John Calipari is hopeful the full roster will be back soon

The Kentucky Wildcats have yet to play a game this season with a fully healthy roster.

With Jacob Toppin and Lance Ware both out recovering from injuries since the Duke game, and Davion Mintz missing the Albany game with an illness, John Calipari has not yet been able to utilize all of the pieces he has to this year’s puzzle at full strength.

It sounds like that the full team could be ready to go here soon though.

During his call-in show on Tuesday, he spoke about the three pieces that were missing against Albany, starting with Toppin and Ware.

It sounds like the two front court pieces should be returning in the coming games.

“Not having Davion showed. Hopefully we get Jacob and Lance back, so we have a full team. It’s been hard when you’ve got eight scholarship players. You’re worried about foul trouble too, now. Hopefully we’ll have a full team here in the next week or so.”

In regards to Mintz, and the illness he is dealing with, Coach Cal was only able to say, “I’m not sure.”

With Toppin’s return being imminent, Coach Calipari understands that he will be a key difference maker especially in terms of energy.

“When Jacob comes back, the one thing we know he’s going to give us is energy. That means if you’re on the court with him, and you’re not playing with as much energy as he’s playing with, woof. Everybody sees it, like, ‘Why isn’t he playing like Jacob?’ Jacob coming back kind of forces guys to step on the gas a little bit.”

The ‘Cats currently sit at 4-1 with North Florida and Central Michigan coming to town over the next week. From the sounds of it, we could finally get to see this year's Kentucky team with all of its key pieces ready to go.