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FitchandMurray29

All-American
Dec 11, 2021
2,761
5,834
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Sounds like Duke is about to have some interesting events unfold. Goodman tweeting that he’ll be making Duke number 1 in his preseason rankings based on news coming this morning(Kyle F return?) as well as Travis Branham posting Mgbako could ask out of his NLI.

Duke’s returners we’re definitely recruited over beforehand so it would make sense someone has to bail either for NIL/playing time/etc.

Would anyone be interested in Mgbako as our 4 man? Big time talent and very familiar with our recruiting class obviously being from NJ and playing with NJ Scholars alongside DJ and Aaron.
 
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M

mdupchurch

All-Conference
Dec 4, 2018
998
1,083
0
Here's me reading the tea leaves, IF in fact Mgbako opens his recruitment back up:
Antigua was his lead recruit, and he took an official visit in October
He's from Roselle Catholic, where Briscoe attended (maybe others as well, MKG?)
Auburn, Memphis, and UCONN were also high on his list. UCONN just got Clinigan back, but I haven't seen much about UCONN adding from the portal. Memphis has added 2 small forwards from the portal, even though Mgbako is a PF, still might have an impact - I don't know a ton about who Memphis returns outside of that.
I'm not sure how the Auburn roster looks right now, but they've been very active recruiting in the portal so far.

Should be noted that he did NOT take an official to Auburn, nor UCONN during HS.
 
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DaDirtyLeb69

DaDirtyLeb69

Heisman
Jan 4, 2022
44,925
71,725
113
Duke is fricking loaded next year. They should be the clear favorite. But if mgbako ask out I don’t get why Kentucky wouldn’t atleast try to get him, but the transfer route is good to if you find somebody, but in order for the transfer route to work you actually have to contact somebody which this staff has done very little of
 
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U

Untouchables22

All-Conference
Mar 5, 2013
2,359
3,129
0
Duke Blu said:
Give me Roach back after he explores the draft and give me Holmes from Dayton after he explores the draft and I will be ready to pop major ish. On my UK swag 40-0 lol
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The entire key to the team last year and the massive improvement was Lively his rim protection and his ability to cover defensively for Filipowski. That’s gone….Duke will have a really good team with some nice pieces. (Proctor really looks promising, and McCain can shoot the hell out of the ball) but I have serious serious concerns about the defense and preseason #1 seems a little much. If an elite rim protector is signed with the last open scholarship then we can talk.
 
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Cowtown Cat

Cowtown Cat

Heisman
Aug 23, 2015
24,276
55,232
100
FitchandMurray29 said:
Sounds like Duke is about to have some interesting events unfold. Goodman tweeting that he’ll be making Duke number 1 in his preseason rankings based on news coming this morning(Kyle F return?) as well as Travis Branham posting Mgbako could ask out of his NLI.

Duke’s returners we’re definitely recruited over beforehand so it would make sense someone has to bail either for NIL/playing time/etc.

Would anyone be interested in Mgbako as our 4 man? Big time talent and very familiar with our recruiting class obviously being from NJ and playing with NJ Scholars alongside DJ and Aaron.
Click to expand...
Didn’t we recruit Mgbako? 🤔
 
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K

Kingslayer07

Heisman
Jan 23, 2020
8,597
10,511
113
Untouchables22 said:
The entire key to the team last year and the massive improvement was Lively his rim protection and his ability to cover defensively for Filipowski. That’s gone….Duke will have a really good team with some nice pieces. (Proctor really looks promising, and McCain can shoot the hell out of the ball) but I have serious serious concerns about the defense and preseason #1 seems a little much. If an elite rim protector is signed with the last open scholarship then we can talk.
Click to expand...
Great point, easier to play defense and gamble more with an elite rim protector backing you up. The last half of the year he was great in the paint.
 
D

Diggers_Matching_Highlighter_rivals62132

Senior
Mar 19, 2006
1,125
728
113
EKYCard643 said:
I have to say you may be the only fan in America who thinks the answer to UKs "problem" is MORE FRESHMAN.
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Consider me a plus one, then. . Seems to me we were doing OK with them up until 2015.

