Stop me if you have heard this one before, but John Calipari’s Kentucky basketball team is made up mostly of freshmen. This isn’t quite the level of the Anthony Davis or Karl-Anthony Towns teams, but five out of the nine most impactful Wildcats this season are freshmen. Coming off of a season where they lost to Kansas State in the Round of 32, the Wildcats are looking to rebound and at times they have looked like one of the better teams in the country.
Kentucky currently sits at 17 in both the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll and has been as high as sixth this season. The Wildcats currently sit at 19-8 on the season, with a 9-5 SEC record. With how good the SEC has been this season, Kentucky will have to work in the final weeks of the college basketball regular season to get a top-four seed. However, if they get hot, it seems like Kentucky basketball could win the entire NCAA Tournament.
Kentucky Basketball is Led by Veteran Stars
The difference between this Kentucky basketball team and teams from the past is that this team actually has a little experience. While they lost former National Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe, the Wildcats have gotten great production from fifth-year senior and former Illinois State transfer Antonio Reeves. The 6-4 guard is scoring 19.7 points per game this season, on 49.5% shooting from the field while adding 44% shooting from the three-point line. Those numbers are up from 14.4 points per game on 41.6% shooting and 39.8% from the three-point line last season. That is a major improvement for someone who stayed one more year to take home that elusive championship.
Partnering with Reeves as the “old guys” on the team is 6-9 center Tre Mitchell, who you may remember on West Virginia last season. Kentucky is Mitchell’s fourth stop in his college career. He started at UMass before moving to Texas, then he played for West Virginia and now Kentucky. While at UMass, Mitchell was a 17.7 and 18.8 points per game scorer, proving that he can score the ball as well as anyone in the country. Now at Kentucky, Mitchell hasn’t needed to be relied on to take over games and can play more to his skillset. That has resulted in averaging 12 points on 49.7% shooting.
We know that veteran leadership, especially at the guard spot, is important in the NCAA Tournament. Add that in with a center who is one of the better inside players in the country, and Kentucky basketball has a great foundation for a championship run.
Freshmen Once Again Reign Supreme in Lexington
The Wildcats brought in five of the top 33 recruits in college basketball this season. That is nothing out of the normal for Calipari, and these five freshmen are all playing good ball. Joining Reeves and Mitchell in the starting lineup are No. 6 recruit D.J. Wagner, No. 3 recruit Justin Edwards and No. 4 recruit Aaron Bradshaw. Wagner is the highest scorer out of the three, as he averages 10.5 points on 41% shooting from the field. Wagner, son of former NBA player Dajuan Wagner, had a storied high school career that saw him win the McDonald’s All-American MVP and a state championship at Camden in New Jersey.
Edwards averages 8.1 points on 45.9% shooting and Bradshaw averages just 5.3 points on 54.1% shooting this season. Bradshaw’s main contribution for the Wildcats though has been his ability to defend other bigs when Tre Mitchell is in foul trouble or needs a spell. Bradshaw has become prone to going for big plays, whether that be a monster block, a steal on the post entry or a huge transition dunk. While those plays have shown effectiveness for the Wildcats, they have also put Bradshaw into foul trouble. That is something that needs to be figured out, because he is too good of a player to not have on the court. As for Edwards, he has provided a great fourth scoring option in the starting lineup. While you would like to see that 31.1% from the three-point line improve, Edwards has been effective in the mid-range and getting to the basket.
One of the other freshmen for Calipari’s squad is No. 33 recruit Reed Sheppard, son of former NBA player and 1988 NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player, Jeff Sheppard. He doesn’t only get his talent from his father though, as his mother, Stacey, was also a star at Kentucky for the women’s team scoring over 1,400 points in her Wildcat career. Sheppard is a utility player who plays with a strong motor and does everything right on the court. Coming off of the bench, Sheppard averages 11.9/4.3/4.1 and 2.7 steals a game on 52.2% shooting from the field and 50.9% shooting from the three-point line. Sheppard is going to be the driving force and x-factor for this Kentucky team. His play this season has shot him up draft boards, with some analysts projecting him to go as high as fifth.
Finally, my pick for the best pure basketball player on this Kentucky college basketball team is No. 16 recruit Rob Dillingham. This season, Dillingham has been everything any coach could want out of a sixth man. Dillingham scores 15 points per game and has never seen a shot that he doesn’t like. Out of Kanye West’s Donda Academy, Dillingham made the move to Overtime Elite before going to Kentucky. His 48.6% shooting from the field and 44.5% shooting from the field have been key to Kentucky being able to swap players freely throughout games.
How Far Can Kentucky Basketball Go?
According to KenPom, Kentucky is the 23rd-best team in the country, with the ninth-best offense. Their weakness comes on the defensive side of the ball, as KenPom has the Wildcats’ defense ranked 77th in the country. Kentucky can score with anyone in the country, as proved by their 14 games this season scoring at least 90 points. The problem once again is that they lost three of those games. This season, Kentucky has wins over Miami, North Carolina, Florida and Auburn. While those are all great wins, they also have bad losses to UNC Wilmington, Texas A&M and LSU.
This Kentucky team is going to be hard to trust come the NCAA Tournament, given their inconsistent play, especially on the defensive side of the ball. To help combat that, Calipari is still one of the best coaches in college basketball. Kentucky is also once again loaded with NBA talent, with Dillingham, Reeves, Edwards, Wagner, Bradshaw and Sheppard probably making it to the NBA at some point. The exceptional guard play, along with scoring ability off of the bench, should make Kentucky a scary team coming tournament time. Currently, at +4000 odds to win the championship, there are worse bets to make, but the defense is far too inconsistent for me to trust them. I can see them giving teams fits with their offense and making a run to the Elite Eight. I can also them breaking down on defense and suffering a loss in the Round 32 once again.
