With the latest UK basketball season behind us the Cats Illustrated staff is tackling the big questions about the past, present and future of the Wildcat program under John Calipari.
There's never a shortage of opinions when it comes to UK basketball and here's a question that pops up every single year.
Does John Calipari need to make any changes moving forward?
David Sisk: I have already shared that he could be going to a smaller lineup that will space the floor more offensively. Either way it goes, next season's team won't be as big as this one. It will also be interesting to see if he offers more players earlier. There has been some concern that he comes in too late on top prospects. I also expect him to go the graduate transfer route again.
Jeff Drummond: There are some hints of him making subtle changes already. To bring in Reid Travis was one, and it sounds like the UK boss will try to go the grad transfer route once again for 2019-20 after missing out on his primary big man targets on the recruiting trail. Signing a guy like Tyler Herro was another. I think Calipari needs to find more guys who can create and make shots from the perimeter. That's the direction the game is moving. If it means overlooking a slight lack of elite athleticism or defensive ability, there is no substitute for the ability to put the ball in the hole.
Travis Graf: I’ve been a big small ball advocate for some time now. This would help the on-court product which would in turn boost recruiting once again. No premier school has made the change to be in line with the way the pro game is being played. No big man wants to be a purely back to the basket player anymore. Those are being phased out in the NBA. Cal’s best bet is to go back to his Memphis days, where his teams had killer athletes at the 1 through 5 spots and they just outran you. For that to be successful at a school like UK, you need to have the athletes that can run but also shoot. With the platform offered at Kentucky, Cal should be able to run the same style of lineup but with more blue chip athletes than what he had at Memphis. If the rumors are true that Cal is intrigued with the idea of small ball, next year’s roster would be a good start to the movement with the elite wings he has coming in. Spacing is the main thing Cal has to rethink this offseason.
Justin Rowland: I think my esteemed colleagues have pretty much covered the important stuff and quite eloquently. Like Jeff, I think the graduate transfer pipeline is a great idea for Kentucky because the program is always going to have more young players than most others and they can be stabilizers. You probably aren't going to find the elite pro prospects that way, but that's not what Kentucky needs from a grad transfer and someone like Nate Sestina would seem to fit what they're looking for. I'm also a believer in the theory that Kentucky really needs to incorporate the three ball into what they do more. I don't think it would have been wise to launch more than they did this year because they didn't have the personnel. But it's awfully tough to trade twos for threes or not have it in your arsenal to get hot and light a couple of opponents up especially in a tournament setting. As to whether any assistant coaching changes need to take place, I'll leave that to Calipari as he probably knows more than anyone else who has been successful on the recruiting front and who might not be producing quite as much in that respect. But whatever it takes within the rules to get back to establishing Kentucky as the No. 1 recruiting brand in the country, even if the whole system is going to change soon anyways. All that said, let's not get carried away with some of the more absurd doomsday scenarios that would have you believe two extremely close calls in the Elite Eight over the last three years are a crisis.
