John Calipari is still trying to sort out his loaded roster, whittle down about 10 legit players to a seven- or eight-man rotation, ideally. He used Kentucky's first exhibition game last night – a “wake-up call” against Division III Transylvania – to get a good look at all kinds of combinations. He substituted liberally, making 22 changes and using 18 different groupings, if my math is correct.
No combo played together more than the starters – Andrew Harrison, James Young, Alex Poythress, Julius Randle and Willie Cauley-Stein – and those five were only all together three times for a total of 8:25. Twice in the second half, Calipari made wholesale subs, swapping five for five, which senior Jarrod Polson can't ever remember his coach doing. Said Calipari, who was displeased with the effort level last night: “The greatest tool I have is the bench.” Give him what he wants or sit.
Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter's Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.