Aaron Bradshaw was long rumored to potentially make his UK debut against Marshall on November 24th, but that did not come to light. Then things were pushed to a heavy favorite for the Miami game on Tuesday night, until some chatter over the weekend prior led to a Monday night John Calipari call-in show statement that he would be ruled out against the Hurricanes.
During Monday's practice, John Calipari said that Aaron had participated in practice but not in full-body contact against his teammates. On Tuesday, plenty of pictures surfaced from the team's official social media accounts (on purpose) showing Aaron Bradshaw in practice and participating with the rest of his team. The cryptic posts were hinting at a close return.
Tuesday night, the 7-footer went through his first full warm-up routine since being a Wildcat in front of a giddy Rupp Arena crowd preparing for a top-twelve matchup. Good signs, good signs, good signs.
With that being said, he didn't play as the head coach said he wouldn't the night before, but he was asked again for an update during his postgame comments on when fans would likely get see him play as they're aware that it's close.
"I hope he plays Saturday (against UNC Wilmington)," he said. "If not, he'll play the following Saturday."
Sounds like a typical John Calipari injury update if we're being honest, but to read through all the tea leaves over the last few days, it looks as if Aaron Bradshaw will make his debut on the road against Penn (Dec. 9) at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. If things go better than planned, maybe fans will be rewarded with him attempting a few minutes on Saturday evening against Kentucky's matchup before.
Even though it will be away from home (court), a debut in Philadelphia would be a home debut for him as it would be in front of his family and friends since he's from Newark, New Jersey, which is less than 2 hours from the location of that game.
It's no longer news that Aaron Bradshaw will play at Kentucky, it's just now as to when? And it seems like that "when" is getting pretty dang close.