We all expected Tyrese Maxey to be a one-and-done in true John Calipari fashion and that's how things have played out.
With Maxey announcing his decision to leave Kentucky for the NBA after one season, Cats Illustrated writers reflect on his season with the 'Cats. What's his legacy?
David Sisk: I’ll remember Tyrese Maxey best as a player who liked the big stage. With that kind of DNA, it’s a shame that he didn’t get to participate in the postseason. He could have really put a stamp on his legacy. He was a quick twitch player who could get to the rim and score in the mid-range. I also believe his defensive game is not appreciated the way it should be. His high water mark was on opening night when he single handedly fended off Michigan State. When his jump shot gets more consistent, he will be an outstanding player in the the NBA.
Justin Rowland: My take is that Maxey was probably better for most of the year than I probably gave him credit for a lot of the time. He was not a great college basketball player but he was a good one and sometimes a very good one. I think a lot of the time I was more fixated on how poorly he was shooting from outside, compared to our expectations for him preseason in that respect, than anything else. And it's true that did hurt. But when you look back over the whole season you see a guard who is about as well-rounded and versatile as you could expect a freshman to be. He had big scoring games, he had games where he took over as the distributor who made others better, he had lockdown defensive moments, and he rebounded like Gerald Fitch at times. While there was not necessarily one thing that he was consistently great at, there were a lot of things that he was able to do when the situation demanded it that really helped Kentucky.
Travis Graf: Tyrese Maxey was a player who performed the best when the lights were the brightest. That was perfectly showcased in the first game of the season against Michigan State at Madison Square Garden when he scored 26 points in his freshman debut. Maxey was a joy to be around in post game interviews. Nobody ever saw him without a smile on his face. Maxey’s floater is one of the best that we’ve seen at Kentucky, and while he was disappointing as an outside shooter, he was very crafty inside of 10 to 15 feet. It will always be a ‘what if’ situation with Maxey, because it was very easy to see him as a player who could have taken over games during an NCAA Tournament run.
