LEXINGTON, Ky. _ More than once in this early-season period, Kentucky Coach John Calipari has challenged listeners to name a better point guard in the country than Ashton Hagans.
So, it was eye-catching last week when the United States Basketball Writers Association seemed to suggest Hagans might not even be the best point guard on Kentucky's team.
On Dec. 5, the USBWA announced an initial watch list of 46 players to consider for its Oscar Robertson Award, which it gives to its National Player of the Year. Hagans was not on the list, but Tyrese Maxey was.
USBWA President Mike Waters, who covers Syracuse for the The Post-Standard of Syracuse, N.Y., said the watch list was preliminary in nature and perhaps "skewed" by Kentucky's opening game. Maxey's 26 points were the most scored by any UK player in a career debut, helped beat then-No. 1 Michigan State and no doubt dazzled viewers of this nationally-televised game.
"That's the one game probably everybody definitely watched of Kentucky," Waters said. "You're, like, well, Maxey is the point guard. You know, wow. He's fantastic."
Hagans, who was not 100% against Michigan State, has come on strong since. In UK's last two games, his assist-to-turnover ratio is 23 to four. In the last four games, it's 39-10. Incidentally, Maxey had a healthy 18-to-five ratio in the last four games.
After 11 assists and two turnovers against Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday, Hagans shrugged when asked about being left off the USBWA watch list.
"Hey, it's been like that really all my life," he said. "So, I'm just trying to go out there and stay focused and just help anybody else grow and help my game grow."
Hagans smiled when asked who was a better point guard in the country this season than himself.
"Nobody, really," he said. "I haven't seen anybody that's that good. But, you know, there's a lot of OK guards out there. But you heard what Cal said. I agree with him on that. I'm just trying to stay focused and keep competing."
ESPN analyst Jay Bilas included Hagans on his list of 10 elite point guards at this ultra-early stage of the season. Five were not on the USBWA watch list, which will be updated in mid-January. Besides Hagans, Bilas included Tyrese Haliburton (Iowa State), Tre Jones (Duke), Marcus Zegarowski (Creighton), Cassius Winston (Michigan State), Payton Pritchard (Oregon), Cole Anthony (North Carolina), Devon Dotson (Kansas), Nico Mannion (Arizona) and Zavier Simpson (Michigan).
Of those players, Dotson was averaging the most points (19.5) through games on Monday. Haliburton had the best assist-to-turnover ratio (74-24) and the most steals (24).
Both Bilas and Waters said a two-to-one ratio signals a good point guard. All but Pritchard (55-28), Anthony (31-34) and Dotson (38-25) have met that standard so far this season.
Of course, mere numbers can be inadequate in evaluating a player. On his radio show Monday night, Calipari spoke of how disruptive Hagans can be.
When a caller asked about matching Maxey against Hagans in practice, the UK coach said, "I can't do it every day because Tyrese would be demoralized. So, I put Immanuel (Quickley) over there. And when he scrambles him up a little bit, then I don't want Immanuel to be scrambled eggs, either. Then I switch it over to let Tyrese get tortured a little bit."
But Hagans is not exempt from Calipari's never-satisfied, you-can-do-more assessments.
"He's so confident, he gets undisciplined," Calipari said of on his Dec. 2 radio show of Hagans.
Hagans' 56-to-26 assist-to-turnover ratio would be better if he did not gamble so much for steals, Calipari said. "Making crazy plays (he) really doesn't need to have to make. ... Every time he takes a chance, one of our freshmen have to rotate and do stuff they're not ready to do yet."
And, Calipari added, trying for steals can put Hagans out of position to defend a three-point shooter. "Ashton is giving up a lot of threes," Calipari said.
A reporter asking about trying for steals too often did not surprise Hagans.
"He's been on me about that a lot," Hagans said after the Fairleigh Dickinson game. "Undisciplined all over. On offense and on defense. Not gambling all the time. But going after balls I think I can get. And on the offensive end, just go through the sets."
Hagans judged his play so far this season as "OK right now."
Just OK?
"Yeah," he said. "I could improve more. Up until now, I'm just trying to get guys involved and just letting them get a feel for the game."
