Kentucky Basketball: Stock Watch for Wildcats' Key Players

There's a very specific reason seemingly every article about this season's Kentucky basketball team is about either the platoon substitution system or whether the Wildcats will go undefeated—there is very little else to nitpick with this squad.

After all, Kentucky has more talent than anyone in the nation and responded to the only two games it almost lost (against Ole Miss and Texas A&M) with two victories by a combined 71 points. It was as if the Wildcats turned on a switch and decided they weren't going to tempt fate like they had in the previous two contests.

Such dominating performances are breathtaking, but they also limit the writing topics available with this team. It would be a lot easier to talk about how Kentucky needs to improve after losing two turnover-ravaged games than how amazing it is after yet another blowout win.

That also puts the conversations we have about the individual players into a different context.

A poor performance by Kentucky standards would be considered an impressive one at a number of other schools. Keep that in mind as you take a look at the stock watch for some of Kentucky's key players as the march toward an undefeated season continues.

Tyler Ulis: Stock Up

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There has been entirely too much focus on who should start among point guards Tyler Ulis and Andrew Harrison and not enough emphasis put on the fact that John Calipari's mixing and matching is working brilliantly at that spot. 

Brett Dawson of Rivals and Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports both noted that Ulis is doing just fine in his role while Dawson also pointed out that Harrison is also performing well:

In the last game, Ulis scored 11 points off the bench and hit three of four shots from three-point range. He is still providing the energy and tenacious perimeter defense off the bench that so many expected before the season began, but he is running the team in an admirable way on the offensive side of the ball.

The Ulis and Devin Booker pairing has been devastating to opposing defenses because of Ulis' ability to penetrate and kick and Booker's deadeye touch from long range.

Calipari could not ask for much more from Ulis right now, which means the point guard's stock is on the rise.

Marcus Lee: Stock Down

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With so much talent on this roster, sometimes the rotation is matchup-dependent rather than a straight platoon system.

Unfortunately for Marcus Lee, he has seen his minutes and production decrease in recent games.

He has only scored a combined six points and grabbed a combined 13 rebounds in the last five contests and is yet to play 20 minutes in a single game this season. He has not topped 15 minutes in his last five outings.

That's not as much of a knock on Lee as a realization that this team is loaded with future NBA players. There is only so much time to go around even when Calipari does use the platoon system, and Lee is behind superstars like Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein, Dakari Johnson and Trey Lyles in the frontcourt. 

Good luck to anyone trying to crack that rotation.

Aaron Harrison: Stock Steady

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Aaron Harrison's back-and-forth performances lead to a steady stock in the long run, and that was on full display in the last few games.

He rescued his team in the overtime victory against Ole Miss with 26 critical points on 5-of-9 shooting from three-point range and 9-of-10 shooting from the free-throw line. He hit a number of cold-blooded shots down the stretch and looked like the assassin from last season's NCAA tournament that carried the Wildcats to an incredible number of close victories in the final seconds.

However, he followed that up with a 4-of-20 effort from the field against Texas A&M.

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Naturally, he bounced back against Missouri with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting from three-point range although he was a nonfactor against Alabama. The Crimson Tide performance was largely because that game was over early and Calipari gave some bench players more minutes.

We have seen something of a lack of consistency from Harrison all season. On the one hand, he is Kentucky's leading scorer, but on the other, he is only shooting 37 percent from the field and 31.6 percent from downtown. 

As long as he comes through in the clutch down the stretch of the season and in tournament time, Kentucky fans will be pleased. Still, Calipari likely prefers to see a bit more consistency from his sophomore veteran.

Devin Booker: Stock Up

Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

Booker's three-point shooting in the past few games has been, in a word, ridiculous.

He hit 20-of-28 from distance in his last seven games, which is good enough for a combined 71.4 percent clip. That would be a solid free-throw percentage in college basketball, let alone a mark from downtown.

Booker discussed his recent streak, via Larry Vaught of The Advocate Messenger: "It's just like I'm shooting into the ocean now. It's really coming easy for me. At the beginning of the year, I started out in slumps, but I kept telling everybody, 'Shooters keep shooting.' That's what I did, and now it's falling."

It's a good thing he stuck to his word because the Wildcats' second unit has been more than impressive behind his production. Much of the talk about Ulis potentially starting for the Wildcats is because of how effective he has been directing the team from the point guard spot, but Booker has made Ulis' job much easier simply by knocking down almost every shot he takes.

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

Booker stretches the floor for Kentucky—which is always critical when the strength of the team is the big-man depth down low—and has held his own on the defensive side. The Ulis and Booker pairing has been a joy to watch for so many Wildcats fans who were worried about the backcourt depth behind the Harrisons before the season began. 

If Booker continues to play like this, fans will get to watch him deep into March.

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