This Week in Kentucky Basketball: The Season is Here

There is no more waiting. We no longer have to overanalyze August games played in Canada or exhibition matchups against lesser opponents. Now the opponents are real and outcomes count. For the next, hopefully, six months there will be Kentucky Basketball games being played for Big Blue Nation to enjoy. That last word, “enjoy,” might be the most important going into the 2023-2024 season. It is fair to say things haven’t been a lot of fun in Lexington over the last few years. From the coaching staff to the players to the fan base nobody has seemed to really enjoy being a part of the best tradition in college basketball. That is set to change this season.

Coach Calipari dominated the 2023 recruiting class. He landed four McDonald’s All-Americans and it likely would have been five if Rob Dillingham was eligible for the game. Then, later in the process, he went out and added a couple of three-star pieces plus a 7’2″ Croatian in Zvonimir Ivisic that could be an NBA Draft pick one day. The Wildcats are back to being young. This eight-man recruiting class, as talented as it may be, made sure of that. However, there is still some experience to go around. Antonio Reeves ultimately opted to remain in Lexington for a fifth year of college basketball. Adou Thiero and Ugonna Onyenso returned for their sophomore seasons. Then, after an unfortunate situation at West Virginia, Tre Mitchell became available via the transfer portal and landed with the ‘Cats.

All of that offseason work is now behind us. Yes, there are still plenty of questions surrounding this year’s team. When will Aaron Bradshaw and Onyenso be available? Will we even see them at all this season? What about Ivisic? He is still awaiting NCAA eligibility. That leaves Coach Calipari and Kentucky without about 21 feet of size at the rim. In the meantime, the Wildcats will go small and showcase a 5-out offense that many fans have clamored for for years. They finally have the personnel to make it happen.

With the return of the season comes the return of our weekly Monday look ahead to the week. We will highlight the biggest storyline currently surrounding the Kentucky Basketball team and quickly highlight the week’s opponents. Then, we will take a broader look at the Southeastern Conference as a whole. Finally, in a new segment this season, we will go over a few of Brandon’s Best Bets. Let’s dive into week one of the college basketball season.

Top Kentucky Basketball Storyline: How Does it Look Against a REAL Opponent?

Not to take anything away from the Kentucky Wildcats, but we go through a lot of the same emotions every year it seems. Lately, the roller coaster begins with a disappointing March. We all tell ourselves that we won’t get our hopes up next year. Then, the finishing touches get put on the recruiting class and we start to get that twinkle in our eye again. The last couple of seasons we’ve had summer trips to get our juices flowing as well. In August, the Wildcats went to Canada as the United States representative in the GLOBL JAM. Quite frankly, the competition level was disappointing. Again, that isn’t meant to throw a wet blanket on UK’s success, but the competition wasn’t as good as expected. Still, it got us all excited again.

The two preseason exhibition games didn’t provide much more insight than the four games played in Canada. Georgetown College hung tough for a half and will be better than a couple of Division I teams the ‘Cats play this season. That was a legitimately good test that Kentucky answered in the second half. However, Kentucky State did next to nothing to prepare the Wildcats for the regular season. Regardless of what has transpired to this point though, the games get real on Monday night. New Mexico State will be much more prepared for Kentucky than Kentucky will be for them. That is simply a function of there being six Kentucky Basketball games to watch from the last couple of months while every single Aggies player was on a different college team a year ago.

So, what will it look like on Monday night? Will Kentucky come out flat and let a less talented team hang around for too long in Rupp Arena? Or, will we see the version of the Wildcats we have seen flashes of through six off-season games? Up-tempo offense, driving and kicking, unselfish passing, and an overall skill level that we haven’t had in several years. That version of the blue and white is capable of blowing out both opponents this week.

This Week in Kentucky Basketball: Aggies & Lions

There could not have been a tougher first opponent to prepare for than the New Mexico State Aggies. This is a team that literally did not even finish playing the 2022-2023 season. Off-court legal issues and in-house hazing scandals led to the cancellation of the Aggies season after 24 games. What Coach Chris Jans had built into a second-round NCAA Tournament team in 2021-2022 came crashing down after not even a full season with Greg Heiar at the helm.

