What does Jack Givens think about this UK basketball team? ‘I’m really excited about ...’
When the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team takes the floor this season, one of the greatest players in the program’s history will be keeping a watchful eye from his front-row seat at center court.
It was announced this past week that Jack “Goose” Givens will serve as the new color analyst for the Wildcats’ radio broadcasts, and he’s been preparing for that role for the past few months, calling UK’s four exhibition games in the Bahamas over the summer and sitting in on some of the team’s preseason practices.
What does the Kentucky basketball great think about this edition of the Cats?
“We have some really, really good athletes on this team,” Givens said first when asked for his assessment of what he’s seen from the team so far. The program’s third-leading scorer all time — and 1978 Final Four MVP — spoke about several aspects of the 2022-23 Wildcats during an interview with the Herald-Leader on Wednesday, two days before the team hit the Rupp Arena court for Big Blue Madness.
The athleticism of these Wildcats — something that was on display in those four Bahamas games in August — was top of mind for Givens, who expects that trait to manifest into good things on the court this season.
“They’re just really, really good athletes who can do some things — especially defensively — that we haven’t had at Kentucky over the last few years,” he said. “And I’m really excited about that.”
Givens said he’d been particularly impressed with McDonald’s All-American freshmen Chris Livingston and Cason Wallace, two players who have enviable athleticism, size and length for their respective perimeter positions, as well as a track record of defensive-minded play. The new radio analyst also pointed out that forwards Jacob Toppin and Daimion Collins are now a year older and more experienced, a dynamic duo of athletes seemingly ready to take the next step in their games this season.
“I’m stepping out saying this athleticism that they have is going to translate on the defensive end of the floor,” Givens said. “We’ve had teams who could score — last year, we could score — but the real issue was: can we stop those guards from straight-line penetration? Can we cover at the three-point line? Can we help and recover to our guys on the perimeter?
“All of those things were issues last year — the way I saw it — and really had to be dealt with in order for this team to take it to the next level. You don’t lose the first game in the tournament if you’re a good team defensively, if you can keep teams from scoring. And I’m hoping that this team is much, much better on the defensive end of the floor.”
To Givens’ point, the Cats struggled at times last season in those specific areas of defense that he mentioned, especially in their shocking 85-79 overtime loss to Saint Peter’s in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Of John Calipari’s 13 teams at Kentucky, only three have had a worse KenPom defensive efficiency ranking than the 2021-22 bunch. Calipari’s best teams — the 2012 title squad, the 38-1 group, and the 2009-10 year one roster — have all finished in the top seven nationally in that stat. Last year’s team was 36th, and the eyeballs confirmed what the numbers said.
That team lacked the overwhelming length and athleticism on the perimeter that have been a hallmark of Calipari’s most dominant lineups. There was also no real threat to swat shots if opponents got past the first line of defense, as other great Calipari teams have featured. (The 2021-22 squad’s 144 blocks were the lowest of the Calipari era).
That should change this time around, with Wallace bringing the reputation as the best perimeter defender in the 2022 recruiting class and Calipari making it clear during the offseason that he expects this team to block a whole lot of shots, with Toppin and Collins leading that charge.
“I don’t have a lot of concern with the scoring, especially if we rebound and get the ball on the break. Because this team has the ability to run and create in the full court,” Givens said. “Defense is always the big question. And this team should be — and I hope they are — a really good defensive team. And that will take care of a lot of the issues that I think hurt the team last year.”
Kentucky’s future star?
One name in particular kept popping up in Givens’ comments as he sorted through the strengths and early areas of impressive play from this Wildcats’ team.
“I really, really thought Cason Wallace was — to me — the guy that stood out, maybe above everybody else,” he said.
Wallace took the fifth-most shots and scored the fifth-most points on that Bahamas trip — Calipari will surely latch onto that stat sometime in the future — but he led the team in steals, was second in assists, committed just five turnovers in 89 minutes, averaged 4.0 rebounds per game, blocked three shots and hit 40 percent of his three-point attempts.
Stats aside, Wallace is flat-out impressive for a player who is still just 18 years old. He plays a team-first style and comes across as a veteran on the court.
“The main thing I was impressed with was his maturity,” Givens said. “His understanding of the game and how it is supposed to be played — at such a young age — was really good. I thought the fact that he and Sahvir Wheeler — working against each other in practice — of the practices I watched, that was the matchup that I really enjoyed. Because, man, both of those guys were flat going at each other. And Cason didn’t back down at all. So I saw that maturity and that part of his game that I had no idea he had.”
Givens said he was most impressed by the clear fact that Wallace “loves” to play defense.
Wallace’s best traits were apparent during Kentucky’s Pro Day event last weekend, and his suffocating defense on Wheeler was part of that performance. The two point guards were on opposing sides for both scrimmages that night, but they’re likely to share the backcourt for a majority of the minutes that Kentucky is on the court in real games this season.
Givens thinks Wallace’s ability to play as a “true” point guard will take some of the pressure off Wheeler to perform in that role.
