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Analysts and experts across the country have been praising Kentucky’s addition of graduate transfer power forward Reid Travis, and you can now add experts from the SEC Network to the Travis hype train.
SEC Network analysts Pat Bradley and Antoine Walker both recently made positive comments about Kentucky’s newest inside presence.
The Stanford Cardinal graduate nearly was a 20-10 guy for his former team, as he averaged 19.5 points and 8.7 rebounds per game last year.
Walker, who won a national championship in Lexington, acknowledges that with Travis’ production and veteran leadership coming to Kentucky, expectations will get much higher.
“Expectations will be very high and they’re going to be Top 3 in the country, probably No. 1 at some point in the year,” Walker said. “You put this team together with the balance and experience they had from last year with the three guys returning, you gotta think about winning a championship. That’s got to be the focus this year. Since they were 38-0, we haven’t really talked about championship, but I think this can be that group if they can get chemistry this summer.”
Bradley was also high on Kentucky adding Travis, saying “If you look at everything, this team adding him just takes them off the charts.”
The Wildcats’ new forward will have a chance to lead a championship team, but he’ll also have a chance to substantially improve his NBA Draft stock in his final season of eligibility. The Wildcats will get just as much out of Travis as he’ll get out of the program. The hope is both will happen and include a trip to Minneapolis in the Final Four.