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Kentucky had its first official basketball practice Wednesday and that might help freshman Justin Edwards keep from paying too much attention to the big expectations being placed on him.
It’s not Kentucky fans raising expectations. Instead, it’s coming from various 2024 NBA mock drafts that keep predicting the UK freshman could be college basketball’s biggest breakout star this year.
Kyle Boone of CBS Sports has now projected Edwards to be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.
“Our new No. 1, again with the caveat that this could absolutely change in the coming months, is Kentucky freshman forward Justin Edwards. Edwards showcased scoring, playmaking and creation for Kentucky in a short stint with the Wildcats in Canada, helping UK bring home hardware despite being limited with injuries to their frontcourt,” Boone wrote.
“The former five-star has the physical stature and maturity to be an impact player on and off the ball with a rare blend of length, athleticism and ball skills that makes his projection to the NBA level a natural one.”
It was about a month ago that The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie put Edwards No. 1 in his mock 2024 NBA Draft.
“Edwards is an athletic, bigger wing who has a well-rounded game,” Vecenie wrote. “He consistently plays hard and has an excellent feel for the game. Defensively, he’s all sorts of versatile and plays with attention to detail across the board.”
“He’ll be Kentucky’s best player this year, ahead of highly rated recruits such as DJ Wagner, Rob Dillingham, Aaron Bradshaw and others. That bore itself out during the team’s trip to Canada for the GLOBL JAM event. Most importantly: Edwards was very confident taking 3s, even though he only made 30 percent of them.
“I buy him being a bit more polished than some of these other guys, capable of playing well on both ends of the floor at an important position of value (a combo three/four) and especially able to drive toward the rim.”
Edwards was a consensus top five player in his recruiting class and the highest ranked player in UK’s No. 1 recruiting class this season.
He averaged 14 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 24.8 minutes per game in UK’s four wins in Canada.
4 Responses
Larry, will Wagner share the ball? Reeves and Edwards are 18 – 20 point scorers every night…if they get the ball. Calipari wants to groom Wagner as a lottery pick as a 20+ ppg guy. I don’t think there will be enough minutes or balls to keep everyone happy.
I think he will share Barry
I hope you are right Larry.
The goal and focus remains NBA draft positions and not UK Program success.
Calipari is a complete fraud.