Busting Brackets
Fansided

Kentucky Basketball: Wildcats are a title contender with a good off-season

By Tristan Freeman

LEXINGTON, KY - FEBRUARY 28: John Calipari the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats gives instructions to his team against the Ole Miss Rebels during the game at Rupp Arena on February 28, 2018 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
LEXINGTON, KY - FEBRUARY 28: John Calipari the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats gives instructions to his team against the Ole Miss Rebels during the game at Rupp Arena on February 28, 2018 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Kentucky’s season ends in a shocking defeat to Kansas State in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament. And while it’s disappointing, it could lead to a special season next year

Expectations for how teams are supposed to do in the NCAA Tournamnets always depends on their path to the Final Four. The University of Kentucky is a perfect exaple of this.

When the South Region was released on Selection Sunday, the path for the Wildcats was supposed to be extremely hard. They had to go through Arizona in the second-round, before facing top-seeded Virginia in the Sweet Sixteen. But shocking upsets to both of them was supposed to give them an easy route.

But Kansas State, who played for the most part without the team’s leading score Dean Wade, grinded the game to a halt, and pulled an upset of their own to elinimate Kentucky.

The reality was that the SEC Tournament champs had an uphill climb this season, with their top five scorers all being freshmen, and 100% of the scoring coming from underclassmen overall.

Now comes the intertesting part. There are three players widely viewed as first-round picks in Kevin Knox, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Hamidou Diallo. The others are not a guarenteed to even be drafted, and a couple former highly touted prospects could be transfer canidates, based on a lack of playing time they’ve recieved.

But if everyone returns that’s not a first-rounder, this could be a dangerous team. All of the frontocurt players could return, and certainly have great potential. There are also three confirmed commits for 2018-19, all being guards with scoring capabilities. The hope is that any of them can shoot a three-pointer, as that was their glaring weakness this season.

Next: Elite 8 being invaded by lower seeds

There’s going to be a ton of news with Kentucky basketball, with some being good and some being bad. But if the stars align, a Final Four will be the expectation, not the hope.

Home/Kentucky Wildcats