Kentucky’s chances at winning a national title this spring continue to grow as the team puts together a string of quality wins. However, while wins are what a seeding committee evaluate, it’s the players and their chemistry that win championships. With head coach John Calipari leading his players, their chemistry has continued to blossom right before our eyes. Most recently, it’s been the breakout performance of Keion Brooks Jr. The veteran forward not only bursted onto the scene with a career performance at Kansas but also put up 20 points in Kentucky’s narrow win over Vanderbilt on Wednesday evening. Could it be that we’re seeing the same breakout with Brooks Jr. as former Wildcat PJ Washington had two years ago?

Not only has Brooks Jr. improved his stats across the board this season, but he has picked about the same time of the season to take over scoring production for Kentucky as Washington did in his final year with the Wildcats. Starting on January 22nd during the 2019 season, Washington strung together games scoring 15 or more points in 13 of the team’s final 18 regular season games with nine of them being 20+ point performances.

Brooks Jr. has averaged 23.5 points in his last two games after scoring 20 just once earlier in the year against Ohio. Like Washington, the mid-range jumper is beginning to fall for Brooks. While there are several more established scoring options on this Kentucky team compared to 2019, Brooks Jr. should still be able to continue a prominent roll in the team’s success.

What are your thoughts on Brooks Jr. and his breakout performances as of late?

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