Kentucky’s practice on Thursday took a turn for the worse following the team’s uninspiring, ten-point win over Columbia on Wednesday night, albeit without PG Tyler Ulis or SG Devin Booker. Junior wingman Alex Poythress, who Coach John Calipari said was, “on a breakaway layup without contact”, tore his ACL, which will end his 2014-15 campaign.
This will undoubtedly end the highly scrutinized “two platoon system” that Calipari has experimented with in Lexington this season. I would expect guys like Marcus Lee, Trey Lyles, Devin Booker, and even Derek Willis to see more minutes with Poythress, and the system, on the sideline. The only question could be a simple one: How will the young Wildcats react to such a significant injury?
Not only is Alex Poythress a superb glue-guy on the court, but he is also a fantastic leader off it. He has had to struggle through a couple years of inconsistent and underachieving play based on the hype that those Kentucky teams would get before the season even started.
His first year in Lexington was extremely disappointing. The team consisted of Ryan Harrow, Archie Goodwin, Poythress, Nerlens Noel, and Willie Cauley-Stein. Cauley-Stein is still around with Poythress, but everyone else jumped ship after a 21-12 season that was topped off with a NIT first round loss to Robert Morris.
Even considering how bad Poythress’ freshman year was, his sophomore year didn’t get off to a hot start either. A rough regular season for the Wildcats resulted in a 24-10 heading into the NCAA tournament as an eight seed.
The course took a sharp curve in the right direction, though, in the NCAA tournament for Kentucky, with Poythress playing a huge role in getting them to the National Championship Game, where they would lose to the Connecticut Huskies.
These struggles made him the type of leader he is today, and the one the Wildcats will miss for the rest of the season.
This year has been different, with a lot of credit to be on Poythress’ (and Willie Cauley-Stein’s) leadership. The Wildcats are 10-0 so far this year, but will that success carry over with the injury to Poythress?
I am certain it will.
As much as I’ve talked about Poythress’ leadership and experience, I have to believe that this team will find a way to get the job done. For one, it’s not like Poythress will be away from the team for 6-8 months in one term. I’m sure he will be around the team to keep a guiding hand on their shoulder.
Two, this Kentucky team is pretty good. North Carolina Head Coach Roy Williams said, “In 27 years as a head coach I haven’t seen a team this deep and talented.” North Carolina plays Kentucky on Saturday. The whole “two platoon system” nonsense is the biggest indicator of the team’s depth. Coach Calipari can go four or five deep on his bench and not have any drop off to the production on court, so losing talent shouldn’t be an issue either.
The Wildcats do have a tough three game stretch coming up- #21 North Carolina, UCLA, and at #4 Louisville- but after that, the ‘Cats get to feast off a weak SEC schedule. This will give the team time to re-gel, maybe not as two squads, but as one, big team.
So while I do think Poythress’ intangibles will be missed, lets not get ahead of ourselves. This Wildcat team is determined, talented, and, oh yeah, talented. Coach Calipari has proven himself as one of the best coaches in America, and he should plan to build on last year’s success.
Thank you for reading. Follow me on Twitter – @LWOSVanHouten. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport and @LWOSworld – and “liking” our Facebook page.
For the latest in sports injury news, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for?
