[Auburn Athletics Photo]
The addition of 6-4 Maryland transfer Olivia Owens was seen by many as just what coach Matthew Mitchell needed to make Kentucky even more competitive in the Southeastern Conference because it will give UK size it has always lacked.
Owens was a top 30 player in the 2018 recruiting class but played in only 16 games as a freshman averaging 1.5 points and 1.3 rebounds per game before missing last season with mononucleosis. She has three seasons of eligibility remaining but will need a NCAA waiver before she can play next season.
However, don’t forget Kentucky got two other transfers who have already shown they can be productive college players and actually could be much more important to the program.
Jazmine Massengill played in 53 games at Tennessee the last two years. She averaged 6.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game last season. She was second on the team with 128 assists and also had 27 steals and 23 blocks.
Robyn Benton played two years at Auburn. She earned all-SEC freshman honors when she averaged 5.8 points period game with 34 steals. She missed the first nine games of her sophomore season with an injury but averaged 10.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.8 steals and 1.4 assists in the 20 games she played.
Mitchell said transfers are “good for us” before adding Owens that certainly had to make him even more giddy.
“For our program to function at its best we need quality depth and need to build a powerful, explosive athletic and mentally tough basketball team,” Mitchell said. “It’s important to stay on the attack for 40 minutes and adding depth and experience like that and quality experience in our league where you know what they can do is important.”
Mitchell still wants to recruit the best high school players — and he’s certainly done that with Rhyne Howard and Treasure Hunt — but says “you are not guessing” when adding transfers.
“To some extent every freshman that comes in you have an idea how they will compete but you do not know exactly what they will do,” Mitchell said. “I love those two players (Massengill and Benton) because you have clear evidence in our league they can make plays to be successful. They are both really good additions to our team and will help us tremendously getting to where we want to be — SEC championship, Final Four, national championship. You have got to have players who can get the job done and they certainly have shown they can do that.”
Mitchell said high school star recruiting ratings are helpful but not always totally accurate or a perfect indicator of what could happen in college.
“Sometimes a two-star player turns out great in college and a five-star is not,” Mitchell said. “With transfers, you are not having to project with them. You have seen what they can do against SEC competition. If they come in with a hard working approach, you know they have what it takes to produce in our system. It takes the guesswork out.
“It’s a significant recruiting event because you have even more information for players like that than you do for a high school player you have not coaches or seen in your system. We are not guessing on these two players (Massengill and Benton). We know what we believe they can do and have seen they can do.”
That’s why Owens is more of an unknown. She did not play at all last year. She was not an impact player as a freshman. But she is 6-4 and one thing Mitchell — or not other coach — can teach is height.
So while taking Owens might be more of a gamble than taking Massengill and Benton were, it’s a gamble well worth taking.
