By LARRY VAUGHT
Sporting News columnist Mike DeCourcy said Oscar Tshiebwe “practically glows” when you are around him.
“He is such a delightful young man,” DeCourcy said.
Sporting News was the first to name Tshiebwe national player of the year and he ended up sweeping the six major player of the year awards, including the United States Basketball Writers Award presented to him by DeCourcy during the Final Four in New Orleans.
“I got the chance to speak to him by telephone on the Monday after the regular season ended and he was just an absolute delight. So upbeat and positive,” DeCourcy said. “If it was not self-serving, Kentucky should have Oscar make a pitch for Cal (John Calipari) and then everybody (criticizing Calipari) would chill out.
“He came to Kentucky and embraced what Cal taught him. He averaged nine (points) and nine (rebounds) at West Virginia and the next thing you know he is national player of the year. Do you think he did that without coaching? That’s why he is there (at Kentucky) and why he might come back.
“It’s why he got great. He wasn’t a preseason All-American. He was expected to be a good big guy but not great like he turned out to be.”
DeCourcy remembers thinking if UK signed Jalen Duren it might not work the Cats last season. Instead, Duren signed with Memphis and Tshiebwe led the nation in rebounding and also led UK in scoring, steals and field goal percentage.
“I just didn’t think Oscar and Jalen would play great together. I remember thinking it would be best for Kentucky for Oscar to have his own position but I never envisioned him having the year he did,” DeCourcy said. “I was thinking 12 points, 10 rebounds, 30 minutes a game. I thought he would be a good player, but not an elite player. He carried Kentucky to a No. 2 seed (in the NCAA Tournament) and 26 wins.”
DeCourcy admits he did not realize how dynamic Tshiebwe was at West Virginia because he was “rooted” around the rim.
“I knew he could rebound his area but could not move around a lot,” DeCourcy said. “This year at both ends of the court he showed the ability to be mobile and extremely dynamic. That’s why he went from getting nine rebounds a game (at West Virginia) to more than 15. That’s why he was able to make jump shots, something you rarely even got to see him attempt at West Virginia.”
Tshiebwe will explore his NBA options but he’s not listed in the first round of mock drafts currently. DeCourcy didn’t talk to Tshiebwe about his career decision but does believe he is open to returning.
“He’s had an amazing growth in terms of what he was able to become as a player this year but I don’t think he is done growing. If he stays at Kentucky another season, there’s a lot more he can add to his game,” DeCourcy said.
“If he goes professional, it might be hard to get that continued growth, especially at the offensive end. He can still work on his game but there are some things you can apply only in actual competition that might not be available to him unless he goes overseas if he goes pro.”
Krysten Peek, basketball writer for YahooSports and Rivals, has Kentucky freshman Shaedon Sharpe sixth in her latest NBA mock draft behind Chet Holmgren of Gonzaga, Jabari Smith of Auburn, Paolo Banchero of Duke, Jaden Ivey of Purdue and Keegan Murray of Iowa.
Peek has never wavered in her belief that Sharpe will be playing in the NBA next year rather than staying at Kentucky.
“Even when I spoke to him in October I was kind of getting the impression his end goal was not to play at Kentucky. His end goal is to be an NBA player and why would he risk injury or his draft stock falling (by staying at Kentucky),” Peek said. “The intrigue of who he could be is more a positive than anything else right now.”
Peek said Sharpe will still have to go through NBA team workouts even if he does decide to not attend the NBA Combine once he puts his name officially into the NBA draft.
“There is no way he cannot at least do the workouts,” Peeks said. “If his workouts do not go well and he was to get feedback that he is not ready yet that could be the only way he returns to Kentucky but he was the No. 1 player (in the 2022 recruiting class) for a reason.”
Peek does believe Sharpe wanted to play this year at Kentucky but the feedback from those around him was to just sit out and not play.
Kentucky players several times talked about how good Sharpe looked in practice … but maybe not every practice.
“What I heard from some NBA guys that were able to go to practice was that he was not really practicing, either,” Peek said. “I don’t know if that was to protect him with NBA guys there or not.”
The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor also has Sharpe slotted sixth in his most recent mock draft as does Jonathon Givony of ESPN.
“His scoring prowess in high school is enough to make him a lottery pick. Sharpe’s fluidity as an off-the-dribble scorer using an array of advanced moves alone makes him look like a no-brainer top-five pick,” O’Connor wrote. “Then you factor in his willingness to pass the ball and display grit on defense and you have to think he might have the potential to become a star.”
Quarterback Will Levis is clearly Kentucky No. 1 quarterback after leading UK to 10 wins last season following his transfer from Penn State. He says he feels “blessed” with the way everything has worked out for him.
“I just did what I thought was the right decision and went with it and it worked out,” said Levis. “I try to do what is best with what is given to me and sometimes things just work out that way I guess.”
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops likes the way Levis’ confidence has continued to grow and thinks NFL personnel got a “taste” of seeing what he can do at UK’s recent Pro Day.
“He has everything they are looking for to be a high (draft) pick, a franchise quarterback,” Stoops said. “The sky is the limit for him. He has aspirations to do great things. I love what I am seeing out of him trying to be better every day.”
