Kentucky has put 38 players into the NBA since John Calipari got here in 2009, and that's something that's clear across all levels of basketball that Kentucky is the best at. Or in other words, it's a NBA Factory.
Olivier Sarr was asked to describe what he tell people back in Europe what Kentucky is like, and he said, "When you think about the best basketball program, Kentucky is definitely up there, if not, the one. The winningest program in the nation, it's just like a factory of NBA players. A factory of winning, and just winning in general. It's a team to always go deep in the tournament, Elite Eights, March Madness, Final Fours all of that they got that tradition of cutting nets down at the end of every season and it's something that I was really drawn into. It's one of the best programs in the country, really."
He says Kentucky was a type of offer he couldn't refuse. "Well you know, it was a tough process. I mean, you had a pandemic between. It was a tough decision, obviously. I was thinking about going professional them I talked with Coach (Danny) Manning and changed my mind. I thought about staying one more year at Wake Forest, then we knew what happened with coach. Coach got fired pretty late, so it changed my plans and then the Kentucky opportunity came up. It was something I couldn't refuse. I had to make that decision and then to wait with my waiver and all of that was tough, but coach helped me a lot, supported me. I mean, everyone in the organization here helped me a lot. They told me to stay positive at all times, and I did. But, honestly, sometimes it was tough. But it paid (off). Now it's good. Now it's official and I'm part of the team and just really happy to be here."
He made it clear that winning a title is the main thing on his mind while he's here:
“I felt like it was a great opportunity for me to be able to perform on a better, higher platform where you’ve got more attention and more chances, truthfully, to go deep in the tournament. Winning was my goal and winning was something I really wanted to do. I tried to do that at Wake and I tried my best to improve individually but it showed our limits, so I really tried to come to Kentucky and bring everything I had, my experience and all that, to help this team and I felt like talking with Coach Cal, they needed experience in the frontcourt, at the big position, and it’s a lot of competition. It’s a lot of great players at my position, but you can’t look at that as pressure or anything negative, it’s just helping me get better and helping everybody getting better, so I think it’s a win-win situation for me.”