Darius Miller
- Thread starter WildMoon
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anon_9qtxg60vqzy0y
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I'm with you OP but is there any significant news on Darius you can add? Seems a little generic.
He's the reason we had the season we had and won the title in 2012. It wasn't Anthony Davis or MKG.
It was more Miller, Lamb, and Jones. The young guys were good but not the reason the success was there.
Heart goes a long way. None nowadays much, but granted it comes with time and experience.
It was more Miller, Lamb, and Jones. The young guys were good but not the reason the success was there.
Heart goes a long way. None nowadays much, but granted it comes with time and experience.
Coming in to every thread with the HOT TAKES today. Yowza.
They all played a big role, but it was mostly Anthony Davis. No need to get cute.
Disagree
Not mostly Davis
I would even argue that Teague had a bigger impact on the title game than Davis. But I'm not gonna.
Particularly Lamb. He was the leading scorer in the six NCAA games.
Hahah no **** AD was the man and he absolutely changed the way opposing teams played on offense. His game against UL in the FF will forever make him my favorite player at UK
Miller was vital to that season. Absolutely, but saying the young guys weren’t the reason for success is inaccurate. Davis was a very very important piece in our title run that year. He changed the entire aspect of games just by standing there (teams knew he could pretty much swat down whatever the F he wanted)
Miller is an honest to god NBA player now. That's pretty cool. I know he played a few seasons before, but he's getting legit backup minutes, and is on a hot tear where he's shooting 65% from the floor and getting 2-5 threes a night. I almost picked him up in fantasy because I need the 3s. So happy for Miller!
We must have watched different games then. Davis struggled scoring, but he dominated everything else. There was a period early in the 2nd half were Davis erased nearly every Kansas possession either by grabbing the rebound or blocking a shot right to a teammate. He shut them down.
The truth is squarely in the middle.
Without Miller there's no ship. Without Davis there's no ship. Without freshman there's no ship. Without returnees there's no ship.
I know! Let's pretend we need all 5 seniors, or all freshman, to win a title! Let's completely ignore nearly a decade long sample size that clearly says....
WE NEED BOTH!
Without Miller there's no ship. Without Davis there's no ship. Without freshman there's no ship. Without returnees there's no ship.
I know! Let's pretend we need all 5 seniors, or all freshman, to win a title! Let's completely ignore nearly a decade long sample size that clearly says....
WE NEED BOTH!
This is almost certifiably insane.
I seriously think there's a segment of UK fans (that have been very active here lately) who have real, undiagnosed mental problems.
The Warriors don't win because of Curry and Durant, they win because of Iguodala. He's the real key.
As for Darius in the NBA, I think he's doing enough to stick for a few years. And the game is moving towards him. Guys who have the size and athleticism to guard multiple positions and can also hit 3's are in high demand, regardless of whatever other skills they might lack.
As for NO as a whole, I'm wondering if Rondo is going to be a plus or a negative. They were running the offense through Boogie while Rondo was out, allowing them to get more shooting on the floor, and doing pretty well with it. Any problems they were having were mainly defensive, and I'm not sure Rondo helps much on that end.
I think it will be a huge letdown if they can't win at least 45 games and/or make the playoffs.
As for NO as a whole, I'm wondering if Rondo is going to be a plus or a negative. They were running the offense through Boogie while Rondo was out, allowing them to get more shooting on the floor, and doing pretty well with it. Any problems they were having were mainly defensive, and I'm not sure Rondo helps much on that end.
I think it will be a huge letdown if they can't win at least 45 games and/or make the playoffs.
very happy for darius and not surprised. we basically played 6 guys our title year. each one of them brought the perfect versatility that made that team so good and interchangeable. ad was our all-star hence all the awards but beyond that each guy could play multiple positions (except teague) and enhanced each other. it was a perfect group. miller played three positions according to the lineup.
Went for 11 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists in 22 minutes of play last night.
but, but,.........no team has ever tried to do it with all freshmen on a consistent basis, therefore thats the reason it hasn't happened. Right??
Not sure how or why it was needed to include whether Darius miller was more important than Davis or MKG...
Anyways, it was his 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists game. Congrats to Miller!
And they could have won without Miller in 2012.
Anyways, it was his 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists game. Congrats to Miller!
And they could have won without Miller in 2012.
