Could this be another season where Kentucky coach John Calipari uses a platoon system? It worked really well in the 2014-15 season when Kentucky went 38-0 before losing to Wisconsin in the Final Four in a game where UK fans will never believe the best team won. That loss cost UK a chance to not only win a national championship but to do it as an undefeated team.
That 2014-15 team had talented freshmen like UK does this year but also had more veteran players than this team does. But Calipari does like what he’s seen so far from a lot of players in practice.
“Part of it is you figure out how many guys deserve to play and you play them,” Calipari said. “Normally it breaks at eight and it is obvious these seven or eight are the best and get more minutes.
“We had 10 one year. I have played six guys cause they separated. I am not playing people just to play them. If you deserve to play, you are going to play. I will figure it out. If someone else deserves more than you, he’s playing.”
Calipari did that last year when he started the season with Immanuel Quickley on the bench. He played so well that Calipari went to a three-guard lineup to start Quickley and he became SEC Player of the Year.
“He trusted me to figure it out. These kids will do the same but they will know before me who those eight, nine guys are. If it is 10, we will platoon. I don’t see if. But if there are, we will do that.”
Calipari said it didn’t hurt anybody on the 2014-15 team when he played 10 players in a platoon setting.
“If I play nine it is because nine deserve it and no one is hurt by it,” Calipari said. “If I play seven, then it is because they deserve it.”
