Sullivan | No platoon or promises for UK's Willis

John Calipari can’t please everyone, and he has stopped trying.

The University of Kentucky's "Players First" coach has abandoned platoon basketball after a one-year experiment that was mostly successful but completely counterintuitive. He has stopped trying to keep everyone "fed" at the risk of playing lesser lineups, reverting to a merit-based system in which players will no longer be expected to share their minutes, but to hoard them.

“I want to play Derek Willis,” Calipari said Monday night. “But he's going to have to take minutes from somebody. Whether I want to play him or not, does anyone give him minutes?”

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The answer, now, is no. Not voluntarily, anyway. Willis may have size, skill and relative seniority (he’s a junior) on a UK team likely to start three guards and three freshmen, but he’s like the performer who patiently studies his craft, waits his turn and gets bumped by a bigger name at the last minute.

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Though seven members of Kentucky’s 2014-15 Final Four team declared for the NBA draft last spring, Calipari’s recruiting has replaced them with players of such quality that the Wildcats will start the season ranked No. 2 nationally behind North Carolina. For holdover reserves like Derek Willis and Dominique Hawkins, this leaves little room for an expanded role.

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Willis, a former standout at Bullitt East High School, appeared in 19 games last season for a total of 75 minutes. He attempted only one shot in the Wildcats‘ final 24 games. Yet to see him at work Monday night against Ottawa was to wonder why he had not followed Kyle Wiltjer’s lead and left UK for a better opportunity.

Here was a muscular 6-foot-9 power forward with shooting range, finishing moves, 10 points and seven rebounds – the kind of player who could expect to log 30 minutes a game at most Division I schools; the kind of player who often languishes on the bench in Lexington.

“It just shows you how difficult it is to play here,” Willis said in a pre-season interview in the Wildcats’ practice gym. “I mean, you’re playing (behind) potentially three, four lottery picks every year – and those players play your position. But it just helps me, honestly. It helps me learn. This game is all about learning what you can and just applying that to yourself and being ever-changing, every day.”

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Though the departures of Karl-Anthony Towns,  Willie Cauley-Stein, Trey Lyles and Dakari Johnson have ostensibly created opportunities for front-line playing time, the arrival of Skal Labissiere, the development of Marcus Lee and the return of Alex Poythress following a season-ending knee injury will likely limit Willis’ upward mobility.

Calipari says he has yet to determine the depth of his rotation, but he expects to play at a pace that will require at least cameo appearances by his bench strength. Full-court pressure is fatiguing, and to apply it effectively entails frequent substitution.

“It’s really hard to keep going at that speed,” Marcus Lee said. “Tyler (Ulis) is never tired, but for me, personally, it’s like 3:30 (maximum). That’s how you usually start off. When you get more wind in you, by the end of the season, you can go four or five minutes.”

How much Calipari presses will be determined, at least in part, by how much foul trouble it creates and how well his substitutes can fill in for his starters.

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“I would say we're going to have probably three guys play 30 minutes, and then probably a couple other guys play 28 (or) 27,” Calipari said. “Then the question becomes, Do we play six, seven or eight? Who fights for those other spots? Do we get to nine? I don't know.”

Calipari customarily went at least 10 deep last season until he lost Poythress in December, but he never used fewer than nine players even when he didn’t use Derek Willis.

“Honestly, I hate not playing the game,” Willis said. “I’ve played it my whole life. I just try and look at the positives from each situation I’m in. The situation I’ve been in the past two years, I’ve learned a lot, and hopefully I can apply it to my game and come out here and show it.”

If pulling the plug on platoon basketball has not enhanced Willis’ situation, neither has it tempted him to seek a fresh start somewhere else.

“No,” he said. “Because I feel like I wouldn’t learn as much, honestly, not being here.”

Tim Sullivan can be reached at (502) 582-4650, tsullivan@courier-journal.com or @TimSullivan714 on Twitter.