:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/55140375/658061582.0.jpg)
The Kentucky Wildcats will have one of the youngest teams to ever play college basketball coming in this year.
For now, John Calipari is focused on the fact that he could start a very long, tall and big team if he chooses to, which he talks about in an interview with CatsPause.
“We could start a huge team next year if we choose to,” Calipari told CatsPause. “We have a chance to be so long that you say, ‘Ok, we’re athletic and long, do we press? If you do press, is it a scrambling press? Is it a conservative press? Do you look at a zone because we are so big, why even mess around?”
The Cats have seven players that are at least 6’8”, and they have three guards standing 6’4” or taller.
Cal also talked about where he’d like to put some of these guys to take advantage of their size.
“I would love to put Jarred at the point of a press,” Calipari said. “I would love to put Kevin Knox as an interceptor and PJ Washington and all the sudden this team is huge and you’re pressing and scrambling.”
Calipari also talked about Diallo’s return to Kentucky, and what could be for the already superstar point guard.
“Let me just tell you, his athleticism and his explosion and what I call a quick twitch is off the chain. So we’ve got to get him to play with a motor the entire time he’s on the floor, to be in attack mode the entire time he’s on the floor, to be the best defender on the floor with whatever position he’s guarding. That’s where we’ve got to take this, to where when you watch him you say, ‘Are you watching this kid? Oh my gosh!’”
Calipari closed with talking about what the 2018 team will need to do.
“This team, like every team I have, will have to be empowered at some point,” Cal said. “Last year, as De’Aaron Fox felt more and more empowered to go play, you could see the team all stepping into roles and doing their thing. That’s what will happen this year. At the end of the day, we’ll have to play and perform.”
And be sure to follow our Twitter page to get all of the latest Wildcats news and analysis.