Watched the Kentucky/Utah Valley game, and it's just one game, so I'm not putting too much emphasis on it. Knox was OK, but that's about it. Just about every young player on the Kentucky team had his moment or two, but they all had some very bad moments as well. This is to be expected when you start five freshmen. There was a lot of confusion on both offense and defense at times. I saw Kentucky go to a zone defense at times, and that's something you don't normally see Calipari teams do, especially when he has a bunch of elite athlete's like he has this year.If there was a player that stood out to me, it was Wenyen Gabriel, a 6'9", 215 lb combo forward. He has the look at minimum, of a 3 and D player.
Gabriel is a sophmore that got lost in the shuffle last season, and was wise enough to stay in school for another year. He's a terrific defender with the athleticism to defend multiple positions. He appears to have a huge wings9pan and is blessed with terrific lateral quickness. He's also a very good rebounder. Although he didn't shoot the ball particularly well in this game, we at least have some history with him to rely on. He has decent to good form on his shot, and he shot just over 33% from the three last year. Against Utah Valley he ended up with just 7 pt's on 3 of 13 shooting, while grabbing 13 rebounds, blocking 3 shots and one steal. What stood out the most was his defense and overall aggressiveness.
The star, if there was a star would likely be Hamidou Diallo, the 6'5" SG. As most know, his athleticism is off the charts. Going into the season, his ability to defend was his biggest plus. The knock on him was his poor shooting. Well, not in this game. Diallo led the team with 18 pts on 8 of 16 shooting while going 2 of 4 from the three. He also added 5 rebounds and 2 assists. If he can continue to shoot the ball that efficiently, (I don't) expect to see him rise up the draft boards.
Another player that stood out, at least with his athleticism was Nick Richards, a 6'11" center/PF. He scored 10 pts on 4 of 7 shooting, all at the basket whiled adding 3 blocks and 1 steal. What he didn't do was rebound the ball. There are a lot of similarities to Willie Cauley-Stein. Richards is a terrific athlete and like Willie, he came to the game of basketball late (age 14). Calipari is using him in a similar way as Willie, sort of like a free safety, plugging holes in the defense where ever they show up. Like Willie, you can see the potential. We'll see where that goes.
I would love to say glowing things about Knox, but unfortunately I can't. He wasn't horrible, but he didn't stand out either. In 37 minutes he scored 12 pts on 3 of 13 shooting while going 1 for 4 from the three. He did add 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 1 block, so he was active defensively. As I said, he wasn't terrible, but if I didn't know who he was, I wouldn't have paid much attention to him.
The surprise of the game to me was the minutes that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander got at the point. Alexander is a 6'6", 180 lb combo guard, who Calipari apparently plans to have run the point. I thought going into this season that Quade Green, the highly recruited PG would get that job. But apparently Alexander has out played Green in practice. Once again, as I'm getting tired of saying it, Alexander is a very good defender with a very good wingspan. He played 36 minutes and had 13 pts on 5 of 9 shooting while going 1 for 2 from the three. He added 4 steals, 4 assists and 3 rebounds. Not a bad first outing for the freshman.
To summarize, Kentucky has a long way to go if they plan on making a splash in the tournament. They have a lot of talent, especially on the defensive side of the ball, which will be their calling card. But they have to get everyone on the same page. Despite Kentucky's defensive talent, Utah Valley continued to break down their defense far too often. There were times when Kentucky looked like the Keystone Cops. A team like Duke would have killed them. Of course that's what these games are for. Calipari goes through this every year, but this year may be his biggest challenge. While he has a lot of very talented players, only one, Kevin Knox is a top ten player, and it's unprecedented to start 5 freshmen. It should be an interesting ride. Keep your eye on Gabriel and Richards as dark horses during the year.