While the Kentucky Wildcats’ season didn’t end as hoped, there’s new hope for the 2022-2023 college basketball season with the news that Oscar Tshiebwe will return for his senior season.
Breaking: Wooden Award winner Oscar Tshiebwe is returning to Kentucky for another season, he announced on SportsCenter. pic.twitter.com/7EOIQf2uvf
— ESPN (@espn) April 20, 2022
Tshiebwe, the consensus men’s basketball national player of the year, made the announcement on SportsCenter. This makes him the first Wooden Award winner since North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough in 2008 to return to college the following year.
A big part of the reason why the Kentucky standout is willing to return? NIL, of course. Though the Congo-born player’s status as a foreign student complicates certain factors, he’s still expected to generate some income based on the new rules.
“As a student with an F1 visa, I can’t even talk about it,” Tshiebwe said on SportsCenter. “It’s a little bit tricky.”
Oscar Tshiebwe will likely earn in the neighborhood of $2 million this season through NIL, source told @Stadium. https://t.co/MHlbaJa7RO
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 20, 2022
Whatever the reason for his return, Oscar reaffirms Kentucky’s spot near the college basketball world next season. After transferring from West Virginia during the 2020-21 season, Tshiebwe garnered 28 double-doubles, including 16 straight, and averaged 17.4 points and 15.1 rebounds per game. Not only did he become the first Wildcats player to win the Wooden Award since Anthony Davis but he also earned the Naismith Player of the Year, NABC National Player of the Year, Pete Newell Big Man of the Year, and SEC Player of the Year awards.
Presuming that Keion Brooks Jr. and Sahvir Wheeler also return to join Tshiebwe, not to mention the arrival of five-star recruits Chris Livingston and Cason Wallace, Kentucky will once again be one of the favorites to win the national title next season.
In the meantime, the news of Tshiebwe’s return sparked a lot of reactions across college basketball.
Big news for Kentucky in 2022-23: AP Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe, one of the best rebounders college basketball has seen in decades, will return for his senior year https://t.co/WykJYMXMQX
— Laine Higgins (@lainehiggins17) April 20, 2022
The NCAA said that NIL would ruin college sports. Instead, it's a big reason why college basketball player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe is coming back to school https://t.co/Xy9XWcxxSK
— David Gardner (@byDavidGardner) April 20, 2022
Kentucky’s Oscar Tshwiebwe is coming back to Lexington for another season.
The Power of NIL. … especially at Kentucky.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 20, 2022
What Kentucky has coming back in Oscar Tshiebwe: pic.twitter.com/qrcj0xLUFz
— TheCatsPause247 (@TheCatsPause247) April 20, 2022
Consensus National Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe announces he will RETURN TO KENTUCKY for another season.
Huge for Kentucky. Huge for college basketball.
No matter what else happens this off-season, this cements Kentucky as a 2022-2023 national title contender
— Aaron Torres (@Aaron_Torres) April 20, 2022
[ESPN]
