eleem
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Member # 884
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posted 04-18-2014 04:34 PM
2. Win or lose, Kentucky is dominating college basketball.
It's been a little more than 10 days since UConn beat the Wildcats for the 2014 national title but since that moment, Kentucky has still been the one team that's dominated virtually every headline in the sport. Maybe it's because the Wildcats have so many players debating whether or not to leave Lexington early for the NBA Draft. Maybe it's because John Calipari has been on literally every media outlet possible in the past week to talk about his team's season and promote his new book -- "Players First." Or maybe it's just because right now Kentucky will always be the dominant storyline in college basketball.
Before last season, we all wanted to know if the Wildcats would truly live up to their preseason billing. During the season, Kentucky struggled and was a constant point of conversation because it simply wasn't living up to expectations. Then, in the NCAA Tournament, Calipari did arguably the best coaching job of his career as he led a team with five freshman starters to consecutive wins over Wichita State, Louisville, Michigan and Wisconsin only to come up short in the title game against UConn. Now? Everyone wants to know which players are staying, which players are going, and more importantly, how the players that return will mesh with the Wildcats' loaded freshman class next season. There's no doubt which program is dominating college basketball -- it's Kentucky. And it's not even close.
4. Alex Poythress needs to be able to play some small forward next season.
Because if he can't, he's going to have a hard time getting expanded minutes in Kentucky's loaded frontcourt. The Wildcats will return both Willie Cauley-Stein and Marcus Lee up front next season as well as Dakari Johnson, who has still yet to make a decision on whether not he's going to declare for the NBA Draft after a breakout NCAA Tournament. Kentucky will also bring in two blue-chip freshman in Trey Lyles (6-10) and Karl Towns (6-11) that will arrive in Lexington with big expectations. That's five players in addition to Poythress in the Wildcats' frontcourt that are competing for two spots.
For Poythress to ensure he's going to get the type of burn he's hoping to get if he returns to school for his junior season, the 6-9 forward has to refine his face-up game and tighten his handle so he can play more minutes at the three. Poythress averaged 5.9 points and 4.5 rebounds this past season.
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Posts: 13248 | From: flatwoods,ky. | Registered: Oct 2000
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