He was a consensus Second Team All-American and he won the Jerry West Award, which goes to the best shooting guard in the country. He was able to remain an efficient scorer despite his high number of shot attempts and 25.3 percent usage rate as he posted a 115.7 offensive rating that ranked among the top 300 nationally. Monk, a 6-3 guard, had the ultimate green light as he attempted nearly 15 shots per game, seven of which were threes, on average. Only one Kentucky player in the last decade (Jamal Murray) averaged more points per game than Malik Monk, who put up 19.8 points per game. Cauley-Stein's 115.8 offensive rating ranked 198th nationally, largely because he shot 57 percent from 2-point range. According to Sports Reference, Cauley-Stein's defensive rating was 80.0 in 2015, when Kentucky had the best defensive efficiency in the country.īut he was efficient on offense, too. His greatest value arguably came on the defensive end. He averaged 8.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.7 blocks, 1.2 steals and 1.0 assist in just 25.9 minutes per game as a starter. While Cauley-Stein's per-game stats, especially offensively, may not jump off the page, he was a consensus First Team All-American and First Team All-SEC choice in 2015, when the Wildcats produced an undefeated regular season. He was named the SEC Freshman of the Year and a member of the All-SEC First Team. He had a double-double in the Wildcats' first four NCAA Tournament games and he scored in double figures in all six games, finishing with 89 points and 59 rebounds. Randle led Kentucky to the national championship game as a No. He averaged 15.0 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game as one of two players who started all 40 games.ĭUKE GREATS: 11 best Blue Devils of the 2010s Julius Randle was Kentucky's best player during the 2014 season, when he was named a Third Team All-American by the AP and NABC. Kidd-Gilchrist was an efficient scorer around the rim, making 53 percent of his twos, he drew fouls at a very productive rate (a 58.9 percent free throw rate) and his 10.2 percent offensive rebounding rate was nationally ranked. He was named to a Second Team All-American by two major outlets and a Third Team All-American by two others. The 6-7, 232-pound freshman averaged 11.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game while posting the second-highest usage rate on the team. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was Anthony Davis' running mate in Kentucky's frontcourt when the Wildcats won the 2012 national title. After making just 5-of-21 threes as a freshman, he was a 42 percent 3-point shooter on 2.2 attempts per game in 2019. Perhaps his biggest improvement was as a 3-point shooter. He led the 'Cats in scoring and rebounding. After being a productive freshman, Washington returned for his sophomore season and got even better, averaging 15.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.2 blocks per game. Washington was a consensus Third Team All-American and First Team All-SEC selection last season, when he was the primary scoring option for a 30-win Kentucky team. He was named a First Team All-SEC honoree. The 6-5 guard shot 40 percent from three on nearly eight attempts per game, 50 percent from inside the arc and 78 percent from the free throw line. He had a 28.8 percent shot rate as a freshman, which was more than five percent higher than any of his teammates, yet he still posted an offensive rating of 118.0, which ranked 182nd nationally. Jamal Murray led Kentucky in scoring in 2016, averaging 20.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game for a Wildcats team that shared the SEC regular season title with Texas A&M, then beat the Aggies for the SEC Tournament title. We strictly examined a player's college career – not his high school or NBA accomplishments. SCOREBOARD: Keep up with every college basketball game all season long We went through every Kentucky roster from the last decade and picked out the 11 best Wildcats, starting with the beginning of the decade (conference play in the 2010 season) to the end (non-conference play this season). Kentucky had between one and three First Team All-SEC selections every year of last decade and there are currently 29 former Wildcats in the NBA, so there has been no shortage of talent to go through Lexington in the last 10 years.
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