BB: Kentucky Basketball Pro Day

The Ganner · 2026-10-08T16:00:18-0500

I'm high on Wilkins and Momcilovic as our go to scorers. But I need to see it from N'Diaye in game. We know the physical ability is there. But he was a high volume 30% 3pt shooter on his Italian team and a major knock on him was decision making and defensive reads/positioning.

Zoom I have no idea what to expect.

Mason better be ready with Morton hurt, he's gonna play.

We have a lot of reserve forwards but Momcilovic is going to eat up a lot of minutes. Who among the reserves steps up? Which guys are out of the rotation and do they stay positive not getting pt?

Wildcat_in_DC · 2026-10-08T17:05:58-0500

The Ganner said:
I'm high on Wilkins and Momcilovic as our go to scorers. But I need to see it from N'Diaye in game. We know the physical ability is there. But he was a high volume 30% 3pt shooter on his Italian team and a major knock on him was decision making and defensive reads/positioning.

Zoom I have no idea what to expect.

Mason better be ready with Morton hurt, he's gonna play.

We have a lot of reserve forwards but Momcilovic is going to eat up a lot of minutes. Who among the reserves steps up? Which guys are out of the rotation and do they stay positive not getting pt?

i think hawthorne is the only guy that can get to the rim. not sure he can finish just yet.

AllBall · 2026-10-09T04:10:24-0500

Not to be pessimistic but Zoom's play stood out the most to me. I'm hesitatant to believe he can play winning basketball for the majority of his minutes. While big and physically, he's often a ball stopper who over dribbles.
Bottom line, his game better improve bc this isn't Washington and he's gonna be relied on early.

bigblueinsanity (the real) · 2026-10-09T05:45:34-0500

The problem all year is going to be the 4 spot. Neither mom nor N'Diaye can defend nor rebound well enough there. Then if we move either to the 3, it will be even worse.

I don't see any way we don't get forced into zone for long stretches. Otherwise i just don't see any way we can defend. Even then we better hope Moreno turned into a rebounding monster and can stay out of foul trouble.

Sec blocking Mitchell absolutely killed this squad.

RunninRichie · 2026-10-09T06:04:42-0500

Wildcat_in_DC said:
wilkins was like 3 for 10 on threes and took a ton of quick shots. and did nothing else. i mean if he "makes it look easy" he would:

make a higher percentage

score in different ways

not sure what that dude watched

His jumper is bad. He's gonna have a hard time getting that shot off against good teams.

RunninRichie · 2026-10-09T06:06:17-0500

bigblueinsanity (the real) said:
The problem all year is going to be the 4 spot. Neither mom nor N'Diaye can defend nor rebound well enough there. Then if we move either to the 3, it will be even worse.

I don't see any way we don't get forced into zone for long stretches. Otherwise i just don't see any way we can defend. Even then we better hope Moreno turned into a rebounding monster and can stay out of foul trouble.

Sec blocking Mitchell absolutely killed this squad.

Mom is a very pedestrian rebounder. It's gonna be a long season.

kyjeff1 · 2026-10-09T06:29:08-0500

UKWildcats1987 said:
This seems like an extremely low bar to set. Last years team was trash.

I think this years team is sweet 16 team level so what the guy said is true. Its just a low bar.

Maybe we'll get to play a team in the sweet 16 that is missing their starting sf, missing their backup pg, has a pf that is at 70% and a pg that has a blown out shoulder. If we do, does that mean we're an Elite 8 level team?

How do we know the ceiling of this team before we even see the bracket?

Of course, I'm playing the what-if game just to yank your chain, but there is a lot of truth to what I said.

As far as Pro day, yeah, last years team set a low bar, but still, this team has some very intriguing pieces. Got a 7 footer that is a legit 3 level scorer, Wilkins can go off on anyone, Moreno is an NBA level 7 footer, Kepnang is a big body that can bang, we have the best shooter in the country and Williams is much better than everyone realized. He’s going to get minutes at guard, good minutes.

This team should be compared to Pope's first team. That 24/25 team, when healthy, was a legit FF threat and this one can be a FF threat too.

