What should we make of Kentucky basketball through three games?
Kentucky takes on East Tennessee State tonight in an opportunity to get back in the win column after that loss to Kansas in the Champions Classic.
T.J. Walker, Jeff Drummond and Justin Rowland discuss their biggest takeaways from what they've seen through three games.
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T.J. Walker, Basketball Recruiting Analyst: After three games it's tough to feel certain about any March predictions, good or bad, but there are plenty of things to like and dislike about the Cats. UK is going to have one of the highest ceilings in college basketball, but Kentucky has some major flaws. Kevin Knox has superstar potential, and Hamidou Diallo isn't too far behind, but the Cats have questions that need to be answered at the five and one positions.
Nick Richards isn't going to be close to an Anthony Davis or DeMarcus Cousins like talent. He will be closer to a freshman Willie Cauley-Stein, and while WCS turned out to be an amazing player at UK it took three years. Sacha Killeya-Jones has been phenomenal when you take into account last season's production, but will he be good enough to help lead UK to a deep tournament run? Quade Green and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have both had their moments but overall have been wildly inconsistent. Green is the steadier of the two but lacks playmaking ability and Gilgeous-Alexander can score but is sloppy with the ball. Will either become more consistent to help UK? All these questions haven't been answered. But we know that UK has a great amount of talent and if Calipari can get them to buy in they will be a contender come March.
Jeff Drummond, Managing Editor: My biggest takeaway is that no matter how much raw talent one of John Calipari's recruiting classes may possess, it will ALWAYS take time for the freshmen to learn how to play the game at this level. It doesn't matter if it's John Wall or Quade Green, Anthony Davis or Nick Richards or anyone in between. None of them have it figured out in November. I wish the NCAA would go back to the old college basketball calendar when games would begin around the first week of December. They're just forcing too much on these guys too soon.
I'd like to see John Calipari be a little more willing to experiment with this bunch, especially when it comes to full-court press and zone defenses. The Cats' length is incredible. It's going to be a major headache for anyone they play. I feel like they'll need some press in order to consistently generate offense.
Justin Rowland, Publisher: I picked this team to reach the Sweet 16 before the season and what we have seen is pretty much what I expected. I thought Kevin Knox would be more of what we saw in the last game than what we saw in the first two. P.J. Washington has been more inconsistent than I thought he would be. I've actually been a little more impressed with Hamidou Diallo than I anticipated I would be. I will say that Quade Green and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have a lot of questions to answer; more than I thought they would after a really good exhibition season.
Shooting is a concern but it's still too early to tell how much of one it will be. I'm not sure if the point guard play is good enough for this team to win a championship, but I'm far from the first person to voice that.
This Kentucky team is so freshman-laden and none of those freshmen are lottery picks, so I think the inconsistency is going to be more severe this season than some others.
Having said that, and I've made this point pretty much every time I've been able to, when I watch this team I find myself counting all the areas where they need improvement...then I'm quickly reminded that their insane length just makes up for a ton of questions. Blink and you'll miss several blocked shots and transition baskets going the other way. So it's tough to quantify something like that.