Freshmen need help, but more transfers might be new form of one-and-done
During a telephone conversation Wednesday, ESPN college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla offered hope to fans exasperated by Kentucky’s reliance on one-and-done players. He believes the need for elite college programs to mix productive veteran players with the heralded freshmen is increasing.
To validate this viewpoint, Fraschilla suggested a check be made of starters on the top teams.
So, here goes: Going into this weekend’s games, more than 70 percent of the players making the most starts for the top 20 teams in Ken Pomeroy’s national ratings were in their third, fourth or fifth year of college. The exact numbers were 35 seniors, seven redshirt seniors, two graduate students, 21 juniors and seven fourth-year juniors. That left 18 sophomores, nine freshmen and one redshirt freshman among the 100 starters.
Ten of the 20 teams do not regularly start a freshman: Baylor, Houston, Villanova, Wisconsin, Creighton, Ohio State, West Virginia, Colorado, Tennessee and Oklahoma.
“We’re in a new era where you’re going to see more guys like Reid Travis and Olivier Sarr on Kentucky’s roster,” Fraschilla said in referring to two transfers who joined the UK team in 2018-19 and this season, respectively.
Then there’s also Nate Sestina, a grad transfer from Bucknell who played for Kentucky last season.
Fraschilla saw the presence of veteran players on other teams contributing to a parity this season with freshman-dependent elite programs like Kentucky and Duke.
The NCAA is expected to effectively expand the number of players transferring. At a meeting earlier this month, the Division I Council tabled a proposal to allow players to transfer without sitting out a season. It is expected to be adopted at some point.
During teleconferences earlier this season, several Southeastern Conference coaches questioned the wisdom of wholesale transferring.
“Here’s the worst part,” South Carolina Coach Frank Martin said. “We’re going to end up recruiting off each other’s campuses. I don’t think that’s what college basketball is supposed to be. I’m going to have coaches having home visits with my players on my campus.”
Ole Miss Coach Kermit Davis echoed that concern. “Everybody’s going to be evaluating everybody’s roster,” he said. “If you’re not doing that, you’re behind the times.”
Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman suggested sitting out a season as a transfer can be beneficial for the player and for his or her new team.
“Sitting out a year to learn your terminology, for them to get stronger in the weight room,” he said. “I think it’s a huge advantage.”
A potential downside might make some Kentucky fans shiver.
“Everybody’s going to be one-and-done,” Fraschilla said of the allure to transfer.
Or as the Ole Miss coach said, “We’re going to have to do a great job with players in your program. Re-recruit your players all the time. … Sell them on the fact of (you can) keep growing in a program.”
Kentucky has not been immune to losing players. Freshmen Kahlil Whitney and Johnny Juzang departed during and after last season, respectively.
Transferring is a two-way street.
Fraschilla suggested a future Phil Cox and Frank Kornet or a present-day player like Justin Powell might want to transfer to Kentucky after starting their college careers elsewhere: Vanderbilt for Cox and Kornet. Powell is a freshman at Auburn.
In the preseason, Fraschilla saluted UK Coach John Calipari’s flexibility in adjusting to the reality of the one-and-done era.
When asked if this increased roster fluidity — Musselman likened it to the G League — was a good thing or a bad thing, Fraschilla said, “It’s a different thing. Listen, it’s got its pluses and minuses for everybody concerned. It’s going to be chaotic.
“John will adjust to the landscape.”
SEC or bust?
As ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi saw it, it was a lost week for Kentucky. UK was defeated at Alabama, then missed out on one of the few remaining opportunities to impress the NCAA Tournament’s selection committee when Saturday’s game against No. 5 Texas was canceled.
“Kentucky hasn’t moved,” Lunardi said of placing UK at No. 88 in his assessment of possible NCAA Tournament teams. “But the lost opportunity puts almost all their eggs in the SEC Tournament basket.”
Wise words
Something Texas Coach Shaka Smart said at the 2011 Final Four could give Kentucky hope as this trying season continues. Then the Virginia Commonwealth coach, he was asked if either his team or Butler had a chance to win the national championship. Heavyweights Kentucky and UConn were the other two teams in that year’s Final Four.
In his reply, Smart quoted a 19th-century poet. “Emily Dickinson said, ‘dwell in possibility,’” he said.
Smart graduated magna cum laude with a degree in history from Kenyon College.
Marketing ploy?
John Calipari makes no secret of his reluctance to have his Kentucky teams play a zone defense. Meanwhile, a noticeable number of UK fans annually call for more zone defense.
Perhaps unwittingly, Alabama Coach Nate Oats seemed to suggest that this aversion to playing zone might have something to do with how Kentucky markets itself as a training ground for NBA careers.
“The NBA is not a zone league,” Oats said prior to Alabama playing Kentucky on Tuesday. “If you develop pros, you play a lot of man-to-man.”
During the Alabama game, Kentucky played a zone for about four minutes in the first half. Judging by Oats’ pregame comments, this came as a surprise. Alabama made 14 three-point shots in the first game against Kentucky.
“When you beat a team pretty good, you try to think about what the other coach may do,” Oats said. “They had a hard time guarding us off the dribble. When you make 23 threes, I’d have a hard time zoning us.”
Staying flexible
Jay Bilas flew into Lexington on Friday morning to work the telecast of the Kentucky-Texas game. He said his downtown hotel room was the lap of luxury. “I was ready to live the life,” he said. “Then, I got a call. I thought I’d shed a tear.”
Of course, the call notified him that the game was canceled later Friday morning because of positive testing for COVID-19 in Kentucky’s program.
Bilas got in his rental car and drove to Louisville to catch a flight home Friday afternoon.
This wasn’t the first COVID-related pivot Bilas has experienced this season. He was to provide color commentary for the UCLA-at-Oregon game on Dec. 23. The game was canceled 20 minutes before tipoff when one of the referees tested positive.
Fortunately for Bilas, he was to watch the game in an ESPN studio.
“That would have been a real bummer if I had been in Eugene, Ore., and had to turn around and come home,” he said. “It was a bummer, period. But that’s the sort of world we’re living in now.”
Kentucky wins!
Riding a surge late in a competition going down to the wire, Kentucky won last week. However, this scenario does not fit the UK basketball team, which has been outplayed in the final minutes of several games.
True confessions: It describes Kentucky’s victory over Florida in the Big Blue Slam, a competition to see which state can have the most blood donations.
Kentucky led 943-938 going into Friday. A 271-239 advantage on the last day of the competition gave Kentucky a 1,214-1,177 victory.
It also was Kentucky’s seventh victory in the 13 years of the Blue Blue Slam.
Happy birthday
To Tony Delk. He turned 47 on Thursday. … To Rick Robey. He turned 65 on Saturday. … To Josh Carrier. He turned 38 on Saturday. … To Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo. He turned 66 on Saturday. … To Andre Riddick. He turns 48 on Monday. … To Walter McCarty. He turns 47 on Monday. … To former UK assistant coach Doug Barnes. He turns 75 on Monday. … To Truman Claytor. He turns 64 on Tuesday. … To Stan Key. He turns 71 on Tuesday. … To former Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy. He turns 57 on Tuesday. … To Kareem Watkins. He turns 19 on Wednesday.
Next game
Kentucky at Missouri
7 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN2)
This story was originally published January 31, 2021 at 11:10 AM.