None of us has a single clue how the season will go. It comes down to defense, health and how the team clicks, but even the most negative Nancy (not referring to you) can admit that this team has a lot of very good pieces. I was impressed with several of them.

Cleatortoises · 2026-10-09T06:50:00-0500

Will a successful season cause a mental health crisis among our fans? Will they spin out if we get to the FF and we have to (gasps) keep Pope.
Fainting couches will be in danger of damge and pearls will be crushed.
It'll be a fun watch.
GBB.

HipTer · 2026-10-09T07:34:00-0500

AllBall said:
Not to be pessimistic but Zoom's play stood out the most to me. I'm hesitatant to believe he can play winning basketball for the majority of his minutes. While big and physically, he's often a ball stopper who over dribbles.
Bottom line, his game better improve bc this isn't Washington and he's gonna be relied on early.

I have the same wariness in regard to Diallo. He's a good player, that's not the issue. The concern I have is whether he's the right PG for the way it seems this team should play. I think his 3pt. shooting will be fine, especially with the open looks he'll take and he doesn't force perimeter shots. But you described exactly the issues with the way he plays that concern me. I think he needs to model his game in many respects to how Butler modified his at UK. Take straight-line drives and give the ball up when he meets resistence.

Wildcat_in_DC · 2026-10-09T07:49:51-0500

i think pope is going to deeply regret not landing rob wright and nikola kusturica.

HipTer · 2026-10-09T08:08:21-0500

Wildcat_in_DC said:
i think pope is going to deeply regret not landing rob wright and nikola kusturica.

I think Kusturica would have been largely irrelevant this season. The only reason I liked the idea of bringing him in was for the 2nd year potential. But it does feel like Wright might have been a better fit than Diallo. However, from everything I read Wright had already decided to go back to BYU regardless and there was nothing Pope or any other coach was going to do to change that.

RunninRichie · 2026-10-09T08:53:19-0500

Cleatortoises said:
Will a successful season cause a mental health crisis among our fans? Will they spin out if we get to the FF and we have to (gasps) keep Pope.
Fainting couches will be in danger of damge and pearls will be crushed.
It'll be a fun watch.
GBB.

Pope is an awful coach, a final four would just prolong the suffering, ala Kevin Keatts.

Wildcat_in_DC · 2026-10-09T09:30:09-0500

RunninRichie said:
Pope is an awful coach, a final four would just prolong the suffering, ala Kevin Keatts.

duke smashed belmont by 40 last night. the boumtje kid is going to be there for 2 years. duke is going to get another title soon. and we are going to have folks making excuses for pope's 12-13 loss season defending a 4th/5th year.

RunninRichie · 2026-10-09T09:33:01-0500

Wildcat_in_DC said:
duke smashed belmont by 40 last night. the boumtje kid is going to be there for 2 years. duke is going to get another title soon. and we are going to have folks making excuses for pope's 12-13 loss season defending a 4th/5th year.

Boomers and nostalgia are a dangerous combo.

Eagles_Ball_69 · 2026-10-09T10:45:27-0500

Cleatortoises said:
Will a successful season cause a mental health crisis among our fans? Will they spin out if we get to the FF and we have to (gasps) keep Pope.
Fainting couches will be in danger of damge and pearls will be crushed.
It'll be a fun watch.
GBB.

No, we will be happy as hell. But most of us that have paid attention the last two seasons have legit reasons to be concerned. Team has potential along with a ton of question marks. If the potential pans out and most of the question marks turn into positives, we’re on to something. If they don’t, well, we’ve seen that movie before.

ScWildcat3 · 2026-10-09T11:48:06-0500

RunninRichie said:
His jumper is bad. He's gonna have a hard time getting that shot off against good teams.

Haha yea keep that same energy when he’s proving you wrong.

Johnnie Africa · 2026-10-09T11:54:18-0500

Here comes the preseason hype train for clicks.” N’Dyae comps to Kevin Durant aren’t that far off. “ I mean FFS good grief

Maddmatt87 · 2026-10-09T12:05:14-0500

N'Diaye dunks with authority, Looks better than some of these weakass missed layups we've had.

MdWIldcat55 · 2026-10-09T12:26:35-0500

RunninRichie said:
Pope is an awful coach, a final four would just prolong the suffering, ala Kevin Keatts.

