Antonio Reeves reveals impressions of Kentucky freshmen

Antonio Reeves‘ exploration of the 2023 NBA Draft saw him return to Kentucky to a completely new team thanks to head coach John Calipari’s yearly roster turnover.

After a few weeks of playing alongside the new group — which includes six true freshmen — and traveling throughout the state for camps, Reeves revealed his initial impression of the star-studded group ahead of the 2023-24 college basketball season.

“All the freshmen, they come in and work and compete at the highest level. It has impressed me,” Reeves said. “Me coming in, I didn’t believe — I had to see for myself. But when I came in here, everybody was working. Everybody had their own role that they star in. It blew my mind when I came back.”

The incoming class features three Five-Star Plus+ recruits Justin Edwards, Aaron Bradshaw and DJ Wagner Jr., as well as four stars Robert Dillingham, Jordan Burks and Reed Sheppard. West Virginia transfer Tre Mitchell also joined the team several weeks ago to cap off the new-look Cats’ roster in 2023.

On paper, Calipari is bringing in the most talented recruiting class since the 2014 class that saw the likes of Karl-Anthony Towns, Devin Booker, Trey Lyles and Tyler Ulis. Big Blue Nation has fond memories of that historic group — although they wouldn’t appreciate it if you discussed the ending of that season.

Kentucky fans will hope that this season ends a bit better, however, as BBN is desperate for another national championship — or even a Final Four run. After next season, it’ll have been a decade since UK found itself in the Final Four.

In the years since the last Final Four run, Kentucky has tended to stick with the transfer portal route to address concerns rather than the proven one-and-done formula that Calipari made famous to begin with.

The Kentucky coach took those concerns in stride and addressed both the recruiting and portal problems head-on. And in turn, the roster seems to have turned out well.

Fans will get to see their first glimpse of their new-look Wildcats next week during the 2023 GLOBL JAM in Toronto. UK is guaranteed at least three games representing Team USA in the event.

They tip off action on Wednesday, July 12 against Team Germany at 1:30 p.m. ET. After that, they’ll play Canada the following day and Team Africa on July 15. The championship game will be held on July 16 at 8 p.m. ET, but the matchup is to be determined depending on how well the Wildcats do in the tournament.