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Calipari: Kentucky good, but not NBA good
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
Kentucky is expected to be good, very good this season, and if Sunday night’s exhibition win over Georgetown College is any indication, penciling in the Wildcats as a Final Four team is a pretty safe choice.
But are the Wildcats good enough to compete in the NBA?
Evidently, yes, according to Scott Briggs, the coach at Georgetown College. And the Wildcats could potentially make it to the NBA postseason, Briggs said. After the Wildcats demolished the Tigers, 121-52, Briggs said Kentucky had enough size and talent to beat the NBA’s worst teams this season.
While the idea of Kentucky going up against the 0-7 Philadelphia 76ers or the 1-6 Indianapolis Pacers might make for good TV, Kentucky head coach John Calipari already knows the outcome.
On Monday, Calipari tweeted: If we played ANY NBA team, we would get buried. ANY.
Kentucky is the preseason No. 1 team in the country. The roster is loaded with high school All-Americans, including sophomore guards Andrew and Aaron Harrison and big men sophomore Dakari Johnson and junior Willie Cauley-Stein.
Toss in freshman Karl-Anthony Towns and junior Alex Poythress and the Wildcats have the ingredients for a team poised to be compete with anyone, but none in the NBA, Calipari said.
