The Aaron Bradshaw debut still awaits us as more news has came out over the last 24 hours about his current status. As we see more often in today’s world, news from time to time will break on social media from the players themselves. After speculation that Bradshaw might make his Kentucky debut this Tuesday against Miami, he either purposely or accidentally addressed it on Instagram Live late Saturday night.
He was asked by a comment if he would play on Tuesday, in which he responded with a “Nah.” He then answers another comment saying he’s not allowed to give an exact date but proceeds to say that in terms of weeks it’s “like a week” away. First off, I love that he says he isn’t allowed to tell but then immediately tells a fan the exact timetable of his very near return. Secondly, I think the narrative of him “using Kentucky” and not playing this season - that I never believed at all - is now out the door because he said he is playing it’s just to be determined. The people in the know have always said he would eventually play, and no one with actual credibility has said that he wouldn’t. That’s just been fans voicing their uninformed opinions on the situation and likely taking out the frustrations that have boiled over from the Shaedon Sharpe saga and even reflecting back on the Enes Kanter one as well, which are all three completely different situations.
So my take on this is that it’s great that he’s shut down the talks of him not ever playing here, and that we now should shift this conversation from today on to debating how this offense will change once he gets thrown into the mix, because it definitely will. We will see how good or bad it becomes when that day actually arrives, but I lean towards the positive side of the aisle on that one.
To leave off on this note, during John Calipari’s call-in show on Monday night he said that Aaron Bradshaw participated in practice today fully but is still being ruled out against Miami on Tuesday. Maybe we’ll see him Saturday for a few minutes against UNCW? Or maybe they’ll debut him in his homecoming against Penn? Guess we'll have to wait and see.