The Kentucky Wildcats are set to begin their NCAA Tournament run with a matchup against No. 14 seed Oakland in the Round of 64. Ahead of the game, Kentucky head coach John Calipari detailed one big change that he will be making in terms of his lineups on the court.
The weakness for Kentucky has been clear all season long. The team’s offense has been excellent, ranking third in the country with 89.4 points per game.
Simply put, this Kentucky team will be able to run plenty of teams off the court in the tournament. But their defense has been an issue, allowing 79.7 points per game.
In efforts to improve the team’s defense, Calipari told reporters on Sunday after discovering the team’s draw in the tournament that he plans to roll with a bigger lineup in hopes of improving their defense.
“If a team has guards that just break us down, what else can we do? How about if I put both seven-footers in? It may take away a little offense, but now, you got two seven-footers, a little harder to score at the rim,” Calipari said. “So there’s some different things we can do.”
It may be a little late for some to have Calipari making drastic changes to their rotation. Most teams simply are what they are entering the tournament.
But it is at least a positive that Calipari sees the team’s problems. If things go to plan for Calipari and their defense improves without any sort of significant drop-off offensively, Kentucky could be a very dangerous team in the tournament that nobody should want to play.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.