Reid Forgrave of CBS Sports believes Kentucky’s struggles this year will be a blessing in disguise for next season.
Check out his thoughts:
How many of these Kentucky players would you guess are heading to the NBA after this season? Kevin Knox certainly; he’s a mid-lottery pick. Hamidou Diallo you’d assume; the ceiling on his game is so high that an NBA team is sure to snap him up in the first round. But after that, are there really any guarantees? You’d assume Jarred Vanderbilt, but the dude has hardly played so far because of injury. There’s buzz around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but he strikes me as a Malachi Richardson-type player; a second year of collegiate seasoning could do him wonders. Even if he could go in the first round like Richardson did, he could also get overwhelmed by the size and skill level in the NBA, and really struggle.
I can’t think of another Kentucky player who should even be contemplating the draft right now.
So imagine a year from now, when Calipari has his typically elite talent but adds to it that rare element of experience? Wenyen Gabriel and Sacha Killeya-Jones, both one-time top 25 recruits, would be juniors. Quade Green, PJ Washington, Nick Richards and perhaps Vanderbilt and Gilgeous-Alexander – all top-35 recruits – would be sophomores. And they might not have Zion Williamson coming on board, but rest assured that Calipari will still have another bumper crop of freshmen coming in. He already has three top-35-level recruits signed on: small forward Keldon Johnson, point guard Immanuel Quickley, and elite shooter Tyler Herro.
So is Kentucky “gonna be all right” this year? Probably not, at least not by Kentucky standards. Barring some sort of magical transformation (or “tweak”), this is not a Final Four team. It’s not an elite basketball team.
But is Kentucky “gonna be all right” next year? Absolutely. And this year’s struggles will be, for next season, a blessing in disguise.
