Oscar Tshiebwe sends definitive message to Shaedon Sharpe

While Shaedon Sharpe will likely never suit up in a Kentucky uniform, his Wildcat teammate and Wooden Award-winning big man Oscar Tshiebwe has been advocating for his return with the hopes to become one of the most dominant teams in the country next season.

“He is definitely a bucket,” Tshiebwe said of Sharpe. “He can play. I want him back. I want him back but it’s up to him. For me, I’m good. I already see what Coach Cal has for us coming. I don’t see any — I see everybody ready to go. We’re going to make each other better in practice and we’ll be good. Shaedon decides to come back, phew, it will be a different level of basketball for us. But if he decides to stay in the draft, we’re good. Either way, we’re good.”

After averaging 17.4 points and 15.1 rebounds per game for the Wildcats a season ago, Tshiebwe himself had the option to either enter his name into the 2022 NBA Draft or return to Lexington to play another season with UK, but instead has decided to dominate the glass at Kentucky for one more season.

While Tshiebwe has already decided to return, several of his teammates’ future with the Wildcats are in limbo. Kentucky head coach John Calipari noted Friday morning that he expects Sahvir Wheeler, Jacob Toppin, CJ Fredrick, Daimion Collins and Lance Ware to return for the 2022-23 seasons.

Keion Brooks Jr. is still testing the NBA Draft waters, while Dontaie Allen (Western Kentucky) and Bryce Hopkins have elected to find new homes through the transfer portal.

“Right now, we’ve got some guys that are testing the waters. We just let them go see. I did not, me personally, I did not want to go through those things. You know when they tell you, this is what you need to work on. I feel like I did not want to go prove to them, I’m good, I can do this, I can do this. I’m just going to take my time and work on those things and in my time, it will come. You’re going to see on the draft board. I’ll be highly ranked.

“To those out there, Shaedon, Keion, everybody, we’ll let them see. I tell them, see if you don’t like it. If you hear something good, go. Coach Cal is going to bring somebody good [in]. We’re going to play basketball. If you don’t hear anything good, come back and let’s win a championship and it’s going to help everybody on this team.”