Aaron Bradshaw, 5-star prospect, could miss start of Kentucky basketball with injury: Report

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Kentucky basketball’s hopes in 2023-24 will ride heavily on the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation. But those hopes took a significant hit when news broke Friday that top incoming freshman Aaron Bradshaw is at risk to miss the start of the upcoming season.

Bradshaw, a 7-foot center from New Jersey and one of the key pieces of a classic John Calipari recruiting haul, reportedly suffered a broken foot, according to a report from The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

According to Charania, UK is “optimistic on (a) full recovery.”

Bradshaw’s absence, for any amount of time, would be a significant blow to the Wildcats’ roster, which is set to be heavily reliant on a large recruiting class after so far this offseason landing no veteran talent in the transfer portal. It comes at a time when college basketball’s best teams appear to be getting older and relying less on infusions of freshman talent to make deep runs in the NCAA tournament.

Aaron Bradshaw of the NJ Scholars warms up before an AAU basketball game Saturday, May 28, 2022, at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Ky. Bradshaw is one of the top recruits in the 2023 class and has scholarship offers form both Louisville and Kentucky.

Kentucky recruiting class: Six players committed to John Calipari, Cats

It’s also a major blow as the Wildcats prepare for the GLOBL JAM event in Toronto in July. It will be the first time fans will see Calipari’s top recruiting class, which features three players — Bradshaw, Justin Edwards and DJ Wagner — ranked in the top 10 in the nation, according to 247Sports.

Bradshaw was expected to be a centerpiece of the 2023-24 roster as it tries to make it back to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2019. Alongside rising sophomore Ugonna Onyenso, Kentucky was expected to have a pair of young, elite rim protectors with the potential to grow into more. Onyenso could play the 5 while Bradshaw slides out to power forward.

But UK has precious little depth at this point heading into the 2023-24…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/aaron-bradshaw-5-star-prospect-180741314.html?src=rss

Author : The Courier Journal

Publish date : 2023-06-16 18:07:41

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