Almost every year Kentucky basketball sees enormous roster turnover.
It can be exhausting, but the results have usually been positive.
The turnover leads to a lot of anticipation and no small amount of anxiety as there are so many unknowns that are difficult to factor.
In this Cats Illustrated Roundtable, staff writers share and explain who they are most excited to watch for Kentucky during the 2020-21 season.
David Sisk: I will be more excited to see Olivier Sarr play in a Kentucky uniform next season more than any other player. Notice that I framed the response. If he gets immediate eligibility, this team changes form in a blink of an eye. Without him most prognosticators feel this is a team somewhere between fifteen and twenty nationally. With him you now have a deep lineup with no holes. The starting group would be particularly special: Point guard depth, the best group of wings in years, young but dynamic power forwards, and a big, successful, experienced center.
Get Sarr eligible and ask me this question again in November, and I will say B.J. Boston. He is the highest ranked guard to come into the program since Andrew Harrison in 2013. Boston is a two-guard in a 6-foot-7 frame that is probably closer to 6-foot-8 is a different package altogether. This is not another ultra-talented 6-foot-4 shooting guard. Cam Reddish is one of few players who come to mind with that type of height and skill set. Jayson Tatum was a three, but he gets a lot of comparisons to Boston. However, Boston was much better out on the floor at that same stage of the game. Another player that comes to mind is Bradley Beal. Just as Boston, he was the fourth-ranked player and second best shooting guard in his class. He ended up going third in the 2013 draft, and he $150 million later, he is an NBA All-Star. So obviously, we all should be giddy about seeing Boston in the flesh.
Jeff Drummond: The addition of Wake Forest transfer OIivier Sarr changes this question significantly, but I'm going to go with "Sophomore Keion Brooks Jr." I remain high on Brooks' potential, and I think we saw him start to put things together just when the season was coming to a premature close. I'm looking for him to make a similar leap that Immanuel Quickley and PJ Washington made between their freshman and sophomore seasons. That's setting the bar pretty high as both of those guys were SEC Player of the Year-type performers, but I think Brooks can be a major impact player for the Cats in 2020-21. I love his versatility.
Travis Graf: Terrence Clarke. For those that have been reading content on our site for the past season, you know that I’m the conductor of the Terrence Clarke hype train. Fellow incoming freshman BJ Boston is garnering most of the attention as the headliner for Kentucky’s 2020 recruiting class - and rightfully so - but I think Clarke will have the best season out of either during the 2020-2021 campaign. Clarke already has a body built to excel in the NBA, which allows him to score in a variety of ways in the paint. I’ll go as far as to say he’s the best paint scorer that Kentucky will have had since Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. His isolation game and three-level scoring ability will allow John Calipari to use him to attack defenses in a multitude of ways.
Justin Rowland: I'll go with perhaps a contrarian pick but not for the sake of being contrary. Devin Askew may very well have a lot to do with how much success Kentucky has during the 2020-21 season. The Wildcats have a stout team on paper, especially if Olivier Sarr is eligible. I know Kentucky recruited Davion Mintz but I'm not sure if he's the guy who runs the offense as the primary point guard or a combo guard who gives the 'Cats quality minutes off the bench. So I'm going Askew, because I think the range of outcomes for his season will determine whether Kentucky is a leading contender for the championship or one of many with potential.
