Enjoy this week’s early look at Kentucky basketball, but don’t sweat the results
John Calipari has a new Kentucky basketball team every year, but this year’s Wildcats are really new. Really, really new. Seven freshmen new. One late transfer portal addition new. Just three holdovers new. That’s new.
As such, we don’t know what to expect when Calipari takes his Cats across the border to Canada this week to represent the good ol’ USA in something called GLOBL JAM 2023 in Toronto.
Better question: What should we read into how the Cats perform north of the border?
Answer: Not a whole lot.
To be sure, it’ll be fun to peek under the curtain at this early version of Calipari’s club. And luckily if you have the CBS Sports Network, you’ll have a look thanks to a near last-minute deal with the cable channel to televise the four-team tournament which includes friendlies with Canada, Africa and Germany.
These summer exhibition extravaganzas are widely touted as an opportunity for a team to earn some experience on the court while bonding away from the gym. Surely, that’s true. But remember that last year’s Cats played supposedly four invaluable August games in the Bahamas — winning all four against grab-bag opponents — only to lose in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in March.
This year’s test run is expected to offer stiffer on-court competition. The “national teams” from the other three entrants are comprised of older, more experienced players. That could be a challenge for a Kentucky team dependent on so many fresh faces right out of high school or prep schools.
And Kentucky will be without Aaron Bradshaw, the 7-foot power forward ranked as the No. 4 prospect in the class of 2023 by the 247Sports Composite. Bradshaw underwent a medical procedure for a broken foot suffered in the McDonald’s All-American Game. He’ll be back in Lexington rehabbing while his new teammates are in Toronto.
Despite all this, there will be things worth watching when play begins Wednesday. Has sophomore center Ugonna Onyenso improved his offensive game? Will highly touted freshmen guards DJ Wagner and Robert Dillingham play together? Is freshman playmaker Justin Edwards as good as advertised? How will rookie Reed Sheppard fit in with his new teammates?
“I think (this trip) is a big moment we can grow together as a team,” Sheppard said. “We’ve been able to have some practices and build chemistry and build relationships already.”
What about the late additions? Will freshman Jordan Burks and Joey Hart be able to make meaningful contributions? Is Tre Mitchell, the 6-foot-9 transfer from West Virginia, the perfect addition for a roster in need of size and experience?
In interviews with players over three days at the Joe Craft Center last week, “unselfishness” was a constant talking point. Added to the roster June 26, Mitchell said he was already impressed by the way the players have shared the basketball in practice.
“We move the ball really well,” Mitchell said. “As short a time as we’ve been together and I’ve been a part of it, it has been evident that nobody’s afraid to give the ball up and give up a good shot for a great shot.”
Another repeatable was “compete.” To a man, the players talked about how competitive practices have been. Sophomore Adou Thiero spoke of being sore after practice, of needing a bit of time to prepare for the next battle.
“They compete,” Thiero said of the freshmen. “Every day we come in we’ll be sore, tired, hurting. And then we start playing five-on-five and we’re competing and it’s like all the pain goes away.”
Instead of competing against each other, this new Kentucky team will be competing against unfamiliar, older foes this week. “Dudes,” Dillingham kept calling the opponents, though quickly pointing out that he believed UK had plenty of “dudes” too.
So enjoy this week. Be curious. Pay attention. But keep it all in context and forget the results. Good or bad. (Remember, Baylor went 1-4 in this event last season.) It’s a long, long season. By March, summer impressions can be long forgotten.
