Michael Gilchrist: 10 Improvements Kentucky Freshman Needs to Make to Impress

John Calipari and The Kentucky Wildcats for the third year in a row have the number one recruiting class in the nation. Four players are in the top twenty five of best high school players in the nation, according to both ESPN and Rivals.com.

According to ESPN’s ranking of the next elite basketball players Kentucky will see playing in Rupp Arena this winter are Anthony Davis (#1 overall player), Michael Gilchrist (#3), Marquis Teague (#7), Kyle Wiltjer (#18).

Playing at the High School level these four players dominated the competition which helped them earn these prestigious acolytes. However,starting in November they will be playing at the D-1 collegiate level where everybody dominated at the High School level.

So here are some areas of improvements Michael Gilchrist and the other incoming freshman need to improve on upon arriving in Lexington. 

#10 Kyle Wiltjer

With and 82.5 inch wing span Kyle Wiltjer is a defensive coaches nightmare. He can post up as well as knock down a few threes. His offensive post moves are straight out of the Kevin McHale handbook.

The problem is the footwork that is so great on the offensive end doesn’t replicate its self on the defensive end. Not being able to move his feet quick enough to guard a quick forward on the perimeter will be an issue in the SEC.

When St. Johns come to Lexington to play their run and gun style offense Wiltjer will have a tough time keeping up with them on the transition plays.

Even with being the number 18 best player in the nation, Kentucky has Terence Jones and Anthony Davis to occupy the front court for the Cats, taking away some minutes from Wiltjer in his first year.

Best case scenario for Wiltjer would be to replicate what Daniel Orton did. Not start but still improve enough to be drafted in the first round of the draft. 

#9 Marquis Teague

Teague is a mix between John Wall and Rajon Rondo. Explosive of the dribble and can get into the lane with ease and strong enough as well to finish at the rim for several And-One situations. Should excel in the Dribble-Drive offense

Easy way to stop him, however, is to play a zone defense to keep a big guy in the paint to protect the rim. With Teague’s inability to shoot the three effectively teams will play off of him and tempt him to shoot from long range.

Rajon Rondo faces this every night in the NBA. Watching tape on Rondo, and maybe even a visit from the former Kentucky Wildcat, might help him learn how to run the team by helping the Wildcats score even though he will be wide open to shoot where ever he is on the floor.

#8 Michael Gilchrist

Although he ended up being rated the number three best player joining the college ranks, Gilchrist was ranked number one for most of his high school career. He was past by Doc Rivers son, Austin last summer to be number one throughout this past year and then Anthony Davis leapfrogging both of them at the end of the season to become number one.

Gilchrist, however, is the most athletic player in this recruiting class. He prides himself in the “hustle” portions of the game excelling in rebounding and  on the defensive end. He understands that being able to drive to the rim and dunking doesn’t make you a great basketball player; it’s being an all around player that describes the great players of all-time.

The one area he is lacking is his ability behind the arc. Teams will back off of him similar to the way they back off from Marquis Teague; however, Gilchrist has improved on his mid-range jump shot. More practice and more repetition will allow Gilchrist to improve on his one weakness. 

#7 Anthony Davis

Taking the Scottie Pippen route of growing seven inches in a year and going from guard to forward Davis has climb his way into the top spot on ESPN’s ranking. He is a 6’10 guard who his transitioning to the power forward position. Excellent shot blocker and can rebounds the ball no matter where it is. Since he grew up playing guard, he has maybe the best ball handling skills as any forward at the collegiate level today.

Sprouting seven inches does have its down side. The strength of all the players Davis will be matched up against will be greater than his strength. His ability to block shots will become obsolete if he is moved out of the way by the opposing player.

With Kentucky putting him on a work out plan he will be stronger by this November. But, will it be enough to hold his own against the other big guys down low?

#6 Physical Maturation

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DHAKA, BANGLADESH - FEBRUARY 22: England player Craig Kieswetter who has joined up with the team from the England Lions in Dubai, works out in the gym with the help of trainer Huw Bevan at the Pan Pacific hotel on February 22, 2010 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Anthony Davis, Michael Gilchrist, and Kyle Wiltjer all need to work on the physical structure. All three players are undersized at the D-1 level.

All three will play in the front court were we typically see stronger players playing at. Playing against 6’6 weak high school players cannot prepare them for what they will be playing against at this level.

Anthony Davis especially needs to hit the weights. As we talked about on the previous slide, his lack of physicality is going to hurt him this coming winter.

Would Davis or Wiltjer have been able to stop even Josh Harrelson last year? Maybe not, simply because Josh could move them to where ever he wanted them on the court. 

#5 Mental Maturation

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TAMPA, FL - MARCH 19: head coach John Calipari of the Kentucky Wildcats looks on against the West Virginia Mountaineers during the third round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at St. Pete Times Forum on March 19, 2011 in Tampa, Florida. Kentu

Two years ago DeMarcus Cousins had the most basketball talent in the nation. No one could stop him, except himself.  Because of this, John Wall, was consider the better player and subsequently went number one in the NBA draft that year while Cousin’s, a better basketball player, slipped to number three.

