It is very hard to judge our potential at this point. It is easier to judge things we see that are problematic. After his first super duper game, Maxey looks like an inexperienced Freshman trying to be a star. He is taking bad shots, he sees Hagans drive to the basket and decides the next time down the court he is going to be a one on one player and with Utah State's defense packed in drives with 3 defenders in front of him to get his shot blocked and a fast break score on the other end for Utah State. Cal pointed out his mistake with Evansville (again a hero shot, but this wasn't where Kentucky had a lead and a miss might could cost the game).
Whitney frequently is out of position and instead of taking the midrange shots that he is pretty good at, does that once in a while and then again takes bad shots in fact early in the shot clock for no reason. Hagans wants to steal the ball and that's fine on occasion but also then allows the player he is defending a clear line to the basket. Others get lost on defense, Sestina is being forced to play out of his best position with EJ on the bench and Brooks gets lost on defense, etc. Juzang is supposed to be our best shooter but his shot drifts to the side of the basket.
We also see several players stepping on the baseline, walking with the ball, and so on. We had a ton of unforced turn-overs in the games and so not even an offensive attempt. Many of these things are correctable over time and with more shot attempts there would be some more points.
The surprise is out defense is not as great as was expected at present. We see the other teams have ease in driving the basketball right to the basket. That is a correctable issue as well which will eventually have a positive impact.
There is hope.
