Kentucky basketball: Cats loss of Washington, game shows the value he brings

Calipari wasn’t going to throw Shaedon Sharpe in just to try and win the game

When Washington and Wheeler both went down during the game social media and all of Big Blue Nation were wondering when Shaedon Sharpe was going to leap off the bench.

It was never going to happen. I said before if it did it would be in Rupp Arena with spot minutes to try and acclimate him to the college game.

Tossing him in at Auburn would have been a big mistake.

Don’t forget that he has only been on campus for two weeks reclassified to get here a semester early.

No matter how good he is that would have been unfair to the kid who is just learning the players as well as the players themselves. Had he gone through that seven-game cupcake schedule early on that would have been one thing as well as Camp Cal.

Calipari said after the game he didn’t consider playing him at all.

"“It wouldn’t have been fair to the kid. I just wish we had a bunch of practice time where I had two weeks with him to where we could run three or four different things, and him defensively play because he’s a terrific player.”"

There is the chance he never suits up for Kentucky this season or ever since he is cleared to apply for the NBA Draft this year. We don’t even know the condition he is in as Calipari has eluded to much of his practice time has been spent conditioning.

Either way, Calipari made a promise to Sharpe and his family.

"“I have told his parents that I am not going to put him in a position where he hurts himself. I am not. And we’re going o do this, the process of this, and if he ends up playing this year because he’s capable of doing it and he can play, we’ll play him. But I’m not just shoving him in so we can win another game or stay closer. I’m not going to do that.”"

For now, let’s work with what we have which is a great group of kids that are playing hard, well, and know just what Calipari is expecting and knows what they are capable of.