Should we restart the clock on waiting for a Sarr to play for Kentucky?
Now that Kentucky has received an answer — finally — on Olivier Sarr’s eligibility, should we start the clock on his “little” brother?
Alexandre Sarr, who is 6-foot-8 at age 15, signed with Real Madrid earlier this year. In European basketball circles, that is not considered being a professional, ESPN basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla said. The younger Sarr does not receive a salary, but he does get living expenses while playing at the European equivalent to high school basketball.
To be in Real Madrid’s system at 15 “tells you he’s probably a high-level prospect,” said Fraschilla, who keeps watch on European basketball.
Fraschilla, who has not seen the younger Sarr play, said the player could have the future option of playing college basketball — say for Kentucky. It couldn’t hurt if his older brother has a joyous 2020-21 season. The NCAA declined comment on any specific case, but it confirmed that a player receiving only paid expenses can retain eligibility.
“Or he can stay in Europe and turn pro and then be a first-round pick, if he’s good enough,” Fraschilla said of another possible option for Alexandre Sarr.
The brothers are natives of France and their father, Massar Sarr, played professionally in that country. The family’s ancestry traces back to Senegal, a former French colony.
In September, the website Basketball Scouting appraised the younger Sarr. This appraisal included 54 bullet points.
While we pause to ponder this kind of detailed dissection of a 15-year-old player, a question looms: Even if this judgment is flawless and worthy of 54 bullet points, how much can a player change from age 15 to, say, 18?
Fraschilla had an attention-getting answer.
“Here’s what you’ve got to understand about Real Madrid,” he said. “They had some kid named Luka Doncic a couple years ago who arrived there when he was roughly 13 or 14 years old.”
Employing understatement, Fraschilla added, “And his game changed a little bit over the course of time.”
Doncic, who turned 21 on Feb. 28, has averaged 24.7 points in his two seasons with the Dallas Mavericks. “He’s now, maybe, the best 21-year-old player in the world,” Fraschilla said.
Former Wake Forest Coach Dave Odom sounded convinced about Alexandre Sarr’s potential. “He’s going to be good,” Odom said.
Sarr appraised
In a tweet, Fran Fraschilla praised former Wake Forest coach Danny Manning’s work in developing Olivier Sarr. The ESPN analyst sort of likened Sarr to former Kentucky player Skal Labissiere.
“He plays like Skal Labissiere would have played had (Labissiere) been a junior or a senior (for Kentucky),” Fraschilla said of Sarr.
Labissiere, who turned pro after one college season, averaged 6.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 15.8 minutes as a UK freshman in 2015-16. Sarr averaged 3.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 15.1 minutes as a freshman for Wake Forest.
Manning, whom Fraschilla credited with developing Kansas “bigs” when he was an assistant coach for the Jayhawks, oversaw Sarr’s steady improvement: 6.2 points and 5.5 rebounds as a sophomore, then 13.7 points and 9.0 rebounds as a junior.
“You’re not getting a lottery pick here,” Fraschilla said of Sarr. “You’re getting a good, solid SEC big man who’s going to help Kentucky a lot.”
UK-Texas
Texas is Kentucky’s opponent in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, which will be played Jan. 30.
The Longhorns rank No 23 in Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook’s preseason top 25 and No. 24 in Lindy’s ratings.
Andy Katz of NCAA.com ranked Texas at No. 22 in his ratings.
“Texas was finally on the same page of how it needed to play to win,” Katz wrote of a late-season, five-game winning streak. “If this core comes back, then Shaka Smart will have a squad that should be in the top five of the Big 12.”
Twelve scholarship players, including four who received all-Big 12 mention, return this season.
This might evoke memories of John Calipari saying he likes multiple players to score big in a game sometime during the course of a season: Seven returning Longhorns scored 20 or more points in a game in 2019-20.
