After learning of Brad Calipari's trip a few weeks ago, a lot of the BBN was very excited to see him get some real playing time with the Global Sports Academy. With everyone watching, he did not disappoint.
Brad averaged 14.3 points to go along with 6.5 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game. His best game was the third one, he netted 19 points, dished 7 assists, and grabbed 4 rebounds.
The Global Sports Academy’s goal is to match up various players from across the world, and bring them together to play fun, competitive games. Ever since they started in 1991 the GSA has really tried to connect different cultures through sports. They have done a magnificent job of it so far, and I’m looking forward to what they do in the future.
It was great to see Calipari get some meaningful playing time overseas. If anything, he’s trying to prove that he can have a legitimate role with the team in the coming years. Last year, he played in 15 of the Cats 36 games. When he got in, he wasn’t afraid to shoot, nailing two threes during his time.
If Brad wants to see serious minutes for the Cats at any point in his career, he needs to keep doing things like this. We’ve seen multiple players make the jump and get some valuable minutes in the Cal era. To name a few - Jon Hood, Jarrod Polson, and Josh Harrellson are all players that came in as ‘benchwarmers.’ Each payer diligently worked on their game and ended up playing some very important minutes for Kentucky.
We all know Brad has more pressure on him since he’s Cal’s son. However, this doesn’t mean he can’t rise to the occasion and see some serious minutes against some real competition. I don’t see it happening this year, but Brad is only a sophomore. It’ll be interesting to see how much his game improves from year to year, and if he’ll ever get a shot to see some serious court time.