A starting nine? Calipari talks about how he’ll choose Kentucky’s starting lineup.

With the first preseason exhibition game Friday night against Transylvania, it’s far too early for Kentucky to have a starting five. Besides, at this stage “five” isn’t even the appropriate number when pondering starters.

“We probably have nine guys that can start,” UK Coach John Calipari said Thursday. “But what I’m looking for is some separation.”

To create the conditions for separation, Calipari said the UK players have been scrimmaging more than usual.

When asked which players had at least begun separating themselves from the pack, Calipari cited PJ Washington and Reid Travis. “Probably,” he said, giving himself wiggle room.

Then the UK coach added, “But Nick (Richards) has been so good. Who has somebody like a Nick? There are none. He’s it.”

Calipari volunteered that he liked the lineup of three “bigs” — Washington, Travis and Richards – that UK fans saw in the Blue-White Game on Sunday.

But as if to emphasize that a final decision on lineups and rotations was not near, Calipari said of the game against Transy, “I may start one group in the first half and a different group in the second half.

“I may do that for a while before we really figure out who’s who.”

Freshmen Immanuel Quickley and Ashton Hagans are the prime contenders for the all-important point guard role, Calipari said. As he broadly hinted during UK’s trip to the Bahamas in August, Quade Green is a shooting guard.

Calipari reminded reporters of how Kentucky’s lineup evolved last season. Green started at point guard in the first 10 games or so. When injuries slowed Green, the hard-working Shai Gilgeous-Alexander emerged as not only the starting point guard but ultimately as the team’s most indispensable player.

Gilgeous-Alexander’s example of hard work paying off continues to be a teaching tool, Calipari said.

“The story of Shai is good on a lot of fronts,” Calipari said. “It really is.”

The UK coach again said that he does not need to belabor a point to get it across to this season’s players.

“I’m really enjoying this because they’re just, ‘Tell us how you want us to play,’” he said. “They come every day, and they’re trying. They’re showing us stuff every day that they can do.”

Calipari said the players’ effort and attention to detail and willingness to accept coaching dictates his mood in practice. He made himself seem relatively serene this preseason.

“This team is kind of like, you tell them once and they get it,” he said.

As for the competition to be the starting point guard, Calipari pointed out that Quickley and Hagans are collaborators as well as competitors. One recently knocked on the other’s door to invite him to go work out, the UK coach said.

Quickley defined the point guard role as requiring verbal skills and leadership qualities. He saluted Hagans as “a dog on defense.”

When asked to define what he meant by “dog,” Quickley said, “He’s scrappy. He’s a tenacious defender. He’s never going to give up on a play.

“I think I’m the same way, and I think that’s going to make us really good. We’ve got a whole bunch of those players, guys that will never give up (and are) going to fight to the last whistle.”

Quickley welcomed the idea of forming a stout tandem with Hagans. Such a tag team of on-ball defenders would make a game “a bit hectic for the other team,” he said.

However the lineup and rotation emerges, Hagans said Calipari has the luxury of many options to consider. He said the Blue-White Game last Sunday made this all the more apparent.

“It just opened my eyes,” Hagans said. “Everybody’s got something we can all put on the table. Whether on the offensive side of the ball or the defensive side of the ball.”

Hagans shied from the suggestion that the game against Transy can give players a chance to make a compelling case for a place in Kentucky’s starting lineup.

“We all try not to look at playing time,” he said. “We’re all going to try to fight for starting spots when that time comes. But for right now, we just all are out there competing.”

Friday

Transylvania at Kentucky

What: Preseason exhibition game

When: 7 p.m.

Where: Rupp Arena

TV: SEC Network

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

This story was originally published October 25, 2018 at 3:50 PM.