It was expected that Enes Kanter would receive most of the play time in the paint for the Wildcats this year and Josh Harrellson would play the supporting roll. When it was announced that Kanter would never play as a Kentucky Wildcat, Harrellson would either become a team liability or the unsung hero.
He’s answered the calling. Josh has been mentioned as the most improved player in the country. He’s the leading offensive rebounder in the SEC and now Harrellson is also putting together an offensive arsenal. During the game against West Virginia, Harrellson scored 15 points to go along with 8 rebounds.
Those are numbers that have become familiar to Josh and fans rooting him on. It is the 11th game of the year Josh has scored in double digits and the 22nd time this season he has had 8 or more rebounds. The only area he hasn’t done well in is with free throws, shooting only 57.8%.
His play hasn’t gone unnoticed either. Yesterday during the game, the announcer said “they call him Jorts…” and today, there are articles scattered [URL=”http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebasketball/story/Josh-Harrellson-lifts-Kentucky-Wildcats-past-West-Virginia-031911″]here[/URL] and [URL=”http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/dickvitale/news/story?id=6237271″]there[/URL] mentioning his production. I’ve also said it [URL=”http://www.nationofblue.com/josh-harrellson-has-huge-game-4099/”]several[/URL] [URL=”http://www.nationofblue.com/josh-harrellson-rebounder-4386/”]times[/URL] [URL=”http://www.nationofblue.com/josh-oh-my-gosh-harrellson-4506/”]this[/URL] [URL=”http://www.nationofblue.com/josh-grabs-career-high-3716/”]year[/URL]; if Josh plays the best ball of his career, the Wildcats have a chance.
Who knows how the Wildcats would have performed if Kanter was in the starting role instead of Josh. At this point, who cares. Josh Harrellson is making the most of the time and is showing his team and Big Blue Nation that he deserves some of the spotlight.
