Jacob Toppin (Vicky Graff Photo)
Not quite sure why it took so long for him to make it official, but Kentucky forward Jacob Toppin finally confirmed Tuesday what we all knew —he’s coming back to UK for another season. Like a lot of Kentucky players do, he put his name into the NBA draft with the full blessing of Kentucky coach John Calipari.
However, Toppin averaged 5.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game in his freshman season at Rhode Island before transferring to Kentucky where he averaged 5.2 points and 3.5 rebounds per game in the 2020-21 season. Last year he averaged 6.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game but was a non-factor in the NCAA Tournament loss to Saint Peter’s because Calipari left him on the bench.
He waited as long as he could to take his name out of the draft and announce on a social media video that he would be back at Kentucky.
“What’s up Big Blue Nation? This is Jacob here. First off, I want to start by thanking God because without Him, I wouldn’t be in this position I’m in today. I want to thank my family, the coaching staff, my teammates, and everyone along this journey who’s helped me. But most importantly, I want to thank the best fans in the country, Big Blue Nation,” Toppin said in his video.
“Without you guys, I don’t know where I would be. With that being said, I miss you guys. And let’s run it back one more year. Go Big Blue.”
The 6-9 Toppin was not mentioned in any NBA mock draft that I saw. But in Calipari’s own 2023 mock draft, Toppin is mentioned.
“He will be a first-round pick next year,” Calipari said Tuesday on the Paul Finebaum Show on the SEC Network.
Bigger roles for Toppin and sophomore Daimion Collins certainly contributed to senior Keion Brooks deciding to transfer rather than play his senior season at UK. Toppin is an excellent defender and will be one of UK’s most athletic players but he also has to show he can consistently hit an outside shot — something he has yet to prove in his 83 collegiate games that includes nine starts.
He did shoot a career-best 55.6 percent from the field and hit 40 percent from 3-point range in limited tries. He also blocked 16 shots.
The thinking is with more playing time, Toppin can be a defensive stopper and a more explosive offensive weapon to help solidify UK as a top five team going into next season.
Kentucky returns national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe and SEC assists leader Sahvir Wheeler. Calipari is also adding two top 10 freshmen in Cason Wallace and Chris Livingston along with transfer Antonio Reeves.
Kentucky won’t have Shaedon Sharpe — but who really thought he would be back next year.
And maybe Toppin delayed his decision announcement to help offset the news late Tuesday night that Sharpe would not be back that only stirred up the wrath of numerous UK fans again.
5 Responses
Toppin, Collins, and Ware need to bulk up this Summer while working on their shooting. Sahvir will be the one player who will have the biggest impact on this team’s success or lack of it. If he continues to try to impress NBA teams that he is capable of playing in the League, the team will struggle. If he commits to being a facilitator and defender then this team could have a shot of going far. A starting lineup of Tshiebwe, Toppin, Reeves, Crawford, and Wheeler will be the best if they all commit to team first. Wallace and Livingston will get their chance to play but will not get the starring roles that would make them OAD. This team will be a 9 player rotation product, but that is the model for winning teams. Win it all or Calipari goes home for good.
I believe you are living in the past with me when you said Crawford would start! He hasn’t been available for many years now LOL, but yeah, put him in coach!
Watching film, I suspect Wallace is the real deal and more college ready than even TyTy was. He will likely start, with Frederick as backup. Even if CJ really is better, I don’t see Cal bringing a likely OaD off the bench behind Frederick.
Plus, CJ is not an aggressive scorer – if you thought it was bad last year with Cal yelling at Grady to "shoot", then get ready for "shoot the @#$%& ball" 2.0 – he is no where near the volume shooter that Grady was.
Reeves is the real deal.
Livingston’s body looks the part, but I think his game needs some more polish, HOWEVER,… although I will be disappointed – I wouldn’t be surprised if Cal starts him over Reeves because Livingston "could" be OaD.
Collins was still very raw at the end off the year. I believe he will back up Toppin, maybe even Oscar in a pinch? I know Cal sings Collin’s praises, but he didn’t back those up with PT in games. I would be surprised if Collins gets big minutes against quality opponents before late season.
Ware…… 6 minutes PG again, unless…..
Last, I ask you to remember last year’s losses and the one thing all of our opponents had in common – size, height, and length at the rim gave us fits.
I am still holding out a delusional hope that Cal will change course and go after Pete Nance now that Leonard Miller declared to stay in the draft.
1. We really need someone over 6’9 – elite defenses have rim protection and we have not added anything to change that problem from last year.
2. With Wheeler and Oscar a given weakness from 3 pt range, we need outside shooting in the other 3 positions to open up the lane.
3. Last, we need a "productive" player who can back up Oscar in the big games for 10- 12 minutes for rest or foul trouble.
4. We have 3 open scholarships and an injury to any of our shooters puts us right back where we were last year with no options if a couple of guys are cold from the outside.
6’11 Nance at the 4 position solves all 4 of those problems in one player, but poor Toppin and Collins would give up big minutes to a player of his caliber and skill.
I am really torn on the fairness and loyalty of that to our players (and expect Cal is too), but if our objective is to get the best pieces to win against any opponent..?… Cal should be camped on his doorstep before UNC snags him.
I agree but Who’s Crawford?
Easy answer: KY desperately needs shot blocking length and 3 point shooting in a stretch 4 – remember, Cal showed strong interest in Leonard Miller and Ky was his most likely destination if he pulled out of the draft.
I suspect it is not a coincidence that Toppin announced his return on twitter 29 minutes after Miller announced on twitter that he was staying in the draft.
Miller, an OaD, would have once again relegated Toppin to be forgotten on the bench. Can’t say that I blame Topp for waiting until he knew that he would finally have meaningful minutes before committing to come back.
Why is future NBA draft position such a constant focal point for this coach.
Why wouldn’t our coach say something like, "John Calipari already calling him a difference-maker for the 2023 UK team"