Ashton Hagans leaves, Matthew Mitchell stays and Louisville basketball adds a transfer
Ashton Hagans is the first one gone.
It was John Calipari who recently said he expected all five of his Kentucky basketball starters to test the NBA Draft waters. There were no official announcements, however, until Sunday afternoon when UK point guard Ashton Hagans announced that not only is he declaring for the NBA Draft he plans to stay in the NBA Draft.
“I just wanted to let you all know that even though I love Kentucky with all of my heart and really wish I could have played for a ‘ship, it’s time for me to live out my lifelong dream and declare for the NBA Draft,” Hagans said in a statement on his Twitter feed. “It’s been my No. 1 goal since I first picked up a ball to take this step and I know my time is now. It’s so hard for me to say goodbye to the best fans in the world, because these last two years have been some of the best of my life.”
The sophomore averaged 11.5 points and 6.4 assists last season. He led the team with 58 steals and was among four finalists for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award won by Kansas’ Marcus Garrett.
“Ashton is ready for this,” UK head coach John Calipari said. “From where he was when he got here two seasons ago to where he is now isn’t even close. He’s a completely different player and he’s built his skills and his confidence to take that next step.
“We know what Ashton can do to change the game defensively and how much better he got offensively, but what’s going to separate him is his competitiveness. That kid is a winner. His competitive spirit drives him and is why I love him. If I’m going to battle, I’m taking Ashton.”
Hagans shot just 25.8 percent from three-point range and he struggled with turnovers late in the season. He did not make the trip to Florida for what turned out to be the season finale on March 7. Instead, Hagans remained at home because of “personal reasons” though Calipari said that in the first practice for the eventually canceled SEC Tournament, Hagans was back with the team and accepted by his teammates.
Hagans’ three-point shooting
- 2018-19 Hagans was 14-of-51 for 27.5 percent
- 2019-20 Hagans was 16-of-62 for 25.8 percent
Sports Illustrated has Hagans at No. 47 in its latest NBA draft rankings.
Conventional wisdom says Nick Richards, Immanuel Quickley, Tyrese Maxey and EJ Montgomery will all enter their names into the draft pool, as well. That doesn’t mean all will stay. In fact, there is some talk that Quickley might return so that he can improve his draft stock by playing point guard. Personally, I doubt that happens, but we’ll see.
So who will be Kentucky’s point guard next season?
“I think it would certainly be a little bit of a concern,” Rivals.com national analyst Eric Bossi told Ben Roberts of the Herald-Leader. “Devin Askew is coming in, and obviously he’s highly decorated and is going to be a good college player. But, at a place like Kentucky, that’s a lot of pressure on a freshman who’s maybe — at the college level — a little bit more of a combo guard than a true point guard, at least to me.”
Calipari also has Brandon “BJ” Boston and Terrence Clarke coming on board, but Bossi describes both as “very good handlers for wings” adding that “ball-handling would certainly be a bit of a concern.”
Clarke is ranked at No. 4 and Boston as the No. 7 prospect in the class of 2020 by 247Sports. Askew is ranked No. 25. Clarke is from Brewster Academy in Boston. Boston is from Chatsworth, Calif. Askew is from Santa Ana, Calif.
Here are 247Sports’ Top 10 recruiting classes for 2020:
- Kentucky
- Duke
- North Carolina
- Michigan
- Tennessee
- LSU
- Arkansas
- North Carolina State
- Gonzaga
- Oklahoma State
Find more UK recruiting news and links at NextCats.
Everybody’s transferring, so no surprise Johnny Juzang would, too.
Matthew Mitchell staying; Louisville adds graduate transfer
To the links:
Texas hires Vic Schaefer. The successful Mississippi State women’s basketball coach is returning to the Lone Star State, reports Tyler Horka of the Clarion-Ledger. Schaefer took the Bulldogs to back-to-back championship games in 2017 and 2018. He was 221-62 in Starkville. “I want to thank everyone at Mississippi State for eight wonderful years,” said Schaefer in a statement.
After the Schaefer news, UK Coach Matthew Mitchell shut down any possible speculation that he might be a candidate to return to Mississippi State, his alma mater.
Louisville basketball adds a graduate transfer. Point guard Carlik Jones of Radford has committed to the Cardinals as a graduate transfer. Lucas Aulbach of the Courier-Journal reports:
“Jones checks a lot of boxes for the Cardinals — they needed a guard. David Johnson and Josh Nickelberry are the only two backcourt players on the roster in 2019-20 who are set to return next season, though JUCO standout Jay Scrubb could join the mix if he doesn’t jump to the NBA.
“And Jones can play, too. He averaged 20.0 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game last season for Radford.”
Alabama has an Apple Watch controversy. Bama’s use of the watch to track players during the pandemic may be illegal. Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News writes:
“My first thought is that this seems to be another of many college athletics issues involving a line in the sand between programs that can afford to pay for Apple watches (for example) and those who can’t. The watches certainly don’t hurt anyone and may benefit athletes down the line. But the mixture of budgets and the overwhelming mistrust that some program, somewhere, is gaining a ‘competitive’ advantage is a strong mix. To be fair, both sides have their valid points.”
Eddie Sutton makes Hall of Fame. Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman writes:
“The official announcement came Saturday, via ESPN, and while it’s a day of relief and excitement, a day of celebration for the Suttons and Cowboy Nation, it’s a day to curse the Basketball Hall of Fame. Damn you, Springfield, Massachusetts, for waiting so long.
“Waiting so long that Patsy Sutton, Eddie’s wife of 54 years, wasn’t around to enjoy the announcement. She died in 2013. Waiting so long that we’re left to guess if Eddie Sutton, the lion who turned Arkansas and his alma mater, OSU, into national hardwood powers, can truly enjoy it. Waiting so long that when Sutton is enshrined, someone else must speak for someone who for so long spoke so eloquently about the roundball sport and all it meant to him.”
It may be a long time before sports return. Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post writes:
“Disease experts suggest that the possibility feared most in the sports world — no major events for the rest of the year — may be more real than many believe and that putting a timeline on their return is not yet feasible.
“’My crystal ball is not just cloudy,’ Ali Khan, dean of the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Public Health and former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response, said this week. ‘It’s black.’”
This story was originally published April 6, 2020 at 7:36 AM.
