Kentucky lands 7-footer Olivier Sarr, the best available frontcourt player in the country
For all the offseason angst surrounding Kentucky’s search for an instant-impact frontcourt player, the end result couldn’t have been much better for the Wildcats.
Wake Forest center Olivier Sarr — a 7-footer from France — announced Wednesday that he will transfer to UK for his final season of college basketball. Sarr averaged 13.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game for the Demon Deacons this past season, earning third-team all-conference honors and leading Wake Forest with 11 double-doubles.
“It couldn’t be better, right? You have a guy that has played 85 games at the high-major level. He’s started over 30 games at the ACC level. He’s been there, done that,” Rivals.com national analyst Corey Evans told the Herald-Leader. “He was tremendous down the stretch during ACC play last year, when Wake Forest was beating some good teams.
“There is something to be said for changing programs and changing locker rooms for a final season, but, at the end of the day, to have that kind of a body and that experienced of a center — we had talked about how it was going to be really hard to find that 20- to 25-minute per game kind of guy available — this was probably the closest thing to it that Kentucky could have even imagined.”
Sarr announced his intention to transfer last week, not long after Wake Forest fired Danny Manning, who had been Sarr’s head coach for all three seasons in college. New Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes tried to talk the star center into sticking around for his final season, but he ultimately chose the spotlight of Kentucky — and the possibility of a deep NCAA Tournament run — over year one of the rebuilding effort in Winston-Salem.
“I have decided to finish my career at the University of Kentucky and take on this challenge,” Sarr said in a social media post announcing his decision. “I want to thank everyone for their kindness and respect in coming to this decision. I will always be a fan of Wake Forest. BBN, I can’t wait to get started.”
In an ESPN interview last week revealing his decision to enter the NCAA transfer portal, Sarr acknowledged that he had seen social media posts from Kentucky fans hoping he would end up in Lexington for next season. UK fans flooded Sarr’s Instagram page with “BBN” messages.
“I’ve never experienced anything like that; it was crazy,” he told ESPN. “It was funny and all that, but it got to a point where it was a little bit too much. Some Wake fans replied. I loved the loyalty from the Deacon fans. I love them, I appreciate what they did for me for three years. But Kentucky fans are really eager and thirsty for players. … From what I know, it’s a historical program. It’s one of the best programs in the country.”
Sarr, who turned 21 years old in February, came to the United States from his native France as a three-star recruit in the 2017 class. He appeared in 55 games — with 16 starts — as a freshman and sophomore before blossoming into a standout player this past season.
In his last six games at Wake Forest, he scored more than 20 points three times and also had three double-doubles in that span, which included a 25-point showing in a victory over Duke and a 30-point, 17-rebound performance in a win over Notre Dame.
Sarr will join a UK frontcourt that previously featured only 6-foot-9 power forward recruits Isaiah Jackson and Lance Ware, two top 40 prospects in the 2020 class. Sarr is the only true center on Kentucky’s projected roster for next season.
Evans told the Herald-Leader earlier in the week that adding Sarr would be “the ideal scenario” for a Kentucky program that has spent all spring looking for frontcourt help.
“He’s the kind of guy that Kentucky needed,” he said Wednesday. “He’s 7 feet, 250 pounds, a straight interior guy. The guy took seven three-point shots this past year, so that tells you he’s not the new-age ‘5’ man. And that’s great, actually. Kentucky needed that 12-foot-and-in guy, an efficient guy. And that’s what he is. He’s just a big, wide body that rebounds the ball and can finish. Exactly what Kentucky needs.”
Will Sarr be eligible?
The next question for Sarr and Kentucky — and one that might not be answered anytime soon — is whether the 7-foot transfer will actually be allowed to play for the Wildcats next season.
Since he is not a graduate transfer, Sarr will have to apply to the NCAA for a waiver to become immediately eligible for the 2020-21 season. He should have a pretty good case to be granted that eligibility, according to some analysts.
Sarr has said that he intended to enter his name in this year’s NBA Draft to gain feedback on his potential as a pro, but he was talked out of that move by Manning, who convinced Sarr to return to Wake Forest for his senior season and improve his game before becoming a professional.
Manning was unexpectedly fired just before the NBA Draft deadline.
ESPN draft analyst Jonathan Givony said last week that Sarr’s case “should be a pretty straightforward waiver request based on precedent and the circumstances of his coach’s firing.”
