The Cats get some more preseason love
CBS Sports college basketball analysts Matt Norlander, Chip Patterson, Gary Parrish (Bill Self’s good friend), and Kyle Boone recently released their collective rankings of the top 101 best players in college basketball for this year, and your University of Kentucky Wildcats didn’t get the love that you probably think they should have.
Duke’s own RJ Barrett took the number one spot but really the rest of the list is rather laughable. Only 4 Kentucky players made the list with the highest being Reid Travis at No. 18.
As for the four Kentucky players and their rankings, here they are:
18. Reid Travis – Kentucky Forward, Senior
Kentucky already gets some of the top talent in the country out of high school and then we go and get a first-team, all-conference player that has two years of experience as Stanford’s primary scorer and rebounder as a grad transfer. Travis’ career at Stanford was outstanding enough to stack him up against the program’s best, and now he’s in a position to be a double-double machine while leading the younger players here in Lexington.
29. P.J. Washington – Kentucky Forward, Sophomore
As we all know P.J. Washington highly debated going pro which he probably would have been drafted but thankfully he chose to come back. That’s something that a lot of incoming Kentucky freshman don’t usually have is some experienced players combing back for their sophomore season. Washington plays with great passion and I definitely could see him being the team’s leader. Then can you imagine a lineup with him and Reid Travis in it? I think he will shine in that scenario.
47. Keldon Johnson – Kentucky Guard, Freshman
When I think of Keldon Johnson, I think of what all he can give us and that’s energy, effort, grit, explosiveness, and his overall versatility. Johnson, which was a former five-star recruit, brings all of that to the table for Kentucky and he’s going to make for one of the best overall defensive players on Kentucky’s team this season in my opinion.
69. Ashton Hagans – Kentucky Guard, Freshman
While Hagans doesn’t put up a lot of statistic filled performances, he could definitely still be crucial to Kentucky’s 2019 run. Hagans is a 6’ 3” guard who was the best player in the state of Georgia when coming out of high school, but here at Kentucky there’s a good chance his most notable contributions could be his perimeter defense and being Kentucky’s primary ball handler on offense.
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