NCAA Basketball: Bucknell grad transfer Nate Sestina will have big impact at Kentucky

Nate Sestina is using his grad transfer year to go to Kentucky. I had a chance to talk to him about his decision.

He for his first three seasons was behind the 2018 Patriot League POTY in Zach Thomas, so he did not see much game time before. He, however, had a stand out this season putting up massive numbers. Per sports-reference.com, this season he averaged 15.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per game while shooting 53.6% from the field, and a respectable 38% from 3. I had a chance to ask Sestina a few questions about his college career so far, and his future at Kentucky.

When asked about what coming from a small town like Emporium, Pennsylvania, and playing D-1 basketball was like Sestina responded with “It’s very humbling, it is truly an amazing experience. You grow up watching it, and to experience it is something I never really thought would happen”.

I then asked him about some of the other graduate transfer opportunities that he had, Sestina responded with “I had quite a few such as Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Maryland, TCU, and Georgia to name a few others”.

Since the report of him committing to Kentucky came out after John Calipari had signed his lifelong contract with Kentucky I asked if that played any factor in his decision. Sestina then responded with “I didn’t really think about that. I wasn’t aware of it until the deal came out”.

Going off of that I asked Sestina to describe his game, and what his playing time expectations were for next season. His response was something that every coach would want to hear ” Hard-nosed is how I would define my game. As for next season, all I know is that I am going to show up and work hard every day and whatever happens happens”.