He also has an intangible quality that NFL scouts have to like, too.
“People are attracted to him. He has a genuine leadership ability which is extremely important to be a franchise quarterback,” Stoops said. “He is extremely intelligent in the classroom but also on the football field. He works at it. He wants to be great and loves putting in the time. He has all the intangibles.”
Stoops knows its takes more than a quarterback to have a “great team” but also knows Levis is a key piece to having a great team.
“There’s no one player that’s going to make a team in college football. You’ve got to have a great group of guys and a lot of people, but I think it’s fair to say when you have a big-time trigger guy, a big-time quarterback, that helps a lot of people around you get better. That’s certainly a big deal for us,” Stoops said.
Levis played sparingly in the Blue-White game and completed seven of eight passes for 98 yards and two touchdowns on his two series but Stoops has high expectations for him.
“I felt like he was a little off on one throw today, but most of the time he looked very smooth and very clean,” Stoops said after the game. “I’m sure (offensive coordinator) Rich (Scangarello) and him will watch the film and look at the footwork and all the little things that he’s working on to become an even better player.”
Kentucky senior outfielder Renee Abernathy has enjoyed playing with freshman Alexia Lacatena, a member of last year’s Italian Olympic team, this season.
“Alexia is awesome. Everyone has these unique experiences. Erin (Coffel) played in Peru and Columbia (for Team USA). Kayla (Kowalik) went to USA tryouts. I think that is awesome for this team,” Abernathy said.
“We all bring something to this team. We are all unique in our own ways and that makes this team so strong. We are very close and just play for each other and we all love Alexia.”
Lacatena, a New Jersey native, has been a valuable pitcher and third baseman for Kentucky just as coach Rachel Lawson thought she could be. Lacatena was an all-state player in New Jersey and was a top 40 player in the 2021 signing class. She has pitched 44 1/3 innings this season with a 2.84 earned run average. She has 29 strikeouts and has a 6-3 record in 14 games. At the plate, she is hitting .417 in 21 games.
Her mother was born in Italy and her older sister played softball for Italy’s national team. Lacatena made Italy’s under-22 national team at age 15 and made the senior national team at age 17. She stayed in Italy for her high school senior season to train with the Olympic team.
“I just did school online so I could stay and play in a league there (in Italy). The time difference helped because I could do classes in the morning and then pitch and hit in the afternoon. It gave me a lot of time to hone my skills.”
She says softball “runs in my blood” and even though she did track in middle school, it was not the same as softball. She says she grew up watching two older sisters play and dedicated her time to make herself a better player.
“I had a goal and wanted to reach that goal. I always had the goal of playing in the SEC. When I went to camp at Kentucky, they had a lot of interest in me and I loved the energy and people. I just like it was right for me,” Lacatena said. “Everyone here is so talented and meshes together so well. I think everyone is just great and southern people are always happy and easy going. Life in Lexington is kind of similar to Italy.”
Luke Fortner hopes he soon will hear his name called in the NFL Draft. His former UK teammate/roommate, punter Max Duffy, was recently drafted by the Pittsburgh Maulers of the United States Football League (USFL) and hopes that will help get him to the NFL.
Duffy, who won the Ray Guy Award as the nation’s best punter at UK, and Fortner often poke fun at each other on social media and Duffy did that when Fortner to the NFL Combine.
“Duffy is living through me. I am his gateway into the football word. He is big-time jealous. He takes it out on me on Twitter,” Fortner joked.
So what would be one of Fortner’s favorite stories about Duffy, a former Australian rules football player who was working as a tree lopper before starting his football career.
“The Ray Guy Award is very prestigious,” Fortner said. “He didn’t ship it back home (to Australia). He is almost grown up, so he was not shipping his award to his parents. He just kept the trophy on our floor in the living room of our apartment. We had this massive, beautiful trophy just sitting in the corner of the room on the floor because he had nowhere to put it. He threw a blanket and stuff on it.”
Duffy eventually moved to live with current UK offensive lineman Eli Cox and took the award with him.
“But it is in the same spot. It’s just there in the corner of the room,” Fortner said. “You’ll have to get him to explain the whole thing. It makes no sense.”
Quote of the Week: “Watching Georgia’s defense against Kentucky, and I can’t help but be impressed by him. He took a beating and still made some really big-time throws. He has a chance to be a high first-round pick next year,” Pete Prisco, senior NFL Columnist for http://CBSSports.com and analyst for @CBSSportsHQ, on UK quarterback Will Levis.
Quote of the Week 2: “Don’t be a robot. Use (your athleticism) but don’t always lean on that. If you combine football knowledge and athleticism? Then he’d remind me of Jamin (Davis, a first-round NFL Draft pick),” senior linebacker DeAndre Square on UK sophomore linebacker Trevin Wallace.
Quote of the Week 3: “Had he not won a single award he would still be a great ambassador for the basketball program, the university, and the state generally,” UK fan/former Boyle County judge-executive Harold McKinney on UK junior Oscar Tshiebwe’s postseason awards.
