Davion Mintz got inside the lane to score against TyTy Washington in the Blue-White Game. (UK Athletics Photo)
This time the Southeastern Conference men’s basketball coaches and SEC media members agree — or at least they do about Kentucky junior guard Sahvir Wheeler. The Georgia transfer was named to the preseason all-SEC first team by media members last week and Tuesday received the same honor the league coaches.
Wheeler, a point guard, was a second-team All-SEC selection last year when he led the league in assists at 7.4 per game.
The coaches also put three UK players — Davidson transfer Kellan Grady, West Virginia transfer Oscar Tshiebwe and junior Keion Brooks — on the all-SEC second team just like the media did.
Several things jump out about the preseason honors for UK players.
— Wheeler was probably ranked fourth out of four transfers John Calipari added this season in the minds of UK fans. Grady is a 2,000-point scorer, Tshiebwe was a needed big man and Iowa transfer C.J. Fredrick is a former Kentucky high school standout known for his defense and shooting.
— Brooks played in only 16 games last season and averaged 10.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while shooting 44.1 percent from the field. He was hurt the first half of the season but now finds himself on the preseason all-SEC team. Brooks reached double-figure scoring in 11 of his 16 appearances and posted his first two career double-doubles. He has also now played in 47 collegiate games.
— Sixth-year guard Davion Mintz, who transferred to UK from Creighton last season, averaged 11.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game last year while shooting 37.8 percent from 3-point range. He played in all 25 games and was easily UK’s most consistent player. Yet Mintz is not on any of the preseason all-SEC teams.
Wheeler obviously could turn out to be a much bigger impact player than originally anticipated by many even though he averaged 14 points and 1.7 steals per game last year. He was fifth in the country in assists per game. He had eight double-doubles with points/assists and even had one triples-double.
Calipari has already indicated that Wheeler is going to be a likely starter in the backcourt along with freshman TyTy Washington — the player many believe has been UK’s best player in preseason workouts and will be the team’s best player this season. The Kentucky coach is confident both point guards could function well together.
So where does that leave Mintz? Grady has shown he’s a prolific scorer and has 240 career 3-pointers and has 21 career games with at least four 3-pointers. That kind of production is going to be hard to put on the bench.
Mintz is going to play. He has to. He proved last year how valuable he could be. But Fredrick didn’t transfer to be UK’s ninth player and don’t forget that Dontaie Allen is in the mix.
Remember how UK fans rejoiced when Mintz announced he would return for a super senior season? Now he’s likely not looking at anything close to the 31 minutes per game he played last year and how that plays out could be one of the season’s more interesting storylines.
