Kentucky basketball’s biggest issue isn’t talent. It’s effort.

Effort isn’t something you should have to coach at Kentucky.

You can scheme shooting. You can drill defensive rotations. You can simplify the playbook. But you should never have to beg guys wearing Kentucky across their chest to play hard. Last season’s roster proved that in real time. This year’s team is proving the opposite.

Why Kentucky basketball’s effort problem feels so obvious right now

Think back to the quotes from last year’s group, the one everyone said “wasn’t Kentucky caliber” until they started punching giants in the mouth.

Ansley Almonor said it was an honor just to be here.

“I’m not really supposed to be here. God put me in this position.”

He played like it. Every loose ball, every closeout, every possession. He gave everything he had every minute he was on the court.

Kerr Kriisa literally broke his foot and still tried to get back and contest a shot in transition. That’s not normal. That’s a guy whose pride wouldn’t let him coast, even hurt.

Amari Williams called Kentucky “somewhere you always dream of going.” You saw that in how he battled. He turned it over sometimes, he got beat sometimes, but it was never because he wasn’t fighting. He kept coming.

Lamont Butler played through a shoulder injury for most of the season and still said, “Couldn’t be more grateful for this experience at Kentucky. There’s no place like it.” He admitted coming here was a business decision and still treated every game like it was personal. So, let's not let these guys take the easy road out and blame it on NIL.

Andrew Carr left town saying, “Sometimes as a kid, you don’t dream big enough… I will always bleed blue.” That team bled for each other. They weren’t perfect, but they were connected, grateful, and stubborn. You could punch them, they may fall down, but they'd get right back and take another for themselves and for the team.

Those were the guys everyone said weren’t good enough for Kentucky. All they did was beat eight Top 15 teams, knock off the eventual national champion, and answer every punch with their own.

When Ole Miss ran them out of the gym, you could honestly say it wasn’t effort. They just couldn’t make shots that night. They kept playing.

Now look at this season.

The talent is “better” on paper. The NIL numbers are higher. The recruiting stars are shinier. And yet the baseline things, sprinting back, talking on defense, fighting for rebounds, valuing possessions, keep disappearing.

You can see guys standing and watching on drives. You can see defenders dying on screens with no help. You can see players staring at the ball instead of finding their man. You can feel the disconnect in the way they walk off the floor down 20 or 30, almost like they’re spectators in their own disaster.

Even Otega Oweh admitted he has to “give 100 percent” more consistently. At Kentucky, that should never be a public talking point. It should be the bare minimum. Add in the money these guys are making and it should never be an issue.

Nobody expects a team to go undefeated. Shots won’t always fall. Matchups will be bad. But last year’s group proved you can still compete, still scratch, still make it annoying for the other team to finish a game.

This year’s team hasn’t shown that yet.

The good news? Effort doesn’t require a new offense, a new defense, or a waiver from the NCAA. It just requires a decision. Until this roster decides that wearing Kentucky blue means playing like last year’s “not good enough” group, nothing else is going to matter.