Kentucky basketball: Player grades for 2017-2018 season

The Kentucky Wildcats ended their season on a very sour note with a loss to Kansas State in the Sweet Sixteen. It’s time to grade each Kentucky basketball player’s performance for the 2017-18 season.

Kentucky basketball’s entire season was filled with highs and lows. There were standout performances from several different players. Some of those same players also proved that they weren’t quite up to the task on several occasions as well.

John Calipari dealt with a lot of criticism this season. But, Coach Cal stuck by his guys, sometimes to a fault. With the way the season unfolded, the Kentucky basketball team appeared to meet expectations. However, unexpected upsets in the NCAA Tournament gave the Wildcats a great opportunity to make a run at the Final Four and the Cats could not take advantage.

The Kentucky basketball team crumbled last Thursday against Kansas State. The Wildcats picked the worst time to play their worst game of the season. The loss to K-State ended UK’s season. It’s time to hand out grades to the Kentucky basketball players for their overall performance in the 2017-18 season.

Sacha Killeya-Jones, like a lot of Kentucky players this season, had an up-and-down 2017-18 campaign. It appeared as though Killey-Jones found himself in John Calipari’s doghouse, especially in the latter part of SEC play. Over the Wildcats last 6 games of the regular season, Killeya-Jones played a grand total of 33 minutes (5.5 MPG). He scored only 6 points during that stretch.

SKJ appeared to get back in the good graces of Coach Cal once the SEC Tournament kicked off. It was no coincidence that Jarred Vanderbilt was injured, and Calipari was forced to go deep into his rotation. None the less, Killeya Jones made the most of his opportunity. Sacha scored 9 points, grabbed 9 boards and had 4 blocks during the conference tournament.

Killeya-Jones was little more than a role player for this year’s team. Calipari, for the first time in a long while, was unable to depend on his bigs inside, and had to resort to playing more “small ball”. Killeya-Jones, until late in the season, was unable to take advantage of his oppotunities when they came knocking.