We may not need MORE freshmen...but we do need BETTER Freshmen.

...and less transfers from the likes of Bucknell, Stanford, Georgia, Rhode Island, Illinois St, West Virginia, Iowa, and Georgia. Transfers have absolutely decimated this program.

The program started to dip when Antigua left after recruiting the 2015 roster. After the 2017 class of Adebayo, Fox, and Monk...UK went into a freefall of sub Top 10 recruits and transfers.

O returns after a full recruiting cycle. and UK has an historic recruiting class coming in next year.

It's not a coincidence.
 
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B

bbanks81

All-Conference
May 5, 2003
614
1,184
58
Untouchables22 said:
The entire key to the team last year and the massive improvement was Lively his rim protection and his ability to cover defensively for Filipowski. That’s gone….Duke will have a really good team with some nice pieces. (Proctor really looks promising, and McCain can shoot the hell out of the ball) but I have serious serious concerns about the defense and preseason #1 seems a little much. If an elite rim protector is signed with the last open scholarship then we can talk.
Click to expand...
Who are you putting in front of them? There is no question they the team to beat on paper next year
 
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K_TIME

K_TIME

Heisman
Jan 2, 2003
18,408
25,734
113
BBNWildcat said:
I swear, does Cal get extra bonus money in his contract for empty scholarships?
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100%....why in the world would you not be out for a talented PF this late in the game....

Right now the roster looks like
Wagner
Dillingham
Shepherd
Reeves...possibly
Thiero
Edwards
Collins...maybe
Bradhaw
Ugo...maybe

That is 9 dudes and 3 of which are somewhat iffy. So at least 3 spots and maybe more. UK will hit for 1-2 transfers. But why not fill out all 13 spots. Just lazy *** and promising guys minutes is what this all about.
 
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B

BMo643

Senior
Sep 4, 2016
537
793
92
Diggers_Matching_Highlighter said:
Consider me a plus one, then. . Seems to me we were doing OK with them up until 2015.

We may not need MORE freshmen...but we do need BETTER Freshmen.

...and less transfers from the likes of Bucknell, Stanford, Georgia, Rhode Island, Illinois St, West Virginia, Iowa, and Georgia. Transfers have absolutely decimated this program.

The program started to dip when Antigua left after recruiting the 2015 roster. After the 2017 class of Adebayo, Fox, and Monk...UK went into a freefall of sub Top 10 recruits and transfers.

O returns after a full recruiting cycle. and UK has an historic recruiting class coming in next year.

It's not a coincidence.
Click to expand...
Those transfers have been some of your best players over the last few years. Smaller schools are now the development league for major teams and history shows us that since the portal went into affect: experience matters.

Cal is the reason for the lack of success over the last few years. High major college basketball has infinitely more talent than it did in 2015 and Cal isn’t sure how to win anymore so he’s going back to default: bring in a bunch of Freshman, that worked 6-7 years ago but I’m highly skeptical a team lead by Freshman (albeit a weak freshman class to boot) can win in March.

What Cal needed to do was better recruit the portal for his style and with players that complement the Freshman he has coming in. He should have brought in DJ and Edwards and surrounded them with someone like Reeves, Ware from Oregon (or the Center from Cuse) and a versatile, 3 point shooting 4. Instead he’s going to try and roll out a group with minimal experience and potentially a Center he hasn’t been able to win with for 2 straight years.
 
L

Lukeslaw

Senior
Mar 14, 2023
450
928
0
Diggers_Matching_Highlighter said:
Consider me a plus one, then. . Seems to me we were doing OK with them up until 2015.

We may not need MORE freshmen...but we do need BETTER Freshmen.

...and less transfers from the likes of Bucknell, Stanford, Georgia, Rhode Island, Illinois St, West Virginia, Iowa, and Georgia. Transfers have absolutely decimated this program.

The program started to dip when Antigua left after recruiting the 2015 roster. After the 2017 class of Adebayo, Fox, and Monk...UK went into a freefall of sub Top 10 recruits and transfers.

