Kentucky Basketball Lands McBride, Despite Stokes' Kansas Commitment

0:00On April 29, Kentucky basketball fans took a tough hit Tuesday when top recruit Tyron Stokes committed to Kansas instead of the Wildcats. It stung Big Blue Nation hard after all the hype around Coach Mark Pope and his staff chasing him. Right before that bad news dropped, there was a surprise pick-up, James Madison forward, J.T. Ming-Bride chose Kentucky. This 6 foot 7 power, forward average 15.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.5 assists last season for the dukes. He shot an impressive 49.4% from the field, and 40% from 3 on 3.1 tries per game. That spacing ability at the 4 spot fixes a big issue from last year when Kentucky struggled with non-shooting bigs. Fans are bummed about Stokes, but Ming-Bride brings real offensive juice alongside NDI who can also step out for threes. Still, questions linger on defense. Ming-Bride had trouble guarding in the sunbelt, and the SEC will test him big time, Pope's building something versatile upfront.

1:02So if Ming-Bride adapts on that end, this could turn into a net win for the Wildcats heading into next season.