John Calipari has a lot of lineup options this season but insists he still plans to play only eight players regularly. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky only had eight scholarship players available for Monday night’s game against Howard that turned into an easy 95-63 victory for Kentucky with four players having 15 points or more and every scholarship player having at least two field goals.
Kentucky hosts Duquesne on Friday and then faces Michigan State in the Champions Classic Tuesday in Indianapolis.
Odds are the Cats will be back at full strength with returning national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe and two-time all-southeastern Conference point guard Sahvir Wheeler back from injuries and Daimion Collins back from his father’s funeral.
So who will coach John Calipari decide to play — or how much to play them — when he has a full roster?
“We’re going to have a couple guys fighting for minutes because you won’t believe this, you know Oscar’s playing. So that means those 28 to 30 minutes are coming from somewhere,” said Calipari Monday night.
“Daimion comes back, let’s just, even if it’s 20, 25 minutes, it’s coming from somewhere. So guys you start — and I’m not going to play 11 guys.”
Calipari does normally prefer an eight-player rotation but he has 11 players that all seem capable of playing. With three players out, others have made their mark in two exhibition games and the game against Howard.
“One of the things I’m trying to do is I’m holding guys to a high standard because they’re going to be fighting for minutes. Most of it will come down to, are you breaking down defensively? Are you not rebounding balls? Then I got to play someone else,” Calipari said.
“And there’s two or three of you. So whoever’s the best defender, the best rebounder, a guy that’s out there and we click. And the greatest thing about this game and I believe next game is everybody’s getting minutes to show what they are. And if there’s any separation you’ll see it.”
So why not just play them all? If 11 players are showing they can play, why not use all 11 in some kind of rotation?
“Just hard on all of ’em. You remember the year I did the platoons (2014-15) and we won every game and it was all — yeah, for two years I couldn’t recruit anybody. You want to go there and play 20 minutes? I’m going to start you and you’re going to take all the shots and you have to go there,” Calipari said.
“I did that one time in my career. And I had no choice. I had 10 guys. So if I felt we had 10, you know who — that year who 11 and 12 were? Two good players that are still playing professionally. Oh, my gosh. Dominique (Hawkins) and Derek (Willis). Some of you had no idea. Old people.”
“Those two were 11 and 12. They stayed and did their thing and playing professionally. Derek I think is in Spain now. He was in Italy. I was jealous. But he’s in Spain. And he’s making great money. Doing well.”
6 Responses
If he follows his form, the starters will include his current crop of NBA-annointed pet, and there will be some players who have incredible collegiate games that will be chained to the bench.
The starters iMO ought to be Oscar, Toppin, Fredrick, Reeves, and Wheeler.
The second five should be Collins, Wallace, Livingston, Thiero, and either Ware or Onyenso
This team is loaded. This is the best team UK has had since 2015.
If this team goes 38-0 and faces Wisconsin in the final four, Fredrick and Reeves best not be on the bench down the stretch in lieu of Wallace and Livingston!!!!!!
In essence, that is what this guy did to end the 2015 season 38-1.
That team did not "belong" to those twins any more than that team belonged to Booker and Ulis who rode the bench while the twins squandered the win away with turnovers and shot clock violations with immortality for one of the all-time great UK basketball teams hanging in the balance.
Play them all coach. Like we saw last year, and even early this season, injuries occur, and if the coach fails to have the "bench" ready to go with actual game experience that matters, the team suffers, as does the program.
The precious NBA destinations will take care of themselves, but it cheats the program and it cheats the fan base.
I think Wallace, Frederick, Reeves, Toppin and Oscar is the best team.. Wheeler is a turnover machine and can’t shoot!
STAND UP AND STAND IT’S OK
Coach I think you should play or use all 11 .I like your 8 man rotation but if one or two are having a bad night sit them down and use your other guys so it don’t make the team suffer a loss because I want you to have a number9 and ten or more I want you to own the the most ncaa Champs of all times b4 you retire, that would be better than the best coach of all time it would be the truth.
Cal’s the coach…..Play them all when you can…never know when an injury might happen to a starter and we will need to rely on the 9,10,11 players…they need some experience….just my opinion…Cal’s the Coach !
Michigan game: Onyenso did not play. Collins nearly did not play. Ware was put in to rest Tshiebwe. Wheeler did not start and was not allowed to control the tempo and team play for much of the game. Ware or Onyenso were not allowed to help Tshiebwe rebound, defend the rim, shutdown Hauser’s three’s, draw fouls from Sissoko or at least absorb some of Tshiebwe’s fouls. Frederick was afraid to make any mistakes lest he be benched like so many other players under Calapari that were not going to the NBA. The other players made many mistakes and remained in the game.
Calapari has said he is all about the players. i.e. creating NBA players. So he will give the most minutes to the players that have the talent and athleticism to make it into the draft. Wallace, Tshiebwe, Livingston, Reeves, and Toppin must play. Onyenso & Thiero need to develop and will probably warm the bench for next years team. Ware will sub for Tshiebwe to rest. Collins will sub for others to rest. Wheeler is needed to teach Wallace and feed the ball to the talent. Frederick will probably be benched unless he is super hot with three’s. Even then Calapari is not about three point shooting teams. He stresses defense and individual play to showcase his players to the NBA.