Vicky Graff Photo
Exhibition number one is in the books. The 2023-2024 Kentucky Wildcat basketball season has officially started.
What did we learn about this team Friday night in the 92-69 win over Georgetown College? Are there concerns? Is there excitement? Have fans started booking their rooms for the Final Four?
It was a sluggish start. The Georgetown Tigers gained confidence with every made point. The offense flow was not there and the Tigers showed more fight. Kentucky led by only one point at the half. Coach John Calipari did what he does at halftime and the Cats pulled it together in the second half.
Kentucky started the second half on an eight-point run and took the lead by double digits., never looking back. The Cats took control of the tempo.
For the game the Cats shot 48.6 percent from the floor, 36.4 percent from 3 and 80 percent from the free throw line.
It will take time for this team to “figure itself out.” DJ Wagner is the perfect point guard for Calipari to mold and Justin Edwards’ offensive contributions will fall in line with the skill he exhibits in defense in time.
Rob Dillingham is noticeably bigger and stronger than he was in Canada. He has gained confidence and is not scared to take any shot. The only problem I had was every time he scored I said, “Dilly, Dilly.” This, of course, shows my age. If you don’t get it google and a Bud Light commercial will appear.
Sitting on the bench were three 7-footers. The missing piece(s) to this year’s team. The Cats can be good without them but in order to make a run and be great they need the presence of a tree in the middle.
The problem being … who knows when any of the three will join the team. Time will tell and until then I am holding off on making any room reservations for Final Four weekend.
Next up is Kentucky State on Thursday at Rupp Arena. One can only hope we will have some good news on Big Z by tipoff.
3 Responses
Hope springs eternal
Z is Enos Canter all over again. At best, he won’t be cleared to play until after the Fall semester is over. At worst, he won’t play at all due to his pro play in Europe…Calipari hasn’t learned anything. As for O and B, I don’t see them ready to play until January at the earliest, but at that point, both may decide to forego this season and prepare for the draft. IF that’s the case, I see a 3rd or 4th place finish in the SEC and a 3rd game exit from the Dance. That’s our ceiling until Calipari is gone.
This team has all the parts to be good, very good, but we still need to find out how the bigs are going to fit in. We will definitely need them.
Dillingham is a very good point guard, but you can see he is not at the maturity level of the other freshmen. Not everyone grows up at the same pace, so it will just take him some time.
It is good finally see more than one player on this team that can take the ball to the basket and also create their own shot from any level.
The makings are there, but only time will tell.