Kentucky Basketball: Isaiah Briscoe Embracing Leadership Role
After an underwhelming freshman season, sophomore point guard Isaiah Briscoe is embracing a leadership role for the Kentucky basketball program.
The Kentucky basketball program won its lone national championship under John Calipari in 2012. That team is commonly praised as one of the most dominant freshman-led groups in college basketball history.
The most underrated strength of that team, however, was the presence of returning players who helped lead the new arrivals to victory.
In 2016-17, the Wildcats will unveil what may be the the best recruiting class it’s had since 2011-12. Fortunately for Coach Cal and Kentucky, one of the most highly-touted recruits from 2015-16 will be on the roster: Isaiah Briscoe.
According to Jerry Tipton of The Herald-Leader, Calipari is confident that Briscoe will be ready to lead in 2016-17.
"“Some guys pee themselves,” Calipari said of the responsibility to lead. “He’s on a mission.”"
Briscoe echoed the sentiment.
"“I really don’t have any concerns about getting overshadowed,” Briscoe said. “I really didn’t have any concerns about getting overshadowed last year. It was just whatever my team needed me to do to win.”"
That could be the key to Kentucky contending in 2016-17.
Kentucky pulled in the No. 1 recruiting class in 2016, per ESPN and Rivals. 247Sports and Scout ranked the Wildcats at No. 2 behind the Duke Blue Devils.
Regardless of which ranking you agree with, the consensus is that Kentucky pulled in an astonishingly promising group of players.
Big man Bam Adebayo, who’s built like Dwight Howard, and point guard De’Aaron Fox, who moves like John Wall, are both Top 10 recruits. Malik Monk is a consensus Top 20 incoming freshman and Wenyen Gabriel has tremendous defensive potential.
Sacha Killeya-Jones is the most commonly overlooked signing, and even he’s a five-star recruit with physical gifts and upside comparable to Willie Cauley-Stein.
Intriguing as that all may be, nothing Kentucky does on the recruiting trails will matter without ideal leadership in the locker room. Briscoe is the perfect player to fill that role.
The proof that Briscoe is qualified for a leadership role is the fact that he’s taking accountability for his shortcomings in 2015-16.
"“Yeah, I did,” he said. “I thought I was going to be one-and-done. But it didn’t happen. That’s totally fine.”"
"“I don’t know,” Briscoe said. “And I don’t point the finger at nobody but myself. That was on me, and that’s just something I have to get better at.”"
Kentucky is in a good place with Briscoe coming back.
Briscoe finished the 2015-16 season with averages of 9.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.0 assist per game. He shot just 13.5 percent from beyond the arc, however, which led to one of the top recruits in the country plummeting down draft boards..
A defensive force with elite upside on the offensive end, Briscoe can still become a star on the collegiate and NBA fronts.
Must Read: John Calipari said the 2016-17 Wildcats may be the best team he's ever coached
Briscoe is ready to begin that process by embracing a leadership role in Lexington.