What You Can Actually Learn From Kentucky's Trip To The Bahamas?
We’re in the middle of exhibition season for college basketball teams. Kentucky just wrapped up a trip to the Bahamas, plenty of teams are losing to Carleton in Canada, Duke is about to head north of the border and Ohio State was just over in Spain.
There’s a lot going on, but obviously Kentucky (and soon to be Duke) are the teams that people are watching. Most of that is due to the fact that all their games are televised and you’re talking about two of the favorites to win the national title. So as Kentucky wrapped up the trip in the Bahamas yesterday, is there actually something you can take away from the trip?
The short answer is yes. Don’t get me wrong, taking any sort of overreaction or major change in how you think about a team based on exhibition games is pretty dumb, but there is a smart way to go about it. First, you look for any sort of adjustments that players have made from the last time you saw them – did they add a post move, did they develop a stronger weak hand, did they develop a longer jumper, etc.
That’s where we’ll start here with Kentucky, because there are some takeaways from their trip. Nick Richards became one of the more criticized players in Calipari’s era at Kentucky. He started 37 games but was 8th in minutes last season as a freshman. He was wildly inconsistent and frustrating to watch because you could see some potential but just too many simple mistakes being made. Now, there’s no guarantee he’s going to be consistent this year, but what you saw in the Bahamas is a good step. He has a role to fill on this team. That’s protect the rim, finish at the rim and perhaps hit a couple 12-footers. It’s a simplistic way to look at Calipari’s offensive scheme for bigs like Richards. During the time in the Bahamas he was finishing better than any game we saw him in last year and he developed a decent looking jumper from that 12-15 foot range. He’s the one who makes you feel good if you’re a Kentucky fan after watching the 4 games.
The second takeaway is this team is deep. They are still without Jermarl Baker and EJ Montgomery missed some time down in the Bahamas, but it feels like there’s a ton of guys that are fighting for minutes here. You look at the group of Green, Richards, Washington, Travis, Johnson, Quickley, Montgomery, Hagans and Herro and that’s a solid start.
Speaking of Tyler Herro – he was the darling of this trip. The former Wisconsin recruit and incoming freshman looked absolutely magnificent. When you think of the great Kentucky teams, they’ve had that one guy that they can count on to hit jumpers. Whether that was Doron Lamb, Devin Booker, Malik Monk and even someone like Darius Miller to a degree, there was that confidence. This year it looks like Herro could fit that spot. He’s excellent running off of screens – a Calipari staple. He’s a catch and shoot guy but also known for his midrange game off the bounce, which he showed in the Bahamas.
Other smaller takeaways that I had is simple things. PJ Washington looks like he lost more of that baby fat and was getting up and down the court quicker. Reid Travis’ rebounding is going to translate as he transfers from Stanford. Quade Green looks comfortable as the vocal leader on the team. All smaller things like that.
All in all it was a successful trip if you’re a Kentucky fan. If you’re a casual fan you were able to learn a few things from the trip. The next team up will be Duke and we’ll see what happens with them up in Canada.