Bolden announcement tomorrow?
- Thread starter 500HP_Devil
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With 3 guards and Wenyen Gabriel being thrown into the sacrificial Alex Poythress "wing but not a wing" dungeon, they may have trouble advancing in the tournament. There will be a lot of good teams next year so I wouldn't call it a forgone conclusion that they make the Final Four with that roster.
to be honest it is not a forgone conclusion that any team will make the final four, but if I had to pick a couple I would have to include Duke and UK. With us it is always tough playing so many freshmen, but they are good freshmen.
You know if we just keep this thread "Bolden announcement tomorrow " sooner or later he will announce tomorrow unless the old saying tomorrow never comes because tomorrow becomes today so does that mean he will announce today but that can't be so because he hasn't announced today.OFC
FREE BEER TOMORROW....
Agreed. Bolden's a nice player with a ton of upside for the next level. But he's far more unrealized potential than actual dominant force at this stage -- and you look at the rest of that UK roster, it doesn't really fit all that well together. They really only have 3 higher-end guards on that entire roster who are backed-up by very mediocre, replacement-level guys (Hawkins, Mulder). That dearth of perimeter talent is then magnified by the complete absence of any great wing players -- with Wenyan Gabriel being forced into the 3 spot. While that perimeter / wing combination is certainly pretty good, it's hardly dominant --- and, against better teams, I think the'll go against backcourts who are just as good or better. They've got a lot of frontcourt size and depth that will make them very good on the glass and tough to score against --- but I have real doubts whether they have enough offensive firepower from the perimeter. For instance, I think any lineup with Briscoe & Gabriel out there at the same time are going to see all sorts of box-and-one type defenses where they'll clog the lane and make Briscoe and Gabriel beat them with jumpers.
Also, with all these declarations and transfers, next year's UK squad is going to be extremely young by even UK standards. The 2014-15 UK squad started a Jr. and two Sophs., and gave significant bench minutes to another Soph. The 2nd and 3rd leading scorers on the 2011-12 UK squad were sophs., and their 6th man (who played significant minutes) was a Sr. With Murray, Ullis, Labissiere, Matthews, and Lee apparently heading towards the exits, next year's squad looks poised to start 5 freshman and to have only 1 non-freshman who does much more than provide some depth. In the end of the day, I think that lack of veteran presence is going to hurt them. What makes me feel so good about our Duke squad is that we not only have elite freshman, but couple that with a group of more experienced guys (Kennard, Allen, Jones, Jefferson, and Jeter) who -- even without the freshman -- likely could have been the starting 5 of a top-10/15 level team.
Now, to be clear, I'm not suggesting they won't be good. That frontcourt size + a couple of their guards makes them very good. But, even with Bolden, next year's UK team IMO is not going to be a juggernaut and will have nights where their lack of perimeter shooting will become a real problem.
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247 crystal ball showing Duke 52% UK 39% other 9%....would indeed be funny if he put a horned frog hat on. Would not complain.
Willis? That's your rebuttal?
He's a front court player, who plays stretch. Hardly a guard at all. @aah555 was mentioning guards by name. That's it. Willis is not and will never be the key cog that puts UK over the top. He's merely a piece of the whole.
I did not forgot Willis. I chose not to mention him b/c (i) he's just not quick / athletic enough to stay on the court as a 3 against teams with good guards / wings, and (ii) I doubt he plays very much at any position. It tells you a lot about UK's problems on the perimeter that they're trying to fill the 3 spot with a guy who played the 4 last season.
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Well if Willis is playing, that would mean one of bolden, bam, Killeya-jones, or Gabriel wouldn't be playing, and that's a-okay!
Yup, actually 2 or 3 of them aren't playing. There's a lot of talent on this UK squad. But the pieces really don't compliment each other all that well. What made that 14-15 UK squad so difficult was (i) Lyles was a PF who genuinely had SF-level basketball skills (shot 38% from 3 in the NBA as a rookie), and (ii) that they had the roster flexibility to, when needed, open up the court by moving Harrison or Booker to the 3 -- both of whom were very effective long range shooters. That flexibility made a gigantic difference. Next year's UK squad really only has 2 high-level guys who can genuinely stretch the floor and that will, in turn, often force Cal to sub out his most talented players out so that he can get enough of spacing / movement / shooting to run a coherent offense. There's no getting around the facts that Briscoe literally went 5 of 37 on 3s (an astonishingly bad percentage), Wenyen Gabriel by-all-accounts does not have any true perimeter-level skills, and that the remaining options just don't have anywhere near the same talent level.
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There's a thread with a link over on the main basketball board that says Charles Matthews announced today they he is transferring from UK.
Reports have it that Bolden has moved to a remote island in the Pacific where he can cross and re-cross the International Date Line, thereby avoiding tomorrow forever.
OFC
OFC
Is Lee coming back?...seems like a wealth of too much front court talent if he chooses uk...oh well...
All I know is Marques Bolden's recruitment has been one heck of a ride. I don't remember a recruitment that has had so many twists and turns with each passing day. I certainly hope Meyer is right and he picks Duke. We shall wait and see.
Anyone, not in his inner circle, who thinks they know where he is going, is just lieing and kidding themselves!
I'm not sure if Bolden goes to Duke or not (I still have doubts, though at one point it seemed Duke was it), but if he does pick Duke, he's really going to have to do a good job of communicating with his teammates and earning their trust.
I know this his life and he has to make his choices. Cool. I get that. But it definitely means something to your teammates when you make a quick early decision versus dragging things out and seeing who's going pro and what not. We'll see.
I know this his life and he has to make his choices. Cool. I get that. But it definitely means something to your teammates when you make a quick early decision versus dragging things out and seeing who's going pro and what not. We'll see.
I wonder how many Kentucky fans will be getting a 40-0 tattoo tomorrow once bolden announces.
My money is on Duke. Momma wants us and we're the hot brand. He'll be a Devil. Good night.
My guess is in about an hour.