As part of our coverage leading up to UK’s tipoff of the highly anticipated 2009-2010, we are beginning a series of outlooks for each of the players on this year’s roster. In this previews, we will give a short bio on each player, a quick look at the projected role for each, and a prediction of how each player’s season will unfold. We know how well our readers know each of these kids, so we are going to keep these short and sweet, and hopefully informative as well.

We will begin our series of outlooks with the players who figure to be among the last off the bench, building up to the John Wall’s and Patrick Patterson’s of the world. Accordingly, we begin with Mark Krebs.

BIO

Position: SG
Height/Weight: 6-5 208
Year: Senior
Hometown: Newport, KY

It wasn’t the biggest story of the offseason, but John Calipari’s disbanding of the sizable stable of walkons that Billy Gillispie had employed did get a fair amount of attention. In fact, it was one of the few things Calipari did that some Kentucky fans objected to.

The fact that Mark Krebs survived the purging of the walkon program is high praise. The fact that Mark Krebs has performed well enough to earn the 13th scholarship from Coach Cal is even higher praise.

Krebs spent his first two years at Kentucky as a reserve under Gillispie, appearing in 17 games total, scoring 3 points each year. Krebs spent his first year of eligibility playing for Thomas More College, but decided to transfer to his home state school and give walking on with UK a shot. He earned a spot under Tubby Smith, then had to re-earn it under Gillispie, then had to re-earn it one more time under Calipari. If that doesn’t tell you what kind of a fighter Krebs is, nothing will.

Krebs has learned a great deal of that fight from his mother, Terri, who has been fighting breast cancer for 8 years and it has become clear that the illness is terminal.  The linked article above is from the Herald-Leader and if you haven’t seen it, it’s worth reading. 

No player on the Kentucky roster has worked harder than Krebs to get to where he is and no matter what role he fills this season on the court, his teammates can look to him as a leader. Krebs will be one of 3 players sent off on Senior Night in March, and it is sure to be an emotional night for the Krebs family. Let’s just pray his mother gets to see it.

PROJECTED ROLE

Krebs has a reputation as an excellent shooter, which is a precious on this year’s team. Shooting is one of the few areas you can point to as a potential weakness on UK and that is the reason why Krebs could see meaningful playing time.

By no means is Krebs going to play in every game, but against teams that can zone the ‘Cats effectively, Coach Cal could look to Krebs in important situations to stretch the floor and make a big shot or two. UK’s talented back court is going to present more challenging matchups than Krebs will likely face against most opponents, so if Krebs can hold his own, Cal will feel comfortable putting him out there against anybody.

PREDICTION

If you’re looking for a best case comparison for Krebs, think Cameron Mills circa 1996-1998. Of course, we heard that about Josh Carrier as well, and Krebs does not have nearly the same reputation as a shooter has either.

A lot of it will depend on matchups, but just as much, it will depend on the way Cal structures his rotation. Calipari has said that he will likely either use a 10 man rotation, with the last 3 men on the bench getting only mop up duty or an 8 man rotation in which the last 5 men on the bench get in for a couple minutes each half. Cal’s past habits tell us the same thing.

Since Krebs figures to fit in that 11-13 range, an 8 man rotation would likely mean more time than a 10 man rotation.

In the end, I do think that Krebs will get time this year. Depending on matchups, I think could easily play 10 minutes one game and not even lose the warmups in the next. I think Krebs will make a couple big shots and I think he will establish himself as a fan favorite as we get to know him better in his final year.