NCAA Basketball: Kentucky is back, LSU is coming, and more weekly takeaways
By Brian Rauf
2) Kentucky is BACK
Kentucky, the preseason No. 2 team, nearly fell out of the top 25 rankings entirely after a December 8 loss to Seton Hall. Since then, the Wildcats have won seven of their last eight games.
Saturday’s road victory over Auburn likely pushed Kentucky back into the top 10 and might represent John Calipari’s best coaching job in Lexington. He has made several lineup tweaks that have done wonders for this group and has unlocked their full potential.
Keldon Johnson has long been Kentucky’s go-to offensive threat, but the rest of this team’s roles were largely undetermined. That has changed with Ashton Hagans and Tyler Herro entering the starting lineup, along with more consistent play from P.J. Washington.
Hagans’ stellar defensive abilities have given Kentucky one of the country’s best perimeter defenders and a true identity on that end of the floor, while Herro has added more shooting and scoring punch to UK’s lineup. E.J. Washington, Nic Richards, and Immanuel Quickley are great at providing energy off the bench.
All of that was on display in their win over the Tigers, after which Calipari heaped praise on his players.
"“This is so hard for these kids. What I’m proud of is we’re playing a veteran team that’s been through wars, that has been through games like this, that made shots. They were down 17 and they never stopped. And guess what? Neither did we.”"
Kentucky has now beaten North Carolina, Louisville, and Auburn during this stretch. Now, they have perhaps their most difficult week of the season coming up as they host Mississippi State and Kansas. Given the way they’re playing, it won’t be a surprise if Kentucky wins both and re-joins that group of top-tier teams I mentioned in the intro.