John Calipari embraces the challenge of coaching at Kentucky.
Despite losing more than 80 percent of their scoring from last year’s national semifinal team, the Wildcats are ranked No. 2 behind North Carolina in the Associated Press preseason poll and Calipari welcomes the lofty expectations placed on his squad.
“You can look at as a blessing or a burden, and I think it’s a blessing that people have that kind of respect for them as players, this program and say, ‘Hey, we have one of the best backcourts in the country, we have one of the best frontcourts in the country.’ They take that as a blessing, not a burden.”
A year ago, Calipari’s squad won 38 straight games before losing to Wisconsin in the Final Four. Four players were first-round selections in the NBA Draft, including top pick Karl-Anthony Towns. Six players were chosen in the draft and Aaron Harrison signed as a free agent. All seven were on NBA rosters when the season began.
This year’s roster will include a mixture of veterans and returnees.
When Kentucky opens the season against Albany Friday, the offense will feature a new look, with three guards likely starting in the season opener. In the Wildcats’ two exhibition games, Calipari started Tyler Ulis, Isaiah Briscoe and Jamal Murray in the backcourt, while Marcus Lee and Skal Labissiere manned the post positions.
“There’s a good chance we start three freshmen, which is typical for us,” Calipari said. “We’re inexperienced even though we have some older players. It’s going to be exciting. This team has really tried, but we are who we are. We’re not 10 guys deep, two platoons. We’ll probably play six, seven or eight depending on who deserves it, and we’ll go from there.”
Murray averaged 21 points per game in two preseason games and just missed a triple-double with 22 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists in a 117-58 exhibition win over Ottawa. Ulis dished out 14 assists in the two preseason contests.
Calipari will depend on Ulis to be the team’s point guard and said he’s “as good a floor general as I’ve coached.”
“He’s learning to lead off the court now,” the Kentucky coach said. “On the court, I’m giving him more and more and more room. And it’s all based on the fact that he’s pretty good. His decision-making (skills) — all that stuff is really, really good.”
Alex Poythress, Charles Matthews, Derek Willis, Isaac Humphries and Dominique Hawkins are expected to compete for the remaining three spots in the rotation. Poythress likely will be the sixth man, while the other two spots are up for grabs.
Even though the faces have changed, Calipari expects his team to be just as successful as his other teams have been at Kentucky.
“They’ll play to win, and as long as you play to win … you’re not winning every game, we proved it last year that you can win almost every game, it’s hard to win every single game you play,” he said. “But, it’s how you play. It’s that you’re walking into games, you’re prepared, you love the grind, every day is about getting better, you’re playing games and you’re having great enjoyment from playing, you love it, it’s game time, it’s on, let’s have a ball. That’s the kind of stuff that my teams, when they’re empowered, that’s what you see.”
Unlike last year, Calipari said the return to the proverbial pinnacle will be a process.
“This team — we’re one month in — it’s hard to be really organized and it’s hard to have a lot of stuff in,” he said. “We’re only now starting to put in out-of-bounds plays. It takes time.”
Game tracker: Albany at Kentucky, Friday, 7 p.m. TV/Radio: SEC Network, 98.1 WBUL.
Keith Taylor is a columnist and senior sports writer who covers University of Kentucky athletics for KyForward.com.