The Kentucky basketball team has a solid six man rotation going at the moment. The 13-3 Wildcats rely on starters Brandon Knight, DeAndre Liggins, Darius Miller, Jorts, and Doron Lamb or Terrence Jones, depending on who Cal thinks deserves to start that day. Jones EXPLODED for 35 points off the bench Tuesday night against Auburn and Cal is considering bringing him off the bench against LSU on Saturday while naming Lamb the starter.
While all of those are playing some pretty solid basketball at the moment, the elephant in Rupp Arena is the question of a seventh man contributing solid minutes. If one of the Super Six gets in foul trouble or (gasp!) suffers an injury, who can Cal lean on to go into the game and produce?
Here are the resume's of the remaining Cats:
Eloy Vargas- Year: Junior. MPG: 10.8. PPG: 2.5. RPG: 2.8. Eloy was supposed to be the guy that was going to step in if Enes Kanter was ruled ineligible. Well, poor ole Enes has been promoted to undergraduate assistant coach and Eloy has yet to look like he knows what a basketball is. Thank goodness Jorts has decided to lead the SEC in rebounds and become a double-double machine. Eloy is the same size as Enes (6'11) but seems to lack the killer instinct to be aggressive. He is routinely out-muscled for rebounds by guards. That has to change.
Bright Spot: Vargas got a standing ovation at Rupp for wrestling a loose ball away from two Auburn players. More hustle and muscle would help the Cats in a big way.
Jon Hood- Year: Sophomore. MPG: 5.9. PPG: 1.4. RPG: 1.0. John was last year's forgotten freshman. He came in with Boogie, John Wall, Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton. All four of them are in the NBA and Jon Hood is not. Hood was supposed to be a three point specialist, a Cameron Mills if you will. Now Hood is more like Kirk Cameron as much as he talks about Jesus on Facebook (not knocking the kid, just sayin'). Hood has yet to show aggressiveness or a will to shoot. He seems to be a step slower than most of the players on the court. Confidence is not his strong suit and Cal has diminished his minutes because of it. He did see some significant time against Auburn, but hey, it's Auburn.
Bright Spot: Hood's nerdiness could throw off opposing teams and allow him open jumpers. Now if he could just make them...
Stacey Poole, Jr- Year: Freshman. MPG: 3.5. PPG: 0.4. RPG: 0.6. Poole, Jr. is a top 25 recruit from last year's class. But to be honest I and the rest of the fans have not seen enough of him to give a fair assessment. He hit a three pointer one time. That was nice. Other than that he has been a mystery. I would like to see Poole more and find out what he has to offer. Free Stacey!!! (Copyright Sportsthat, 2011)
Bright Spot: He looks fast, athletic and he hustles whenever he is in. I would like to see more of him.
Jarrod Polson- Year: Freshman. MPG: 1.8. PPG: 0.6. RPG: 0.1. Polson is like the team mascot. He will be at UK for four years and not average more than 10 minutes per game for his entire carreer. He is the token white boy from Kentucky that gets a scholly to play for the Big Blue and become a fan favorite (Sorry Jon Hood). Any thoughts of this teen heart throb contributing major minutes is unrealistic and silly. Kind of like a young girl's dream of marrying Justin Bieber. Or marrying Jarrod Polson.
Bright Spot: He is dreamy.
My money on the breakout guy is......Stacey Poole! I believe Poole will be the secret weapon as the Cats head deeper and deeper into SEC play and into the tournament. I think Calipari is hiding him away much like Pitino is hiding the fact that he has...nah. Too easy.
But in all honesty the Cats need one more guy to make a serious run. This is a very good basketball team but bodies are needed, especially when it comes to crunch time in March. After Jorts went Boogie all over the Cardinals in the Chicken Shack, Calipari has devoted himself to developing the unheralded guys on the team, much like he did when he was forced to with Harrellson. I think his extra coaching will bring out the best in one of these players.
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