LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Mike Krzyzewski has this season’s designer collection of freshmen in collection basketball, but Coach K borrowed the concept from John Calipari.
When Coach K signed three of the top five prospects, as well as four of the top 15, from the final 2018 player rankings by 247Sports.com, the world looked to Calipari for his counter move.
A pair of late commitments from E.J. Montgomery and Ashton Hagans rescued Kentucky’s recruiting class. But although Montgomery (No. 9 by 247Sports) was the top-ranked player in Kentucky’s class, he is not the difference maker (yet) in this Calipari team.
The difference is this team has a veteran vibe that has made it grittier than many of Calipari’s first nine teams in Lexington. This is a team with a tweak.
Credit P. J. Washington for ignoring the tug of the NBA to return for his sophomore season.
Credit Reid Travis for transferring from Stanford to give Calipari his fourth senior to start more than half of UK’s games in 10 seasons. Here is the rest of that list:
- Alex Poythress (23 of 36 games in 2016)
- Julius Mays (28 of 33 games in 2013)
- Josh Harrellson (38 of 38 games in 2011)
One season after Kentucky was more dependent upon freshmen as it has been during the Calipari Era, the Wildcats have benefited from an upgrade in experienced faces.
Washington has made himself a frontrunner for Southeastern Conference player of the year as well as the prime contender to be a runner-up to Duke’s Zion Williamson as the national player of the year.
Washington is only the second non-freshman to lead Kentucky in scoring during the Calipari Era. The other: Aaron Harrison, a sophomore, led the 2015 Final Four team, at only 11 points per game.
Washington’s performance has improved in nearly every category. He’s leading the Wildcats at 15 points per game after scoring 10.8 last season. His three-point shooting percentage has jumped from 23.8 to 44.8. Ditto for rebounding — to 7.9 from 5.7.
More assists per game. Fewer turnovers.
Travis has missed Kentucky’s last two games with a knee injury, but he’s given the Wildcats nearly everything Calipari expected. He is UK’s best offensive rebounder on a per-game basis.
He has made 73 percent of his free throws, a valuable attribute for single-elimination tournament play. Travis does not hunt or take silly shots. That’s also valuable.
This season, Kentucky’s freshmen have scored 57.6 of the team’s points, the fifth-lowest total of the Calipari Era. Last season, the freshmen scored 86.8 percent of the Wildcats’ points, the highest total of that 10-year stretch.
Here is the breakdown of the percentage of points scored by freshmen by season:
- 2018 — 86.8 percent, led by Kevin Knox (first), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (second), P.J. Washington (third), Hamidou Diallo (fourth) and Quade Green (fifth)
- 2014 — 82.1 percent, led by Julius Randle (first), James Young (second), Aaron Harrison (third) and Andrew Harrison (fourth)
- 2017 — 64.0 percent, led by Malik Monk (first), De’Aaron Fox (second) and Bam Adebayo (third)
- 2011 — 60.6 percent, led by Brandon Knight (first), Terrence Jones (second) and Doron Lamb (third)
- 2010 — 58.4 percent, led by John Wall (first), DeMarcus Cousins (second) and Eric Bledsoe (third)
- 2019 — 57.6 percent, led by Tyler Herro (second), Keldon Johnson (third) and Ashton Hagans (sixth)
- 2013 — 55.5 percent, led by Archie Goodwin (first), Alex Poythress (second) and Nerlens Noel (third)
- 2012 — 53.1 percent, led by Anthony Davis (first), Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (third) and Marquis Teague (fifth)
- 2016 — 48.5 percent, led by Jamal Murray (first) and Isaiah Briscoe (third)
- 2015 — 45.0 percent, led by Karl-Anthony Towns (second), Devin Booker (third) and Trey Lyles (sixth)
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