Bigger questions than usual at UK

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Bigger bodies and questions than usual at Kentucky

If all goes as planned, at some point this season the Kentucky lineup may include not one, not two, but three 7-footers. When might that point arrive? Because John Calipari is a basketball coach, not a medical professional or an eligibility specialist, not even he can for sure.

The uncertainty about the full-go availability of 7-1, 226-pound McDonald’s All-American freshman Aaron Bradshaw, 7-foot, 247-pound sophomore Ugonna Onyenso and 7-2, 234-pound freshman Zvonimir Ivisic from Croatia helps explain a few things. Like the SEC preseason media poll, which picked UK to finish fourth in the conference, and the AP preseason poll, which ranked them No. 16 in the country.

Both are the lowest starting points in those opinion polls in the Calipari era.

“I feel like people are sleeping on us,” said guard Antonio Reeves, a rare fifth-year senior on a Calipari roster who’s expected to be a major contributor after being named SEC Sixth Man of the Year last season.

Is everyone sleeping on the ‘Cats? Perhaps, but Kentucky hasn’t won the SEC regular-season title in four years or the SEC Tournament in six years. The Wildcats haven’t reached the Final Four since 2015, an eternity by Calipari and Kentucky standards.

While teams like Tennessee and Auburn will bring veteran rosters to this season’s SEC race, Kentucky will rely on the Calipari formula, which features another stellar recruiting class. It’s guard-heavy with the likes of D.J. Wagner, the No. 4 prospect in this class per ESPN and 247 Sports; Rob Dillingham, the No. 13 prospect according to 247 Sports; and Kentucky Mr. Basketball Reed Sheppard, the No. 22 prospect per ESPN.

If Kentucky is going to return to championship form, those talented guards will have to adapt quickly to the college game and blend with veterans like Reeves, who showed his potential last season when he went off for 37 points in a win at Arkansas.

The biggest question mark concerns the largest bodies on the team. Both Bradshaw and Onyenso are coming back from off-season foot surgery. Calipari said both “are on the right path” and each has added “20-25 pounds of muscle.”

As for Ivisic, he only recently arrived on campus, and while he’s practicing with the team, he still has eligibility hurdles to clear after playing on a European club team for two years.

“He’ll be a big piece of the puzzle for us,” Calipari said, “but if you’re thinking he’s going to walk in and dominate, you’re not thinking right.”

It’s hard to know what to think about Calipari’s 15th Kentucky team. Will it be, to use his phrase, “Kentucky good,” a level recent UK teams have not reached? Reeves, for one, appreciates the doubts.

“If people think we’re the underdogs, that’s a good thing,” he said. “We get to show people how good we are.”

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