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Weekend Brunch: Kentucky improves outside shooting, still needs PG

A new offseason means a new weekly column!

Check out below for the first installment of “Weekend Brunch”, a new project that will be published each and every Friday on all the latest happenings in the world of college basketball.

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Kentucky improves outside shooting, still needs PG

The late, great Chuck Daly once said that “shooting covers a multitude of sins”.

Kentucky’s staff was apparently listening.

On Wednesday, the Wildcats’ officially announced the signing of Iowa transfer CJ Fredrick, who along with Davidson transfer Kellan Grady should drastically change the type of offensive spacing that Kentucky plays with next season.

John Calipari’s squad finished 12th out of 14 SEC teams last season in overall field goal percentage (41.7) and seventh out of 14 in three-point field goal percentage (33.6). Fredrick and Grady combined to shoot an average of 42.8 percent from long distance last year with their respective teams while also combining to make 94 three-point shots; Kentucky made just 160 as a team in 20-21.

Poor shooting was one of many reasons why the Wildcats finished 9-16 in what was the worst season that Calipari has had since his first year at UMass (1988-89) — poor ball security was another.

Kentucky had a combined 313 assists to 349 turnovers as a team last season and that’s an area where Fredrick should make an immediate impact. The 6-3 guard had 52 assists to just 10 turnovers last season for Iowa.

“What stuck out to me on tape is he takes care of the ball,” Calipari said of Fredrick this week in a statement. “He has an excellent assist-to-turnover ratio – and he can hold his own defensively. He guarded the best guard on the other team in just about everything I have seen.”

The additions of Fredrick, Grady, and West Virginia Oscar Tshiebwe will instantly make Kentucky older and more skilled. It remains to be seen how much better that makes the Wildcats in the SEC’s constantly improving landscape.

As I wrote two weeks ago, the transfer portal has allowed the conference’s other teams to also instantly improve their roster. Since that column was written, LSU has added Illinois transfer Adam Miller, a former five-star recruit who averaged 8.3 points last season as a freshman.

Kentucky still also badly needs a point guard.

Nolan Hickmann — one of the top floor generals in the 2021 class — decommitted from the Wildcats last week. Meanwhile, former Creighton commit TyTy Washington announced a few days ago that he will announce his plans for next season on May 15th. The four-star point guard has Kentucky on his list of six schools that he’s considering and is a consensus top tier floor general in the 2021 class.

The Wildcats have also been linked to Minnesota transfer Marcus Carr (19.4 points, 4.9 assists, four rebounds), who is currently going through the 2021 NBA Draft process in addition to having his name in the transfer portal. Georgia transfer Sahvir Wheeler — who led the SEC in assists (7.4) last season — is another potential option.

Kentucky’s Davion Mintz (11.5 points) also announced this week that he will go through the NBA Draft process while retaining his college eligibility. The 6-3 Mintz was a valuable piece for the Wildcats last season, but would probably be better served in a complementary ancillary role if he were to return to school.

The NCAA deadline for players to withdraw from the draft and return to school is July 7th, according to an NCAA official.

Assorted Pastries

  • Porter Moser didn’t hit a home run with his staff at Oklahoma — he hit a grand slam. Moser’s three assistants — David Patrick, K.T. Turner, and Emanuel Dildy — are all well thought of in the industry and have strong reputations as recruiters. Patrick and Turner were the Associate Head Coaches at Arkansas and Texas respectively last season while Dildy comes from Northwestern.
  • Could next season be the first time that Danny Hurley and Bobby Hurley face off head-to-head as Division 1 head coaches? Both UConn and Arizona State are in the 2021 Battle 4 Atlantis.
  • SEC Presidents will vote on the league’s intraconference transfer rule at the end of May, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. The conference currently requires intraconference transfers to sit out one full season before becoming eligible.
  • Northern Iowa’s AJ Green (hip) is expected to be fully cleared by mid-August, according to Panthers coach Ben Jacobson. The 6-4 guard only played in three games last year before undergoing season-ending surgery, but is a dark horse candidate to be an All-American in 21-22. Green averaged 22.3 points and 5.7 rebounds while shooting 40.7 percent from three-point range in limited action last season.
  • Florida State is expected to play UCF and Florida is expected to play South Florida in the 2021 Orange Bowl Classic, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

Leftovers