The Cats have a world of potential. It just comes down to injury luck.
There aren’t many people better known in the college basketball landscape than Jay Bilas. An analyst for ESPN, Bilas played collegiately at Duke, and that bias shines bright some of the time.
However, he’s also, objectively speaking, one of the top analysts in the game and has built up quite an audience. So, when he releases his top teams in the country, fans listen.
Bilas released his top 68 teams at ESPN that will be dancing later on in the season, and the Kentucky Wildcats are one of them, coming in at No. 17. Here’s what he had to say about Kentucky.
“Injuries have hurt the Wildcats, but this team continues to fight. Lamont Butler has been slowed by a shoulder injury, Jaxson Robinson by a hand injury and Kerr Kriisa is still out because of a foot injury. Still, short-handed Kentucky beat Tennessee — twice. Otega Oweh has scored in double figures in every game this season,” Bilas wrote.
The Cats are coming off an 82-78 road loss to the Texas Longhorns just four days after taking down the top-10 Tennessee Volunteers for the second time this season.
With key wins over teams like Gonzaga, Duke, Florida, and others, the Cats have one of the strongest resumes despite a plethora of disappointing losses as well. As for Bilas’ analysis, it is spot on. The Cats’ ceiling will be limited by how healthy they are.
Can Andrew Carr get back to full strength and contribute at a high level? Can Lamont Butler return and stay on the court? Will Jaxson Robinson be able to overcome the injury to his shooting wrist? And perhaps most importantly, will Kentucky be able to avoid any new injuries once the postseason arrives? It feels like a new injury happens every week, as Kentucky has been arguably the unluckiest team in college basketball when it comes to the injury bug.
The Wildcats must answer these questions before they become one of the top threats to make it to the Final Four and take home a national championship in April.
Let’s hope we get to see this team at its full potential.