So the MVP of the final four as well as the consensus player of the year had less impact that our 6th man? I guess our guys came in 1-6 in voting for MVP that year. UNPRECEDENTED AND AMAZING!!!!! I'm so proud of those 6 guys. :chairshot:
The truth is you need 5 players to fill the lineup, with enough players off the bench to give those guys breaks, and all of them need to be able to play at an extremely high level. It does not matter if they are freshmen, seniors or in between. 2012 worked because we had a high level contributor at every position, and due to the versatility, 1 player off the bench that could give any of them breaks, who all were able to play at a high level. That is what you need, and let's quit getting hung up on whether these guys are freshmen or something else, we just need guys that can play at a high level.
The fans always love the multi-year guys because we feel like we get to know them, and like they are part of our families. That connection is lost on the guys who only stay one year. But in terms of the team itself, experience makes no difference, because if it did, we would not have seen all the success that we have seen over the past 8 years.
Darius, Lamb and Jones were on the team the year before too, and along with Knight, Liggins, and Harrellson, went to the Final Four.
You know how you lose Brandon Knight, junior DeAndre Liggins and senior Josh Harrellson and get better?
You add Anthony Davis and Michael Gilchrist. That's better than experience every single time.
I can't believe we still need to have this discussion.
You know how you lose Brandon Knight, junior DeAndre Liggins and senior Josh Harrellson and get better?
You add Anthony Davis and Michael Gilchrist. That's better than experience every single time.
I can't believe we still need to have this discussion.
It's not so much about getting to know them. For some that's just a drawback. You cannot win a title without some experience. We saw this with the Michigan fab 5, we've seen it with Cal. One reason is because you will never pull a good enough recruiting class to offset a mature team down the line. I don't really agree with your promise on this one.
Half the story.
Lamb and Jones returned. Today Sophomores are upperclassman. Without the senior, sop, sop, there is no title. It's not debatable.
It takes a mix, you've got to have some upperclassman or returnees to win championships. You can get really far without them, but more than likely a team as talented but older will be standing there and you will lose.
So then I pose this question, how did the Fab 5 or 2014 UK make the title game? The 2014 team beat 3 teams that returned at least a majority of their team from the previous final four, and a very experienced Wisconsin team. So they beat 4 teams that were supposedly more experienced and better, yet we want to focus on the fact that the team came up short in a single game for the title when our best player was maybe 60%?
I'm not arguing that building a team of freshmen is a better philosophy than building a team of multiple year players, or even a mix. But the notion that it is impossible to win a championship with freshmen is absurd. It's not about the age of the player, but the game of the player. And I'll leave you with this, all of the games I mentioned in 2014 came down to the wire, in fact, all those teams led at some point in the last 4 minutes of the game, so it was the freshmen making the right plays down the stretch while the veterans of those teams crumbled. Those veterans made all the same mistakes that people harp on freshmen making, except they were Juniors and Seniors. That in itself puts an end to the main point people make about veteran teams, that the stage doesn't get too big, that they are able to be steady down the stretch. The need for experience is neither a law or a theory, as a law is something that can be proven correct all the time, and theory is something that has yet to be proven wrong, which leaves it with nothing more than a myth.
It is debatable, because there's no concrete evidence to the contrary.
The only thing we know it takes to win a title is good players. If you replace Doron Lamb with Bradley Beal, I'd have a hard time saying that team is less likely to win it all.
The reason "no one has won it with all freshmen" is because it's hard to recruit 5 freshmen that good. No one has ever tried to do it, that I'm aware of. You need the perfect roster situation, the rides available, the recruiting prowess, etc.
But yes, players typically improve with age and experience, so a lesser talented player as an upperclassman is going to play better than he did as a freshman, helping to narrow the gap. So what you're almost always going to see are talented upperclassmen.
But it's like saying you're more likely to die on a Tuesday than when Haley's Comet is passing above your house.
If your standard is “absolutely no sophomore and up contributors whatsoever”, then yeah, you’re probably never going to have a “freshmen team” win it all. I mean, in all the years we’ve had Cal, have we ever been able to say that we didn’t have at least one sophomore who got significant minutes?
What?
I think Gonzo laid out the whole story. Lamb, Jones, and Miller were all on the team the previous year. They lost 3 key parts off a final four team and still got better. Not slightly better, but 38-2 better. So good that they basically won the title game only playing hard for 30 minutes. All team members contributed to the title, but Davis and MKG were they keys to that team.
We had 7 freshmen in our Top 8 and lost a barnburner for the title in ‘14. And in hindsight, that team wasn’t overly talented.