Besides returning six regulars from last year’s NCAA runner-up squad, the Wildcats added four high school All-Americans and begin another season with expectations of another championship.
Their frontcourt returns 7-footers Willie Cauley-Stein and Dakari Johnson, along with forwards Marcus Lee and Alex Poythress.
Twin 6-6 guards Aaron and Andrew Harrison are back with their length, scoring and floor leadership in the backcourt. Add in recruits Karl-Anthony Towns (6-11), Trey Lyles (6-10), Devin Booker and Tyler Ulis, and the Wildcats could have a 12-player rotation.
With so much depth, Calipari vows to employ a platoon system to get the most out of players.
“We’ve got a lot of learning to do and I’m not convinced of what the groups will look like,” Calipari said during Thursday’s media day session. “Yesterday or two days ago I changed the groups a little bit, I didn’t like them and I went back.
“We may change some big guys and switch them on different teams to see what that looks like because at the end of the day I’m coaching two teams. … The best teams that I’ve coached, I’ve coached six guys. That being said, I’m doing it twice now.”
Whether Calipari’s five-for-five strategy works and for how long during the season remains to be seen. If nothing else, Kentucky’s attempt should even more intrigue to a season in which the Wildcats have already sparked huge expectations.
“This year it’s more the outside influences that will affect these guys and how strong they are,” Calipari added. “The only expectations I have, again (is) making this work for all these kids. If we do that, they’ll drag this where it’s supposed to go.”
The Wildcats’ spotlight figures to grow after they were voted No. 1 in the preseason USA Today coaches poll announced Thursday. And they’re less than a week removed from a Calipari-organized combine before scouts from all 30 NBA teams.
Considering the Wildcats’ roster makeup and 5-1 record during a summer exhibition tour in The Bahamas, it’s not surprising that Calipari is intent on platooning players. Even Wildcats players who initially had little understanding of the concept are eager to make it work.
“I feel like, it worked in the Bahamas, so why can’t it work during the season?” Johnson said. “Just knowing that you can go all out for spurts and knowing that someone can back you up, it’ll be OK as long as you go out and play your hardest and play your game.”
Obviously, the strategy wouldn’t have been possible had more Wildcats entered the NBA draft last spring following their 60-54 title game loss to Connecticut. But when only forward Julius Randle and guard James Young turned pro after one season, Calipari’s mindset changed.
Surprising the coach most with their decisions to return were Cauley-Stein and the Harrisons. Cauley-Stein’s absence the final three games with an ankle injury fueled his comeback; the Harrisons cited unfinished business from the championship game along with boosting their draft stock.
It left Kentucky with a problem any coach would like to have.
Andrew Harrison said he’s all in, that he wants to help the Wildcats succeed no matter what the rotation is.
“I just want to win,” the point guard said. “I’m trying to do what the coach tells me to do.”
Kentucky’s fervent fan base will get its first glimpse at the talent-laded roster during Friday night’s Big Blue Madness exhibition at Rupp Arena.
After that, it’ll be all business for the Wildcats, whose goal of winning a ninth championship trumps the desire for a lot of minutes.
“That’s what you expect when you come to Kentucky and it’s why you come to Kentucky,” the 6-6 Booker said. “I think this (platooning) can last. I think it’ll help us out and keep fresh bodies coming in and out. That’s what Cal wants, so I feel like it’ll be best for us.”
MCCLAIN DIAGNOSIS
The son of former Illinois assistant basketball coach Wayne McClain says his father suffered from lung cancer. It was an illness the family knew nothing of until the coach was hospitalized.
Sergio McClain told the News-Gazette in Champaign his father, who died Wednesday at 59, authored a daily blog on his cellphone. It was from the device the family learned of the lung cancer.
McClain was an assistant coach at Illinois from 2002 through 2012.
McClain made his reputation as a coach at Peoria Manual High School. He won state titles there in his first three seasons in the mid-1990s.
McClain returned to Champaign-Urbana in the spring of 2013 after one season on Bruce Weber’s staff at Kansas State. He took take the head coaching position at Champaign Central.
MIAMI NEEDS AN ANGEL
Now that junior transfer Angel Rodriguez plays point guard for the Miami Hurricanes instead of Kansas State, he does his grocery shopping unrecognized.
Rodriguez was a celebrity in Manhattan, Kansas, where he helped the Wildcats to the Big 12 co-championship in 2013. But the college town of 56,000 is a little different from Miami, Rodriguez notes with a smile.
“It’s a very small town with barely anything to do, just basketball and school,” he said. “But there are great fans there, and wherever you go, they know who you are. Grocery shopping, they know you. The drive-through, they know you. You rent a movie, they know you. It’s great. It’s a real college experience.”
But Rodriguez wanted to be closer to his family in Puerto Rico, so he transferred to Miami, sat out last season and is now poised to start at point guard for a young and small but promising team. He walks across campus unnoticed, but that could change if his season goes the way the Hurricanes hope.
“Angel will be our floor general,” coach Jim Larranaga said. “He has great leadership skills. He’s a very natural leader and commands a lot of respect from his teammates.”
Rodriguez will be the most experienced player on a team with only three players who have played previously for the Hurricanes — and one of them will miss the start of the season with an injury.
The Hurricanes have been rebuilding since the end of the 2012-13 season, when the top six players on their Atlantic Coast Conference championship team were seniors. They went 17-16 last season and 7-11 in the league, and six players from that team have departed.
There are no seniors on this season’s roster, and only three front-court players.
“They’re all back next year,” Larranaga said Thursday at media day. “So whatever we do this year will be the foundation for what we’ve been building for. But right now, everything is new.”
Rodriguez is happy to be part of that new foundation, and he’s especially eager to play after sitting out a year.
“The time has gone slowly, but it has been really productive,” he said. “I put in a lot of work in the weight room and training room. I’m going to be more athletic.”
The 5-foot-11, 178-pound Rodriguez became a starter midway through his freshman season at Kansas State. As a sophomore he averaged 11.4 points and 5.2 assists and made 55 3-pointers to help the Wildcats win a share of the league title. He was selected to the All-Big 12 second team and the All-Big 12 defensive team.
He also became fluent in English.
“In high school I knew enough English to survive, to get into college, to be on my own and order food and talk to coaches and friends a little bit,” he said. “But in Manhattan, Kansas, obviously nobody spoke Spanish. I was forced to learn English. My teammates helped — I used to mess up a lot, and they would laugh. I told them I didn’t mind as long as they would help me after they laughed.”
Despite the friendships Rodriguez developed in Kansas, he felt the tug of family. He was born in San Juan and lived there until he was 15, when he came to Miami to play high school basketball.
His brothers, ages 15 and 9, are both basketball players in San Juan. They and their mother will now be able to watch Rodriguez play in person for the first time since he left Puerto Rico.
“That’s the main reason I came back to Miami,” he said. “College only happens once, and I have two years left. They’re going to get to see me in person, and that’s special to me.”
Contributor: The Associated Press
