Point Guard:Just signed the largest contract in With Kentucky Wildcats..
Heading into the 2024-25 college basketball season, it seems like the world of college hoops continues to disrespect Mark Pope and his team. Coach Pope hit the transfer portal right when he was hired to be Kentucky’s next head coach and brought in an elite class of veteran college basketball players.
Based on previous seasons of college hoops, the teams that are made up of veteran players have the best success in March, which is what Coach Pope is looking for this year.
ESPN’s Jeff Borzello wrote a Way Too Early Top 25 article for college basketball this season and had the Wildcats 23rd. In his previous edition of this article, the Wildcats were ranked in the next-in-line category outside of the top 25, so the Wildcats are moving in the right direction.
Here is Borzello’s reasoning for ranking the Wildcats 23rd, “Mark Pope’s first roster in Lexington will look drastically different from most of his predecessor’s teams. Out are the five-star freshmen, in are a slew of prolific 3-point shooters to stretch defenses. Jaxson Robinson ultimately followed his former coach from BYU, and he’s the best addition, playing himself onto NBA draft boards despite coming off the bench. Robinson is joined by Koby Brea (Dayton), Otega Oweh (Oklahoma), Kerr Kriisa (West Virginia), and Andrew Carr (Wake Forest) as high-level shooters, while Lamont Butler (San Diego State) and Amari Williams (Drexel) bring defensive prowess.”
Kentucky should be ranked higher than some of the teams on this list, but Big Blue Nation needs to know that this team will be disrespected all off-season. The national media wants to see Coach Pope prove it before they put hype around this basketball team. Kentucky fans know this team will be special, but it could take a while for the rest of the college basketball community to see.
Mark Pope has a problem with his 2024-25 roster. But the good news for Kentucky fans is that it is a good problem. He has a bunch of veteran players who are really good and deserving of minutes.
Right now, many project the starting lineup for the Kentucky Wildcats to include Lamont Butler, Jaxson Robinson, Koby Brea, Andrew Carr, and Amari Williams.
That leaves Kerr Kriisa, Collin Chandler, Otega Oweh, Ansley Almonor, and Brandon Garrison coming off the bench. The Wildcats also have freshmen Trent Noah and Travis Perry, who will likely get minutes early in the season but not all that many once bigger games and SEC play come around.
So, suppose you don’t fully include Noah and Perry in the rotation, although these two will have exceptional careers as Kentucky players. In that case, Coach Pope has ten players who have all played a lot of college basketball and deserve some playing time. That raises the question: could Coach Pope run a platoon system?
Kentucky fans love the platoon system as it brings back some exciting memories of the John Calipari era, but it could make sense for this 2024-25 Kentucky team.
That leaves Kerr Kriisa, Collin Chandler, Otega Oweh, Ansley Almonor, and Brandon Garrison coming off the bench. The Wildcats also have freshmen Trent Noah and Travis Perry, who will likely get minutes early in the season but not all that many once bigger games and SEC play come around.
So, suppose you don’t fully include Noah and Perry in the rotation, although these two will have exceptional careers as Kentucky players. In that case, Coach Pope has ten players who have all played a lot of college basketball and deserve some playing time. That raises the question: could Coach Pope run a platoon system?
Kentucky fans love the platoon system as it brings back some exciting memories of the John Calipari era, but it could make sense for this 2024-25 Kentucky team.
Coach Pope could start his main five guys, Butler, Robinson, Brea, Carr, and Williams, then bring in Kriisa, Chandler, Oweh, Almonor, and Garrison off the bench to give the starters a breath.
Whether the coaching staff runs a platoon or not, this Kentucky basketball team is going to have a lot of depth, which will lead to fresh legs in late-game situations.