O returns after a full recruiting cycle. and UK has an historic recruiting class coming in next year.

It's not a coincidence.
Click to expand...
You're absolutely correct on the freshmen. Cal has to have elite freshmen. That said, even the elite freshmen of today have a different mindset than those from Cal's earlier years. Cal has to change his coaching approach.
Now as to transfers, I think you can be highly successful utilizing transfers. So long as you get the right transfers and we haven't been doing that.
 
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JwUKFan11

JwUKFan11

Heisman
Nov 11, 2011
7,594
15,726
113
studentcat said:
Who are you putting in front of them? There is no question they the team to beat on paper next year
Click to expand...
Based on what? Duke had a season very similar to ours, they return decent pieces but nothing insane (Much like we will), and add a similar class as ours but not quite as good. They should be good but no question the #1 team is insane.
 
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R

RalphDaltonFan

Heisman
Apr 3, 2002
60,264
41,756
113
CatsFanIL said:
Here's me reading the tea leaves, IF in fact Mgbako opens his recruitment back up:
Antigua was his lead recruit, and he took an official visit in October
He's from Roselle Catholic, where Briscoe attended (maybe others as well, MKG?)
Auburn, Memphis, and UCONN were also high on his list. UCONN just got Clinigan back, but I haven't seen much about UCONN adding from the portal. Memphis has added 2 small forwards from the portal, even though Mgbako is a PF, still might have an impact - I don't know a ton about who Memphis returns outside of that.
I'm not sure how the Auburn roster looks right now, but they've been very active recruiting in the portal so far.

Should be noted that he did NOT take an official to Auburn, nor UCONN during HS.
Click to expand...
UNC has his HS teammate who is a very talented guy Simeon Wilcher signed up. I'm guessing they'll go hard after him as well as Louisville obviously (Nolan Smith) and just about every other top program.

Don't think he makes sense for Kentucky. He's a PF who thinks he's a Wing and while he shot the ball well at Nike Hoop Summit this past weekend, he has his moments.....I mean last AAU season he was brutal most of the EYBL. We're talking in the teens percentage wise from 3. Last thing UK needs is another FR mouth to feed. They go their FR--time to get some experience around them.
 
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AllBall

AllBall

All-American
May 5, 2015
4,906
6,448
93
Diggers_Matching_Highlighter said:
Consider me a plus one, then. . Seems to me we were doing OK with them up until 2015.

We may not need MORE freshmen...but we do need BETTER Freshmen.

...and less transfers from the likes of Bucknell, Stanford, Georgia, Rhode Island, Illinois St, West Virginia, Iowa, and Georgia. Transfers have absolutely decimated this program.

The program started to dip when Antigua left after recruiting the 2015 roster. After the 2017 class of Adebayo, Fox, and Monk...UK went into a freefall of sub Top 10 recruits and transfers.

O returns after a full recruiting cycle. and UK has an historic recruiting class coming in next year.

It's not a coincidence.
Click to expand...
Look even closer at Cal's coaching timeline and you'll discover a correlation between his success and decline in relation to John Robic being on the sidelines.

Yes, recruiting took a significant dip from 2015 on but so did game preparation and in-game coaching adjustments.

That's not a coincidence either.
 
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B

BigCat241

All-Conference
May 3, 2021
1,719
1,653
0
JwUKFan11 said:
Based on what? Duke had a season very similar to ours, they return decent pieces but nothing insane (Much like we will), and add a similar class as ours but not quite as good. They should be good but no question the #1 team is insane.
Click to expand...
Returning 3 freshman starters (with one of them being a top 5 freshman in the sport) is a pretty big deal, I think they will pretty easily be the preseason #1 team.
 
LineSkiCat14

LineSkiCat14

Heisman
Aug 5, 2015
39,459
62,084
113
That's an awful risky move by a player who really had nothing left to prove. Maybe Flip can go from the 15th pick to the 10th pick.. or maybe he tears an ACL and jeopardizes his career.
 
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