Nate Sestina talks about possible transfer to Kentucky

This past season, Reid Travis joined Julius Mays (2012-13) as just the second grad-transfer to play for John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats.

The decision to bring Travis in appears to have been so successful that Calipari wants to add another grad transfer to his 2019-20 roster.

Who would it be?

For now, the best hope appears to be Bucknell Bison forward Nate Sestina.

As of now, the 2019-20 roster lacks size. The Cats are losing Travis and almost surely PJ Washington. They will likely retain either EJ Montgomery or Nick Richards, perhaps even both, but outside of them, UK does not have any true bigs.

Sestina would provide the Cats with the perfect Travis replacement. The Bucknell forward stands at 6-9 and is coming off a senior season where he averaged 15.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.

With one more year of college eligibility Sestina told the Daily Item he’d indeed be transferring and that he’d find playing and win NCAA Tournament games.

“I felt I needed to improve some things,” Sestina said. “The opportunity to play college basketball for another year, make a run to the NCAA Tournament, and hopefully win some games, was very, very appealing. I want to find a place to grow and develop, but a place where I can be me and play my game — not a place where I’ll sit the bench.”

From Monday through Wednesday, the big man will be in Lexington to visit UK. There’s a good chance that after that visit, he becomes the big man Calipari badly needs for next season as, Sestina said this about possibly joining the Wildcats

“If it goes well, clicks and I get signs from God — I’ve got to pray on it; I’ve been doing that a lot recently — it just depends on the visit,” Sestina said. “I’ll take the time I need to make the right decision.”

With the tournament loss still fresh, this could help take some of the wounds away from the Big Blue Nation as Kentucky looks to build a title contender for next season.

Be sure to read the full interview here.