Lamont Butler has impressed teammates with his summer play. (UK Athletics Photo)
LaMont Butler was a two-time Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year so it was no surprise when Kentucky teammate Otega Oweh said the toughest player to score against in summer practices has been Butler.
Butler could be one of the best defensive guards in the country. He averaged 1.4 steals per game in 131 games at San Diego State the previous four years.
“His instincts are crazy, and his lateral movements are very good,” Oweh said. “He’s a strong guard. Lamont is a great defender. Great point guard, too. He brings everything to the game. So I’m really excited to play with him. And then on top of that, we go at it in practice.”
Another spirited practice battle has been at center between Amari Williams, a three-time Coastal Athletic Association Defensive Player of the Year at Drexel, and Brandon Garrison, an Oklahoma State transfer and former McDonald’s All-American.
Wake Forest transfer Andrew Carr said the 6-10, 245-pound Garrison had been “super physical” in practice.
“He’s made a really concerted effort to keep his super high motor all the time in practice and give it his all. And it’s been really apparent,” Carr said.
3 Responses
Can’t wait!
Garrison is going to be one of the best bigs in the SEC this season. If he would have played for Kentucky last year he would have went pro. So we basically have another one and done type of player who stayed to be a sophomore. He’s going to be very very good this year. With Alomonor, Carr, Williams , and Garrison we should have one of the best front courts in college basketball. Our back court is just as good as the front court. With Butler, Oweh, Brea, Kriisa, and Robinson our back court is extremely talented and experienced as well. If we can get that 7 footer who reclassified I think it would really help our bigs be even better. I can’t wait to see Chandler dunk on someone. I can’t wait for the season.
Perry & Noah would be studying the transfer portal if they read/believed some of the nonsense about their being the equivalent of just left-overs on the UK roster – either not mentioned or only mentioned as definite red-shirts.
Mark Pope, the UK COACH, who is the decision-maker, and not influenced by any nonsense comments on social media which ignore the benefit of Perry & Noah far too intelligent to leave 2 of the greatest KY HS players in history at the far end of the bench or being “red-flagged” to just watch from the sidelines.
This is a new era, where UK BB will rise again to the level where Rick Pitino led UK in the 90’s. Brainless HC decisions for the past 1/4 century have been swept away.