The old days of simply signing the top high school talent each recruiting cycle and calling it a day are long over.
Coaches all over the college basketball world, including John Calipari, are quickly adapting to the changing landscape of off-season roster addition.
The transfer portal has created a complete surge of available prospects and it’s not slowing down anytime soon. In fact, expect to see a further influx of players seeking a change of scenery.
After an abysmal season, Kentucky fans are salivating with every name that pops on the board as a potential option for the Cats.
On Monday, Coach Cal hit it big by landing a proven scoring machine in Davison’s Kellan Grady. After pouring in over 2,000 points and being named two time Atlantic 10 First-team it becomes easy to see the appeal of adding an experienced vet as opposed to a phenom 18-year-old.
It seems to be the consensus of just about everyone who covers Kentucky basketball that Cal’s not done tapping the transfer market.
Not even close.
So, who’s next?
As the coaching staff is still in assessment mode, they now know they’ll have several net additions back, including Jacob Toppin, who announced his return on Sunday.
Despite any other needs, you have to imagine that Calipari isn’t going to let another 2021 happen from a guard quality standpoint. Point and shooting guard play was uncharacteristically a major deficiency for UK during their 9-16 campaign.
There will be yet another potential to consider for addressing that issue, as another mid-major elite scorer entered the portal today who could potentially be a player that Calipari reaches out to.
Marreon Jackson announced his intentions of utilizing his remaining eligibility and hitting the transfer market.
The Toledo standout dominated the MAC this season averaging over 18 points a game on his way to conference player of the year honors.
As Kyle Tucker of the Athletic pointed out — Jackson has some jaw-dropping stats that any UK fan would be excited about.
In case you need a point guard, John Calipari. MAC player of the year averaged 18 points, 6 assists, made 300 career 3s ... https://t.co/SuOWAyYuIz
— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) March 30, 2021
Adding depth at the guard spot would be good start to preventing another disaster.
There will be more big names to hit the portal, but it’ll be hard to come by a player with Marreon Jackson’s offensive accolades.
A Sea of Blue comes loaded with Kentucky Wildcats links, news, analysis, and some other fun stuff, so ‘like’ our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. Go Cats!