Kentucky dropped a tough on at the road at Tennessee earlier this week, but Jay Bilas still believes the Wildcats are legit.
Bilas has Kentucky ranked No. 3 in his updated college basketball rankings.
Here is an excerpt:
Claim one free share of stock from Robinhood
3. Kentucky Wildcats
When healthy, Kentucky is as good as anyone. Even after a loss to Tennessee, this holds up as one of the best and most balanced offensive teams in the country, and a formidable defensive team that effectively guards the 3-point line. But, Kentucky does not win without Oscar Tshiebwe. He has been the national player of the year to this point. Tshiebwe leads the Wildcats in scoring, blocked shots, steals, field goal percentage, and he leads the nation in rebounding and offensive rebounding. The rebounding is simply astounding. The easy thing to say, and it is almost cliche, is that Tshiebwe gives greater effort than anyone else. That short-changes him. He does give great effort, and he has unusual talent and aptitude for rebounding, but he is the nation’s best rebounder largely because he is incredibly intelligent in his positioning. Some of that comes from Bob Huggins, but Tshiebwe has an uncommon understating and study of where the ball is likely to come off of the rim. As long as Tshiebwe is healthy and plays, Kentucky is legit.
