Bradshaw, Onyenso and Big Z. What’s the latest on uncertainty around Kentucky’s big men?
At the Southeastern Conference’s annual media day event Wednesday — his first press conference in three months — John Calipari set the stage for Kentucky to start the 2023-24 basketball season with some major limitations in the post.
Calipari has a trio of intriguing frontcourt players on his roster — 7-footers, all of them — but each of those Wildcats also has serious questions around them with the season opener now less than three weeks away.
Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso both suffered foot injuries this offseason. Last week, Calipari said he expected their return in “5-6 weeks” — stretching that timetable to seven weeks in one short interview with ESPN — though he didn’t specify whether that time frame meant a return to full practice or an expectation of being ready to play in games.
And then there’s the situation surrounding Croatian recruit Zvonimir Ivisic — aka “Big Z” — a versatile 7-2 post player who committed to Kentucky on Aug. 1 but didn’t arrive on campus until last week following a drawn-out university admissions process.
Calipari acknowledged Wednesday that he shouldn’t have put any kind of numerical timetable on Bradshaw and Onyenso.
“I should never do that ...” he said. “Look, they’re on the right path — both of ’em. Ugo is a little bit behind Aaron because of the timing of his injury and the surgery. But they’re both progressing really good, and we’ll learn something each week about where they are. I don’t want to put a date or a time on it, because what if they’re earlier? How about this one: what if it takes them more time than we thought? They’ll both be fine. Those are surgeries and injuries that are pretty common. I feel good. They’ve got great attitudes, both of them.”
Those are somewhat encouraging words for the long-term outlook of both players, but — while he didn’t say it directly — Calipari’s comments Wednesday implied that neither would be ready to play in the season opener Nov. 6 against New Mexico State. And the first marquee game of UK’s season — against No. 1 Kansas in the Champions Classic — is just eight days after that (making it less than four weeks from now).
Ivisic’s status is also complicated.
Calipari said the freshman center, who arrived in Lexington last Thursday, hadn’t yet gone through a full UK practice. That was expected to happen for the first time Wednesday night. The UK coach did say Ivisic has cleared all of his academic hurdles for eligibility to play at the beginning of this season, but he’s not yet fully cleared by the NCAA for competition.
The 20-year-old played professionally in Europe before signing with Kentucky, so he’ll need to provide the NCAA with the proper documentation to prove his amateur status.
Calipari expressed confidence that there wouldn’t be any issues with that process.
“I feel good,” he said. “But they’ve got to go through the process of doing it. They’ll ask questions and all that. ... I think he’ll be in good shape.”
Bradshaw suffered a foot injury during the McDonald’s All-American Game in late March and underwent a medical procedure in June. That setback kept him out of all of Kentucky’s offseason practice sessions.
Onyenso took part in UK’s practices leading up to the GLOBL JAM in Canada in July, but he suffered a foot injury during a closed-door scrimmage the day before that exhibition tournament began, and he underwent a medical procedure about a week later.
In the immediate aftermath of both injuries, Calipari’s comments implied that neither of UK’s post players would miss any games during the regular season.
“Not from what the doctors are telling me,” Calipari said June 30, when asked whether he thought Bradshaw might miss any regular-season games. The UK coach also added a qualifier that day: “But we will not rush him back,” he said.
Following Onyenso’s procedure in mid-July, Calipari said on social media that he expected the sophomore center to be “out for a couple of months,” a timetable that should have seen the 7-footer return to the court by late September.
Obviously, the timetable for both players has been extended, and Calipari acknowledged Wednesday that the delay would limit their developmental process for the 2023-24 season.
“It will affect them,” he said. “... Yeah, that will take time. You weren’t jumping. Now all of a sudden you’re jumping. You were shooting shots and free throws without ever leaving your feet. Now you have to do it. It will take time. But I think they’re both really talented. They’ve got good skills. So it’s the bump and grind of the game they’re not seeing.”
Bradshaw has been billed as a possible NBA lottery pick in next year’s draft, and he has perhaps the highest upside of any player in the 2023 recruiting class, but he’s still developing his versatile skill set, and it was unclear how much impact he would have as a freshman even before his injury.
Onyenso flashed intriguing potential — especially as a shot-blocker — in his first season with the Wildcats, though he played in just one game over the final two months of his freshman year, with Calipari choosing to give other players the backup minutes behind star center Oscar Tshiebwe down the stretch. With no other healthy centers on the roster, the GLOBL JAM would have been a major opportunity for Onyenso to show his progress on the court.
Ivisic has also been mentioned as a possible NBA pick over the past two years — he entered and removed his name from both the 2022 and 2023 drafts — though he, too, is seen as a player with more long-term potential.
Calipari said at Big Blue Madness on Friday night that Ivisic would make his on-court debut for the Wildcats during the Blue-White Game at Truist Arena at Northern Kentucky University on Saturday. The freshman center is allowed to practice with the team while his eligibility status is under review.
With Bradshaw and Onyenso out during UK’s trip to Canada for the GLOBL JAM, most of the playing time at the “5” position went to transfer forward Tre Mitchell, a 6-9 veteran with a game more suited away from the basket. Mitchell led Kentucky in minutes during the tournament despite joining the team mere days before its departure for Toronto.
He’s likely to see more time at the “5” spot early in the season as Bradshaw and Onyenso continue to work their way into game shape and Ivisic gets settled in.
“I’ve always looked at myself as a guy that can do whatever you need me to do,” Mitchell said Wednesday. “Whether you want to play me at the ‘5,’ ‘4’ — whatever you want to do — I’ll get out there and I’ll do what you need me to do. That’s just how I see the game, and that’s how I’ve always seen the game. I look at myself as a plug-and-play guy that can literally just do anything out there on the court.”
This story was originally published October 18, 2023 at 2:03 PM.
