Kentucky basketball: Is the Wildcats’ backcourt too crowded?
By Drew Koch
The Kentucky basketball team has an overly-talented backcourt next season. With all the 5-star guards on John Calipari’s squad, how will the Kentucky head coach adequately distribute playing time?
Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari is used to having elite point guards running his offense, but next year’s backcourt is getting ridiculous. Quade Green, a 5-star recruit last season, is already coming back for his sophomore season. He’ll be joined by 5-star recruit Immanuel Quickley, 4-star freshman Tyler Herro and Jemarl Baker. Baker was a 4-star shooting guard who missed all of last season with injury.
Ashton Hagans, a 5-star point guard commit from the class of 2019, is rumored to be reclaissifying to next year’s class. Now, Tyrese Maxey, another 5-star guard in the class of 2019, is said to be considering Kentucky as his destination to play college basketball. On top of that, Maxey is also considering reclassifying to the class of 2018 as well.
Wow! So we’re clear, that’s four 5-star and two 4-star guards in the UK backcourt. That’s not even including 5-star swingman Keldon Johnson. Johnson, at 6’6″, would likely be playing the two-guard on most teams, but with a gluttony of talent in the backcourt, look Calipari to play Johnson at the small forward spot.All this talent in the backcourt takes us back to the original question; how will Cal adequately allocate playing time? Interestingly enough, we won’t really know until June 11th. That’s the withdrawal deadline for underclassmen who’ve entered their names into the NBA Draft.
Wenyen Gabriel, PJ Washington and Jarred Vanderbilt having placed their names into consideration for the draft. There’s potential for a completely different starting frontcourt for the Kentucky basketball team next season. However, a lot could change between now and mid-June.
John Calipari will have a loaded backcourt next season. It will be interesting to see how the Kentucky basketball coach handles all these talented guards on UK’s roster next season. Let’s hope he decides against another platoon experiment.