With Big Z in the mix I give you my updated starting five for your Kentucky Wildcats

[UKBB4Ever]

Reeves lack of defense or playmaking abilities will send him to the bench soon than later. Mitchell is not a good rebounder. If someone else can rebound then they will get his minutes. If no one else rebounds then Mitchell will play for his offense.

Lot of options on this team and Cal won't be afraid to use the bench. Sheppard has been the biggest surprise. Very few thought he could defend at this level. He can.

The last 3 seasons have been bad defense and no rebounding outside of Oscar. The '21 team had no rebounding. That changes with this team. Very much improved on defense across the board. Rebounding might still be a question. There's no Oscar but hopefully there's 2 or 3 guys that can/will rebound.

 

[Tampa_cat54]

Reeves lack of defense or playmaking abilities will send him to the bench soon than later.

Lack of playmaking?

The guy who dropped 37 at Arkansas, 22 against Providence, 23 against A&M, 20 against Bama, etc. etc.

Not to mention looked ridiculous in Canada.

He is going to be in contention to win SEC POY- he's not going to get benched.

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

Lack of playmaking?

The guy who dropped 37 at Arkansas, 22 against Providence, 23 against A&M, 20 against Bama, etc. etc.

Not to mention looked ridiculous in Canada.

He is going to be in contention to win SEC POY- he's not going to get benched.

Lack of playmaking to describe reeves is about as tone deaf as it gets

 

[Tampa_cat54]

Lack of playmaking to describe reeves is about as tone deaf as it gets

Haha I was speechless.

 

[Eagles_Ball]

Z is a borderline 1st round pick.

And Cal just went through an insane amount of effort and probably used up a ton of favors to make it happen.

He is playing more than 5 MPG, it's a complete guarantee.

I don't really disagree with any of this...which pretty much makes me think not all are slated to be healthy.

 

[blue cincy]

Cal will not play a guy that has not been with the team early on.

We will play small ball if UGO and Bradshaw is not ready to go. Big Z might have to play some minor minutes 5 to 7 or play if foul trouble is an issue but only then.

Starting 5 will be

Mitchell
Edwards
Thiero / Sheppard / Dillingham (one of these 3 with the other 2 first off the bench)
Reeves
Wagner

 

[bucsrule8872]

Sounds like Onyenso and Bradshaw are going to be out for the first few weeks.

So it’s small ball for a while:

PG Wagner
SG Reeves
SF Edwards
PF Thiero
C Mitchell

Dillingham and Sheppard will get a lot of minutes off the bench.

Ivisic will need to be ready to backup Mitchell at the 5.

Burks will have to play more than was anticipated.

 

[susan2361]

If doing platoon what's the minutes before rotating, every 5 mins switch.

Good question. Now that I don't really know. Just 5 minutes wouldn't let our guys get into the rhythm of the game. I don't remember how often they switched when we did it before.

 

[Ukgold]

Good question. Now that I don't really know. Just 5 minutes wouldn't let our guys get into the rhythm of the game. I don't remember how often they switched when we did it before.

I kinda think platoon in general could be a flow issue. 5 might be to short, 10 might be to much but 7 or 8 maybe

 

[bucsrule8872]

Platoon! LOL!

Call me when we have enough healthy players to platoon. I’ll wait patiently by the phone. LOL!

 

[Bluegrass79]

Adding the shot blocker will make this team close to a bonafide winner. Cal finally has the shotblocker he needs. We should lose less than 8.