‘A more proper game.’ How are Kentucky’s star freshmen adapting to college basketball?
Kentucky men’s basketball’s trip to Canada for this week’s GLOBL JAM tournament is set to provide an advance-look at what the 2023-24 version of UK can be.
Granted, these games will come about four months before the regular season begins for the Wildcats, and UK will be playing both undersized and undermanned in Toronto with freshman center Aaron Bradshaw recovering from a medical procedure related to a foot injury.
But still, the chance to watch the bulk of Kentucky’s roster in action against international teams in an under-23 tournament will offer a glimpse into how the Wildcats have meshed so far.
And that starts with the bulk of UK’s young team.
Kentucky’s top-ranked 2023 recruiting class features seven freshmen, six of whom will be playing this week. Four of these six — guards Rob Dillingham, Justin Edwards, Reed Sheppard and D.J. Wagner — were ranked among the top 45 recruits in the 2023 class, per the 247Sports Composite.
(Edwards was listed as a small forward as a recruit, but he’s listed on UK’s official roster page as a guard. He said last week he will probably play the “four” for Kentucky during the GLOBL JAM).
Naturally, the most is expected of them next season.
So how has the adjustment process to college basketball gone so far for this quartet of players after being in Lexington for about a month?
“It’s just the ... just college,” Sheppard began his answer. “I think the pace is different. The size. But the coaching staff does a great job of getting you prepared for the season and the practices and stuff. The intensity. And you’re surrounded by great players, so they make it a lot easier.”
“Maybe just like the pace. How fast the game is — adjusting to that and getting used to that,” Wagner added.
Pace of play was one of the most commonly cited answers when the Herald-Leader asked some of UK’s highly touted freshmen about what they’ve had to learn in recent weeks during practices inside the Joe Craft Center.
But some players cited specific elements of their game that they’ve had to mold to fit the setting at UK, where the top-ranked recruiting class is joined by veteran players like graduate student forward Tre Mitchell and fifth-year guard Antonio Reeves.
“I would say really just the shot taking, dribbling, just ... A more proper game and just knowing we’ve got a lot of players (and) you can’t disrespect other players by taking a lot of shots,” Dillingham said. “Because a lot of players can shoot the ball. So it’s really just taking the right shots and just playing defense and learning each other and all respecting each other.”
In particular, the development and implementation of Dillingham at UK will be one of the most watched parts of UK’s four games in Canada.
The interplay between Dillingham and Wagner — two guards with the ability to play on and off the ball, but who were the focal points of their high school teams — will be of interest to Wildcats fans and college basketball analysts.
“You have Wagner coming as well who can handle the ball, and I talked to Rob about this, you’re going to be playing with a mix-and-match guy,” Ryan Gomes, who coached Dillingham in the Overtime Elite league, told the Herald-Leader in February. “Sometimes you’re going to be handling it. Sometimes he’s probably going to be handling it. ... It doesn’t always have to be in your hands (for you) to be effective in a game.”
No matter how talented an incoming recruit is, physical growth is one of the key elements to college basketball success.
Edwards said as much to the Herald-Leader last Thursday, and he compared the move from high school basketball to college to a moment in his travel basketball career when he moved up an age level to play for the Team Final program at the end-of-season Peach Jam tournament.
The result?
Edwards got quality minutes at 2021 Peach Jam, and that Team Final squad — which also featured college basketball one-and-dones and NBA Draft lottery picks Jalen Duren and Dereck Lively II — won the championship.
“It’s just faster, so it’s just, after I adjusted to the speed, I got better,” Edwards said.
Another commonality when UK’s top freshmen talked about now being college basketball players?
Most of them feel like their games should translate to this next level, without much need for change.
“I feel like that’s probably one of the best things I can do. Just being myself,” Edwards said. “I feel like I don’t have to like go outside of my box, if you get what I’m saying. “
“We’re a pretty fast team,” Wagner said when discussing his own playing style and his ability to create transition offense. “We’ve got a lot of fast guys. So we definitely can run a lot.”
But sometimes, the simplest answer may be the one that works the best.
Certainly when discussing an international trip taking place several months before the season actually begins, Sheppard may have the right idea when it comes to what Kentucky’s freshmen should do in Canada to further their acclimation to college basketball.
“I think the biggest thing is just to go out and play,” Sheppard said. “Play as hard as you can and have fun with it.”
