Not thrilled to hear this. I still think Cal has favored his freshman a bit too much. Had we lessened the leash on Hump and SKJ to start, both might have been further a long, to a point where Cal could probably guarantee them a good number of minutes..
But, instead, they were benched too quickly for inexperienced mistakes. They weren't able to grow as much, play through a bad day, and their confidence took a hit.
It had to be frustrating for SKJ to see Calipari stick with Richards night in and night out, despite his own struggles. How do you NOT look at other options when that happens?
I'm not fully against giving the elite freshman more minutes. That's how this whole thing works. But I do think it needs to be re-balanced, IMO. The lesser recruits and returnees still need reps, where as Richards should have seen lesser minutes earlier in SEC play.