K.T. Turner on Kentucky's 2022-23 roster: "The sky is the limit."
It hasn’t taken long for Kentucky basketball’s newest assistant to dream big with the 2022-23 roster. After taking in just one week of workouts, K.T. Turner says next year’s team is worthy of excitement.
“Just the week I’ve been around the guys, I think the sky is the limit,” Turner said during his introductory press conference on Wednesday. “I think we have a chance, I do. We have a lot of great pieces, a lot of guys who work and can play together.”
Kentucky added four new players this offseason in Antonio Reeves, Cason Wallace, Chris Livingston and Adou Thiero. It also returned six pieces from last season, highlighted by Sahvir Wheeler, Jacob Toppin, Daimion Collins, CJ Fredrick and Lance Ware, but none more important than Oscar Tshiebwe. Turner admired Tshiebwe’s work from afar as the consensus National Player of the Year in 2021-22, and now, he gets to see it with his own two eyes in the practice facility.
The early returns? Yup, still Oscar.
“It was unreal,” Turner said of Tshiebwe’s junior campaign in Lexington. “He was out there rebounding today and I was like, ‘Woah.’ The way he rebounded the basketball, double-doubles and stuff — then I got to meet him in person, I saw his size, I can see why now. He was very, very impressive last year and I hope he has another year like that this year.”
It extends well beyond any individual player or even the team as a whole for Turner. The former Oklahoma associate head coach said the program’s overall culture is one of a kind.
“One thing I’ve noticed, and I’ve been here a week today, the culture,” Turner said. “The culture is real, the guys work, that’s what they’re here for. (Calipari) talks about that all the time, ‘You have to work, you have to live in the gym.’ The culture is real.”
It’s not typically easy to voluntarily take a role demotion from associate head coach to assistant head coach, something Turner did when he left Oklahoma. When you’re making the move to a blue blood program like Kentucky, though, it’s a can’t-miss opportunity.
“I don’t have an ego like that, I’ve had the associate head coach tag at SMU for four years, then Texas, then Oklahoma,” said Turner. “I know what I can do on the court and how I can help the program out.”
It’s a long time coming for Turner, who has been flirting with the idea of joining the Kentucky basketball program for years. Until now, though, the fit wasn’t there.
“A couple of years ago, we talked about me coming here,” he said. “The timing just wasn’t right, but it was right this time. It was a position off the road and not recruiting. It was something at the time I didn’t want to do. I talked to Coach Cal, and we agreed it just wasn’t the right time.”
It hasn’t taken long for Turner to fit right in.
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