Otega Oweh Appreciates Kentucky’s Depth

Otega Oweh believes coach Mark Pope could platoon players next season if he wanted to do that. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Otega Oweh, UK’s leading scorer last season, used a word during his interview with “The Field of 68” at a recent basketball practice that has not been used for a while in conjunction with UK basketball.

“We’re super deep. We can do a platoon sub,” Oweh told Jeff Goodman of The Field of 68.

Remember Kentucky’s 2014-15 team that started the season 38-0 for coach John Calipari had a platoon system where he would start five players and then sub another unit. That team had seven future NBA draft picks and despite losing in the Final Four to Wisconsin still ranks as one of UK’s best teams ever.

“We can go from one all the way to 13. We’re super deep,” Oweh told Goodman. “The guys are hungry, everyone has a chip on their shoulder. Individually, if you go down the line, everyone has something to prove this year. I feel like when you have a team like that, that’s a great recipe.”

Kentucky coach Mark Pope didn’t use the word platoon while talking with The Field of 68 but he did mention pace of play to take advantage of his team’s depth.

“We’re gonna play really fast,” Pope said. “We’re gonna squeeze a boatload of possessions into the game. Last year we were one of two teams in the entire country that had six players averaging double-figures. Only two teams did that last year. And we’re gonna try to up the ante. We’re gonna try to get to seven or eight guys averaging double-figures. Why not?”

When Calipari went with his platoon system, eight players averaged more than 20 minutes per game but only three had double-figure scoring averages as that team wore opponents down with an unrelenting defense. Pope wants to wear foes out with offense.

“There is so much of this game that still remains to be unlocked by college coaches and college teams, and we’re trying to go search for it,” Pope said. “We’re trying to push the envelope, push the envelope, push the envelope. And I think we have the guys to do it.”

Pope told me during a summer interview that he had a “bunch of players that actually want to compete” and understood the competition level at UK.

“They don’t want to take the easy road to playing time. They don’t want to take the easy road. They want to go win, and they want to be in a pressure cooker every single day because that’s actually what makes great players,” Pope said.

“It’s so interesting when you go to the combine. You see so many players that put up big numbers all season long, and they get in the combine with a ton of talent around them, and they look so lost. These are guys that were like 20 (points) and 10 (rebound) guys, and they look so lost when they’re put on a team of 10 great players.

“Our guys flourish there because that’s the way they live every day. When you go play at the next level, you’re on a roster with12 or 14 of the best players in the entire world. I think we have guys that are built for that. That doesn’t mean every single one of our guys is going to fight every day to earn space on this roster. But all of our guys signed up for that because they understand that’s what turns them into great, great players. None of our guys are looking to take the easy road.”