Kentucky held its annual Pro Days on Sunday and Monday on campus in Lexington.
Roughly 90 NBA scouts attended the event.
I asked one of them three questions about what he saw.
1. Who looked like the best prospect the past two days?
- Scout's answer: "De'Aaron Fox was the best. This is one of the best NBA Draft classes in recent memory -- in terms of point guards. And he is a big part of the reason why."
- My thoughts: Kentucky will possibly have three freshmen -- Bam Adebayo, Malik Monk and Fox -- selected somewhere in the lottery, and any of them could reasonably end up going ahead of the other two. All three are special talents who established themselves as elite prospects years ago. But it wasn't surprising to hear that Fox outperformed everybody during Kentucky's Pro Days because, as Matt Norlander pointed out earlier this week, the Houston native has a chance to be one of the best point guards John Calipari has ever coached -- right there with Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, John Wall and Tyler Ulis.
2. Which player surprised you most?
- Scout's answer: "Monk, Adebayo, and Fox were all good, but that was to be expected. But I was surprised at how good Sacha Killeya-Jones was. He can be their X-factor if he continues to improve at this rate."
- My thoughts: Killeya-Jones is the lowest-rated member of Kentucky's five-player class and not necessarily thought of as a one-and-done prospect. Still, the 6-10 forward is a consensus five-star recruit and undeniably talented. The North Carolina native initially committed to Virginia before decommitting and signing with UK. He's expected to add size and tenacity off of the bench to a frontcourt that struggled much of last season.
3. How good can Kentucky be as a team?
- Scout's answer: "This UK team is better than last year's but not as good as their recent Final Four teams. But, as I go around to practices [at different schools], it seems like a down year in college basketball. So a Final Four isn't out of the question. They'll win the SEC pretty easily and be in the top 10 for most of the year. So they'll go into the NCAA Tournament with a nice seed. Gun to my head, I'd say they make the Elite Eight. And they'll be a fun team to watch. Their guards are really fast and their bigs can really run. So if they can get stops they'll be able to get out into transition a lot -- and that's how Cal likes to play. So it should be fun."
- My thoughts:I have Kentucky ranked second in the preseason Top 25 (and one) -- behind only Duke. So I like the Wildcats. But I understand why some, including this NBA scout, might want to take a wait-and-see approach because, you know, Calipari is once again basically starting from scratch. The top three scorers, and six of the top eight, from last season's 27-win team that lost in the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament are gone. And Calipari's best teams at Kentucky have usually had a better blend of established veterans and talented newcomers. That's worth noting. Still, like the scout said, it probably is going to be a down year in college basketball in terms of the quality of the teams, top to bottom. And nobody in the SEC should seriously threaten the Wildcats. So, yeah, they should win their league easily. And, as a general rule, come March, I never put any kind of ceiling on a team with three possible lottery picks. So we'll see. UK opens with Stephen F. Austin exactly one month from today.
