Leadership is a big part of any sports team, and that is the case with this year’s Kentucky basketball team. Knowing the Wildcats lost a lot of veteran players from last year’s team, someone on the 2025-26 team will have to step up as a leader.
One player who Coach Pope wants to step up as a leader for this team is Brandon Garrison. There are different types of leaders within a sports team. There are vocal leaders and players who lead by example.
Garrison seems like the type of person who would fit both of these molds, but he is, without question, a vocal leader.
When speaking to the media a few weeks ago, Garrison was asked about how Coach Pope is challenging him to be more of a leader, and he seemed to be taking this challenge quite well.
Garrison is a fan favorite in Lexington because he plays the game with a lot of passion, and fans really do like that about the Wildcats’ big man. He is the type of player who likes when a road crowd is jawing at him, as it just fuels him to play better.
Every successful team has to have some players step up and lead when the team is facing some adversity, and Garrison could be that guy for this team. It is great to see that Coach Pope is challenging players to step up into this role.
Garrison’s role for this team will be much larger than on-court production.
