Savhir Wheeler will be the fourth transfer on the UK roster next season. (Georgia Athletics Photo)
If Kentucky coach John Calipari has a complaint next year it could be that his team is too old. Certainly, there will be no talk about UK being the youngest team in the country again now that Kentucky has turned into Transfer U.
The Wildcats went to the waiver wire — okay, it’s called the transfer portal in college but it is the same thing — to snatch a second point guard they needed when Savhir Wheeler of Georgia signed with the Cats Monday just a few days after high school senior point guard TyTy Washington signed with UK.
That solved the issue of Devin Askew transferring after his freshman season and Nolan Hickman Jr. asking for his release before he ever got to Lexington (he has now signed with Gonzaga).
Just think about the roster Kentucky will have:
— Guard Kellan Grady is a grad transfer from Davidson, so he will be in his fifth year of college basketball. He has scored over 2,000 career points.
— Center Oscar Tshiebwe came to UK from West Virginia and will be in his third year of college basketball. He averaged almost a double-double for the Mountaineers.
— Transfer C.J. Fredrick of Iowa, a Kentucky native, already has two years of college experience. He’s a career 47 percent shooter.
— Wheeler will be in his third year and ranked in the top five nationally in assists per game last season when and averaged 11.3 points and 5.8 assists per game in 57 career games with the Bulldogs. He will still have to be given a waiver by the SEC to compete since he is transferring within the conference but most expect that blanket waiver will be given. If so, he would have three years of eligibility left with the free COVID year.
— Dontaie Allen will be in his third year at Kentucky and Jacob Toppin will be in his second year at Kentucky but third year overall. Lance Ware played last season. If Keion Brooks returns, he’s another player who already has two years of experience. And if Davion Mintz comes back, he’s a sixth-year player.
Could the team be too old for Calipari who has basically had one- and two-year players at UK during his tenure.
Washington, Daimion Collins, and Bryce Hopkins will be the only players on the roster with no college experience.
Wheeler said in a release from UK he picked the Wildcats to have a chance to win a national title despite Kentucky’s 9-16 finish last year. He also said Calipari’s history of preparing players for the NBA had a role in his decision.
“Sahvir is the kind of player that dictates the pace of the game, who gets easy baskets for himself and his teammates, and who can be disruptive defensively,” Calipari said. “He is what you look for in a point guard in that he puts his teammates in positions to score, yet he can score the ball in bunches when he needs to.
“He was a second-team all-conference player as a sophomore and almost routinely put up games with double-digit assists, including setting the SEC Tournament record this last season with 13. I am excited for him to be a part of this program and my guess is our players will be too.”
The 5-10 Wheeler broke Georgia’s single-season assist record with 193 in 24 games last year. after setting a Georgia freshman record with 139 assists. He was only the fourth player in the conference since 2000 to lead the SEC in both assists and assist to turnover ratio. He also registered the first triple-double in Georgia history with 14 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds against LSU on Feb. 23.
He already has 43 collegiate starts and had 33 games where he scored in double figures.
He was a four-star and top 100 recruit out of Houston (Texas) Christian High School.
