Predicting The Roster: Who will start inside?

Drew Franklinby:Drew Franklin05/25/17

DrewFranklinKSR

With Hamidou Diallo's return and the surprise commitment of Kevin Knox earlier this month, two of the five starting spots are pretty much locked up for at least the beginning of the 2017-18 basketball season, barring any unforeseen circumstances. Quade Green is also an overwhelming favorite to take the starting point guard spot over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, so we can go ahead and proceed as if we already know three of the five starting positions in the Wildcats' rotation. But who will fill the other two? That's where John Calipari has a problem on his hands. It's a good problem, one every program in the nation would love to have, but it's one Cal will have to solve once he sees all of his weapons laid out in front of him. Here's the starting five equation:

PG - Quade Green SG - Hamidou Diallo SF - Kevin Knox PF - Wenyen Gabriel/PJ Washington/Jarred Vanderbilt C - Sacha Killeya-Jones/Nick Richards

Predicting what the roster will look like almost six months from now is nearly impossible, considering we don't know the first thing about how the sophomores will progress from their first year to their second, or how the newcomers will perform right out of the gate. I'll go ahead and take a stab at it, and then I'd like to hear what you think in the comments section:

PG - Quade Green SG - Hamidou Diallo SF - Kevin Knox PF - P.J. Washington C - Sacha Killeya-Jones

I've admitted my confidence in Killeya-Jones being a brand new man next season, so I give him the nod over Nick Richards at center. At the power forward spot, I lean P.J. Washington because it is his true position, with Jarred Vanderbilt coming off the bench as the go-to reliever for both forward spots. Wenyen Gabriel is the odd man out, although I could easily see Wenyen starting at the four over Washington or Vanderbilt, too. This team is so loaded at that spot, it's crazy. What do you think about it? And should Cal platoon the paint?

Discuss This Article

Comments have moved.

Join the conversation and talk about this article and all things Kentucky Sports in the new KSR Message Board.

KSBoard

2024-04-25