“I think it’s going to help Sahvir a bunch, because he doesn’t have to have the ball in his hands all the time to get offense started, to penetrate, and to try to create off the dribble,” he said. “Because Wallace can do that, as well. They’ll be in the backcourt together a lot. I was impressed with the fact that Wallace shot the ball better than I thought he would. So that 1-2 punch is really good.
“But where it’s really going to help the team is if you have to take out Sahvir, there’s the question of who’s going to be the next point guard. … Wallace gives you that answer.”
Daimion Collins 2.0
Perhaps the most intriguing player on this Kentucky team is sophomore forward Daimion Collins, a former McDonald’s All-American who played relatively little last season but seems ready for a big jump in year two and could be on the floor for considerable minutes, either alongside national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe or, possibly, at the “5” spot himself, depending on matchups.
At Pro Day last weekend, Collins played quite a bit on the perimeter and looked much more confident and comfortable handling and, especially, shooting the ball.
“I am interested to see how Daimion is going to be featured,” Givens said. “Is he going to be able to make that 18-foot jump shot that is going to be there for him because of Oscar’s presence around the basket?
“Can Daimion develop a little bit of a face-up game — take that to the next level? Can he figure out how he’s going to work his way into some minutes at the ‘3’ position? Can he defend well enough on the perimeter well enough to play ‘3’ against some of the guys he’s going to face? Those are some of the questions I have with Daimion. But, as long as he does what he does — and that is go get the ball off the glass, create some shots for yourself, get on the break and dunk on people, and do those kinds of things — I think Daimion can be featured without necessarily having to run plays for him specifically.”
Givens chuckled when asked if he’d ever come across a player quite like Collins, who measured at nearly 6-9 in height with a 7-4 wingspan and registered an amazing 46.5-inch vertical at Pro Day.
“You see how he jumps,” he said. “You also see that he wasn’t as big as a minute. So how is he going to stand up against guys? And he does a pretty good job of that. Hopefully he’s a little stronger. But I haven’t seen anybody quite like him. And the way he gets to really take advantage of that is to keep his foot on the pedal the whole time. Play all out, and understand that a certain amount of what he gets, especially on the offensive end, is going to be what he can get for himself. Or get in transition.
“So he’s going to have to play at that top speed all the time.”
Other Cats of interest
Givens said he’s looking forward to watching how senior Jacob Toppin does in a new role that should see him emerge as one of the star players on this team, after playing as a reserve the past two seasons.
“I’ve seen him in practice, and I’ve seen improvements in his game, but one of the questions I had was, ‘Will those practice sessions — and what he has shown — translate to the ball games?’ And, man, it certainly did,” Givens said of the Bahamas trip. “I was pleasantly surprised with how well he shot the ball, and with his leadership ability. That we had not seen. Because it wasn’t required of him before this year. I was really, really excited and happy about that.”
Toppin finished the exhibition trip second in points scored (16.8 per game) and landed in the top three in scoring, rebounding, assists, blocks and steals, all while committing just three turnovers over 98 minutes, hitting 56.5 percent of his shots and making eight of 15 three-point attempts.
On Chris Livingston …
“He is a real athlete and has that knack for being around the ball,” Givens said. “And the ability to get that ball off the glass and take it the full length of the court. And be able to make good decisions. I’ve been pleased with that.”
Givens also lumped under-the-radar recruit Adou Thiero in with his praise of Livingston and Wallace, coming away pleasantly surprised with what he’s seen from Thiero so far.
“I was really impressed with the young guys, and the athletes that they are,” he said. “And that quality — one thing they all have — being able to run and jump and have a little dog in them and like to mix it up. Those things are really impressive.”
UK basketball’s head start
One major advantage of the Cats’ preseason trip to the Bahamas, according to Givens, was simply the trip itself.
The former Kentucky star said he was impressed with the overall play from the team during those four games in August, especially since they hadn’t spent that much time together to that point. That they played so well was a testament to both the talent and upside of these Cats, but also an indication of the returning experience and veteran presence that should drive this team.
“You don’t have to wait and go through the preseason games and the early games to understand the chemistry that this team could have,” Givens said. “So it was huge that they got an opportunity to go down and play. It was really big that they got those extra practice days in — some individual workout time that, otherwise, they may not have gotten.”
In preseason interviews, Kentucky’s players have said the same — that those summer practices and the experience of playing in actual games alongside their new teammates was both a confidence-booster and a reason for excitement given how well the team seemed to jell on the court.
“They shared the basketball. They looked out for each other. Seemed to genuinely enjoy playing with each other,” Givens added. “So that is all good, for sure.”
Obviously, the competition over the next several weeks will be tougher than what the Cats saw in the Bahamas. Gonzaga, UCLA, Michigan and Michigan State are all early season opponents that could be Top 25 teams when the first Associated Press poll is released in the coming days.
Yes, the Bahamas competition was weak by that standard. But Kentucky’s play probably had a lot to do with furthering that perception. And that’s a good sign for the Wildcats’ future.
“I don’t think any of the teams that Kentucky played were as bad as Kentucky made them look,” Givens said. “And that is a really promising thing.”
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