NCAA Basketball: Biggest question for 2022-23 power conference favorites

SEC: Oscar Tschiebwe returns as the reigning national player of the year. How good can the backcourt be with Sahvir Wheeler and Cason Wallace?

Can you be an elite college basketball team when your point guard is a 5’9 player who isn’t a great shooter? Especially when his perimeter companions are two freshmen in Cason Wallace and Chris Livingston?

The reality of the situation is as follows. Tschiebwe is the most important player on this Kentucky roster and Sahvir Wheeler is a very close second. On one hand, it’s unfair to doubt Wheeler. Last year he averaged 10.1 points and 6.9 assists for a team that finished 26-8 and sixth at KenPom.

On the other hand, the Saint Peter’s backcourt combined for 59 points in their Round of 64 upset over the Wildcats in last year’s tournament. Daryl Banks and Doug Edert were responsible for 47 of those points. 5’9 guards present matchup issues. They always have and they always will and that’s no different this season. Is the ceiling of a team depending on a player like that inherently lower no matter what?

Once again, Wheeler is a good basketball player. That’s indisputable. Every player has some sort of limitation, it’s just much harder to get around a limitation like being one of the smallest players in college basketball this season.

Next to Wheeler will be the freshman Wallace. There are a lot of reasons to like the combination of these two guys. Wallace does a lot of things well that Wheeler doesn’t. First and foremost he’s 6’4, long and athletic, and has a chance to be one of the best guard defenders in the country. That might be the most important individual skill on Kentucky’s team this year. If Wallace can lock down the opposing team’s best offensive guard it makes hiding Wheeler on that end of the floor much easier. At 6’6, Livingston should be able to pick up the next best guy as a multi-positional defender. Hopefully, that gives Calipari enough breathing room to hide Wheeler in the midst of team defense.

The ultimate problem is that Wheeler is almost too important to this Kentucky team. Last season, Wheeler averaged just short of seven assists per game. Of the rest of the players on Kentucky’s roster this year, they combined for a total of 6.1 assists per game. Wallace won’t be a lead guard this early and the rest of the Wildcats’ backcourt depth is much more worried about scoring. Illinois State bucket-getter Antonio Reeves is a scorer above all else and CJ Frederick shouldn’t be asked to do anything other than knock down threes.

Wheeler will have the keys to the offense and will be responsible for virtually all of the facilitating. He has to be out there for the sake of Kentucky’s offense, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t present issues elsewhere on the floor.

Finally, Wheeler shot just 30 percent from beyond the arc last season. As important as limiting his defensive liability is, unlocking a respectable 3-point shot would make life for him and, more importantly, Tschiebwe so much easier if defenses couldn’t sag off Wheeler from distance.

Like every year, Kentucky has special talent, but it’s Wheeler that unlocks all the Final Four potential this roster has.