Why Kentucky Will Win the National Championship

Collier Wireman
Nov 5 · 4 min read

With №2 Kentucky playing №1 Michigan State tonight at Madison Square Garden, I thought this would be the perfect time to express my opinion on why Kentucky will win the national championship this season. Who better to give their 100 percent honest and unbiased prediction for the 2019–2020 basketball season? As my first article about Why Kentucky Should Give Lynn Bowden The Ball Every Snap And Then Get Out Of His Way ages better each and every week — since they have quite literally done exactly that for the past three weeks — I would probably run to Las Vegas and bet on anything that I write because there is a good chance it comes true. You don’t question your doctor when he diagnoses you, so don’t question me about my predictions (unless I get them wrong, in which that case we act like I never wrote it). Let’s hop in.

Immanuel Quickley Will Lead the Team in Scoring

Averaging only 5.2 points per game last season on 18.5 minutes per game might scare some people from thinking this, but it shouldn’t because he looks like the most confident player on the court these past two exhibition games. While those are exhibition games and I don’t like to put too much stock into them, I do think he can — and will lead the team in scoring. Especially with the defense drawing to Tyrese Maxey because of his superstar offensive potential, it will be fun watching Immanuel Quickley play a huge role in this year’s offense. Speaking of Tyrese Maxey…

Tyrese Maxey Can Be a Top 5 Draft Pick

Tyrese Maxey has superstar potential and will probably become the leader of this Kentucky team. There is also a good chance he averages the most minutes played out of everybody on the team. I think Maxey will soon become a common name among the national media and will skyrocket in mock drafts, but good thing you will already have known he’s that good because you’re reading this.

Ashton Hagans is ELITE

Ashton Hagans, who won SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year last season, has a serious shot of becoming the first back to back SEC Defensive Player of the Year since Jarvis Varnado (who?), who won it three years in a row from 2008–2011. Watching Hagans play defense and becoming a menace to the other team makes me tired just from watching him. If Hagans can become a consistent 3-point shooter and make teams respect his jump shot, this will open up the offense and will make the Cats even harder to defend.

We Have a “Dragon”

Kentucky typically doesn’t have a prototypical small forward like Kahlil Whitney. With Whitney being 6'6" and playing a slasher-type role, he will be very fun to watch. What’s even cooler than that is his nickname, which is the Dragon. Having a nickname like that shouldn’t even be fair. I feel like there are very few people who can walk around with that nickname and it not be weird. Admittedly so, I couldn’t walk around with that nickname. Way too much pressure. That might be why I’m not as good as Kahlil Whitney. If the national tournament was based on nicknames alone, we’d be a shoo-in.

Nate Sestina Will Be a Better Grad Transfer Than Reid Travis

This is certainly not a knock on Reid Travis, but rather a testament to how good Nate Sestina can potentially be. He is not as strong as Travis was but he is certainly more athletic and has no trouble shooting from beyond the arc. Sestina also will have more opportunities than Travis had because of this year’s frontcourt (or lack thereof). With Montgomery off to a slow start against Georgetown and Kentucky State (yikes) and Richards coming off of an injury, Sestina will be asked to be the man in the paint and will become a staple of how this Kentucky team performs. This also may scare people because of the worry about our frontcourt, but it doesn’t scare me at all because…

Championships are Won by Guards

Our frontcourt doesn’t bother me because of how good our backcourt is. Between Tyrese Maxey, Ashton Hagans, and Immanuel Quickley — I would say we have the best backcourt in the country. If you look at the past tournament winners they all have one thing in common: their guards got hot in March. Last year’s winner, Virginia, was led by Ty Jerome, Kyle Guy, and De’Andre Hunter. The year before, Villanova, led by Phil Booth and Ryan Arcidiacono. The tournament is a guards game year after year and it will be exciting watching the Cats and their ubertalented backcourt this year.

    Collier Wireman

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    follow me on Twitter @collierwireman

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