What Kentucky basketball needs is more players like Immanuel Quickley
The person who may save Kentucky basketball isn’t the latest five-star craze with a 25-foot wingspan, or a ridiculous dead-eye shooter who can nail the three from Victorian Square, or a new head coach who preaches analytics and plays the in-state kids.
The person who may save Kentucky basketball is a 21-year old Maryland native backup NBA guard who fell far outside the draft lottery but is currently the toast of the Big Apple, you know, New York, New York.
His name is Immanuel Quickley.
You may remember him. Came to Kentucky as the 23rd-ranked prospect in the class of 2018, projected to be a surefire all-star point guard, only to lose that coveted starting spot to a sticky-fingered defender by the name of Ashton Hagans.
Rather than follow the cool kids’ lead, Quickley stuck around Lexington for another year. He lived in the gym. He placed his nose on the grindstone, improved his skills and developed that rare trait in today’s hoops world — a high basketball IQ. And by the time the inconsiderate coronavirus threw up a stop sign on the 2019-20 college basketball season, Quickley was a popular choice for SEC Player of the Year.
But wait. Back up. That can’t be right. Immanuel Quickley stayed TWO years? At Kentucky? At the program of the one-and-done? At the one-year preparation master class for all things NBA? At the place where the top prep stars come to rent not own, where if you don’t go to the Association now, you’ll get left behind later?
Quickley stayed in college a second year and look how it has played out. Taken with the 25th pick of the first round, he was averaging 12.0 points and 2.7 assists in 18.9 minutes for the New York Knicks, who were a very un-Knicks-ian 11-14 under Coach Tom Thibodeau entering Tuesday night. Quickley recently scored 25 points in back-to-back games against Cleveland and the Los Angeles Clippers. He’s shooting 36.3 percent from three-point range and 93.2 percent from the foul line.
Said Clippers Coach Ty Lue, “He’s a special talent.”
For Kentucky, he should be a special example for a majority of the players on this struggling 2020-21 UK basketball team, the players who may be itching to go-go-go to the next level but need to stay-stay-stay. The ones that could benefit from another year of college seasoning, whether they want that seasoning or not.
John Calipari needs them, too. Kentucky can’t afford to go through another all-new campaign with an all-new roster, COVID-19 or no COVID-19. Experience is the hot new trend in college hoops. Look at the leader board. The teams atop the Top 25 have seniors, juniors and sophomores to go along with a freshman contributor or two.
Kentucky has had those players in the past, even in the John Calipari era. To say that Cal has relied solely on uber-talented freshmen is a myth. Look at last year’s team, regular season SEC champs. Quickley, Ashton Hagans and EJ Montgomery were all sophomores. Nick Richards was a junior. Nate Sestina was a grad transfer.
The list doesn’t stop there. Terrence Jones, PJ Washington, Wenyen Gabriel, Isaiah Briscoe, Dominique Hawkins, Derek Willis, Alex Poythress, Tyler Ulis, Willie Cauley-Stein, the Harrison twins., Dakari Johnson. To name a few. All stuck it out beyond the one-and-done and were the better for it even if not all their dreams came true.
Quickley’s early success story isn’t a solo act. Take PJ Washington. He stayed for a second season, and now he’s starting for the Charlotte Hornets. Nick Richards stayed for a third, and he made the Hornets’ opening-night roster without the mandatory G League indoctrination.
So is there an Immanuel Quickley among the current Cats? There very well could be. Calipari doesn’t normally recruit players who can’t play. That it hasn’t worked out this year the way they and everyone else expected or hoped isn’t a knock on a particular player’s long-term future. As Cal has said, not everyone occupies the same timeline. Some develop quicker than others. Each player is on his own path.
But for the good of the program, Calipari needs a host of holdovers to continue their development right here. He needs a veteran nucleus to build around, to provide institutional knowledge, to put into practice what they have learned from the hard, hard knocks of this unprecedented season.
They don’t need guys with the misguided dreams of being Anthony Davis or Devin Booker or Tyler Herro and right on down that list. They need guys who want to be Immanuel Quickley.
This story was originally published February 8, 2021 at 8:14 AM.
