Barring some miraculous pickup of Tyran Stokes + Graves/Milan/Miikka/some unknown euro stud, we are heading for the worst non-covid year of Kentucky basketball since Eddie Sutton’s final season.
Our best returning player was outshined by Brandon Garrison the whole month of March and only had one double double against a power 5 opponent all season. Kam returns after scoring in double figures against P5 opponents just twice, with one being against that awful MSU team.
I actually like Alex Wilkins, but the analytics do not. Evan Miya has him ranked almost 200 spots below Jasper Johnson for last season, and his defensive metrics make me worried he could be a score 15/give up 15 type of player at this level. And there’s always the physicality of the SEC that makes it uncertain if he’ll be the high level scorer we need.
Zoom Diallo is our best pickup, but I think it’s safe to say his Washington roster last season was more talented than what we currently have…and they went 16-17. He had a lotto pick at the 4, Wesley Yates who we wanted badly last year, and several other solid transfers.
Otega’s production will be extremely difficult to replace. In SEC + postseason play he averaged 21.5 PPG, 5 RPG, 2.6 APG, and 2 stocks. He was the only star caliber player of the pope era and also did a lot of dirty work, getting into passing lanes, etc. Idk who takes on his role this year.
Oh and the ultimate kicker? We once again are looking at not having enough shooting under a coach who needs shooting to unlock his entire system. Zoom and Wilkins are solid but there’s no dead eye like Brea here. Kam was an average shooter against real comp last year. The shooters we have been connected with are low volume guys. For some reason we didn’t even seem to get in real contention for a guy like Stefan Vaaks who made 91 threes last season. The lack of high end talent is enough of an issue, but pope isn’t even building a roster that plays to his strengths either.
Pair all of this with the fact that we’ll play one of the hardest SOS’s in the country once again and it’s looking unbelievably bleak.
And maybe the most frustrating part of all of it is Pope chose to put himself at a disadvantage by not hiring a GM. Reporters pressed him on it for months and he just shrugged it off, and now look where we are. Not even targeting the real big fish and being rejected by 2nd tier guys and having to look at JMU transfers and NIT team role players.
Sorry for the long post but I just had to vent. I’m preparing myself for the ugliest season of Kentucky basketball in my adult lifetime.
Our best returning player was outshined by Brandon Garrison the whole month of March and only had one double double against a power 5 opponent all season. Kam returns after scoring in double figures against P5 opponents just twice, with one being against that awful MSU team.
I actually like Alex Wilkins, but the analytics do not. Evan Miya has him ranked almost 200 spots below Jasper Johnson for last season, and his defensive metrics make me worried he could be a score 15/give up 15 type of player at this level. And there’s always the physicality of the SEC that makes it uncertain if he’ll be the high level scorer we need.
Zoom Diallo is our best pickup, but I think it’s safe to say his Washington roster last season was more talented than what we currently have…and they went 16-17. He had a lotto pick at the 4, Wesley Yates who we wanted badly last year, and several other solid transfers.
Otega’s production will be extremely difficult to replace. In SEC + postseason play he averaged 21.5 PPG, 5 RPG, 2.6 APG, and 2 stocks. He was the only star caliber player of the pope era and also did a lot of dirty work, getting into passing lanes, etc. Idk who takes on his role this year.
Oh and the ultimate kicker? We once again are looking at not having enough shooting under a coach who needs shooting to unlock his entire system. Zoom and Wilkins are solid but there’s no dead eye like Brea here. Kam was an average shooter against real comp last year. The shooters we have been connected with are low volume guys. For some reason we didn’t even seem to get in real contention for a guy like Stefan Vaaks who made 91 threes last season. The lack of high end talent is enough of an issue, but pope isn’t even building a roster that plays to his strengths either.
Pair all of this with the fact that we’ll play one of the hardest SOS’s in the country once again and it’s looking unbelievably bleak.
And maybe the most frustrating part of all of it is Pope chose to put himself at a disadvantage by not hiring a GM. Reporters pressed him on it for months and he just shrugged it off, and now look where we are. Not even targeting the real big fish and being rejected by 2nd tier guys and having to look at JMU transfers and NIT team role players.
Sorry for the long post but I just had to vent. I’m preparing myself for the ugliest season of Kentucky basketball in my adult lifetime.
