‘Big Blue Bahamas’ teases fans with a new dynamic Cats team

What UK head coach John Calipari has on his roster – an influx of talent – is not a problem.

It will be a luxury, as we found out during the UK’s stay in the Bahamas. Calipari can do anything he wants to with a rotation that can run 12 players deep, and he’ll have 30 games to figure out how to use his luxury.

Here are six observations from UK’s six games in the Bahamas:

1. Junior forward Alex Poythress is playing like a man who is tired of starting games on the bench. His energy is off the charts, and he led the Cats in hustle and highlight plays during their eight-day getaway. Poythress has become the player Calipari begged him to become at this time last year and it should push Poythress to be in UK’s opening day starting five.

2. Freshman guard Tyler Ulis may also play his way into the starting lineup if he continues to dazzle with the basketball. Ulis sees the court and his teammates offensively in a way no other UK point guard has since Calipari has been in Lexington. His late-game steal against Champaigne Chalom-Reigns keyed the Cats’ victory, which reminds observers that his defense isn’t too far behind his offensive exploits.

The one concern about putting Ulis in the starting lineup come the regular season is keeping Andrew Harrison satisfied. But given Harrison’s growth dating to last March, that will be another “luxury” for Calipari to have to manage.

3. One has to wonder whether or not freshman forward Trey Lyles will be the big man who does not get a significant amount of minutes throughout the year. Sophomore center Dakari Johnson looks sleeker and more comfortable near the basket. Junior forward Willie Cauley-Stein will be the defensive stopper of the group and could have played this week if the games counted, and sophomore forward Marcus Lee played with more control – and with the same athleticism – than he did as a freshman; and sophomore Derek Willis should not be discounted either. So where does that leave Lyles? He will likely get a decent amount of playing time, but he will need to play at a comparable level to Johnson, Lee and Willis.

4. Fellow freshman forward Karl Towns Jr. was the most impressive interior player offensively this week. He and Ulis already have a connection with an effective two-man screen action, something that becomes even more difficult to defend if Towns hits outside jumpers with regularity. You see, this team has a lot of luxuries.

5. Devin Booker seems to do a decent impression as the perimeter shooter in Calipari’s offense. But what Booker did best in the Bahamas was fit in. Booker fits the bill as an off-the-ball wing player and shot the ball well (6-of-14 from beyond the arc) and he does not need the ball to make plays, which makes him a good complement to the Harrison twins in the Cats first platoon grouping.

6. As if UK basketball needed more exposure, it got some this week. The Cats games were the only college basketball to consume in sight with more than two months to go before the season begins. The “Big Blue Bahamas” idea was a brilliant way for John Calipari to market his team’s international trip in a way no other program has done.

The machine keeps rolling along.