Kentucky Basketball: It's Platoons or Bust for John Calipari

Midway through the season, when Kentucky was blowing out anyone and everyone, there was still a prevailing sense that this whole platoon thing that John Calipari was using wasn't really going to last.

"Sure this is fun and all, but he'll scrap it down the line near the tournament or when guys like Karl-Anthony Towns start proving that they deserve, nay, need more playing time."

Even Calipari himself didn't do much to dispel those assumptions. He would show a willingness to abandon the platoon system if the game wasn't going the way he wanted. Then when Alex Poythress went down, Cal tried what I've been referring to as Platoon Lite, where he would sub in four and keep either Trey Lyles or one of the Harrison brothers—whoever was playing best in that first four- to five-minute stretch.

The problem with Platoon Lite, however, was that it was messing with the chemistry of those groups. More than that, it was messing with the certainty.

With regular platoons, you know when you're going in and who you're going to be on the floor with 90 percent of the time. That kind of consistency helps make players comfortable. Trying to keep platoons but still changing around who is going to be playing with whom just kind of made a mess of things.

James Crisp/Associated Press

When Poythress got hurt, I wrote that Calipari had two choices: abandon the platoons or stick Derek Willis in for Poythress. Platoon Lite is essentially abandoning the platoons, which Cal went with. My thinking with Willis is that he was more of a match for Poythress in terms of position, and would even add some offense while giving up the defense and rebounding that Poythress brought.

I reasoned that Kentucky's defense was so good that losing a bit wouldn't make too much of a difference. And they could use another shooter. Then SEC play started and suddenly teams didn't seem all that scared of Kentucky's defense. Ole Miss shot 49 percent and scored 86 points in their overtime game. Texas A&M didn't shoot the ball well but only turned it over 12 times in double OT and was only minus-one rebounding against the Cats.

More than defensive issues, however, was the fact that Kentucky seemed to consistently come out of the gate flat. The Cats may not have missed Poythress much offensively, but as one of the two juniors seeing playing time, he was one of the emotional leaders of the team and brought an intensity that was sorely needed for a group that seemed like they were getting a little bored lately.

This issue cropped up last season. I nicknamed last year's group The Cat-atonics for how they would sleepwalk through games. You have to remember that this year's team still has a lot of last year's DNA in them.

I've been piloting the Harrison twins bandwagon this year as everyone has wanted to jump off in favor of Tyler Ulis and Devin Booker, but even I have to admit that Andrew and Aaron have a tendency to come out flat and have a tough time fighting through the malaise when it pops up.

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That's where Dominique Hawkins comes in. And I have to tip my cap to Cal on this one; injecting him into the platoons was absolutely the right move and not a game too late to implement it.

Hawkins brings a lot to the table that Poythress brought, namely energy and defensive pressure. It still hurts my soul every time he shoots a three, but whatever, this team doesn't need to be shooting any more threes anyway.

But Hawkins changes the complexion of this team. I don't think it's any coincidence that Kentucky started faster with Hawkins starting the game. And most importantly, it keeps the platoons together. In my opinion, Kentucky played with more cohesion against Missouri than they have the last two games.

Is Hawkins a good enough player to take time away from the other nine regulars? No, but he is good enough to hang with them and help complete the platoons, and that's the most important thing to this team.

Now that we see just how big of a deal getting back to regular platoons is, I don't think John Calipari has any other choice but to ride this train to the hopefully-not-bitter end.

Hawkins proved against Missouri that platoons aren't this cute thing that the Wildcats are doing to showcase all their "NBA talent." Platoons are essential to their success. They need platoons to win. They need platoons to be dominant.

Even if Kentucky doesn't go undefeated, there was still the thought that this could be a very special team. The first two games of SEC play put that in doubt. Now it looks like Kentucky is back and ready to start killing people again.

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