The short answer ahead of Kentucky’s season-opener against Albany on Friday night is, frankly, yes.
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Kentucky ended up achieving that in the first of back-to-back games that featured a few rough edges. “Should you be at Albany and they should be at Kentucky?”. So this is a huge get for Calipari.
In what is expected to be another star-studded freshman class for Kentucky, Jamal Murray has staked an early claim to be the best of the bunch.
Albany is no slouch, though.
Brown and the Great Danes are up against a perennial national title contender with a 43-2 record in Rupp Arena in its last 45 games.
He’s still feeling this team out and will likely have core starters and four or five guys coming off the bench in a more traditional hoops rotation. Kentucky has been to the Final Four 17 times, including four of the past five years. Kentucky is 93-19 all-time in season openers and is 6-0 with Calipari at the helm.
Simmons became just the fourth freshman in history to make the preseason All-American squad, and the Wildcats will have to face him twice, including the regular season finale on March 5.
Fox gives John Calipari three five-star recruits for his 2016 recruiting class and he is well on his way to getting yet another Top Three ranked recruiting class. The Wildcats also have 7-foot Australian Isaac Humphries, and both have to fill a major void in the post created by the departure of Willie Cauley-Stein and Karl-Anthony Towns. Kentucky will get a lot of penetration from Murray and Briscoe. This team might not win its first 38 games, but there’s schools of thought on whether that is even a good thing. He added eight assists and three rebounds. Free throw accuracy was poor, but that was mostly because of who was taking them.
At 6-foot-4, he has great size for the position. Players Who Matter It has to be Labissiere. Box Score (PDF)Photo GalleryPostgame NotesPostgame QuotesVideo: Calipari Postgame PresserVideo: Player Interviews Murray overcame an uneven first half to shoot 6 of 9 from the field after halftime and 8 of 15 overall, including several thunderous dunks that energized the crowd.
Labissiere has a well-rounded game and he will draw double teams, it will be up to Poythress and Lee to finish off the passes that will come as a result of it, in addition to the host of shooters knocking down the open threes. The biggest impact he can have is on the defensive end.
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Shot selection was mostly pretty good, but there was too much standing around on offense and too little communication on defense. Fox, the #3 player in the country, #1 point guard prospect, is stepping up to the plate to take on the most important, hard role, lead a team under John Calipari. Last season, the senior led the Great Danes in steals with 45 (1.4 spg). He’s been shooting it better.
