The five storylines that could define Kentucky’s 2016-17 basketball season

The top five storylines for the Kentucky basketball team going into the 2016-17 season:

1. Who will provide what Tyler Ulis provided last season: heart, soul, leadership and to borrow from the current lexicon, “ownership”?

As evidenced by the numbers and his postseason awards, a player like Ulis does not come along every year. It had been more than four decades since a UK player averaged more minutes than Ulis (36.8 per game). And in the 13-year history of the SEC’s Defensive Player of the Year award, only one other player prior to Ulis had won it while also voted Player of the Year by the coaches and media (UK’s Anthony Davis in 2012). He had a better than three-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio (246-69), led the team in steals (51) and, as John Calipari said, coached the team (most dramatically at South Carolina after Calipari was ejected). Replace Ulis? No one player can do it. UK has not one, but three point guards who will play. Seniors Dominique Hawkins and Derek Willis can bring a steadying been-there presence. But to replace Ulis? As Hillary Clinton might say, it will take a village.

2. Easy prediction: Opponents will want to crowd the lane with defenders and play a half-court game against Kentucky. If the Cats are going to have to do more than drive-n-dunk, who can shoot it?

John Calipari dismisses perimeter shooting as a concern. Maybe it is, he said. Maybe it isn’t. Que sera sera. Maybe this is because three-point shooting has not been that big a part of UK’s success in Calipari’s seven seasons as coach. Only once have the Cats ranked among the top 175 teams in average three-point baskets per game (No. 72 in 2010-11). The newly formed Three Tenors trio — Isaiah Briscoe, De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk — made three of 13 three-point shots in the Blue-White Game. Willis made 44.2 percent of his three-point shots last season. That’s the sixth-best accuracy for a season by a UK player (minimum of 100 attempts). He has not forgotten how to shoot. But keep an eye on Mychal Mulder, who made four of five three-point shots in the Blue-White Game, and looked good doing it.

3. Will Isaiah Briscoe meet his goals for improved shooting: 30 percent from the three-point and 68 percent from the foul line?

Surely by now, UK fans have committed to memory Briscoe’s shooting percentages from last season: 13.5 percent on threes and 46 percent on free throws. It’s difficult to imagine he won’t improve. The Blue-White Game included encouraging and discouraging signs. Briscoe made nine of 12 free throws. The 12 attempts showed he hasn’t lost the ability to get to the basket and draw fouls. The nine makes suggested he’ll cash in more. Another encouraging sign came late last season when he made all six free-throw attempts in the NCAA Tournament, and was 17-of-23 (73.9 percent) in UK’s final seven games. As for three-pointers, he took more shots from beyond the arc (six) than any player in the Blue-White Game. This showed that he’s accepted Calipari’s advice to fire away. He made two, but he missed badly on several of the shots.

4. Is there an over-hyped first-year player like Skal Labissiere among this season’s freshmen?

This opens up the issue about how much stock to put into the various rating services. Labissiere was merely a vivid example of how unreliable the ratings of high school players can be. Cliff Alexander (Kansas), Chris Walker (Florida) and Samardo Samuels (Louisville) were among the highly touted freshmen who failed to live up to expectations. Of course, the competition from high school and/or AAU and college changes dramatically. The typically high rating of UK freshmen serves as incentive for established college players to show they’re better. Then recruiting analysts can get carried away. One analyst (who we will not identify to save him the embarrassment) said that Chris Burgess was a combination of Larry Bird and Bill Walton. Calipari’s track record suggests Labissiere, whose development was hurt by not playing his final two years in high school, was the exception that proves the rule.

5. Are the Cats really as fast as Calipari says they are? If so, how will that translate into both the offense and the defense?

They better be as fast as advertised because a team dependent on freshmen is clearly less suited for a plodding power style. (Karl-Anthony Towns was an exception, but he needed time and convincing to develop his low-post game.) Up-tempo basketball more resembles the AAU game, which produced almost all of the players. More than once, Calipari has said that Fox has John Wall-like speed. That’s the standard at Kentucky. Wall is not ready to concede. When asked who would win a race between the two, he said, “Oh, you know the answer to that one.” But not being as fast as Wall is hardly an insult. After the Blue-White Game, Monk said he and Fox were the most athletic duo in college basketball. No one objected. Bam Adebayo will beat opposing big men down the court. As the name dribble drive suggests, getting to the basket is the point. Or as Fox said, “That’s what we’re going to do this year. That’s our identity.”

This story was originally published November 6, 2016 at 1:00 AM with the headline "The five storylines that could define Kentucky’s 2016-17 basketball season."