Kentucky’s weakness is clear entering the men’s NCAA tournament.
The Wildcats rank third with 89.4 points per game while residing sixth in offensive rating and fifth in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency. However, defense is a major concern.
Although they’re third in blocks, John Calipari’s team has surrendered the 344th most points per game (79.7) among 362 Division-I teams. Eleven of the 13 teams in the men’s bracket with an inferior adjusted defensive rating are seeded No. 12 or worse.
Speaking to reporters Sunday, Calipari said he has “a couple tweaks in mind” for the tournament. He’s considering going bigger.
“If a team has guards that just break us down, what else can we do? How about if I put both seven-footers in? It may take away a little offense, but now, you got two seven-footers, a little harder to score at the rim,” Calipari said. “So there’s some different things we can do.”
However, Calipari insisted that his guards have “gotten so much better” at perimeter defense.
“But what happens is a guy scores one or two and he gets beer muscles,” Calipari continued. “And now he’s throwing them on big guys.”
Outside of 6-foot-9 forward Tre Mitchell, Kentucky’s seven leaders in minutes per game are all guards. Ugonna Onyenso and Zvonimir Ivisic give the Wildcats size in smaller doses, and 7-foot-1 freshman Aaron Bradshaw has played just 12 minutes in the last three games.
The Wildcats committed 14 turnovers, 24 fouls, and allowed 11 three-pointers in a 97-87 loss to Texas A&M in the SEC tournament’s quarterfinals. Calipari nevertheless believes his team is “built for March.”
“I think I got a good team, but they’re going to have to go perform,” he said.
No. 3 Kentucky will begin the NCAA tournament against No. 14 Oakland this Thursday at 7:10 p.m. ET on CBS.