No amount of spin can change the fact that Calipari and his staff have failed to make a single move to improve next season’s roster since last season ended. Not only have the Wildcats won just one NCAA Tournament game the last three years, they’ve also somehow added just one player in the portal the last two offseasons - Reeves from Illinois State - and he might now leave for yet another school. Not enough cuts, not enough contact for a program Calipari has always bragged is “the gold standard” and “will always eat first.” That just hasn’t been the case lately.
And what we know is only Hunter Dickinson (Michigan) and Keshad Johnson (San Diego State) took visits to Kentucky before choosing Kansas and Arizona, respectively.
That stuff doesn’t stay quiet these days. “There’s so much misinformation out there,” Calipari wrote Thursday, making an apparent reference to gaudy NIL deals and demands when he added: “Numbers being thrown around just aren’t accurate (and) who we are in contact with or who we are not in contact with, we don’t make public.”īut in 2023, when players hit the portal, they can’t wait to share who has reached out and where they’ve visited. Even with Tshiebwe, Livingston and Reeves in limbo, it’s baffling that the Cats were not more aggressive in the portal. Right now, Kentucky looks like it will start three or four freshmen - and hasn’t secured a single upperclassman as a safety net. No team at this year’s Final Four and only one team in the last two Final Fours had any true freshman starters.
#1982 kentucky basketball roster full#
Never mind that Kentucky is planning to represent the United States in exhibition games against quality competition at the under-23 GLOBL JAM in Toronto in just 41 days, a scheduling decision that might have been a major miscalculation.Ĭollege basketball is dominated by veteran teams now, in a post-COVID-19 landscape full of sixth-year players, where the transfer portal is wide open and NIL allows programs to age up as needed in what has become de facto free agency. So what’s all this hand-wringing about? Well, context, for one thing. 1 recruiting class in the country for 2023. The five freshmen are all top-40 recruits. He’s not wrong about the seven guys currently on the roster. It may not be what you think or I think -… We support all of our players as they weigh their options and pursue their dreams and it’s my job to make sure these kids are making informed decisions. I woke up this morning thinking about our team now that the NBA deadline has passed. “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.” “We’ve prepared for all scenarios and now we can move forward,” he wrote Thursday, explaining that it was hard to plan his roster with three draft decisions previously up in the air. And so far, with rapidly dwindling options, the Cats still haven’t added anyone from the portal, leaving both depth and experience - not to mention outside shooting and a physical post presence - as major concerns.Ĭalipari knew he had to say something publicly after the draft dust settled and he ended up with the youngest team and shortest bench in college basketball.
Sahvir Wheeler (Washington), Daimion Collins ( LSU), CJ Fredrick ( Cincinnati) and Lance Ware ( Villanova) transferred.
#1982 kentucky basketball roster pro#
But Tshiebwe, Livingston and Jacob Toppin all turned pro despite modest draft stock at best. Cason Wallace is a first-round lock and could go in the lottery. And unlike some years under Calipari, only one of those was a surefire NBA pick. If Reeves leaves, that would make nine defections from players who could’ve come back for another season at Kentucky. He plans to discuss his role and NIL opportunities with the Wildcats and then weigh whether he can find a better situation by transferring, with Memphis and Illinois expected to be among the top suitors. The team’s second-leading scorer and best shooter, Antonio Reeves, pulled out of the draft but did not commit to playing next season at Kentucky. Before the NBA Draft withdrawal deadline on Wednesday, two-time All-American Oscar Tshiebwe and five-star freshman Chris Livingston, neither of whom is a lock to be selected at all, announced they’re taking their chances in the pros.
0 kommentar(er)
