Calipari, Cats Ready for Challenging 2020-21 Season
It has been an offseason like no other for the Kentucky basketball team, yet some of it seemed exactly the same.
At the end of the 2019-20 campaign, the Cats appeared to be rounding into form just in time to make a postseason run. Instead, they saw the SEC and NCAA Tournaments both cancelled due to the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. Kentucky settled for a 25-6 record but also wondered what might have been.
As the offseason hit, the Cats saw the core of last season’s team opt to enter the NBA Draft, as usual. That included SEC Player of the Year Immanuel Quickley, point guard Ashton Hagans, forward Nick Richards and guard Tyrese Maxey.
But as Kentucky head coach John Calipari begins his 12th season in the Bluegrass, he has once again replenished the talent on his squad. The nation’s top-ranked recruiting class is now on campus and in uniform, preparing for the 2020-21 season.
That class includes 6-3 guard Devin Askew, 6-7 guard Brandon Boston Jr., 6-7 guard Terrence Clarke, 6-6 forward Cam’Ron Fletcher, 6-10 forward Isaiah Jackson and 6-9 forward Lance Ware.
In addition to those players, Kentucky added three transfers in the offseason, all of whom could make a big impact this season. Guard Davion Mintz transferred to UK from Creighton and is expected to see time in the UK backcourt. Up front, the Cats added Wake Forest transfer Olivier Sarr, a 7-0 forward who was named third-team All-ACC last season. Kentucky also added forward Jacob Toppin, a 6-9 forward who played at Rhode Island last season.
Kentucky does return Keion Brooks Jr., who played 15 minutes per game last season. He averaged 4.5 points per game last season. He had five double-digit scoring games during his freshman year, including what turned out to be the season finale, at Florida, where Brooks scored 10 points.
The Cats also have a pair of in-state players who are returning from knee injuries. Guard Dontaie Allen was Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball in 2019. Allen redshirted last year while rehabbing his injury. Forward Zan Payne is coming back from a knee injury of his own and is expected to be ready to go this season.
Adding a number of new players is always a challenge, something that one of Calipari’s new staff additions has quickly found out.
“It’s hard. Bruiser Flint grabbed me after like four days of practice and he looked at me and said, ‘How in the world do you do this every year? Because this is hard,” Calipari said. “They are learning about themselves, they’re learning about each other, we are learning about them, we coaches, and they are learning about us – what we accept, what is not acceptable, what will get a response from me, what am I looking for, how I want them to play, and then how do they play together, who is going to step up.”
And dealing with COVID-19 and the restrictions that go with it have made the challenge that much harder.
“My thing to my team is, through all this, every team is going through this, how do we become the best as players and staff at handling this? So, we’re the best at handling this environment,” Calipari said. “One, we’re in a bubble. Most teams are not. We’re hoping we can mitigate that by how we are, and now all I’m talking about is it can’t be small groups. We’ve all gotta be in this together. We’re all affecting each other’s lives. Let’s do this. A little bit harder, but we are working to be the absolute best with dealing with this environment.”
In addition to navigating the COVID protocols, the Cats will face another challenging schedule this season. In addition to the 18-game SEC slate, Kentucky will have non-conference games against Georgia Tech, Kansas, Louisville, Notre Dame, Texas and UCLA. Calipari hopes the rugged schedule makes his team better.
“I’m worried about it. I think this is a year, you’re not worried about your record as much as playing, playing well and then counting on the committee to pick the best teams,” Calipari said. “And it’s not going to be by record because you’ve got some teams that are going to play six ‘buy’ games. They’re playing the lightest schedule they can get. There’s nothing wrong with that. Then you’re having us, I think it’s safer to play other Power 5s who are testing and protocols like we are, but the problem with that is you’re not going to win as many games.”
The schedule will have no exhibition games and just 27 regular season contests. It has also been condensed into about 30 days less than the time in which it’s normally played.
For Calipari and the Cats, the 2020-21 season will be a season unlike any other, due to navigating COVID-19 and the condensed season. Yet it will be another season when Kentucky has an extremely talented roster and will be expected to make a postseason run.
