CBS analyst rips Kentucky basketball roster after lackluster performances

Lots of people have lined up to take their shots at Kentucky basketball this season. The Cats have given them plenty of ammo. Now it's time for CBS analyst Seth Davis to have his say about what is broken in Lexington.

Seth Davis doesn't believe in Kentucky basketball's roster

Seth Davis was replying to Tom Hart, who called the Missouri game Wednesday night. Hart posted, "Kentucky has a talented (and expensive) roster."

The expensive part Davis had no problem agreeing to, but it was that first part he took exception to. He responded, "All due respect, I'm not sure Kentucky's roster is all that talented. They have only one projected NBA Draft pick in Jayden Quaintance, and he's coming off an ACL tear. Had 1 point in 18 minutes last night."

Is he wrong?

No one outside of Jayden Quaintance was a top-5 player at their position. Denzel Aberdeen, Kam Williams, Mo Dioubate, and Jaland Lowe are fine players, but they are role players. Kentucky needed a star that could get them through rough moments. That was supposed to be Oweh, but that hasn't really worked out. And Quaintance looked lost on both ends of the court against the Tigers, never finding his footing.

Mark Pope went for a team that was going to play in waves: frequent subs, long and deep. The goal was to run the floor and explode on teams. That depth hasn't shown up, with most people begging him to trim it down to eight and start JQ and Lowe. He did just that against Missouri, and it still didn't help. Nine players played, with Collin Chandler only getting five minutes, while Quaintance and Lowe started.

So Seth Davis is right, Kentucky is not uber-talented. They have to play team basketball to achieve their goals, and right now, they just don't have the trust in each other to do that. Too many times, a possession on defense or offense becomes broken because they don't talk or make a pass.

Until that changes, Kentucky will continue to struggle.