Kentucky Flashes Title Contender Credentials in Summer Tourney Win

Kentucky represented the United States at the GLOBL Jam tournament in Canada last week, a U23 event that features both pro and college players from across the globe playing for their home countries. After a tumultuous offseason in which John Calipari had to scramble to fill the back half of his roster before sticking the landing with major late additions, it was hard to know what to expect from the Wildcats. 

The result exceeded expectations: Kentucky won gold, going 4–0 and looking much improved on the offensive end despite not having two key frontcourt pieces at its disposal. Considering how in flux the Kentucky roster was a little over a month ago, a strong performance like this one was quite impressive. Here’s what we learned from our first look at the Wildcats.

Kentucky Looks More Modern Offensively

It had become increasingly obvious in recent seasons that John Calipari’s offensive philosophy needed some updates in the current college basketball landscape. While the college game isn’t quite as rim-and-three dominated as the NBA, midrange shots have taken a backseat in recent years and Kentucky has been slow to keep up. Per Hoop-Math, 36.3% of Kentucky’s shots last year were two-point jump shots, the seventh-highest mark nationally. In comparison, SEC champion Alabama took two-point jumpers just 12.2% of the time.

In Canada, Kentucky clearly had made progress on that front. They took 29 threes per game (11 more than the 18 per game they took last season), shared the ball well and looked more like an NBA-style offense. A good deal of the the credit can likely be attributed to new assistant coach John Welch, a sharp offensive mind whom Calipari has entrusted with making adjustments to their style of play. Kentucky’s ball movement was sharper, and its personnel was far better for a modern game with multiple ballhandlers and a skilled center in Tre Mitchell on the floor.

But how sustainable is Kentucky’s sharpness on the offensive end? At this point, I think it’s a safe bet that the Wildcats’ “shot diet” will be better than it has been in recent years. This roster has more shooting and more dynamic creators to generate higher-quality looks than in recent years. But I do think there are reasons for skepticism Kentucky will look this different offensively. GLOBL Jam is played with FIBA rules, with a shorter shot clock and a wider lane that creates a more NBA-like style of game. College teams will force Kentucky to grind out more possessions and play uglier. 

Plus, Calipari essentially had no choice but to play Mitchell as a full-time center around four guards with Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso hurt. Assuming those bigs recover, they’ll see the floor plenty alongside Mitchell and take away a bit of the small-ball feel the ‘Cats had in Canada.

Antonio Reeves’s Return Looms Even Larger

Continuity among its best players has been a casualty of Calipari’s one-and-done-centric recruiting strategy. In the last decade, Kentucky has had just two players return to school after averaging at least 14 points per game the previous season: Oscar Tshiebwe and now Reeves. After being widely rumored to be hitting the transfer portal in June and even enrolling at Illinois State to try to finish his undergraduate degree, Reeves is back in Lexington, and his performance at GLOBL Jam is proof of just how important his return is to this team’s upside.

In four games, Reeves averaged 23 points per game and shot a blistering 18-of-32 from deep en route to tournament MVP honors. On a team loaded with top recruits, Reeves looked like the first option offensively. And while that may change some as the season wears on and freshmen get more experience, it’s clear Reeves is primed for a big year in Lexington. He averaged nearly 16 points per game on strong efficiency splits in conference play a season ago and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him eclipse that threshold in 2023–24.

Kentucky Is Finally Deep in the Backcourt

One consistent thread between Kentucky’s relative struggles in the last three years has been guard play. Between recruiting misses, injuries and roster planning miscues, the Wildcats haven’t had multiple high-level shot-creating guards on the same roster in a while. Early signs are promising that they could be back to that level again in 2023–24, though. All three highly-touted freshmen (D.J. Wagner, Robert Dillingham and Reed Sheppard) all had excellent moments in Canada. Sheppard in particular looked ahead of schedule, and it seems like it’ll be hard to keep him off the floor thanks to his shooting ability and composure with the ball.

“The best teams I’ve coached have had three and four ‘point guards’,” Calipari said, per On3. “When you have guys that aren’t skilled that way and you’re playing, it’s a different game. You’ve got to try to create shots and all that. You don’t have to on this kind of team.”

Being so reliant on youth isn’t ideal in 2023, especially in the transfer-heavy SEC. How these young guards will deal with playing against opponents often three and four years older than they are will be a major story of this Kentucky season. But considering how well Kentucky’s young guards handled playing in an event like this despite lacking practice time together, there are real reasons for optimism that the Wildcats can be back in the national title conversation in 2023–24.