Otega Oweh has impressed freshman Braydon Hawthorne with how he uses his body. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Freshman wing Braydon Hawthorne has been compared to former UK All-American Tayshaun Prince not only by UK coach Mark Pope but also by his former high school coach.
Hawthorne has downplayed those comparisons but won’t shy away from how talented his teammates are.
“Jasper (Johnson) has really — he’s just so shifty and he can shoot the ball so well,” Hawthorne said. “Otega (Oweh) is very impressive using his body, gets to his mid-range. That’s very impressive.”
He said he could “go on and on” about Alabama transfer Mo Dioubate because of what he can do on both offense and defense.
“Trent (Noah), he doesn’t miss. Kam (Williams) doesn’t miss. Jaland Lowe’s real crafty with the ball,” Hawthorne said. “Collin Chandler, he can shoot. Reece (Potter) rebounds and shoots. Malachi (Moreno) blocks shots, rebounds, and dunks. He does everything. Denzel Aberdeen, he shoots, plays defense, scrappy. He does everything.”
Hawthorne likes the way all his teammates have tried to help him and each other during summer practices and workouts.
“We all encourage each other every day, even when we make mistakes. We lift each other’s heads up. It’s been fun,” the freshman said.
2 Responses
I'm excited about basketball season, but when mid August rolls around I start looking forward to football. I'm in football mode but that can all change on August 30th. If we lose to Toledo the first game of th season I doubt we win 4-5 games. If we beat Toledo week 1 I will be even more pumped about football season. Usually when we come off a buy we always lose and that also makes the season suck. I have my own theory on Stoops and his coaching career going forward from 2025. If we aren't a playoff team this year I would get rid of Stoops. Yes we play in the SEC and it's hard for Kentucky to succeed in the SEC in football. I say if Stoops wins 7 or less games he has to go. Especially if Tulane does what I think they will do and make the playoffs this year. It will have taken Sumrall 4 years of coaching to make a playoff. He was one win away last year. This year I think they go. I dont want 6-7 wins to save Stoops job and Sumrall will jump on the train to either Auburn, Florida, or Mississippi State. Then they will beat us every year he's coaching there. It makes no sense. 8 wins or more should save Stoops job. If we go say 6-6. Which means we win maybe 2 SEC games. That will mean in the last 3 years we've only won 5 games in the SEC that's unacceptable.
Coach Pope has a goldmine of a team, but how is he going to keep everyone happy? Typically, a good team has a steady rotation of 7 to 9 players. Finding minutes for a 10th is difficult unless injuries occur, much less finding time for guys 11 through 14. A team needs this kind of makeup to be a title contender. It needs to maintain this kind of makeup each year if it desires to be a perennial title contender. That means we have guys who won't play much this year but will be in line for more minutes next year. Can Pope keep them here or will that transfer portal rip them away for the hope of getting to start at another school? We don't have everyone on campus yet and Quaintance's readiness is still a question mark. There will be some who will be disappointed if they aren't starters or at least get a starter's minutes. There is just not enough minutes in a game unless it goes into 4 overtimes or more. I have seen the talking heads name who they think will start for Kentucky this season and the only GIVEN that I see is Oweh; the other 4 spots are still in play. Whoever does rise to the top better realize that being a starter at the start of the season is no guarantee of being a starter at the end of the season. Whoever gets the starting nod, they had better be playing all out because the second group of 5 is just as good as the starting 5 and Pope should have no reservation about benching a starter if they should lose their focus on winning No. 9. I can even see a starter losing that job, but come back and regain it by season's end. This team is loaded and NOBODY will want to play Kentucky come tourney time!