its 100% accurate. many folks here have the emotional intelligence of a 3 year old. and take no ownership/accountability over their terrible behavior.
Travis Branham crystal ball Kentucky
- Thread starter Anon953436
- Start date
You couldn't be more wrong. It is spot on. No one was expecting this guy or anybody of this Quality available to fill a 15th spot and so Pope gives it a shot. Very few people know who this kid was or even thought there was a possibility.
This is the first year in a while I've tuned into recruiting/portal transfers. I'm fairly convinced that a vast majority of UK's insiders are getting their info agents. its the only explanation why team X can lead, trail, back in it in a 24 hour period. i just refuse to believe things change that fast with this much regularity. its agents using these guys to get info out to increase urgency which drive prices up.
That’s exactly who they get it from. It’s why they are useless. They all have 1st to report syndrome and run with anything they are told.
Amazing. Haven’t seen the team play and already pointing out flaws.
10 years ago, the folks i knew who covered this stuff..... had connections to staff members, power brokers, players families, other teams coaching staff to get a more balanced picture to sort out the information from disinformation.
How do you know this team won't be able to defend or rebound? Answer....you don't
The same way we know the team can shoot. Based on past performance of these players.
Nothing is 100% certain but this team projects to be a very good offensive team, potentially great shooting, moderate defense and likely struggle in rebounding.
Of course, it is theoretically possible all of that is wrong. But these are reasonable projections.
this is the problem with uk fans. they think if a team is flawed it cant win, be successful and enjoyed. michigan state will enter the season ranked from 5 to 10. they retained a solid core yet....3 point shooting will be a huge concern with 3 or 4 starters shooting it less than 32%.
they are small on the perimeter/wing:
fears 6'0"
carr 6'5"
teng 6'3"
ugochukwi. 6'2"
also they are going to depend on freshmen, probably more than usual.
Michigan ranked #139 in offensive rebounds per game, you don’t have to be elite in every category to win it all. No team ever is, there will always be flaws especially on paper.
insane stat consider their front line was 7'3, 6'9", and 6'9"
Tubby’s ‘03 team is one of my favorite of all time. Not sure there was anything “elite” about any of them. They did play elite team defense however. Not making that prediction, just saying you never know.
That team also had elite passing. Daniels, Hayes, Hawkins and Fitch were all very unselfish and I always saw them as elite defensively and passing.
One of my favorite teams as well. 2003 Marquis Estill was very underrated.
Good add on. Daniels to Hayes and vice versa was a thing of beauty
This team is longer, more athletic with better shot blockers. How about they play one game before talking about what they can't do
That’s fine Cowboy, but if you talk about anything they CAN do, people will be correct to apply the standard you created and tell you that you can’t say it either.
So, “How about they play one game before talking about how they are better shot blockers”?
Best passing big men we ever had since I’ve been alive imo. To each other at least. They had a two man game that was crazy.
everyone has flaws, Florida for instance wasn't that great at shooting. plus they lost to a decent iowa team, who were in no shape and form world beaters. If we add this guy we probably won't see Hawthorne much.
Simple. Shot blocking and 3 point shooting are individual skills. Defense is played as a 5 man unit. Having characteristics like length and shot blockers MIGHT lead to a solid defense. Effort, hustle and desire all olay into team defense. You can't hustle or desire a 3 pointer to go in during a game or Noah would never miss. Team defense and individual skills are two different things. I am not saying we will be great on defense, but we might not be bad either
Team defense is played as a five man unit but every individual man-to-man matchup requires defensive skills. That’s the point.
I’d bet this team begins somewhere in the late twenties to early forties in KenPom defensive efficiency due to the personnel. No one has taken a shot yet or blocked a shot yet, so making projections is fair for everyone or fair for no one.
It's strange when new account folks lament how bad it is here. If you hate it so much, why do you guys keep coming back? Either you're a new account user who just hasn't figured out how message boards work yet, or you're an old-school poster who posts with too many accounts.
Either way, why return to a place where you seem to struggle with other posters so much?
Further proves the point that march is random, so give me a coach who gets me good rosters every year.
Does anyone have any updates on thee player named in this thread?
I read where UK is in the top spot to land this player then the next hour it says UCLA and Michigan.
Not looking for any bash Pope posts, just looking to see if UK is still in a good spot with this kid.
I read where UK is in the top spot to land this player then the next hour it says UCLA and Michigan.
Not looking for any bash Pope posts, just looking to see if UK is still in a good spot with this kid.
Elite offensive efficiency - 8th in the country in FG%, #5 offensive rating in KenPom. This came mostly from running good offense that got us high percentage shots, but also just having lots of finishers.
Elite rebounding - 14th in the country in total rebound percentage.
Elite defense - held opponents to 64ppg, #4 defensive rating in KenPom.
This is such a brain dead take. We’ve seen the players play. Some of them for several years and have data. As the roster stands defense and rebounding is a major weakness.
Now. guys can improve. But Pope has to improve and adapt as a coach in a major way for that to happen. He’s been a head coach for 11 years and still hasn’t shown the ability to teach a team and individual players how to play defense at a level that’s good enough to cut down the nets.
We can make a bet if you like.
This thread has completely derailed.
I’m not sure how you’re defining “talent.” But to have its best shot at winning a championship UK needs better, more developed, and more impactful basketball players than Calipari was/is bringing in. More college AAs, All-SEC guys and good role players, and less concern over high school recruiting rankings and the projected draft pick positions of 17 & 18 year-olds.
He is ours to lose or we are out per sources. One or the other. Take it for what it’s worth
From the guard spots and wing, our defense will be fine. Kepnang is solely there for blocks, rebounds, and dunks. If he stays healthy, he's gonna be that enforcer type.
From what I see, this is a much better defensive team than this past season. We don't have Lamont Butler, but nobody else does either.
I want to see how they play and how hard we dictate tempo before I make any kind of assumptions. Defense and rebounding at this level is an effort game. I want to see how much this team wants it.
They finished #1 in the country in defensive fg% and adjusted defensive efficiency and finished 1st in the country in defensive rebounds and 2nd in overall rebounds.
Defense and rebounding are two things you have to do well.
We need to hope for improvement in those areas and some kind of mark pope revelation in the off season.
The roster is good. There’s tons of talent and ability on the roster. But if people are hoping we addressed certain concerns with player pickups alone, they’re going to be disappointed.
Not to sound like a D......but of the last, say 20 recruitments (high school/portal/Foreign) what do we think the insiders here record is in predicting UK wins the recruitment.
Cal was his own worst enemy. He was too busy trying to be a savior to poor families. I think he saw a little bit of himself in some of the kids he recruited that had a little chip on their shoulder and didn't have much money. He was slow to adapt to changes in the game from the offenses he ran to how young he built his rosters when just about everyone else was trying to get older. You combine that with how far behind Mitch was on everything and that's how we fell behind.
not to say i know anything but...
their record before Pope was much better. And they have talked about the Pope staff not controlling rumors and narrative well. I would say the issue is this staff and their recruiting/media habits much more than it is our writers here. When the staff doesnt communicate, they gotta talk to lying agents in the case of Nikola Kusturica
Loose writing on a 2nd year and wanting an apparent 15 minute/game minutes restriction, college basketball at its finest
assuming this is true.....all the back and forth (driven by the agent) make sense. uk makes the best offer, is presumed to be the leader. but wants a tight 2 year agreement. agents want less of a commitment, which brings other teams into the discussion. uk no longer leads. but now all the teams are looking for the same thing in a year 2. so either the agent caves on the year two....or he ends up playing for someone who will max out a 1 year deal.....which could pull other teams into it.