Kentucky's puzzling starting lineup has a negative effect on energy

Call it a cautious approach due to injuries, or advanced analytical minute distribution, or player favoritism, or maybe just some good old-fashioned stubbornness. Regardless, Mark Pope does not start Kentucky’s best players. He insists that the key to the offense, Jaland Lowe, and the future lottery pick, Jayden Quaintance, come in off the bench after the Wildcats are inevitably down a few buckets. It is an approach that so many voices around Big Blue Nation are up in arms about, and yet, Pope continues to do it game after game, a similar strategy we saw last season.

But, here is the thing: not starting Kentucky’s best players does more than put them at a basketball disadvantage. It sets a…