Loaded with unselfish young talent, Kentucky embracing "random" style of basketball

John Calipari is back to his old ways. Talent over experience. This season’s Kentucky squad certainly fits that mold — eight freshmen, four of them former five-star high school prospects. There are a couple of key veterans sprinkled into the mix, but as was the case during Calipari’s first decade in Lexington, the Wildcats will live and die by the rookies.

But this batch of newbies appears to be coming along more quickly than some of Calipari’s more talented, freshman-ladened groups from years past. Yes, there are still growing pains — some forced shots, overplaying passing lanes, things that worked in high school that won’t translate as easily to the college level. But there is no denying the fact that this team loves to share the ball.

“There’s a lot of players out there that are not gonna move the ball the way that some of these young dudes move the ball, and it’s impressive. It’s really impressive,” Fifth-year senior Tre Mitchell said following Thursday night’s exhibition. “I think it’s a sign of their maturity and their understanding of the game. They notice the talent that’s next to them and I think that when you see the talent that’s around you, it’s a lot easier to give up that ball.”

In Kentucky’s second and final preseason tune-up before the regular season tips off next week, the Wildcats pounced on Kentucky State from start to finish. The outcome was never in doubt as UK cruised to the 99-53 win. But it was how Kentucky got to those 99 points that impressed the Big Blue Nation.

“As fast as we are playing, to have 25 or whatever assists on 37 baskets and have only really four or five turnovers, probably less, it — that means guys can handle it, guys can pass it, they can catch it,” Calipari said after the game. “We got a bunch of pretty good basketball players. I just like the fact that they shared it. In this kind of game what happens is guys just lose their mind. They didn’t. They played the way we are trying to play. They know we got tough games coming up.”

When a team is as talented — and more importantly, as unselfish — as this Kentucky team has shown to be through the preseason, it results in beautiful basketball. That’s what we saw against Kentucky State. “Random”, as Calipari calls it. He trusts in his players to make the right play and keep the ball moving — a lot easier said than done.

“This is one of those teams, like Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander) said, watching us in Toronto, every guy can pass, dribble, and shoot, so it leaves you to play a little different, what we are running. We were random some of the time and you have to admit, it was like wow,” Calipari said. “We were random, we had great pace, we got to the next action. What you are trying to do is make the decision, make the defense make decisions. How many decisions can you make them make?”

This “random” style of basketball isn’t random in the sense that there’s no structure. It’s random in the sense that Kentucky knows how to improvise on the fly and play off what the opposing team is giving them. In the first half against Kentucky State, it was shots at the rim — 32 of UK’s 50 first-half points came in the paint. In the second half, it was three-pointers — the ‘Cats went 7-17 from distance. Random basketball requires constant movement and the willingness to make the extra pass. In that sense, it’s not completely random.

“Some of it is getting them started. Like doing actions so that the ball moves and there’s some penetration and cutting and then it becomes random,” Calipari added. “What I want them to do is play off of one another, get to the next action.

“If you are only dancing with the ball and then shooting, there were no decisions to make. But if you do a dribble hand-off, if you do a pass and a cut and a swing and a kickback, they are making eight, 10 decisions, somebody’s going to screw up. That’s randomness of the game of what we are trying to do.”

That’s a lot of trust to put into a group of freshmen, although having some experience helps bridge the gap. Playing four games together in Canada over the summer and then two more exhibition games has helped build the immediate (and almost natural-feeling) chemistry.

“(Calipari) trusts us a lot,” Sophomore guard Adou Thiero added. “He knows we’re all good basketball players. We’ll make the right play. That’s a good feeling to have.”

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