PREVIEW SERIES: Wenyen Gabriel
Cats Illustrated is previewing every scholarship player on the 2017-2018 Kentucky's basketball roster.
Part two of the series is on sophomore Wenyen Gabriel. The 6-foot-9, 213-pound forward had an up-and-down rookie season at UK. Consistency will be key in 2017-2018 for Gabriel.
2016-2017 Recap: As a freshman Gabriel had a rookie season that most freshmen across the country would consider a success. Gabriel was often scrutinized and slumped to finish the season.
Gabriel averaged 4.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and nearly a block per game. But Gabriel seemed to regress as the Cats' season progressed. After November Gabriel was looking like one of UK's most important players. He was averaging 8.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and two assists per game.
After slowing down after November, Gabriel still had his moments. He had a career-high 16 rebounds against Auburn. He nearly followed that up with a double-double in his next game against Mississippi State. He finished with 13 points and eight rebounds.
Gabriel's next two games saw two UK wins with the former five-star recruit averaging 6.5 points and seven rebounds per game.
His best was yet to come. As the Cats mysteriously struggled against lowly LSU at home, Gabriel's 23 points and eight rebounds helped keep the Tigers at bay.
But things went horribly wrong for Gabriel after that game. He would score just 20 points in UK's next 14 games. He averaged just 6.5 minutes per game in Kentucky's tournament run to the Elite Eight and scored just one more point in the NCAA Tournament than the writers at Cats Illustrated. It was a head scratching ending to what looked to be a promising season.
Summer rumblings: No player has had more hype this summer than Wenyen Gabriel. It initially started with Gabriel's transformation pictures thanks to his boxing workouts but then reports of summer action had fans getting excited about Gabriel.
Cats Illustrated has heard positive things about Gabriel but no one has confirmed that he has been UK's best player in pick-up games. Not to say Rothstein's report is inaccurate, but it isn't what we're hearing.
But it's still a positive to hear good things about Gabriel, regardless of the outlet. A big issue for Gabriel was confidence and if a summer of success is true, we should see that translate to the court in 2017-2018.
2017-2018 Prediction: No player for UK will be more difficult to predict than Gabriel. There was so much to like about Gabriel in the chunks of the season. He would attack the rim, he ran his lane in transition, and had five games where he hit at least two three-pointers.
Gabriel doesn't have to be a great outside shooter but if he can be more consistent from deep it will only make things easier for him and his teammates. If his shot is improved it will likely lead to more playing time for Gabriel.
However, it wasn't just inconsistent offense that kept Gabriel on the bench. Gabriel would found himself getting lost on defense more and more as the season continued. Strength was never Gabriel's forte but UK did a good job as a team not letting him get pushed around too much on the block. But as the season progressed it wasn't about strength for Gabriel. It was poor on-the-ball defending and Gabriel getting lost in transition. That won't work for Calipari come March.
Gabriel has plenty of room to improve but that's what kids should do after a freshmen season. Things are often magnified at Kentucky but there's no reason to think Gabriel won't continue to develop. But things get interesting for Gabriel because of the additions in the class of 2017. Jarred Vanderbilt and P.J. Washington can play a three and four, like Gabriel. Tai Wynyard and Sacah Killeya-Jones returned and both can play the four. Hamidou Diallo and Kevin Knox, five-star incoming freshmen, can easily play the three.
It will be a logjam for minutes at the three and four position and that will make things tough on Gabriel. Expect a sophomore Gabriel to put up slightly better numbers than his freshman season, but not eye-popping enough to get him in the conversation as a first round pick.
Don't be surprised to see Gabriel start at the beginning of the year. But it would say a lot of good things about Gabriel to see him start come March. We know how talented the freshmen will be this year. We don't know how far Gabriel has progressed.