This post sums up the cancerous, toxic segment of this board perfectly: It is early October and it states that a Kentucky Final Four WOULD BE A BAD THING because it would make the head coach who, after all, did better in his first two years despite a lot of adversity than his Hall of Fame predecessor did in his last five, look good.

The day I find myself saying it'd be better for Kentucky NOT to reach the Final Four, no matter the alleged justification, I'll leave this board and the fan base and spare all of you my rotten negativity.

Wildcat_in_DC · 2026-10-09T12:52:15-0500

MdWIldcat55 said:
This post sums up the cancerous, toxic segment of this board perfectly: It is early October and it states that a Kentucky Final Four WOULD BE A BAD THING because it would make the head coach who, after all, did better in his first two years despite a lot of adversity than his Hall of Fame predecessor did in his last five, look good.

The day I find myself saying it'd be better for Kentucky NOT to reach the Final Four, no matter the alleged justification, I'll leave this board and the fan base and spare all of you my rotten negativity.

talking about UK making a final four is like talking about winning the lottery

Beatle Bum · 2026-10-09T12:53:51-0500

Wildcat_in_DC said:
wilkins was like 3 for 10 on threes and took a ton of quick shots. and did nothing else. i mean if he "makes it look easy" he would:

make a higher percentage

score in different ways

not sure what that dude watched

I think the format may play into that. How much time was taken between periods of play?

ScWildcat3 · 2026-10-09T12:56:52-0500

Beatle Bum said:
I think the format may play into that. How much time was taken between periods of play?

Probably the same kind of guy who watches a warmup and sees a guy hit 10 in a row then wonders how he misses in game.

Wildcat_in_DC · 2026-10-09T13:01:44-0500

Beatle Bum said:
I think the format may play into that. How much time was taken between periods of play?

a few minutes

FLBBNFAN · 2026-10-09T13:51:12-0500

Maddmatt87 said:
N'Diaye dunks with authority, Looks better than some of these weakass missed layups we've had.

Man you got that right. The amount of missed layups and bunnies for the last 2 years is staggering. Would be great to see our guys finish at the rim this year.

ScWildcat3 · 2026-10-09T13:56:08-0500

Wildcat_in_DC said:
a few minutes

It was a glorified scrimmage. Chill

Wildcat_in_DC · 2026-10-09T14:13:59-0500

ScWildcat3 said:
It was a glorified scrimmage. Chill

you are right. we have exhibition games we will probably lose that we can freak out about

ScWildcat3 · 2026-10-09T14:20:05-0500

Wildcat_in_DC said:
you are right. we have exhibition games we will probably lose that we can freak out about

I don’t worry about exhibition game results. Just want to get out healthy. They count 0

Wildcat_in_DC · 2026-10-09T14:27:18-0500

ScWildcat3 said:
I don’t worry about exhibition game results. Just want to get out healthy. They count 0

they dont count for anything. but they matter a great deal. they tell you who you are and what you will likely be.

Eagles_Ball_69 · 2026-10-09T14:31:18-0500

Johnnie Africa said:
Here comes the preseason hype train for clicks.” N’Dyae comps to Kevin Durant aren’t that far off. “ I mean FFS good grief

That one made me laugh literally out loud.

ScWildcat3 · 2026-10-09T14:31:34-0500

Wildcat_in_DC said:
they dont count for anything. but they matter a great deal. they tell you who you are and what you will likely be.

Haha yea sure did last year In that first one.

Wildcat_in_DC · 2026-10-09T14:32:43-0500

ScWildcat3 said:
Haha yea sure did last year In that first one.

did you forget the lose to georgetown? like i said.....they tell you who you are

Eagles_Ball_69 · 2026-10-09T14:36:00-0500

MdWIldcat55 said:
did better in his first two years despite a lot of adversity than his Hall of Fame predecessor did in his last five, look good.

And this statement proves that pumpers will result to ANY metric to try to Popesplain his “success”. (yes, I know Pope himself fed you this info)

All that said, I’d still take the FF. And I’d really hope it was caused by Pope growing as a coach and quit being so damned hard-headed. Not just simply catching lightning in a bottle.

