A staple of Mark Pope‘s offense over the years has been the playmaking big man. During his final season at BYU in 2023-24, that playmaker was center Aly Khalifa, who averaged right at four assists per game despite playing fewer than 20 minutes in those outings. A center that can get others involved and operate from the top of the key opens up Pope’s offense — even if they aren’t capable outside shooters themselves.

Going into his first season as the head coach at Kentucky, Pope might actually have two of those playmaking bigs he so desires. They would be Drexel transfer Amari Williams and Oklahoma State transfer Brandon Garrison. Both averaged under 23 minutes per game last season, yet still managed to average 1.9 and 1.5 assists per contest, respectively.

According to Pope, those two were among the team’s best playmakers throughout the entire summer. When counting up pure assist numbers, they were actually among the top three. After rattling off the impressive play of several Wildcats in the offseason during Thursday’s episode of KSR, he had to make sure Williams and Garrison received some praise, too.

“I haven’t even mentioned Brandon Garrison or Amari Williams, who, as much as our point guards, those two fives, they really stir the drink for us,” Pope said. “Both those guys finished second and third in the whole summer in terms of assists. And we got that from your two five-men. It’s super cool, man. It’s a fun way to play the game.”

Williams and Garrison might be the only players on this team that won’t shoot many (if any) three-pointers this season. Williams is 8-26 from deep throughout his four-year career while Garrison did not attempt a single one as a freshman. But that won’t make them unplayable in Pope’s offense. The opposite, in fact.

As long as they can distribute and keep the offense flowing, their inability to stretch the floor with their shooting will be made up by being able to fit passes into tight pockets. Opposing bigs will still have to guard them up close because of how well they can pick apart a defense from anywhere on the floor.

“He’s an amazing passer, just seeing it in person, guarding it, I ain’t never played against a passer like that,” Garrison said of Williams earlier this summer.

On film, Williams appears to be the more natural passer compared to Garrison, but playing an extra three seasons of college basketball certainly helps that. Both are fluent in backdoor cuts though — another key component to Pope’s free-flowing offense. And did I mention that Williams was a three-time Defensive Player of the Year in the CAA and that Garrison averaged 1.5 blocks per game as a freshman?

They might not be shooters, but they’re going to make it tough for Pope to keep them off the floor. Substituting a veteran playmaking shot blocker with a younger version of the same archetype is a good recipe for success.

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