Wednesday night’s performance has all of the BBN excited for the upcoming basketball season as the Kentucky Wildcats look to make some noise in their first season under Mark Pope.
With a rebuilt roster and a brand-new playing style, one player is very familiar with Coach Pope and his style of coaching and play…Jaxson Robinson. You saw that comfortability some on Wednesday, as the talented guard led the Cats in points and seems to be poised for a rise up NBA Draft Boards this season.
Coming off of a Big XII Sixth Man of the Year award, Robinson is obviously one of the top players in the country, and that thought continued in the latest ranking of top players in college basketball done by CBS.
On Thursday morning, Matt Norlander, Kyle Boone, and Gary Parrish released their top-101 player rankings for the 2024-25 season, and Robinson made the list, coming in at No. 33 overall.
When talking about their thought process around Robinson, Boone gave this answer about the BYU transfer wing:
“Mark Pope brought with him a flamethrower from BYU to Kentucky in his jump from the Cougars to the ‘Cats in Robinson, who last season won Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year after shooting 35.4% from 3-point range and averaging 14.2 points,” writes Boone. “He steps into a new situation in Lexington where he’ll be called upon as a go-to scoring option in an offensive system that plays to his strengths emphasizing his skills as a shooter and spacer. There will be plenty of co-stars in UK’s system this season given the prioritization of spacing and sharing but he should be the leading candidate to benefit most.”
It was obvious against KWC that Robinson is going to be the player that helps drive the offense forward. With a three-level scoring ability and obvious comfort in this unique system, he is poised to make another jump on the big stage this season. And if that does become true, then the Cats are likely looking at a pretty solid year under Coach Pope in his first season.
