Kentucky Basketball: Jarred Vanderbilt to miss time with a foot injury
Kentucky basketball is still expected to be dominant this season, but Jarred Vanderbilt will miss all of the nonconference play for the Wildcats.
Coach John Calipari has a great roster for Kentucky once again this season. Even though they lost some talent to the NBA, he has replenished with some of the best high school recruits in the country. The expectation for the Wildcats will be to at the very least win the SEC. Each and every season, Kentucky is one of the top national title contenders and that is the exact same this season.
Coach Cal will be without the services of one of his best freshmen during the non-conference portion of the team’s schedule this season, though. During a team practice, Jarred Vanderbilt went down with a foot injury and it has been discovered that he will need surgery. The return timetable for the injury is around three months. The expectation is that Vanderbilt will be back by January, so he should play during the majority of SEC play.
Coming out of high school, Vanderbilt was one of the country’s highest-touted recruits. Rated as a five-star recruit and ranked at No. 12 in the nation by 247Sports, this is certainly a tough blow. Vanderbilt is a 6’9″ wing player and a McDonald’s All-American. He averaged 28.5 points, 13.4 rebounds, and 8.8 assists per game during his final season with Victory Prep Academy.
In an effort to recover from the loss of Vanderbilt, freshmen P.J. Washington and Kevin Knox along with returning players Wenyen Gabriel and Sacha Killeya-Jones will be looked at to play more minutes. This will ultimately affect the depth at the end of the bench, but the team should be able to survive without Vanderbilt.
During the non-conference schedule, there are several games that will be challenging. The team will be without Vanderbilt for contests against Vermont, Kansas, Harvard, Virginia Tech, UCLA, and Louisville.
Coach Calipari stated his concern of Vanderbilt’s health and that he will not be rushed back in a press release:
"“As I told Jarred, my concern for him is getting this thing right and getting him healthy for the rest of his career. We’ll miss him on the court, but I want what’s best for him and his family, and right now that’s taking care of this injury and making sure he doesn’t have to worry about it again. With the motor and worth ethic I’ve seen from him, I have no doubt he’s going to be better than ever when he returns and will provide us with a huge lift in conference play. Now it’s up to his teammates to hold the fort down until he gets back.”"
In addition, Vanderbilt expressed his feelings on coming back better than ever in the same article from ukathletics.com:
"“I just want to let the Big Blue Nation know I’m going to be fine and looking forward to coming back better than ever,” Vanderbilt said. “I’ve had some setbacks before and I’ve come back from all of them. After talking with my doctor and my family, I feel good about the plan they have in place for me. I’m anxious to get this right and return to my team so I can put this behind me for good. I can’t wait to get back to my brothers and help us compete for a national championship this season.”"
This is certainly a blow to Kentucky basketball this season, but it should not affect the end result of the season much. It is very important that Vanderbilt returns from the injury healthy and ready to make an impact. The good news for Wildcat fans is that there is plenty of talent on the roster to make up for the loss of Vanderbilt for almost half of the season. When Vanderbilt returns, the team should already be near the top of the polls and he will be an incredible addition for their postseason run.