Reese Potter believes he can initiate the offense if needed like Amari Williams did last season with his ball handling skills. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Reece Potter grew up loving University of Kentucky basketball and the former Lexington Catholic standout understands his transfer back home from Miami (Ohio) to UK does put a little pressure on him.
“Everybody’s been extremely loving to me,” said Potter. “All my friends kind of joke with me, and they kind of put a little pressure on me. They say, ‘You can’t mess it up for your home state.’ But other than that I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve played college ball for a couple of years now, so I kind of know what it is like and obviously I know what Kentucky basketball is like.”
Potter watched a lot of Kentucky basketball last year and paid close attention to center Amari Williams who turned into a point center for Kentucky when UK’s guards were decimated by injuries.
“I ran a similar offense last year at my other school. That’s something that I’m looking to do again,” Potter said. “I like being able to put the ball on the floor and being able to pass and get everybody open. I can make passes some people aren’t going to be able to make because you Amari and me, we’re taller people. We can reach around people and be able to swing it anywhere.
“One reason I came to Kentucky was the way Amari was able to succeed in this offense. I am looking forward to doing that and growing my game in the next couple of years.”
One of Potter’s teammates will be freshman Malachi Moreno, Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball who led Great Crossing to the 2025 state championship. Like Potter, he’s a 7-foot center.
“I played Malachi every year in high school a bunch of times, so we were always getting compared to each other,” Potter said.
He’s also familiar with incoming freshman guard Jasper Johnson, who played two year at Woodford County before spending his final two high school seasons playing for Link Academy and then Overtime Elite.
“I’ve always been really cool with them and know the Johnson family, so it will be nice to have them on my team now,” Potter said.
4 Responses
Potter is going to play a bigger role than most are imagining in the success of this year’s team. There is no way he should consider redshirting.
He only played 15 minutes per game at Miami of Ohio. He would have played on last years team but not this year. He’s #14 on this team. Maybe #13 but I’m saying he’s definitely on the end of the bench every big we have is more ready than him. He’s a great kid he’s also a pretty good basketball player with a ton of room to grow. He will improve so much this year but needs to be on a weight plan. He’s way to skinny to make a difference in the sec but I think he will ultimately gain some weight. Hawthorne also needs to gain about 20 pounds. We have Jelavic (A NBA prospect) Moreno ( a McDonald’s all American and a 2 and done prospect) JQ (probably the most talented big we’ve had since Julius Randle and Karl Anthony Towns) Garrison (already penciled in to start at the 5) Mo-D can also slide over to the 4 and might be the best rebounder on the team. Potter ( Who already has 5 skilled bigs ahead of him. Will be a major help in practice this year. But needs time to adjust to the fast paced sec and the great non conference teams we play. The sec basketball is like football so you have.to have weight on you especially a big. Potters time is coming. 26-27 he will be in the rotation. A redshirt is needed if he wants to actually play for 2 years. Barring injury. If one of our bigs go down we will absolutely need him this year. If everyone is healthy it will take a year. It all depends on how fast JQ can come back after surgery.
There’s a chance both centers could go one and done – redshirt may prove to be pretty good insurance policy.
I’m just saying he will crack the rotation in 26-27 and could possibly be a starter in 27-28. Why waste a year being 4th or 5th on the depth chart with 14 guys on the team. I would redshirt 13 and 14 and give 1-12 all the minutes which isn’t many minutes for 10-12 but they will get a little playing time. This is were I have Noah, Moreno, and Jelavic. I think Jelavic is a tad overrated. I think he will be a future all American but his first year playing American basketball will be a learning experience. Potter and Jelavic will battle in practice there game is similar except Jelavic has the body to bang now.