John Calipari strict on 8-man rotation, but has 11 who can play

During Kentucky’s season-opening win over Howard on Monday night, head coach John Calipari rolled out an eight-man rotation. It’s not something unusual from him, and it has actually become the norm over the last half-decade. Ever since the infamous “platoon” season in 2014-15, Calipari has stuck with much tighter rotations.

The only “issue” (if you want to call it that) is Kentucky was without three key pieces in the 32-point win over Howard: Reigning National Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe, Bob Cousy award finalist Sahvir Wheeler, and potential breakout star Daimion Collins. Tshiebwe and Wheeler are defacto starters who averaged 31.9 and 31.2 minutes per game, respectively. Collins has shown plenty of growth over the offseason and is expected to fit into the rotation in a significant way.

Tshiebwe and Wheeler will soon return from their minor knee injuries while Collins’s status is a bit more up in the air following the shocking passing of his father. Eventually, all three will be back in the lineup, but Calipari is still dead-set on an eight-man rotation. Which means a handful of Wildcats will get the short end of the stick.

“We’re gonna have a couple of guys fighting for minutes. You won’t believe this, you know Oscar is playing? So that means those 28 to 30 minutes are coming from somewhere,” Calipari said after Monday night’s win. “Daimion comes back, if it’s 20, 25 minutes, it’s coming from somewhere. And I’m not gonna play 11 guys so one of the things I’m trying to do is, I’m holding guys to a high standard because they’re gonna be fighting for minutes. Most of it will come down to are you breaking down defensively? Are you not rebounding balls? Then I got to play someone else and there’s two or three of you, so whoever’s the best defender, the best rebounder.

“That’s my job to figure this out and make sure that we’re together. We’re cheering for each other. I think part of the reason we’re playing well is I’m playing eight guys. A nice little rotation and you’re getting in there and you can make a mistake and you stay. So the ideal rotation would be eight. But we have 11.“

Monday night’s starting lineup consisted of CJ Fredrick, Cason Wallace, Jacob Toppin, Chris Livingston, and Lance Ware. The other three rotational pieces were Antonio Reeves, Adou Thiero, and Ugonna Onyenso. It feels safe to assume Fredrick, Wallace, Toppin, and Reeves have all solidified their spot in the early-season lineup. Add in Tshiebwe and Wheeler, and all of the sudden that’s a six-man rotation with two spots left to split between five players.

But that’s why Calipari is paid the big bucks. It’s a classic “good problem to have” type of situation. Just think: had it not been for the absences of Tshiebwe, Wheeler, and Collins, we might not have seen the emergence of Onyenso as an elite rim protector or Wallace as a starting-caliber point guard or the all-around skillsets of Reeves and Fredrick.

“The greatest thing about this game and I believe next game, is everyone is getting minutes to show what they are. And if there’s any separation, you’ll see it,” Calipari said.

On the flip side, if Kentucky has an arsenal of talent, why not just roll with a deeper rotation? After all, the last time Calipari ran with a “platoon” style substitution system, Kentucky won 38 games and went to the Final Four. But the years after made for some tougher-than-usual recruiting pitches.

“It’s just hard on all of them. You remember the year I did the platoon and we won every game and it was all — for two years I couldn’t recruit anyone,” Calipari said with a smile before mimicking what opposing coaches would say to top recruits. “You wanna go there and play 20 minutes? I’m gonna start you and you’re gonna take all the shots and you have to go there. And I said I did that one time in my career. I had no choice, I had 10 guys. If I felt we had 10 — you know who 11 and 12 were? Two good players who are still playing professionally. Dominique (Hawkins) and Derek (Willis). Those two were 11 and 12.”

It doesn’t sound like Calipari wants to get himself into another situation like that one, so an eight-man rotation feels like a safe bet barring any major or long-term injuries. If Kentucky can truly go 10 or 11 players deep, it could make for some tough conversations for those who miss the top eight. But if the talent is that loaded, it might be even tougher not to dive deep down the bench.

Again, it’s a good problem to have.