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The 2020-21 basketball season ended with the historically bad record of 9-16 and Kentucky fans were left with several questions. Has Calipari lost his touch? Will Calipari make the necessary changes to succeed next season? Who will take over the point guard position?
It has been a busy few weeks for the UK basketball program which have answered many of these questions. John Calipari has made several changes in the off season. He made coaching changes that brought in Orlando Antigua and Ron Coleman. In the five years that Antigua was an assistant previously at Kentucky he went to 3 Final Fours and won a National Championship. Calipari called Ron Coleman, also known as Chin, “a grinder, someone who relishes that time in the gym with the kids to help add value to your current players, yet he never takes his eyes off the lifeline of our program, which is recruiting.” After the recent drop in recruiting, Calipari is looking to get some of the success back with positive, upbeat recruiters.
Watching the Wildcats play last season it was obvious that Kentucky needed to add shooters and have a point guard to distribute the ball. John Calipari looked to the “Transfer Portal” to fix the shooting woes from the previous year. He added Kellan Grady from Davidson and the former Kentucky high school player CJ Fredrick from Iowa. Both of these players are known shooters. Grady shot 38% from behind the arc last season and has been compared to former Davidson star Steph Curry. Fredrick has averaged 47 percent during his college career from three-point range.
The focus has been on the point guard position and after Devin Askew transferred it was obvious that Kentucky was going to have to find someone to fill the void. Kentucky fans got perhaps the best news of the offseason when Tyty Washington committed to the Cats on May 12th. Washington was ranked the 2nd best point guard in the nation and ranked the 21st player in the nation overall. 247 Sports describe Washington as, “Consistently productive point guard with good size and creating for the point guard position. Has ball skills and vision to consistently create for others while his jumper is playable to the perimeter.” Getting a 5-star recruit this late in the season is a great get for the Wildcats.
This offseason has been one of the most active of the Calipari era. Coaching changes, late five-star recruit commitments, and transfers the Wildcats have the building blocks of what could be another great season. If the Cats can keep Davion Mintz or Keion Brooks on the team the Wildcats could make another deep run in the NCAA tournament.
