Is PJ Washington making it cool to be more than a one-and-done at Kentucky?
In the giddy aftermath of Kentucky’s 86-69 beatdown of then-No. 1 Tennessee on Saturday night, John Calipari was asked his feelings on seeing sophomore forward PJ Washington return to UK for a second year and thrive.
“What makes me happy is when I’m hearing people call me and say ‘Cal, he’s the most improved guy in the country,’” Calipari said.
Fact is, over the past eight games Washington has played like a First-Team All-American for the No. 4 Wildcats (21-4, 10-2 SEC).
Starting with UK’s victory over Mississippi State on Jan. 22 through the demolition of the Rocky Toppers on Saturday night, Washington is averaging 21.0 points and 6.8 rebounds while shooting 54.4 percent from the floor and 54.5 percent on three-point attempts.
As UK travels to Missouri to face Cuonzo Martin’s Tigers (12-12, 3-9 SEC) in a 9 p.m. tipoff Tuesday, Washington is on a streak of having scored 20 or more points in seven of Kentucky’s past eight games. He’s had double-digit rebounds in three of those games, and had nine boards in a fourth.
The 6-foot-8, 228-pound Dallas product is even making his free throws, converting on 72.5 percent since Jan. 22. For the guy who was 8-for-20 from the charity stripe in UK’s season-ending, 61-58 loss to Kansas State in last year’s NCAA Tournament, that’s no small thing.
In the middle of his second season in the Kentucky program, Washington has transformed from a good but inconsistent player to a star-caliber team leader.
“You are looking at him now making shots and skilled with the ball and stuff that a year ago, he couldn’t do,” Calipari said. “Making free throws, playing, sustaining effort, not floating and coming in and out.”
Calipari said Washington learned and accepted as a college sophomore the price that excellence requires.
“A big part of it was conditioning and toughness and focus,” Calipari said. “When you understand that it’s not going to be easy and there’s no easy road, that ‘I’ve got to compete everyday,’ you probably got it licked because you’re competing against yourself.”
Besides the benefits Kentucky is reaping from Washington’s star turn, the power forward’s stellar recent play has him up to No. 23 overall in Hoopshype.com’s most recent aggregate of 2019 NBA mock drafts.
Had Washington kept his name in the 2018 draft, he almost assuredly would have been no better than a second-round pick.
In recent years, at least some elements of the UK fan base have grown weary of the ever-churning Wildcats rosters during the one-and-done era. Should Washington’s success as a sophomore raise hopes that more Cats players in the future might choose to play longer in Lexington before turning pro?
I would not hold your breath.
Though it has not been the rule, Washington is hardly the first multi-year Kentucky player of the Calipari era to return and succeed.
After helping UK to the 2011 Final Four as true freshmen, Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb stuck around for their sophomore years and earned 2012 NCAA championship rings as a result.
An injury likely prevented Willie Cauley-Stein from turning pro after his sophomore season, but by returning for his junior campaign, Cauley-Stein ended up one of the bedrock players of a team that reached the 2015 Final Four with an unbeaten record. He also played his way into a lottery selection in the 2015 NBA Draft.
Tyler Ulis produced a banner sophomore season in 2015-16 that ended with the 5-9 point guard being chosen both SEC Player of the Year and SEC Defensive Player of the Year.
Those have been the exceptions to the leave-as-soon-as-you-can ethos at Kentucky, though.
That dynamic has seen even players without any realistic likelihood of hearing their names called on NBA Draft night — Isaiah Briscoe, Isaac Humphries, Wenyen Gabriel to name three in the last two years — turn pro with multiple remaining years of eligibility.
So even if the NBA follows through on plans to rescind the age limit of 19 on players entering the draft, UK has so successfully branded itself as the quickest route to turning professional, one suspects veteran players will still be relatively unusual at Kentucky.
If Washington plays out the rest of 2018-19 the way he has performed in the past eight games, he might carry UK on a thrill ride through March Madness.
Counting on Washington’s success this season after returning to school to make future Wildcats players stay longer in Kentucky blue, however, is likely hoping for more than is realistic.
