that scored in bunches but lacked an interior force and lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. UK’s three best teams in Calipari’s tenure — the John Wall bunch, the 2012 title team, and the 38-1 squad — all finished in the top seven nationally in defensive efficiency. Simply put, Kentucky’s defense has to be better next season than it’s been in recent years.
It’s a stretch, at best, to think that’s doable with the current group that Calipari has assembled. It’s difficult to rely on inexperienced college players to play great defense in normal times, and the current state of the sport — players getting extra years of eligibility and older teams flourishing as a result — will make it all the more unlikely for UK’s young roster to lock down the opposition. Some of the current Cats, namely DJ Wagner and Justin Edwards, are capable of playing solid defense. Adou Thiero has the physical ability to make an impact. Ugonna Onyenso has the potential to be a shot-blocking star. Aaron Bradshaw has some intriguing attributes. But that’s a lot of maybes, and priority No. 1 in the portal should be finding a hard-nosed, gritty defender or two (or three) to bolster this high-upside-but-unproven roster of youngsters.
It’s possible that Kentucky’s shot-blocking — woefully down during the Tshiebwe era — could noticeably improve with Onyenso and Bradshaw at the rim. But the Cats will need both physicality in the paint and the ability to stop opponents on the perimeter, and it’s looking like those traits are most likely to be found in the transfer portal. If Calipari finds them at all.
REBOUNDING Let’s get it out of the way. No one is replacing Oscar Tshiebwe in this department. No one. The way Tshiebwe went about rebounding the basketball over the past two seasons is something that Kentucky fans might never see again. He was a singular talent. Now that he’s gone, there’s a huge hole to be filled. Onyenso and Bradshaw will be counted upon for some of the heavy lifting there, but they can’t do it alone. Even the ever-optimistic Tshiebwe, who sang both players’ praises in an interview with the Herald-Leader last month, acknowledged as much.
“I just gotta teach them how to rebound,” he said with a laugh, after listing off all of the other things Onyenso and Bradshaw could do well. The next-tallest player on UK’s current roster is freshman wing Justin Edwards, listed at 6-7 and expected to play the “3” spot for the Wildcats next season. If defense is the biggest area of need for this Kentucky team, rebounding is right there alongside it. The Wildcats have already been linked to Creighton forward Arthur Kaluma, who could bolster the frontcourt and add some help on the boards. (He averaged 6.0 rebounds in 29.3 minutes per game last season, so he’s a far cry from Tshiebwe, but it would be a start.)
Calipari often preaches the importance of offensive rebounding to create more scoring opportunities, and he’s had some pretty great players to deploy in that way over the years. He still needs some major help in that area for next season.
THREE-POINT SHOOTING If Reeves is back, the Cats will still need more shooting. If Reeves isn’t back, the Cats will need a lot more shooting. Throw out the final game of the season, and Reeves was a highly efficient, high-volume shotmaker from long range. He was 41.4 percent on three-pointers with 79 makes through UK’s first 33 games. Throw in the final game of the season — that NCAA Tournament loss to Kansas State, where Reeves missed his first 14 shots (nine of them threes) before finally seeing a deep ball drop in the final seconds — and it’s all the more clear why Kentucky needs more shooters. Once March rolls around, you need more than one.
By that time this year, noted sharpshooter CJ Fredrick was a shell of himself due to injuries and secondary deep threat Cason Wallace was hurting, too. Much of Kentucky’s perimeter scoring load had shifted to Reeves, and it cost the Cats dearly when he had an off shooting night. That can’t happen again. Reeves’ return would be a welcome one, but UK needs some more proven help from beyond the arc. Kentucky’s hope is that DJ Wagner, Robert Dillingham, Justin Edwards and Reed Sheppard will all be capable three-point shooters, but none of those players should be projected to reach Reeves’ numbers from last season. Relying on a freshman’s outside shooting ability to immediately translate to college is a dangerous game to begin with, and UK’s incoming class is filled with streaky shooters as it is. (Sheppard has probably been the most consistent of the lot, but he’s also expected to play the fewest minutes among the newcomers.) Opening up the floor to give Wagner and others a chance to drive to the basket will also be key, and that starts with having players on the perimeter that defenses are forced to respect. If the Cats can’t make shots from deep, this could be a long season with an early ending.
ANOTHER POINT GUARD? This one might not get filled, and that would be understandable.
If you’re a veteran college point guard and good enough to play somewhere like Kentucky, why would you, with star recruit DJ Wagner assumed to have the keys to the Cats’ backcourt? Experienced transfers like that would surely have ample opportunities with more guaranteed playing time elsewhere. But this could be a problem for Calipari. The three most likely scenarios … 1. Wagner is a stud point guard from the get-go. That would obviously be a relief for UK. 2. Wagner struggles early — sometimes mightily — but gets it together by the end of the season and is a dynamic playmaker once March comes around. Calipari would probably be just fine with that. 3. Wagner’s growing pains persist, and the 18-year-old is often overmatched by the older, much more experienced point guards he’ll see in an era that features veterans aided by the transfer portal and the extra year of eligibility related to the COVID-19 pandemic. That would be bad.
