Did Antonio Reeves just save John Calipari’s bacon?

Fast-break points from the NBA Draft green room:

21. John Calipari. In what has so far been a challenging offseason for the Kentucky men’s basketball coach, the word Wednesday that super-senior guard Antonio Reeves has returned to Lexington and plans to play for UK in 2023-24 was a ray of sunshine punching through a bank of clouds.

20. A veteran re-enlists. As presently constituted, the recruited, scholarship players on the 2023-24 Kentucky men’s basketball roster have cumulative career totals of 1,769 points and 74 starts. Of those, Reeves individually is responsible for 1,683 of the points and all 74 of the starts.

19. A perfect roster fit? A 39.8 percent three-point shooter last season for UK, Reeves should supply a Kentucky roster filled with freshmen slashers and, potentially, two rim-running big men with the floor spacing that will allow all to operate.

18. A “seesaw player.” Last season, in his first year with Kentucky after playing three seasons at Illinois State, the 6-foot-5, 205-pounds Reeves was the epitome of an “up-and-down” performer.

17. In UK’s power-conference wins. Kentucky won 15 games in 2022-23 vs. high-level foes (defined by me as teams from the football Power Five leagues and the Big East Conference plus Gonzaga). In those contests, Reeves averaged 15.7 points and hit 47.6 percent of his shots overall and 48.1 percent of his three-point tries.

16. In UK’s power-conference losses. Kentucky lost 12 times against high-level competition. In those contests, Reeves averaged 12 points and hit 32.1 percent of his shots and 26.7 percent of his three-point tries.

15. UK’s big picture. Even allowing for Reeves’ penchant for streaky play, Kentucky has a lot better chance of fielding a good team in 2023-24 now that the Chicago product is back in blue.

14. A heady reality. For Reeves, whose scholarship offers out of Simeon High School were Illinois State, Chicago State, Detroit, Saint Louis, Northern Illinois, Milwaukee and Northern Arizona, being so important to a college hoops blue blood such as UK must be gratifying.

13. Masai Russell. The remarkable performance by the Kentucky Wildcats women’s track and field star in the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships this month has not gotten enough attention.

12. A one-woman band. In finishing sixth in the national championship meet, Kentucky scored 28 points as a team. Russell, a super-senior from Potomac, Maryland, had a hand in 27 of those points.

11. Made every event count. Russell finished second in the 100-meter hurdles, second in the 400-meter hurdles, was a part of UK’s second-place 4-by-100 relay, and ran a leg on the Cats’ sixth-place 4-by-400 relay. Kentucky earned eight team points for each of the second-place runs and three for the sixth-place.

10. Upholding the tradition. Even for a UK women’s track and field program that has launched past Wildcats luminaries Kendra Harrison, Dezerea Bryant, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Abby Steiner to international stardom, Russell’s efforts in Austin, Texas, were special.

9. Praise from the boss. At his “year end” news conference last week, Kentucky Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart singled out Russell for a “remarkable performance. ... Individually, she contributed to our (team) point total in a remarkable way.”

8. Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame. Barnhart also praised UK radio play-by-play announcer Tom Leach and former KHSAA commissioner and past UK women’s sports administrator Brigid DeVries for their pending inductions into the (state of) Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame.

7. Voice of the Wildcats. Of Leach, Barnhart said, “So happy for Tom. He has given us great calls for many, many years and is just an absolute pro.”

6. Finding the right balance. The UK AD says he believes Leach brings the appropriate tenor to his broadcasts of Wildcats football and men’s basketball games. “He does a great job of painting it blue in just the right way,” Barnhart said. “I think that takes a real skill and a real heart.”

5. Directors’ Cup. With one sport, baseball, still to be completed, Kentucky stands 20th and Louisville 32nd in the Learfield Directors’ Cup standings. The Directors’ Cup is an annual measure of the overall strength of athletics departments that is based on how teams perform in NCAA postseason competition plus football bowl and playoff games.

4. UK moving up in final standings? Once the Kentucky baseball team’s trip to the NCAA Tournament super regional is factored in, Barnhart says he believes UK will finish “18th or 19th.” That would give Kentucky a sixth-straight finish inside the top 20 of the Directors’ Cup standings.

3. Kelly Wells. When Morehead State named the current University of Pikeville athletics director as its new AD, it put at least one member of Wells’ family in a bit of a pickle.

2. Divided loyalties? Not only is Wells’ daughter, Kaylee, a student at Eastern Kentucky University, the aspiring school teacher and volleyball coach also works in the athletics office at EKU — which is Morehead State’s oldest and fiercest sports rival.

1. A “historic” first? Kelly Wells said he joked with EKU AD Matt Roan about the situation, saying, “When is the last time the Morehead State University athletics director’s daughter not only went to EKU, but worked in the athletics department there?”

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