Evans agreed with that assessment, though he noted that with so many more transfer waiver requests expected this year compared to past offseasons — and with the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on college sports — Sarr and Kentucky could be waiting awhile before they get a definitive answer from the NCAA.
“I think he has a just case, seeing that he’s changing programs after a coaching change,” Evans said. “But there still has to be some anxiety in Kentucky’s offices until he’s deemed eligible. And I think that’s why they add at least one more body down low.”
Longtime college basketball analyst Jeff Goodman noted in a tweet Wednesday that “the NCAA doesn’t (or hasn’t) agreed that players should be allowed to transfer and not have to sit following a coaching change.” Goodman ranks Sarr as the No. 1 traditional transfer in the country this offseason.
An NCAA spokeswoman told the Herald-Leader on Wednesday that “each waiver is decided based on its own merits” and did not offer an opinion on the most likely outcome of Sarr’s case. NCAA bylaws, which were updated last year, state that “for a waiver to be granted, an institution must demonstrate that the student-athlete’s transfer is due to documented extenuating, extraordinary and mitigating circumstances outside of the student-athlete’s control that directly impacts the health, safety or well-being of the student-athlete.”
Sarr told ESPN last week that — if he is not granted immediate eligibility by the NCAA — he would explore professional options rather than sit out next season. “There’s no way I sit out,” he said then.
UK acknowledged in its press release announcing the addition of Sarr that he plans to apply for a waiver for immediate eligibility after the coaching change at Wake Forest.
“I am excited to coach Olivier,” UK Coach John Calipari said in the release. “Olivier is a great kid and a terrific player on the rise who knows he’s going to have to come in and lead. He gives us a veteran, established player who has not only played on a big stage and played well, he wants this next challenge. When we first talked to Olivier, my first thought wasn’t on what he does for this team, it was why he wanted to be here. I coached Danny (Manning at Kansas) and know his relationship with his players, so when Danny talked about what a great kid he is, we said, ‘Let’s do this.’
“Oliver was one of the best players in the ACC last season and got better and better — as he’s done his whole career — as the year went on. By the end of the season, he was one of the top five players in the league. I’m ecstatic he wanted to be a part of this program and what we have going forward.”
Sarr’s fit at Kentucky
If Sarr is eligible, his presence should greatly ease the burden on Jackson and Ware, who would be more free to play at their natural positions, while probably still filling in some occasional minutes at the “5” spot. That would also allow returning forward Keion Brooks — the only player on UK’s 2020-21 roster who actually played for the Cats last season — to spend more minutes at the “3” spot, the position he was recruited to play at Kentucky.
Perhaps most importantly, Sarr will let UK’s coach play the brand of basketball he prefers.
“It allows John Calipari to play the way he wants,” Evans said. “We can talk until the millionth hour about playing small ball, but until Calipari is forced to do so — which he was in spurts last year — he’s going to play the more traditional ‘4-5.’ And that allows Isaiah Jackson and Lance Ware to play the ‘4,’ and it allows Keion Brooks to play the ‘3’ instead of the ‘4.’ And it allows these guys to acclimate to the college level much more seamlessly.”
Kentucky still has two open scholarships for next season even with the addition of Sarr, and the Wildcats are likely to add another frontcourt player to the mix.
Brooks’ father tweeted Wednesday that Kentucky is “not done” with its 2020-21 roster and “another one” is on the way for next season. The Cats have been linked to high-upside center recruit Frank Anselem and Evansville forward DeAndre Williams, another player who, like Sarr, would need a waiver from the NCAA to play next season after leaving a program that fired its head coach.
Anselem has been in regular contact with Calipari since early last week. The 6-9 center from Nigeria is seen as more of a long-term prospect and projects as a multi-year college player. His travel coach, Julius Smith, has been helping Anselem navigate the recruitment and told the Herald-Leader on Tuesday that UK’s coaches had been up front with their desire to land another big man — specifically mentioning Sarr — along with Anselem, who could play behind the more experienced center for his freshman season and possibly take over that role as a sophomore.
Anselem, who is ranked No. 133 overall by Rivals.com, has narrowed his recruiting list to Kentucky, Arkansas, San Diego State, Seton Hall, Syracuse and Western Kentucky.
Evans said Anselem would be another solid addition for UK’s 2020-21 roster.
“If they’re transparent with Frank, in saying, ‘Here’s your role. Option A is if Sarr plays. Option B is if Sarr doesn’t play. Are you in or are you out?’ As long as they’re transparent with them, I don’t see any negatives in taking someone like Frank.”
This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 12:47 PM.
