New UK basketball roster a blessing for John Calipari, not a curse
October 18, 2013
By David Schuh | Managing editor
John Calipari’s adopted style of mass roster turnover has been a burden in the past.
Championship-caliber teams quickly became a distant memory, while freshmen become millionaires and new faces are tasked with leading the next young UK team.
This year, however, it may be a blessing.
By almost every imaginable measure, fans labeled the 2012-13 season a failure, something Calipari had not experienced in his three previous years in Lexington.
Now, with five freshmen ranked in the top-25 on recruiting lists to go along with three returning players with quality experience, the problems that plagued the Cats last season may be avoidable this time around.
Of course, one of college basketball’s best recruiting classes doesn’t hurt, but there is more to success than talented 18-year-olds.
First, this team has depth. A major issue last season was that when Calipari felt a freshman needed to sit down, he had no serviceable replacement.
So, for example, when then-freshman guard Archie Goodwin made an immature mistake and needed to sit down for a few minutes, he just played through it instead. Thus, his learning curve was slowed.
The 2013-14 team has no such problem.
Behind freshman Andrew Harrison at point guard, his twin brother Aaron Harrison and senior Jarrod Polson can back him up. There are as many as six players who could be an above-average forward in the SEC, giving Calipari a wealth of options on any given night.
Second, they have experience. This team has three players returning who averaged at least 13 minutes per game: Polson and sophomore forwards Alex Poythress and Wille Cauley-Stein. That is a major difference from last season, when zero such players returned.
The changes are evident to Calipari, who has seemed more optimistic at this point in the year than he maybe ever has. He knows that what happens from one year to the next means little in this program.
“I’ve talked more about last year’s team right here than I have since the Robert Morris game,” Calipari said at a media roundtable earlier this month. “That thing is so far behind me, it ain’t even in my mindset. I don’t want them to think about last year. They have nothing to do with last year.”
The excitement around the team has increased as well.
Fans broke the Big Blue Madness campout tents record by 160 tents this year, setting a new mark with 755. They see a different dynamic this fall, one they don’t think will end in the NIT.
“I’m pretty aware (of the expectations), but we can’t really compare ourselves to teams of the past,” Andrew Harrison said. “We have to be ourselves. You just have to become better, be yourself and make sure your teammates are playing together.”
