Expectations sky high now that Olivier Sarr can play. ‘They’re a championship team.’
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There was surely no one happier to hear the news that Olivier Sarr would be eligible to play for Kentucky this season than the star 7-foot center himself.
Sarr’s monthslong wait for an answer after transferring from Wake Forest to UK for his final season of college basketball finally ended Wednesday night, when Kentucky announced that he had been cleared by the Southeastern Conference to play immediately for the Wildcats.
Near the top of the list of happiest to hear that news: Sarr’s new UK teammates, even — and especially — the ones certain to lose playing time as a result of his immediate eligibility.
If Sarr hadn’t been cleared to play by the NCAA and SEC, the starting center spot on this Kentucky team probably would’ve gone to Isaiah Jackson or Lance Ware, a couple of college freshmen who just arrived on campus a few months ago and have been forced to get up to speed amid a pandemic that has limited full basketball activities for every team in the country.
Ware — a 6-foot-9, 223-pound newcomer and the biggest player on UK’s roster other than Sarr — spoke to the Herald-Leader a couple of weeks ago about his time in Lexington so far, and he was effusive in his praise for his new, veteran teammate.
“Olivier is super skilled,” Ware gushed. “He’s a competitor. He just wants to win, and he’ll do whatever it takes for his team to win. He can shoot the ball. He’s athletic. But just super skilled.”
Sarr proved the “super skilled” bit in his final season at Wake Forest, where he averaged 13.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game and emerged as one of the best big men in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Once he put his name in the NCAA transfer portal, he was immediately named the nation’s No. 1 transfer player by every reputable outlet that compiled such a list. According to many of the national experts, Kentucky’s preseason outlook ranged from the back end of the Top 25 (if Sarr didn’t get his eligibility) to legitimate national title contender (if he did).
Obviously, he’s an important piece to the Wildcats’ puzzle. He’s also an important figure on a team that includes six scholarship freshmen, a total of nine new scholarship players, and just one returning scholarship player with any in-game experience (Keion Brooks).
In just a few short months — and with practice just officially starting last week — Sarr has already made his mark.
“It’s been huge,” Ware said of his presence.” One, just for his physical attributes. Having to guard somebody that big and super strong like that everyday in practice — that helps a lot, because it’s getting us used to it. You know, this isn’t high school anymore. I wasn’t going to play anybody like that in high school. I’m pretty sure none of the freshmen played against somebody like that in high school. Seven foot, however much he weighs (243 pounds). So that helps a whole bunch.
“And, honestly, just the way he can notice little things. … And just to ask ‘What’s up?’ in general. It’s been huge.”
Indeed, Sarr, who will turn 22 years old during this season and already has three years of college experience, has emerged as a guy younger teammates can look toward for guidance. A sounding board for kids who are just a few months removed from high school. Ware said he’s been going up against Sarr, Jackson and another transfer — 6-9 forward Jacob Toppin, who also received his immediate eligibility this week — in UK’s practices — to everyone’s benefit.
“When we have been in there and been able to scrimmage a little bit, it’s been really intense and competitive,” he said. “Everybody on the team’s a competitor. And everybody wants to win, no matter what. Whether it’s a little drill or we’re playing five-on-five, everybody wants to win.”
‘A great leader’
Sarr and graduate transfer Davion Mintz, a 6-3 guard, are the latest in a line of older, experienced transfers that John Calipari has added to his program in recent seasons, a trend that started with Reid Travis two years ago and continued with Nate Sestina last season. Travis and Sestina — in addition to being impact players on the court — were well-regarded by their younger teammates away from the gym.
UK assistant coach Joel Justus said last week that Sarr has provided a “tremendous boost” to the Wildcats’ program.
“He’s becoming a great leader, I think, for this young group,” he said. “I love his positivity and how he comes here every day, and you can tell that he’s excited to be here.”
UK assistant coach Bruiser Flint, a longtime Calipari associate and former head coach who joined Kentucky’s program from Indiana this year, has also praised Sarr’s approach.
“One thing that I know about Cal is he loves post presence. He’s not a guy who likes to shoot threes all of the time,” Flint said. “I think Olivier gives you post presence. He gives you a chance to score the ball around the basket. He’s very highly skilled. He’s not just a back-to-the-basket player. He can play out on the floor. He can shoot threes. So, offensively I think he gives you a big guy who can give you some versatility whether it’s around the basket or away from the basket.
“I think that he’s going to be a big deal. Like I said, I know for a fact that Cal likes to post the ball. As much as you shoot a ton of threes in college basketball nowadays, Cal believes that if you don’t have post presence, you’re a little bit of a fraud. So, we need that, and I think Olivier is going to give us that.”
Though it’s been nearly 25 years since Flint shared the same bench with Calipari, he knows that Kentucky’s best teams over the past decade have had guys who know their way around the paint and are adept at protecting the rim. With Sarr and Jackson and Ware, this team should have plenty of that.
“It’s not easy sledding around the basket,” Flint said this week. “I know Cal is big on shot blocking. I know when you have a rim protector it takes away a lot of mistakes. I think we’ve got a couple of them, a few of them, so I can see why he’s excited about our rim protection this year.”
One of Ware’s basketball mentors, Pervis Ellison, also knows a little bit about greatness near the basket and what it means for a team’s overall fortunes. Ellison — a 6-9 center in his playing days — was a national champion and Final Four MVP at Louisville before leaving as one of the school’s greatest players ever and being drafted with the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft.
Ellison spoke to the Herald-Leader recently about Ware’s game and what UK fans could expect from him. That conversation ultimately turned toward this Kentucky team as a whole and what he expected to see from this edition of Wildcats. The U of L great sounded genuinely ticked off that the SEC still hadn’t — at the time — granted UK’s Sarr a waiver to play this season. Then he offered a prediction on what he thought of these Cats if they could get Sarr on the court.
“They’re a championship team. I’m telling you,” he said. “They have all the ingredients.”