Eagles_Ball_69 · 2026-10-09T14:41:40-0500

ScWildcat3 said:
Probably the same kind of guy who watches a warmup and sees a guy hit 10 in a row then wonders how he misses in game.

This is the thing that seriously makes me wonder about folks making comments. 80-90% of guys at this level make shots in drills. When you defend them and make them move before the catch…yeah, that’s a different story.

It’s why I’m always hesitant to get real fired up about these scrimmages. This team isn’t going to be very good defensively anyway. Didn’t look anything like max effort on defense (to be expected a little). That mixed with starters and subs being mixed amongst two teams, it’s just hard to get a gauge. This is for certain, if a guy didn’t look very good on offense in that game, he’s probably not very good on offense. Either that or just had an off day (Mom missing open looks, we know that dude can make shots).

Wildcat_in_DC · 2026-10-09T14:54:52-0500

Eagles_Ball_69 said:
This is the thing that seriously makes me wonder about folks making comments. 80-90% of guys at this level make shots in drills. When you defend them and make them move before the catch…yeah, that’s a different story.

It’s why I’m always hesitant to get real fired up about these scrimmages. This team isn’t going to be very good defensively anyway. Didn’t look anything like max effort on defense (to be expected a little). That mixed with starters and subs being mixed amongst two teams, it’s just hard to get a gauge. This is for certain, if a guy didn’t look very good on offense in that game, he’s probably not very good on offense. Either that or just had an off day (Mom missing open looks, we know that dude can make shots).

this is kind of where i'm at.

i'm sure we didnt give our best defensive effort. shots were pretty easy to get. and we had scouts there....not some made for TV scrimmage. it was in their best interests to play at a high level. but it was kind of just mid.

the vibe i get is that we will play like last years UL team. play fast, take a ton of threes. probably dont have the dynamic players at guard. but probably have slightly better big guys

ScWildcat3 · 2026-10-09T15:23:55-0500

Wildcat_in_DC said:
did you forget the lose to georgetown? like i said.....they tell you who you are

So only the gtown loss counted. Got it.

ScWildcat3 · 2026-10-09T15:27:34-0500

Eagles_Ball_69 said:
This is the thing that seriously makes me wonder about folks making comments. 80-90% of guys at this level make shots in drills. When you defend them and make them move before the catch…yeah, that’s a different story.

It’s why I’m always hesitant to get real fired up about these scrimmages. This team isn’t going to be very good defensively anyway. Didn’t look anything like max effort on defense (to be expected a little). That mixed with starters and subs being mixed amongst two teams, it’s just hard to get a gauge. This is for certain, if a guy didn’t look very good on offense in that game, he’s probably not very good on offense. Either that or just had an off day (Mom missing open looks, we know that dude can make shots).

So one guy gets a pass but not another. Such a wild statement. So since Kam hit 8 3’a against bellarmine last year that means he’s an elite shooter and we can expect that this year from him correct? Alex will be gone after this year to the nba. He’s that good.

Wildcat_in_DC · 2026-10-09T15:55:17-0500

ScWildcat3 said:
So only the gtown loss counted. Got it.

nothing "counts".....but the games tell you what you are and what you are not. this isnt complicated.

ScWildcat3 · 2026-10-09T16:04:12-0500

Wildcat_in_DC said:
nothing "counts".....but the games tell you what you are and what you are not. this isnt complicated.

So we were a top 10ish team and then we weren’t a top 10ish team. Got it.

theKybluedude · 2026-10-09T16:21:17-0500

ScWildcat3 said:
Probably the same kind of guy who watches a warmup and sees a guy hit 10 in a row then wonders how he misses in game.

I think the Eors and trolls are out early. Already mailing in the season after a practice.
I think perhaps they are getting nervous about the season being fun and successful.
Let it play out.
I saw a bunch of good stuff. And I think everybody on that floor had bball iq and multiple skills. Haven’t had a complete team like that in awhile. Plenty of depth at each spot when the 3 get back.

Wildcat_in_DC · 2026-10-09T17:23:56-0500

ScWildcat3 said:
So we were a top 10ish team and then we weren’t a top 10ish team. Got it.

for the low IQ person thats is one simple and incorrect way of breaking it down. sure

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