Brandon Knight and the Kentucky Wildcats Need to Learn to Share

Where have all the good times gone? Remember when coach John Calipari's Kentucky Wildcats could simply out-athletic teams, wreaking havoc on their SEC opponents?

My, how times have changed.

Coming off a shocking overtime defeat to Arkansas on Wednesday night, the Wildcats find themselves in a three-way tie for third in the SEC East with three games to play. With little chance to catch division-leading Florida—although they do play Saturday in Lexington—the best the 'Cats can hope for is the No. 2 seed out of the East heading into the SEC tournament.

So why this sudden drop to mediocrity? One word: selfishness.

Consider this: Out of 345 NCAA Division I basketball teams, the Wildcats rank 167th in assists per game. Highly-touted freshman Brandon Knight leads the team with 4.0 APG, but is also averaging over 3.0 turnovers per game, a nearly 1:1 ratio; not exactly ideal numbers.

Even Coach Calipari has noted the lack of selflessness on his squad, blasting another of his talented freshman, Terrence Jones, in a nationally-televised loss to Alabama, calling him, "A selfish mother f*%@er." He even claimed the final play was a bust.

"That was to go to Doron, so the other guy just said, 'I'm doing this myself' and kind of grabbed it," Calipari said. "But that was for Doron, and Doron was open." 

Periods of one-on-one, resembling street ball, have plagued this team all season.

But all is not lost, yet.

The Wildcats are a lock for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament should they not win the SEC, thanks in large part to their RPI (17), and they surely have enough talent to make a deep run in March.

Through 27 games, the Wildcats have four double-figure scorers, led by Knight's 17.7 PPG, and Terrence Jones is just shy of averaging a double-double, scoring 17.6 PPG while pulling down 9.1 RPG.

Also having guys like DeAndre Liggins and Darius Miller, who contributed to Kentucky's run to the Elite Eight last year, can only help when the pressure of March Madness kicks into high gear. 

The question will be, can this young squad, reliant on freshman, do what last year's crop of blue-chippers could not—reach the Final Four and win Kentucky's first national title since 1998?

Not unless they learn to share. Playing for the name on the front of the jersey and not the one they will be signing to a lucrative NBA contract possibly as early as next year.