‘The truth is that Kentucky needs post players.’ Will Cats land their No. 1 target?
This week’s announced departures of Kentucky frontcourt starters Nick Richards and EJ Montgomery made what was already expected glaringly apparent.
“Kentucky obviously has a pretty significant need for post players and post depth,” 247Sports national analyst Evan Daniels told the Herald-Leader.
The decisions by Richards and Montgomery to forego the remainder of their eligibility mean the only scholarship frontcourt players on Kentucky’s projected roster next season will be Isaiah Jackson and Lance Ware, a pair of 6-foot-9 power forwards. Both are talented recruits ranked in the top 40 nationally, but neither is projected as a one-and-done player, and there will probably be some growing pains as they adjust to a more physical college game.
And, obviously, they’ll both be freshmen, leaving UK’s frontcourt completely lacking in experience. The Wildcats’ roster will also include 6-7 forward Keion Brooks — the only returning player who logged minutes for UK last season — along with 6-6 freshman Dontaie Allen, who missed the entire season with a knee injury, and incoming 6-6 recruit Cam’Ron Fletcher.
Though Brooks played some in the paint this past season, he was recruited for more of a perimeter role. UK lists Allen as a guard, and Fletcher is also expected to play more on the wing. The other four scholarship players for the 2020-21 squad are all guards.
So, the Wildcats will need to add one more bigger body — at least — before next season.
The No. 1 target to fill that void remains Purdue graduate transfer Matt Haarms, a 7-3, 250-pound center, and the top available transfer in the country.
Haarms averaged 8.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.0 blocks in 20.5 minutes — starting 15 of 29 games — for the Boilermakers this past season. The Netherlands native joined the program at the semester break of the 2015-16 season, using that as his redshirt year. As a graduate this year, he’ll be immediately eligible to play for his new team next season.
Before a hip injury in December, he averaged 11.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game while shooting 56.9 percent from the field. His numbers dipped sharply — just 6.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game — following the injury.
Dozens of schools reached out to Haarms after he put his name in the NCAA transfer portal last week. He narrowed it down to Kentucky and nine others — Arizona, Arkansas, Boston College, BYU, Gonzaga, Memphis, Minnesota, Texas Tech and UNC Greensboro — this past weekend.
Since then, his recruitment has remained relatively quiet.
“He told me that when he cut it to 10, he wanted to take a little break and survey the scene a little. And then come back to it,” Daniels said. “So, I would guess that he’s using this time to try and get to know some of the schools that he’s serious about.”
Haarms, who leaves Purdue with the fourth-most blocked shots in program history, isn’t the type of lumbering big man his size would suggest. He can play away from the basket, and he shot 32 three-pointers — at a 31.3-percent clip — this past season. His energy is a big key to his game.
“He’s a guy that competes and plays hard,” Daniels said. “There’s some versatility, despite his size, where he can step out on the floor a little. There’s a skill level there. I think he can help any team with his ability to rebound and some of the offensive tools and energy that he plays with.
“He’s pretty fluid. He can run the floor. He’s got good mobility, a good set of hands, pretty nice touch, and he always seems to be playing hard.”
Haarms or bust?
Kentucky’s obvious need in the frontcourt could help its chances with Haarms, whose versatility would allow John Calipari some flexibility in his frontcourt. Daniels said Haarms could team up alongside Jackson or Ware, and UK could also pair him up with a player like Brooks in smaller lineups.
“He could certainly play next to those guys,” he said. “Cal has certainly played players of that size and caliber together in the past, so I don’t see why that wouldn’t work well.
“The truth is that Kentucky needs post players. I certainly think he can fit in at Kentucky. But I think he can fit in at a lot of schools.”
If UK misses on Haarms, there’s no clear Plan B out there at the moment.
WatchStadium.com’s Jeff Goodman has a list of the top grad transfers for next season, and Haarms, ranked No. 2, is the only uncommitted player in the top 20. The only other post player on Goodman’s list is No. 38-ranked Evan Cole, a 6-10 forward who averaged 4.4 points and 3.6 rebounds at Georgia Tech last season.
ESPN’s list also has Haarms at No. 2 and doesn’t include any uncommitted post players in the top 40.
“It’s funny, everybody is talking about this transfer market being crazy and whatnot. Well, it’s drying up really fast,” Daniels said. “There’s not necessarily a ton of options out there.”
Kentucky received a commitment Thursday evening from 6-8, 190-pound forward Jacob Toppin, who averaged 5.1 points and 3.9 rebounds in 18.5 minutes per game as a freshman for Rhode Island this past season, but he would be a traditional transfer who would need an NCAA rule change to play next season. And ESPN does not rank Toppin among the top 50 traditional transfers this offseason.
Daniels acknowledged that other talented players could put their names in the transfer portal, which is already up to about 800 players, but there’s no guarantee anyone capable of being a difference-maker for UK next season will make such a move.
Haarms is getting closer to a transfer decision, but there’s no timetable for such an announcement just yet. Daniels also cautioned against those who are automatically calling the Cats the favorites in his recruitment just because UK is the only blue blood in the mix.
“That’s not necessarily a fair assumption,” he said. “I mean, could they be? Yeah. But I think people just look at a list and say, ‘Hey, that’s the biggest school on the list, so that’s where he’s probably going to go.’ Sometimes it works out that way. But not all the time.”
This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 7:37 AM.
