Round Table: What did we learn about UK from those three exhibitions?
With the regular season fast approaching and set to arrive later this week, the Cats Illustrated staff goes to the round table to look back on Kentucky's three exhibition basketball games.
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What have we learned about John Calipari's team from those three exhibition games and are there any questions now that you might not have had before those preseason contests?
T.J. Walker, Basketball Recruiting Analyst: Kentucky impressed me in its exhibition wins. I'm not ready to fully change my postseason expectations just yet, but some questions were answered and I'm slightly more optimistic about how good UK can be this season. I will need to see Kentucky against better competition to change my postseason outlook, but after seeing a few exhibition games the Cats have the potential to be one of the top teams this year.
Shooting won't be UK's strength but I also don't think it will be a major negative heading into the season. The Cats have plenty of shooters that will knockdown shots when open. I was also impressed with how well Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Quade Green played together in the backcourt. Almost everyone tried to guess who would be the better of the two and who would land more playing time, but it seems clear that they will share the backcourt and thrive playing off one another.The jury is still out on UK's defense, which didn't look amazing through three exhibition games. However, UK's defensive pressure is to blame for some of the miscues. When the Cats were going for every steal and trying to force turnovers it's just natural to give up a few wide-open looks. But Kentucky forced a ton of turnovers in three games, including 26 against D-1 Morehead State. If UK didn't play so aggressive the defense would have looked better, but there's still plenty of room for improvement.
Jeff Drummond, Managing Editor: My biggest takeaway from the three exhibition games was that UK is a little further along offensively than I expected and a little further behind defensively than I expected.
The Cats appear to have enough perimeter shooting to keep defenses honest with Quade Green being a threat at the point and guys like Wenyen Gabriel and Kevin Knox being solid shooters on the wings. I still don't know what to make of Hamidou Diallo as a shooter, but he could also help in that regard if he improves on what we saw in these three games.
Defensively, I know it takes time to get so many freshmen on the same page, but they haven't been very good in the halfcourt against overmatched opponents. Way too many open looks from 3, which is the cardinal sin with John Calipari. They look their best to me when they're pressing, doing some of the run-and-jump stuff with their athleticism and length, but Cal continues to suggest those looks are only for conditioning purposes. I'd like to see him commit to a full-court approach with this particular personnel.
Justin Rowland, Publisher: Hamidou Diallo had a great outing against Morehead State (23 points) but my reaction to those three games as a whole is that he is not the best player on the team. That's probably not a shock to most of the people reading. While there might be some of you holding out and believing that Diallo will prove me wrong, I think he can be a good piece for this Kentucky team, but Kevin Knox and P.J. Washington look like the two go-to players without question, at least until Jarred Vanderbilt takes to the court.
Quade Green looked better than I anticipated. I'm not at all surprised that he looked good, but point guards under John Calipari draw the misfortune of being compared to other Calipari point guards. That naturally caused me to lower expectations for Green, on some level, but he performed very well. From his passing to how much command he had in almost every situation, he was really good. That's a huge positive because if the point guard situation is really settled with a good, steady player it makes me much more optimistic about what the team will achieve. His shooting was a big surprise and a good one. That will open up his ability to get to the basket.
I was obviously surprised by how polished Nick Richards looked on offense, but I'm still wondering how much of that will hold when he faces tougher front lines and Division I talent. I was impressed with Sacha Killeya-Jones' work on the glass.
Overall, I thought the exhibition season was a positive for Kentucky. My initial impression was that the No. 5 preseason ranking might be high, and that this team clearly has potential but it might lose quite a few regular season games. This team still might take the 2013-14 team's regular season path, but having watched those early games I'm slightly more bullish on Kentucky going into the season.
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