What would make it worse is the Cats seemingly have no natural fit to back Wagner up at the point. With the current roster, those duties would likely fall to Dillingham and Sheppard. Both are listed as combo guards. Both have experience running the point. In high school. Not at this level. If Wagner is a star, those players could probably carry the load for the few minutes per game they’d be needed in the role, but they’ll certainly experience some growing pains, too. UK obviously experienced this during stretches last year, when Sahvir Wheeler and Cason Wallace played through injuries or sat because of them. Antonio Reeves and Adou Thiero played some point then, but neither is a season-long solution. In many matchups, neither would even be a one-game stopgap. It’s certainly possible Wagner comes out flying and puts this concern to rest. But Calipari would undoubtedly sleep easier if he knew for sure that he had a capable reinforcement.
SOME EXPERIENCE As it stands, a recent high school graduate — Justin Edwards — is the oldest player on Kentucky’s 2023-24 roster. Yeesh.
Edwards turns 20 in December. The other six players currently confirmed to be Cats next season will all still be teenagers by the time the 2024 NCAA Tournament wraps up. No matter how talented they are, that’s not a winning recipe. Obviously, this is a need that is going to be addressed at some point in the coming weeks. Calipari clearly wants to add experience to his youthful roster, and it’s surely going to happen, but it’ll also be important to find veteran players with the demeanor to match the situation. They’ll have to be talented, sure, but UK should also be specifically looking for mature and unselfish players who won’t be offended if the star recruits get most of the spotlight and also won’t be afraid to speak up and assert themselves as leaders in the early going. That’s a tough balance to strike, and finding guys who possess these traits, fill some of the previously mentioned team needs and won’t be put off by a lack of guarantees — whether it be playing time, NIL opportunities or whatever else — isn’t the easiest of tasks in the current college basketball landscape, even for a Hall of Fame coach at blue-blood Kentucky.
The on-court play is important. But the culture will be just as crucial if this team is to come together to the point where a Final Four trip — let alone a national title — is a realistic goal. In his lengthy state-of-the-offseason tweet Thursday morning, Calipari said as much. Now comes the hard part: actually getting those transfers to buy in, and then making it all work on the court. “We want players who want this culture, who care about winning, understand what it means to play at Kentucky — both how hard and how rewarding it is — and have the ultimate drive to win and succeed on the biggest stage, which helps everyone,” Calipari said. “We have a talented group right now which isn’t finished yet, but when it’s done we will have a talented team who will chase the ultimate goal together and make #BBN proud.”
Read more at: https://www.kentucky.com/sports/col...tball-men/article275917631.html#storylink=cpy
It’s a stretch, at best, to think that’s doable with the current group that Calipari has assembled. It’s difficult to rely on inexperienced college players to play great defense in normal times, and the current state of the sport — players getting extra years of eligibility and older teams flourishing as a result — will make it all the more unlikely for UK’s young roster to lock down the opposition. Some of the current Cats, namely DJ Wagner and Justin Edwards, are capable of playing solid defense. Adou Thiero has the physical ability to make an impact. Ugonna Onyenso has the potential to be a shot-blocking star. Aaron Bradshaw has some intriguing attributes. But that’s a lot of maybes, and priority No. 1 in the portal should be finding a hard-nosed, gritty defender or two (or three) to bolster this high-upside-but-unproven roster of youngsters.
It’s possible that Kentucky’s shot-blocking — woefully down during the Tshiebwe era — could noticeably improve with Onyenso and Bradshaw at the rim. But the Cats will need both physicality in the paint and the ability to stop opponents on the perimeter, and it’s looking like those traits are most likely to be found in the transfer portal. If Calipari finds them at all.
REBOUNDING Let’s get it out of the way. No one is replacing Oscar Tshiebwe in this department. No one. The way Tshiebwe went about rebounding the basketball over the past two seasons is something that Kentucky fans might never see again. He was a singular talent. Now that he’s gone, there’s a huge hole to be filled. Onyenso and Bradshaw will be counted upon for some of the heavy lifting there, but they can’t do it alone. Even the ever-optimistic Tshiebwe, who sang both players’ praises in an interview with the Herald-Leader last month, acknowledged as much.
“I just gotta teach them how to rebound,” he said with a laugh, after listing off all of the other things Onyenso and Bradshaw could do well. The next-tallest player on UK’s current roster is freshman wing Justin Edwards, listed at 6-7 and expected to play the “3” spot for the Wildcats next season. If defense is the biggest area of need for this Kentucky team, rebounding is right there alongside it. The Wildcats have already been linked to Creighton forward Arthur Kaluma, who could bolster the frontcourt and add some help on the boards. (He averaged 6.0 rebounds in 29.3 minutes per game last season, so he’s a far cry from Tshiebwe, but it would be a start.)
Calipari often preaches the importance of offensive rebounding to create more scoring opportunities, and he’s had some pretty great players to deploy in that way over the years. He still needs some major help in that area for next season.