New Mexico State hired Coach Jason Hooten from Sam Houston State and tasked him with a total program rebuild. Every single player from last season’s team is gone as Coach Hooten hit the transfer portal with full force. Unfortunately, two of his most talented pieces, will not be eligible on Monday night against the Wildcats. Femi Odukale (Seton Hall) and Davion Bradford (Kansas State) are awaiting wavier decisions as two-time transfers. There are still some talented pieces, and Coach Hooten is no stranger to success after 13 seasons at Sam Houston. He will get the Aggies to defend at a high level and will restore discipline to the New Mexico State culture. However, how that translates to wins on the basketball floor remains to be seen.

As for Texas A&M Commerce, by the time the ‘Cats face them on Friday, they will have already played two high-major opponents. The Lions are cashing checks early in the season with trips to Texas A&M and Texas Tech before coming to Rupp Arena on Friday night. It will be just their second season as a Division I program, but things went pretty well overall in year one. Texas A&M Commerce went 9-9 in the Southland to finish fifth. They lost some key production from that group, but Coach Jaret von Rosenberg is excited about the group he has for 2023-2024. Expect the Lions to be very athletic, play faster than last season, and lean on some transfer additions to replace lost production.

Around the Southeastern Conference

Obviously, there won’t be much to learn about the SEC as a whole this week. However, there are a couple of high-profile matchups featuring league teams. On opening night, the Georgia Bulldogs take on Oregon in Las Vegas in what is one of the few marquee matchups of the evening. Then, on Tuesday, Auburn plays #20 Baylor on ESPN as arguably the biggest matchup of the first two days of the season. While those two matchups are the most interesting on paper, there will be plenty of games played over the course of the week. 11 SEC teams take the floor on opening night. Two more play on Tuesday and Mississippi State finally begins their season on Wednesday against Arizona State at the Wintrust Center in Chicago. Strap in for a fun season in an ultra-competitive Southeastern Conference.

Brandon’s Best Bets

Welcome to the newest segment that will live here within our This Week in Kentucky Basketball article. This Monday night slate will be much larger than any other throughout the season, but each week we will highlight a few best bets to get your week started right. All lines are presented by our friends at FanDuel. Let’s find some winners and cash some tickets together.

Notre Dame TT O66.5 – This one might seem a little ugly. Notre Dame has almost an entirely new roster and Coach Micah Shrewsberry didn’t exactly play up-tempo at Penn State. However, what his teams always do is shoot a lot of three-pointers. Niagara did a great job of not letting opponents shoot many threes last season, but they made 36% of the ones they got off. Freshman point guard Markus Burton is a dynamic playmaker and Coach Shrewberry’s son, Braeden Shrewsberry is an elite shooter. The Fighting Irish will struggle a lot this season, but this won’t be one of those times. Look for them to play in the 70’s on opening night.

South Carolina -13.5 – The Gamecocks were not very good at all last season and still beat USC Upstate by 15 points. That is enough to cash the ticket in a rematch. However, with junior point guard Meechie Johnson and Minnesota transfer Ta’Lon Cooper this South Carolina backcourt will be sneaky good this season. Vanderbilt transfer Myles Stute’s catch-and-shoot ability will be highlighted by the guard’s playmaking. South Carolina got better this offseason while USC Upstate likely got a little worse. This should be a 20-point game.

New Mexico TT O82.5 – We like the Notre Dame team total because Vegas is simply undervaluing some of the additions Coach Shrewsberry made upon taking the job. However, this team total almost couldn’t be high enough. The Lobos are going to play at a frenetic pace, shoot a lot of free throws, and feature one of the best mid-major backcourts in the nation. Jaelen House, Jamal Mashburn Jr., and Jemarl Baker should push New Mexico over 90 points tonight. Texas Southern will very much be willing to run with them as well.