What if John Calipari is holding out starting guards to make other players have to get better?

John Calipari's team beat Alabama and LSU with guards TyTy Washington and Sahvir Wheeler watching and cheering and might have to try to do the same at Arkansas Saturday. (Vicky Graff Photo)

You’ve heard them before. They start as benign rumors. Someone knows someone that knows a person with inside information that says it didn’t happen, or it did happen or maybe the situation was manipulated by someone in power to look like it was something that it’s not. Of course, I’m talking about conspiracy theories.

They’ve been going around for years. There are conspiracy theories about NASA not landing on the moon, the John F Kennedy assassination, the 911 attacks on New York City, the death of Princess Diana, the existence of UFOs, and, of course, the one about Elvis still being alive.

Well, what about this one. What if John Calipari was holding out TyTy Washington and Savhir Wheeler longer than he needed to so that he could put pressure on some of the other players on the roster to step up and become stars instead of just settling into being a role player? I know most people reading this are saying in their best John Calipari imitation, “Whattttt?” But hear me out.

What if John Calipari saw that in order for this team to reach its ultimate goal — a national championship — he needed some of the role players like Kellan Grady and Jacob Toppin to step up and build “their own confidence” as he likes to say? What if he saw that Jacob Toppin was satisfied to be a “10-minute man” by playing defense, grabbing a few rebounds, and getting a putback dunk or two during his 10 minutes in the game? Then, all of a sudden, Washington can’t play and Calipari knows he needs another athletic player that can create his own shot on drives to the basket or pull up jumpers from 15-feet in.

What if Calipari saw that in these last few games of the regular season Toppin could develop into another formidable weapon if he could play 30 minutes a game instead of 10? All of a sudden opponents have to honor Toppin on the drive and the short jumper and Toppin now has the confidence in big games to drive the ball to score or pull up on a short jump shot in traffic. That additional confidence and experience could pay tremendous dividends in the NCAA Tournament.

The same could be said for Grady, who has been a solid player all season. He can be counted on to hit three or four 3-pointers per game to help take some pressure off of Oscar Tshiewbe’s inside game. But after Grady played lights out against Alabama it might seem like John Calipari has manufactured a situation where he can rest a couple of his starters who are slightly banged up and also force some of his role players to step up and perform as stars on a much bigger stage.

Think about it. If over the course of the last few games of the season players like Grady, Toppin, and Davion Mintz — and now Bryce Hopkins — are forced into roles that they might not have been comfortable with earlier in the season and they perform well, how much more dangerous could this team be at tournament time. Opposing coaches would then have to game plan for a Kentucky team that could be driven on any particular night by Wheeler and  Washington playing a high-level brand of “get up and down the floor in five seconds” basketball or they may have to face a team that plays a better half-court game with Grady, Mintz, and Toppin but can still get up and down the floor.

Either group can now create shots out of a different type offense or he could mix and match players depending on the situation and the matchups with his opponent. Foul trouble might not create an insurmountable obstacle for this team even though they only have a true seven-man rotation with Lance Ware being the eighth man coming off the bench playing less than 10 minutes per game.

The beauty of this conspiracy theory is it might be true. How else could Calipari sit two of his best players for multiple games to allow some of his role players to get enough minutes to develop into leaders and stars on a team that is already being touted as a 1 or 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament? And he may sit them again Saturday against Arkansas.

That’s what I love about conspiracy theories. There is just enough truth in them to cause a person to have to stop and really think about if this is true? Is it really possible?

So think about it? Could this be true? Is John Calipari holding out Wheeler and Washington longer than is absolutely necessary to force other players to step up and perform at a much higher level?

Just like the alien spacecraft that is stored at Roswell, N.M., if it is true the general public will probably never find out but crazier things have happened. You just never know.

Whoops, gotta go. I think I just saw Bigfoot crossing through my backyard and headed into the forest.