Four College Basketball Players with the Biggest Shoes to Fill in 2015-2016

Tyler Ulis (Point guard), Kentucky

Mar 26, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Tyler Ulis (3) against the West Virginia Mountaineers in the semifinals of the midwest regional of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

Let’s hit the rewind button and go back six months to the beginning of February. Now let’s find any college basketball fan and ask them about their opinion of the Harrison twins, Andrew and Aaron. The response would be something like “The twins are terrible. Coach Cal should start Ulis and Booker, and play them a majority of the minutes in the backcourt.”

And they had a point. Aaron Harrison was coming off a month of sub-40% shooting, and Andrew, the point guard, was coming off a month with an assist-to-turnover ratio below 2, and a shooting percentage under 30%. Meanwhile, Ulis boasted an assist-to-turnover ratio of 4 in January, and Booker shot 56/59/86 from the floor. That’s 56% from the field, 59% from three, and 86% from the free throw line. No, that’s not a typo.

While Booker came back down to earth a bit, Ulis continued to post impressive assist-to-turnover numbers while shooting well from three. Hence, the charge for Ulis to start continued, and admittedly, I was right at the front of that charge. Ulis ranked second on the team in offensive rating at 123.3, behind only their best player and number-one NBA draft pick Karl-Anthony Towns. He was the perfect point guard for a stacked Kentucky team. He didn’t turn the ball over, and he spaced the floor well. There’s not much more you could ask out of a point guard leading a team stacked with that much talent.

The good news is this debate is no longer necessary. With both Harrison twins, along with five other rotation players, bolting for the NBA, Ulis gets to step into the spotlight as the point guard for the Wildcats.

It will be really interesting to see exactly how that works for him. His assist numbers may have been a bit inflated last season playing with so many great players. While Alex Poythress, Marcus Lee, Skal Labissiere, and Isaiah Briscoe are no slouches, they aren’t quite like the team Kentucky had last year, even John Calipari would admit that. Ulis doesn’t possess too much of an off the bounce game either. He has a solid jump shot, but is hampered going to the rim by his short size. This prevented him from becoming a major scorer, but with the talent level Kentucky has, he doesn’t have to be.

As for the defensive side of the ball, I wouldn’t call him a bad defender by any stretch of the imagination, but his height is an issue. He tries extremely hard, but it constantly exploited because of his small stature. He did finish second to last among Kentucky rotation players in defensive rating at 90.3, but when you’re on arguably the greatest defensive college basketball team of all time, second to last is nothing to be ashamed of.

Next: What about those guys that beat Kentucky?