Reed Sheppard was ranked 79th in the Class of 2023, according to 247Sports. That's obviously great by any normal standard — but it's not much relative to Kentucky's standards under Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame coach John Calipari, evidence being that Sheppard was merely the fifth most-heralded prospect in UK's top-ranked recruiting class that enrolled in advance of this season.
Was he wildly underrated?
Man, it sure looks like it. Because on Friday night, Sheppard took 10 shots, made nine of them and finished with a game-high 25 points in Kentucky's 101-67 victory over Stonehill. The 6-foot-3 guard was 7-of-8 from 3-point range against the Skyhawks and is now shooting 70.6% from beyond the arc through four games with the Wildcats.
"I've got to give a lot of credit to my teammates," said Sheppard, the son of Kentucky legend Jeff Sheppard, who was a two-time national champion for the Wildcats and the Most Outstanding Player of the 1998 Final Four. "They were able to break down the zone and get me open shots. I was able to knock them down."
Simple as that.
To highlight just how unusual it is for a player ranked where Sheppard was ranked in high school to be contributing like this as a freshman at Kentucky, consider that a prospect ranked outside of the top 50 of his class (at 247Sports) has literally never played a major role as a freshman in any of the previous 14 years under Calipari. Again, Sheppard was ranked 79th in his class but has arguably been the WIldcats' most impressive player so far this season. He got 13 points in 16 minutes against top-ranked Kansas earlier in the week and has now made 10 of his past 12 attempts from beyond the arc.
"Reed was terrific," Calipari said late Friday.
Kentucky is up to No. 15 in Saturday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, where Arkansas is down to No. 21 after Friday night's 78-72 loss to UNC Greensboro. As I've explained many times, I do not drop top-16 teams completely out of the Top 25 And 1 after a first head-scratching loss this early in the season because I've done that before and, frankly, when I did it, it often led to super-goofy rankings. So now, when a top-16 team takes a bad loss early, like Michigan State did last week to James Madison, I simply hit them with an automatic 10-spot drop that serves as a punishment but also prevents me from overreacting to what usually ends up being little more than a bad 40 minutes of basketball at a less-than-ideal time.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Hunter Dickinson finished with 27 points and 21 rebounds in Tuesday's 89-84 win over Kentucky. The Jayhawks' next game is Monday against Chaminade. | -- | 21-13 |
| 2 |  | Zach Edey finished with 28 points and 11 rebounds in Monday's 83-71 win over Xavier. The Boilermakers' next game is Monday against Gonzaga. | -- | 24-12 |
| 3 |  | Caleb Love finished with 20 points and six assists in Friday's 100-68 win over Belmont. The Wildcats' next game is Sunday against UT Arlington. | -- | 24-13 |
| 4 |  | Mark Mitchell finished with 20 points and six rebounds in Friday's 90-60 win over Bucknell. The Blue Devils' next game is Tuesday against La Salle. | -- | 35-4 |
| 5 |  | Vladislav Goldin finished with 19 points and five rebounds in Tuesday's 100-57 win over Eastern Michigan. The Owls' next game is Saturday against Bryant. | -- | 18-16 |
| 6 |  | Tyler Kolek finished with 24 points and six rebounds in Tuesday's 71-64 win at Illinois. The Golden Eagles' next game is Monday against UCLA. | -- | 23-11 |
| 7 |  | Emanuel Sharp finished with 15 points and six rebounds in Friday's 76-66 win over Utah. The Cougars' next game is Sunday against Dayton. | -- | 35-5 |
| 8 |  | Cam Spencer finished with 25 points and four assists in Tuesday's 87-53 win over Mississippi Valley State. The Huskies' next game is Sunday against Indiana. | -- | 24-11 |
| 9 |  | Trey Alexander finished with 23 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists in Tuesday's 92-64 win over Iowa. The Bluejays' next game is Saturday against Texas Southern. | -- | 25-11 |
| 10 |  | Matthew Cleveland finished with 18 points and six rebounds in Friday's 79-67 win over Georgia. The Hurricanes' next game is Sunday against Kansas State. | -- | 7-24 |
| 11 |  | Dalton Knecht finished with 18 points and three rebounds in Tuesday's 82-61 win over Wofford. The Vols' next game is Monday against Syracuse. | 1 | 30-8 |
| 12 |  | Henry Coleman III finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds in Texas A&M's 74-66 win over Oral Roberts. The Aggies' next game is Thursday against Penn State. | 1 | 23-11 |
| 13 |  | Jayden Nunn finished with 25 points and four assists in Tuesday's 99-61 win over Kansas City. The Bears' next game is Wednesday against Oregon State. | 1 | 20-15 |
| 14 |  | Graham Ike finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds in Tuesday's 123-57 win over Eastern Oregon. The Zags' next game is Monday against Purdue. | 1 | 26-9 |
| 15 |  | Reed Sheppard finished with 25 points and seven assists in Friday's 101-67 win over Stonehill. The Wildcats' next game is Monday against Saint Joseph's. | 1 | 24-12 |
| 16 |  | Tyrese Hunter finished with 18 points and four assists in Wednesday's 80-64 win over Rice. The Longhorns' next game is Sunday against Louisville. | 1 | 19-16 |
| 17 |  | David Jones finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds in Friday's 92-75 win over Alabama State. The Tigers' next game is Wednesday against Michigan. | 1 | 29-6 |
| 18 |  | Armando Bacot finished with 21 points and seven rebounds in Friday's 77-52 win over UC Riverside. The Tar Heels' next game is Wednesday against Northern Iowa. | 1 | 23-14 |
| 19 |  | USC shot 19.0% from 3-point range in Tuesday's 70-60 loss to UC Irvine. The Trojans' next game is Sunday against Brown. | 1 | 17-18 |
| 20 |  | Tyson Walker finished with 21 points and four assists in Friday's 74-54 win over Butler. The Spartans' next game is Sunday against Alcorn State. | 1 | 30-7 |
| 21 |  | Arkansas missed 19 of the 23 3-pointers it attempted in Frida's 78-72 loss to UNC Greensboro. The Razorbacks' next game is Wednesday against Stanford. | 10 | 22-14 |
| 22 |  | Terrence Shannon Jr. finished with 22 points and seven rebounds in Friday's 87-64 win over Valparaiso. The Illini's next game is Sunday against Southern. | -- | 22-13 |
| 23 |  | Mark Sears finished with 24 points and six assists in Friday's 98-67 win over Mercer. The Crimson Tide's next game is Friday against Ohio State. | -- | 28-9 |
| 24 |  | Keshon Gilbert finished with 16 points and six rebounds in Sunday's 86-55 win over Idaho State. The Cyclones' next game is Sunday against Grambling State. | -- | 25-10 |
| 25 |  | KJ Simpson finished with 23 points and six assists in Tuesday's 106-79 win over Milwaukee. The Buffaloes' next game is Monday against Richmond. | -- | 14-21 |
| 26 |  | Ryan Dunn finished with 15 points and five rebounds in Thursday's 62-33 win over Texas Southern. The Cavaliers' next game is Monday against Wisconsin. | -- | 15-17 |
