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One of the best teams in college basketball, the Kentucky Wildcats, fell apart at the end of the year, but Kellan Grady believes there was a reason.
The end of the season is all about surviving and advancing, which the Wildcats (26-8) failed to do during their pursuit of a national championship.
Kentucky was unstoppable for most of the season, and they were unstoppable on their home court.
When Kentucky was rolling, the Wildcats beat some of the best teams, like the Kansas Jayhawks (80-62), North Carolina Tar Heels (98-69) and Tennessee Volunteers (107-79). (UK later lost twice to Tennessee – 76-63 in Knoxville in February and 69-62 in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.)
Senior guard Kellan Grady spoke about the team's success and failures with The Athletic's Kyle Tucker:
"You’d be naive to say we just magically became a worse team at the end of the year. There were a lot of things happening that people on the outside didn’t know or might just overlook. But you don’t by accident beat the shit out of Tennessee, beat the shit out of Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse, beat the shit out of Carolina.
"We were that team, but then a lot of adversity hit us, roles changed and we just never could get back to where we were. Cal (coach John Calipari) said it after we lost to Saint Peter’s: He was trying to coach a team we had a month before, but we just never were that team again."
Grady was referring to injuries that began to pile up at the end of the season.
Kellan Grady and the Kentucky Wildcats' health struggles
While the Kentucky Wildcats had plenty of ability, availability may have been their real issue. Kyle Tucker's story in The Athletic went into the Wildcats' season and how it ended with Kellan Grady.
A main talking point was the team's health, including several starters like Grady.
"Several things, over time, conspired against Grady and Kentucky," Tucker wrote. "There was Sahvir Wheeler’s concussion (or maybe two). TyTy Washington’s ankle. Wheeler’s wrist. Washington’s ankle again. And again. Those injuries were widely reported.
"Here’s one that wasn’t: Both of Grady’s feet were plagued by plantar fasciitis for months and got progressively worse under the heavy load he carried while the Wildcats’ other two starting guards struggled to stay on the court."
With three starters at less than 100 percent during the end of the season, the team lost its last two games. They struggled in games when the Naismith Player of the Year, junior forward Oscar Tshiebwe, did not carry the team.
UK's 69-62 to Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals on March 12 in Tampa, Florida, wasn't a shocker. But an 85-79 overtime loss to Saint Peter's, a No. 15 seed that had never won an NCAA Tournament game, five days later was certainly shocking. Not many could have foreseen Kentucky, a No. 2 seed and ranked seventh, losing in the first round.
During the part of the season when the team was mainly at full health, Shaedon Sharpe technically never played; they were playing elite basketball. Ultimately, their health cost them a chance at a national championship.
