Thursday Headlines: Jay Bilas calls Kentucky the fastest team in the country

Jay Bilas has recently given some praise for the Kentucky Basketball team, but recently, Bilas offered up even more positive comments about this year’s Wildcats squad.

Bilas, ranking the top 68 teams in college basketball in The Bilas Index, Vol II, ranked Kentucky 9th and had a lot of positive things to say about the Wildcats. Most notably, he said he thinks Kentucky is the fastest team in the country when getting out in transition.

If Kentucky defends and rebounds, this is the fastest team in the country. The Wildcats are deadly in transition, whether after a make or a miss. John Calipari has a group of players who can all dribble, pass and shoot, and this young team takes care of the ball like few others Cal has had in Lexington. The Wildcats are second in the nation in assist-turnover ratio and turnover percentage, and they lead the SEC in fewest turnovers and turnover margin.

And Bilas also had a lot of praise for Kentucky’s veteran players, Antonio Reeves and Tre Mitchell, while also noting that this team hasn’t really reached its ceiling as guys like Justin Edwards, Aaron Bradshaw, and Ugonna Onyenso continue to improve and find their footing.

Antonio Reeves has been consistently spectacular, and Tre Mitchell has been Kentucky’s most valuable player. As Justin Edwards improves and becomes more comfortable and big guys Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso get more minutes, Kentucky will contend. The young Wildcats grew up in the second half on the road at Florida, winning a game where most young teams would have crumbled.

Interestingly, Bilas has two other SEC teams ahead of Kentucky. Bilas ranked Tennessee 6th and Auburn 7th. He did, however, place Kentucky one spot ahead of Duke, who comes in at 10th.

Tweet of the Day

Pretty cool to see.

Headlines

Spring practice will be key to determining next steps with transfer portal – Herald Leader

The Cats could (and probably should) look for more O-line help.

Get to know Kentucky DB Kristian Story – Cats Pause

Learn a little more about the newest Cat.

Tyrese Maxey reflects on being coached by John Calipari – KSR

Cool to hear Maxey talk about changing the way he looked at basketball.

Pete Carroll out as Seahawks coach, will serve as adviser – ESPN

A surprising move by Seattle.

Netflix is creating an NBA docuseries – Bleacher Report

If you liked the Quarterback series, this could be for you.

The Raptors coach was not happy about losing to the Lakers – Yahoo

Darko Rajaković was not happy to say the least.

Irrelevant Bowl has “no chance” to happen – CBS Sports

It was a long shot anyway, but that pretty much shuts the door.