Alex Poythress Tears ACL, Kentucky Will Have to Adjust Platoon System

Tough news for the undefeated, top-ranked Kentucky Wildcats: Alex Poythress, the junior jumping jack who is one of the veterans on a young team, tore his ACL at practice Thursday and has been lost for the season.

UK Coach John Calipari wrote a blog post about it on his website last night:

"Alex tore his ACL during yesterday’s practice. It was a breakaway layup and no one bumped him. He stepped with his left foot and just went down. When I saw Alex last night, I said to him exactly what I said to Nerlens: “You’re fine. If this is something crazy, you have insurance and you’re a millionaire. You have even more time than Nerlens had to prepare yourself for the draft if that’s what you choose to do. You can also come back. You’re going to have your degree in May and you can start on a master’s degree for your last year.” Alex is nearly a straight-A student and one of the greatest kids that I’ve ever coached."

Poythress actually posted his best stats as a freshman (on a bad team), averaging 11.2 ppg, but became a role player the last two years. He’s a ridiculous athlete, so he’ll probably still have a shot at the NBA once his ACL heals.

Or, perhaps he’ll return to Lexington for his senior season.

The Wildcats have the most depth in the nation, so they won’t have a problem physically replacing Poythress in the lineup. His experience will be missed, though, as will his willingness to be a role player and do the dirty work: Defense, rebounding, blocking shots, making that extra pass and not shooting.

Kentucky, which is 10-0, begins a challenging 3-game stretch: vs. North Carolina tomorrow, vs. UCLA on the 20th, and at rival Louisville on the 27th. If they don’t lose any of those … the SEC schedule is a joke, and we can talk about the Wildcats going into March Madness unbeaten.