Basketball Cats' Biggest 2014 Concern: Chemistry?

by:Corey Nichols09/01/13
CalGoggles And straightening out those 3-Goggles. It's hard to talk about football all day after a miserable loss, so what better alternative than to talk about the problems our basketball team might have this year? Wait, that doesn't sound very soothing at all.  But actually, it turns out to be just veiled good news. Mike DeCourcy of Sporting News picked apart all the biggest concerns for next year's top ten teams, and of course Kentucky was first on the list.  Kentucky's biggest concern? Too much talent, basically. Okay, so he didn't say as much, but we can read between the (blurred) lines.  Kentucky's biggest problem isn't playing well, or competing at a high level, or replacing starters: it's getting all the talent that's there to play together.  Pretty typical Calipari-era stuff, though.  Specifically:
It’s not merely a question of building chemistry, which certainly is significant, but at the foundation is the importance of finding a way that this particular group of Wildcats fits together in a winning way. Coach John Calipari lately has not been averse to making substantial changes to his offensive structure in order to maximize the talent on hand–not only from year to year, but after a given season has begun.
DeCourcy cited possible chemistry issues with the Harrison twins (which seem overblown, but we'll see), but he also highlighted Cal's handling of DeMarcus Cousins in 2010.  And if Cal can meld a talented team like 2012 into an unselfish, ball-sharing machine, there's no reason he couldn't do it again this year. Lastly, when you're trying to build team chemistry, the most important part is the leader.  There's no Patrick Patterson, John Wall, Brandon Knight, Anthony Davis, or MKG on this team, but there is a Julius Randle.  And an Alex Poythress.  And an Andrew Harrison.  While we don't know who the leader will be yet, there are plenty of good options available. So Kentucky's biggest basketball concern is getting all of its hyper-talented players to play well together? Challenge accepted.

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