‘Whoever’
Texas has only one scholarship freshman, but his arrival created a buzz. Greg Brown, a 6-foot-9 forward, was a consensus top 10 prospect in the class of 2020 and a McDonald’s All-American.
When asked about facing Brown, UK freshman Terrence Clarke seemed unconcerned.
“Whoever they’ve got, they’ll have to see us,” he said.
‘Formidable’
ESPN basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla said he expects the SEC/Big 12 Challenge to be stuffed with quality teams.
“Fourteen teams I could easily see crack the top 25 at some point,” he said. “So, I think this is going to be formidable.”
Blue Ribbon has seven teams from either the SEC or Big 12 in its preseason top 25: Baylor (No. 3), Tennessee (No. 5), Kansas (No. 6), Texas Tech (No. 10), Kentucky (No. 13), Alabama (No. 14) and Texas (No. 23).
“Because some of the better games are on an SEC court, advantage to the SEC,” Fraschilla said. That includes Texas at Kentucky, Kansas at Tennessee and Texas Tech at LSU. The only game at a Big 12 site involving a ranked team is Auburn at Baylor.
‘We’ll play anybody’
Kentucky-Texas is one of two games in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge in which both teams are ranked. The other is Tennessee-Kansas. Blue Ribbon ranks those teams at fifth and sixth, respectively.
When asked about such a game helping raise the profile of Tennessee basketball, Coach Rick Barnes said, “We want to be in those games. We’ve always said it. We want to play one of the best schedules in the country. We’ll play anybody.
“It’s a challenge, but those are the kind of challenges you look forward to.”
Schedule update
Tennessee was working on a non-conference schedule that would have as many as three neutral site games. Only one such game remains on the schedule, Rick Barnes said. That’s against Gonzaga.
The two games canceled would have been against Memphis in Nashville and against Wisconsin in what was planned as the season’s opener, Barnes said.
UK versus Duke
Kentucky saluted its presence in this year’s NBA Finals: Anthony Davis, Rajon Rondo and Coach Frank Vogel of the Lakers; Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and team president Pat Riley of the Heat.
Referring to itself as “La Familia” (“the family” in Spanish) when promoting its NBA ties, UK noted its 38 drafted players (29 first-rounders, 21 in the lottery) since John Calipari became coach.
For comparison sake, in that same time Duke has had 24 players drafted (20 first-rounders, 13 in the lottery).
The New Orleans Pelicans could be described as Duke South. Five former Blue Devils are on the roster: Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Jahlil Okafor, J.J. Redick and Frank Jackson. Plus, Trajan Langdon is the general manager.
Yet another Duke player, point guard Tre Jones, was asked during a NBA Combine interview a what-if question about being drafted by the Pelicans this year.
“Obviously, it would be extremely fun to be able to connect with those guys, be able to play on the same team with them and, hopefully, be able to win games with those guys,” he said. “It’d be a ‘brotherhood connect’ down there.”
Sour on sweets
As part of their pregame routines, freshmen Brandon Boston, Terrence Clarke and Cam’Ron Fletcher eat candy, UK says.
That’s a no-no, assistant coach James “Bruiser” Flint said. “You’re definitely going to change it because that sugar rush becomes a five-minute spurt. Then you’re dead.”
Message received, Clarke said.
“For me, the sugar rush will have to go,” he said. “I’ve been drinking a lot of water.”
Fletcher sounded like he needed more convincing to give up his pregame Skittles and Sour Patch.
“It just gives me energy,” he said, “and gets me pumped up.”
Happy birthday
To Stacey Poole. He turned 29 on Saturday. … To Dan Issel. He turns 72 on Sunday (today). … To Transylvania Coach Brian Lane. He turns 53 on Sunday (today). … To former Indiana Coach Bob Knight. He turns 80 on Sunday (today). … To former Georgia coach Hugh Durham. He turns 83 on Monday. … To Aaron and Andrew Harrison. They turn 26 on Wednesday.
