BAMBA GONE: What it means for UK
Thursday afternoon five-star center Mohamed Bamba announced he would be attending Texas. The 7-foot, 225-pound center picked the Longhorns over UK, Duke and Michigan, although it had seemingly been a two horse race between Texas and UK.
He is Texas' first five-star player in the class of 2018 and UK's class, at least for now, stands at seven players with five five-star commits.
What happened: While Bamba kept everyone in the dark it was clear that the Harlem center would make a random announcement. Bamba wasn't going to do an ESPN interview or hop on a radio show, but instead just announcing it when he was ready.
He was ready on Thursday and there was no warning. There was no time to touch in with UK's staff to see where things stand. As a matter of fact, if Calipari knew Bamba was going to pick Texas he didn't find out until moments before the commitment.
This is a surprise to UK's staff but while many, including Basketball Recruiting Analyst T.J. Walker, were picking UK, no one ignored the Texas momentum. Texas was always a major player in Bamba's recruitment and ultimately he picked the Longhorns because of his relationship with head coach Shaka Smart, who coached Bamba for USA Basketball.
Michigan and Duke were never major threats for Bamba but the Cats always had a tough challenge beating on Texas and ultimately previous relationships won out for Bamba. Also, he noted the weather in Austin, Texas.
This comes as a surprise for UK but not Calipari's biggest shocker since taking over UK in 2009.
What's next: Well, that's it for big guys in the class of 2017. Kentucky only recruited Bamba after landing the commitment from Nick Richards and didn't reach out to another big.
UK won't add another big. It's worth mentioning that Jamal Murray and Isaac Humphries reclassified and didn't commit to UK until the late summer. It's not impossible that happens with a 2018 big but seems highly unlikely and there are no 2018 bigs that are considering a jump to the 2017 class, at least not openly talking about a jump.
Unless there is a major surprise Kentucky will run with Nick Richards, Sacha Killeya-Jones, P.J. Washington and Tai Wynyard in the front court. Both Wenyen Gabriel and Jarred Vanderbilt will play some four, too.
How big of miss: There's no sugarcoating Bamba's commitment to Texas. It's a major blow. Bamba is the type of talent that should be able to compete for the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. He should be the best shot blocker in the country next season and he has a great offensive foundation that will only grow with the right coaching. He's an elite rebounder and will be the best player in the Big XII Conference.
There's no way around it that this hurts UK's 2017-2018 season outlook. Throwing Bamba in UK's front court would have been unfair for college basketball. The length, size, skill and rim protection would have been second to none. Calipari could have had an abundance of depth and talent.
But the good news is that UK is still deep at the four and five position. The Cats will still have an elite shot blocker in Nick Richards. P.J. Washington will be one of the best rebounders in the SEC and the Cats will still have incredible versatility.
However, Bamba would have given Calipari his best frontcourt at UK. That's saying something.
What to expect: Now we can start predicting UK's starting lineup, at least from the four and five position.
Don't be surprised to see Sacha Killeya-Jones start of be the first big off the bench. P.J. Washington seems like a lock to start at the four, so can Killeya-Jones beat out Richards to start at the five? Although Killeya-Jones had a disappointing freshman season at UK, he's still a five-star McDonald's All-American that was a triple-double machine in high school.
There has been positive rumblings surrounding Killeya-Jones even during the second semester. It was a head-scratcher as to why he wasn't playing, but sources close to the program are expecting big things from Killeya-Jones.
It's likely that Killeya-Jones or Richards start at the five, Washington at the four and Jarred Vanderbilt at the three. That is a ton of length, size, speed and versatility.
Rebounding won't be an issue for the Cats and as long as Killeya-Jones and Richards continue to develop, UK should be a solid shot-blocking team, although it would have been better with Bamba.