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He’s the highest rated player in the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class and recently USA Today’s new 2024 NBA mock draft projected him as the No. 1 overall pick.
But Justin Edwards insists even though he eventually wants to be a first-round draft pick that’s not his focus now at Kentucky.
“I look at it like rankings. I don’t really pay it no mind. I just feel like everybody has an opinion. I don’t really pay it any mind. Just play basketball,” said Edwards last week.
That’s the type of attitude Kentucky basketball fans embrace, especially after UK has managed just one NCAA Tournament win in the last three years. Kentucky’s roster had a lot of questions and was in a state of flux before four late additions gave coach John Calipari 11 scholarship players for next season and put UK back in the top 25 of most preseason polls.
Edwards had his breakout game for UK in the GLOBL Jam gold medal game when he scored 23 points on 10-for-20 shooting from the field and also had seven rebounds, two blocks, two assists and one steal in 28 minutes.
“He played really well offensively but he was also really good on the defensive end,” Kentucky Radio Network analyst Jack Givens said.
While UK fans and many media members speculated about this season’s roster, Edwards and his teammates did not.
“I would say we don’t really focus on that. We’re just here to play basketball,” Edwards, who averaged 13.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in Canada, said. “We knew (Calipari) was going to get players, so we just focused on the main thing.”
The rosters has seven freshmen, two sophomores and two seniors but went 4-0 against teams from Canada, Germany and Africa in Toronto last week.
Edwards likes what he’s seen from his teammates.
“We’re all competing and we all want to win. Nobody’s trying to be selfish or anything,” Edwards said. “I’m really excited because I’m really confident with our squad this year. I feel like we can accomplish a lot of big things that people think we can’t do so I just want to go out there and show people that we’re ready for it.”
Antonio Reeves has certainly bought into the talent of the Kentucky freshmen a lot quicker than he anticipated he might.
“I feel like all the freshmen. They work, they compete at the highest level and all have been impressive. Me, coming in personally, I didn’t believe (the hype). I’ve got to see for myself, stuff like that, but when I came in here, everybody was working,” Reeves, UK’s leading scorer in the four-game Canadian trip, said. “Everybody even had their own role that they have starred in, so everybody definitely blew my mind when I came back.”
“These guys are competitive. They work really hard and you can just tell on the floor how better they’re getting. They’re gelling together so fast, that’s what it’s all about, being brothers out there and looking out for each other. I feel like just the maturity they’re gaining each and every day is fast, so it’s definitely working out.”
Even with 7-foot freshman Aaron Bradshaw out with a foot injury, Calipari is back feeling good about his team despite the roster uncertainty until late June.
“We were always in a strong position. I was never panicked about anything,” Calipari said. “Where we are, I’m happy about it. We’ve got veterans. The best teams I’ve coached had really good young players and veterans.
“Now, those veterans haven’t always been older veterans, sometimes they’re sophomores and juniors. But they were veterans in that they played college basketball.”
Calipari knows it took luck/fate to help complete the roster with the transfer of 6-9 versatile forward Tre Mitchell after West Virginia coach Bob Huggins was fired after being arrested for DUI. Mitchell had 20 points in his first game at UK and then had 18 points, 11 rebounds and five assists in the gold medal game win.
“What happened with Tre was fate,” Calipari said. “If Hugs doesn’t have his issue — that kid loved Bob Huggins. He wasn’t leaving. Then all of a sudden, it’s like, ‘Wait a minute, what’s happened? I’m out.’ That’s fate.”
And good luck for Kentucky.
