One and doubtful
Win by the freshmen, lose by the freshmen. Why are freshmen inconsistent? Well, because they are freshmen. I am a University of Kentucky grad and have been a fan for six decades. I have seen many coaches apply different approaches to the Big Blue teams. I imagine the current coach is not sleeping well.
I think “one and done” places a tremendous burden on the coaching staff, attempting to turn freshmen into upperclassmen in one season. Typically, these extremely athletic and talented kids have one year to develop into NBA players. So, do they play as great individuals or as a team?
Even the best coach can go only so far in developing freshmen as team players. This means that UK will have a great shot at winning the SEC, but freshmen teams generally will be too inconsistent to win the NCAA tournament. There will be exceptions to this general rule, but UK would need four or five exceptional freshmen to go the distance.
Joe Hinds
Florence
This story was originally published March 8, 2017 at 6:51 PM with the headline "One and doubtful."