Can these four freshmen learn to keep their heads and handle intense situations? With the high likely hood of a NBA lockout, and a less likely still NFL lock out going on, college basketball may, for the first time in a long time, be national news before March.

Kentucky, likely to be ranked either number one or number two in the nation, will receive a lot of publicity from around the nation. Will the stage be too big for them?

Cousin’s, in a nationally televised game against in-state rival Louisville, threw and connected with an elbow to one of the Louisville Cardinal’s players. He easily could have been ejected and cost his team the game.

What if that had happened in the first weekend of the NCAA tournament? 

#4 Basketball Knowledge

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HOUSTON, TX - APRIL 02: Brandon Knight #12 of the Kentucky Wildcats moves the ball while taking on the Connecticut Huskies during the National Semifinal game of the 2011 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship at Reliant Stadium on April 2, 2011 in

This is more important for Marquis Teague than it will be for the rest of the incoming players simply because he will be running the show. But, learning how to play basketball at the college level, and more specially, the dribble-drive offense will take time.

Every year in October, November, and December John Calipari is always talking about how the team still needs to learn how to play. Every year he has new players playing for him, so every year he deals with this conundrum. He may be the best coach out there to be able to handle this coming fall for these four players because he has to deal with it every year.

Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, John Wall and Brandon Knight all had to learn how to play the way Calipari needs them to play. It took them to around Christmas time for them to “Get It.”

Marquis Teague may not have that luxury of waiting that long with a potential match up against probably the number one team in the country, North Carolina, in early December, on national television.

#3 Hard Work

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BARGOED, WALES - APRIL 28: Current WBO interim champion Nathan Cleverly of Wales runs through the streets close to his private gym on April 28, 2011 in Bargoed, Wales. Nathan Cleverly will face WBO World Light-Heavyweight champion Juergen Braehmer of Ge

Growing up, most of these players were better than their peers. Meaning they will have to work a lot harder in practice than they have in the past once they enter the Joe Craft Center, Kentucky’s 30 million dollar practice facility.

Every year at mid-night madness, the announcers always speak as if warning the players, as if they could hear him, of the great misery that awaits them.  Usually former players and coaches announcing the televised practice talks about how these freshman don’t know what they have coming for them.

Before college you play basketball for the fun of it. Once you get to college, it becomes a job and you are paid in the form of a scholarship. This means you are expected to treat it as your job.

Practice is no longer “Fun” in the sense of going out and mindlessly shooting a ball through a round hoop, rather it is a time of learning how to play and how hard you have to work to be able to succeed at the next level.

Part of what John Calipari sells as a recruiting tool is getting them ready for the NBA. Working hard 100% of the time, is part of how he prepares them for the NBA, and it’s nothing like they have ever done before.

#2 Team Chemistry

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TAMPA, FL - MARCH 19: (L-R) Terrence Jones #3, Brandon Knight #12, Josh Harrellson #55 and Doron Lamb #20 of the Kentucky Wildcats walk up court against the West Virginia Mountaineers during the third round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at

According to Isaiah Thomas the secret to basketball is that it’s not about basketball. That is, according to Bill Simmons, what Isaiah Thomas told him the secret of basketball was in his book The Book of Basketball.

In other words chemistry and how the players play together is what win championships. It is extremely difficult to do, considering these players have only weeks of practice to get know how to play with each other, while learning how to play with in John Calipari’s offense.

It took nearly the whole season for last year’s Kentucky team to learn how to play together and to be able to win on the road in the SEC.  Once they figured it out, or really once Josh Harrelson figured it out, Kentucky never lost again until the Final Four where they lost to the eventual champions The University of Connecticut. 

#1 Handling the Pressure of Big Blue Nation

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TAMPA, FL - MARCH 17: Fans of the Kentucky Wildcats supports their team against the Princeton Tigers during the second round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at St. Pete Times Forum on March 17, 2011 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by J. Meric/Get

This may be the most important thing these highly touted freshmen may need to learn. When you become a member of the University of Kentucky’s Basketball team, you become a celebrity in the city of Lexington, Kentucky.

Not like being a celebrity in L.A. where there are several stars living there to where it’s not a big deal to see one, but rather similar to one of those same stars going to Lexington, Kentucky where the citizens will mob as if they were handing out one million dollars to the first people to touch them.

If a player on the end of the bench who doesn’t receive any playing time walks into a McDonald's, they will be attacked like starving coyotes going after a dead carcass. Also, those fans will know more about their high school basketball career than the people they went to high school with would know about their high school basketball career.

This can become over whelming even to the non-stars of the team. This recruiting class has already been study and examined by every Big Blue Nation fan out there like they were about to enter the White House.

The people of Lexington can tell you the name of the realtor who dealt with Billy Gilispie’s home. Why would anyone know that?

You have to remember that there is no professional sports team of any sport for which Kentuckians can follow. Therefore, they devote their time and money towards their Cats.

When a star recruit for next year’s 2012 class talked about playing for the University of Kentucky he said, “Lexington is a nice small city where I can go and hide and just play basketball.”

This kid is completely wrong.

If any of these four freshmen about to join the University of Kentucky’s basketball team thinks this same way, they will be in BIG trouble.