THREE-POINT SHOOTING If Reeves is back, the Cats will still need more shooting. If Reeves isn’t back, the Cats will need a lot more shooting. Throw out the final game of the season, and Reeves was a highly efficient, high-volume shotmaker from long range. He was 41.4 percent on three-pointers with 79 makes through UK’s first 33 games. Throw in the final game of the season — that NCAA Tournament loss to Kansas State, where Reeves missed his first 14 shots (nine of them threes) before finally seeing a deep ball drop in the final seconds — and it’s all the more clear why Kentucky needs more shooters. Once March rolls around, you need more than one.
By that time this year, noted sharpshooter CJ Fredrick was a shell of himself due to injuries and secondary deep threat Cason Wallace was hurting, too. Much of Kentucky’s perimeter scoring load had shifted to Reeves, and it cost the Cats dearly when he had an off shooting night. That can’t happen again. Reeves’ return would be a welcome one, but UK needs some more proven help from beyond the arc. Kentucky’s hope is that DJ Wagner, Robert Dillingham, Justin Edwards and Reed Sheppard will all be capable three-point shooters, but none of those players should be projected to reach Reeves’ numbers from last season. Relying on a freshman’s outside shooting ability to immediately translate to college is a dangerous game to begin with, and UK’s incoming class is filled with streaky shooters as it is. (Sheppard has probably been the most consistent of the lot, but he’s also expected to play the fewest minutes among the newcomers.) Opening up the floor to give Wagner and others a chance to drive to the basket will also be key, and that starts with having players on the perimeter that defenses are forced to respect. If the Cats can’t make shots from deep, this could be a long season with an early ending.
ANOTHER POINT GUARD? This one might not get filled, and that would be understandable.
If you’re a veteran college point guard and good enough to play somewhere like Kentucky, why would you, with star recruit DJ Wagner assumed to have the keys to the Cats’ backcourt? Experienced transfers like that would surely have ample opportunities with more guaranteed playing time elsewhere. But this could be a problem for Calipari. The three most likely scenarios … 1. Wagner is a stud point guard from the get-go. That would obviously be a relief for UK. 2. Wagner struggles early — sometimes mightily — but gets it together by the end of the season and is a dynamic playmaker once March comes around. Calipari would probably be just fine with that. 3. Wagner’s growing pains persist, and the 18-year-old is often overmatched by the older, much more experienced point guards he’ll see in an era that features veterans aided by the transfer portal and the extra year of eligibility related to the COVID-19 pandemic. That would be bad.
What would make it worse is the Cats seemingly have no natural fit to back Wagner up at the point. With the current roster, those duties would likely fall to Dillingham and Sheppard. Both are listed as combo guards. Both have experience running the point. In high school. Not at this level. If Wagner is a star, those players could probably carry the load for the few minutes per game they’d be needed in the role, but they’ll certainly experience some growing pains, too. UK obviously experienced this during stretches last year, when Sahvir Wheeler and Cason Wallace played through injuries or sat because of them. Antonio Reeves and Adou Thiero played some point then, but neither is a season-long solution. In many matchups, neither would even be a one-game stopgap. It’s certainly possible Wagner comes out flying and puts this concern to rest. But Calipari would undoubtedly sleep easier if he knew for sure that he had a capable reinforcement.
SOME EXPERIENCE As it stands, a recent high school graduate — Justin Edwards — is the oldest player on Kentucky’s 2023-24 roster. Yeesh.
Edwards turns 20 in December. The other six players currently confirmed to be Cats next season will all still be teenagers by the time the 2024 NCAA Tournament wraps up. No matter how talented they are, that’s not a winning recipe. Obviously, this is a need that is going to be addressed at some point in the coming weeks. Calipari clearly wants to add experience to his youthful roster, and it’s surely going to happen, but it’ll also be important to find veteran players with the demeanor to match the situation. They’ll have to be talented, sure, but UK should also be specifically looking for mature and unselfish players who won’t be offended if the star recruits get most of the spotlight and also won’t be afraid to speak up and assert themselves as leaders in the early going. That’s a tough balance to strike, and finding guys who possess these traits, fill some of the previously mentioned team needs and won’t be put off by a lack of guarantees — whether it be playing time, NIL opportunities or whatever else — isn’t the easiest of tasks in the current college basketball landscape, even for a Hall of Fame coach at blue-blood Kentucky.
The on-court play is important. But the culture will be just as crucial if this team is to come together to the point where a Final Four trip — let alone a national title — is a realistic goal. In his lengthy state-of-the-offseason tweet Thursday morning, Calipari said as much. Now comes the hard part: actually getting those transfers to buy in, and then making it all work on the court. “We want players who want this culture, who care about winning, understand what it means to play at Kentucky — both how hard and how rewarding it is — and have the ultimate drive to win and succeed on the biggest stage, which helps everyone,” Calipari said. “We have a talented group right now which isn’t finished yet, but when it’s done we will have a talented team who will chase the ultimate goal together and make #BBN proud.”
Read more at: https://www.kentucky.com/sports/col...tball-men/article275917631.html#storylink=cpy
