Photo by Vicki Graff
For the Kentucky Wildcats, Monday mornings have been one of the team’s better days of the week.
First, sophomore forward PJ Washington was recognized as the Southeastern Conference’s Player of the Week. Washington was previously recognized two weeks ago but shared the award with Tennessee junior Grant Williams. After going head-to-head with Williams, though, Kentucky’s second-year standout prevailed to earn the honor for a second time this season.
Though Washington is only averaging 14.8 points per game this season, his statistics should be taken with a grain of salt as his impact on the team couldn’t be any greater. For example, former first overall draft picks Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony Towns averaged 14.2 PPG and 10.3 PPG, respectively.
Needless to say, Kentucky is a threat to contend for a national title solely because of Washington’s return to school and his affect on the basketball court.
Second, despite the Wildcats falling to the LSU Tigers on Tuesday, Saturday’s win over the then-top ranked Tennessee Volunteers was enough to propel them to fourth in the Associated Press top-25 rankings. Kentucky had previously been ranked fifth and would have likely moved even higher if Tuesday’s game had avoided a controversial ending.
As the Volunteers fell to fifth, that resulted in Duke (1), Gonzaga (2) and Virginia (3) rounding out the top-3. Finishing out the top-10 is Nevada (6), Michigan (7), North Carolina (8), Houston (9) and Michigan State (10).
This week, Kentucky will travel to face the Missouri Tigers on Tuesday before returning home to host the Auburn Tigers on Saturday. Tuesday’s tip-off in Columbia is set for 9 P.M. EDT on ESPN with on-air coverage provided by 106.5 WKDZ radio.
