I definitely wanted Lively, I wanted both obviously. I did however see one person say they thought Bona was a better fit before the duke stuff came out. I believe it was in the Lively set to announce thread when most thought it was good news for KY. I think for most it's clear Lively would have been better but they're perfectly fine with Bona without Lively on board. I know I am
Lively Decision next week!
- Thread starter senonesy
- Start date
Strange response. I’m not saying I want him over him or he’s more talented he’s just a typical Cal 5, for how most think of his offense.
To be fair, I’ve seen a few people say they thought Bona was a better fit over the last couple months or so. But they probably didn’t think Kentucky was getting Lively then either.
Lively is a physical freak of nature. 7’1” with like a 7’8” wingspan. It would have been sweet to add him to this super class. But I also think Rivals has grossly underrated Bona by putting him at 30. I honestly don’t think he’s that big a step down.
Basketball is a guard and wing game now. We've already got the elite guards and wings lined up, and will probably add more.
For me, however, it was about taking Duke down a bit. Guess we'll have to wait even longer for that to happen.
For me, however, it was about taking Duke down a bit. Guess we'll have to wait even longer for that to happen.
We did well against Duke before 2015 when it came to landing higher-end recruits: We beat them for: Wall, Noel, Randle, Poythress, Booker and lost to them for Irving and Parker.
Since then, we've beaten them for Murray, Montgomery, Knox, Gabriel, and if you count transfers - Reid Travis.
During that recent span, they've cleaned our clock for all of the top 5 guys: Ingram, Giles, Bagley, Tatum, Zion, Reddish, Barrett, Johnson, Carey, and now probably Lively. They've also beaten us for a few guys in that 10-15 range: Hurt, Kennard, Bolden, Thornton, etc.
It's kind of sickening at this point. They continue to own Kentucky in the elite battles.
Since then, we've beaten them for Murray, Montgomery, Knox, Gabriel, and if you count transfers - Reid Travis.
During that recent span, they've cleaned our clock for all of the top 5 guys: Ingram, Giles, Bagley, Tatum, Zion, Reddish, Barrett, Johnson, Carey, and now probably Lively. They've also beaten us for a few guys in that 10-15 range: Hurt, Kennard, Bolden, Thornton, etc.
It's kind of sickening at this point. They continue to own Kentucky in the elite battles.
There are several in this thread. It's building like a thunderstorm, you can see it happening. All it took was a few dudes switching to Duke and it immediately started.
We say every year that so and so is underrated, but I bet Bona is at least close to what they think he is, which is fine if he'd stay here 2 or 3 years, but he'd most likely only stay 1 and have nowhere near the impact Lively will have.
Just wait, if Lively picks Duke, it will be a race to see who can tell everyone how much better a fit Bona would be and that's not even close to true. Lively us better in every way.
Yup, it's been a guards game for a long time and now it's also about the outside shot.
But yeah, taking food off Duke's table needs to start happening, especially knowing the fact that Sheyer will be their coach
I really want whoever wants to come here and be part of the special class. If that’s lively, then great, if that’s a Bona, that’s great too.
We'll get Bona and a big time transfer big. I'm not really worried about it.
Rivals is the only service that has him anywhere near this low though. 247 has him at 10, On3 has him 13, and ESPN has him 17. I’m not an expert, but everything I’ve seen of him looks very five-starrish to me.
It was Dariq Whitehead that tweeted he had just had a chat with Lively and said something like let’s see how this goes BBN with a bunch of laugh emojis. Some figured he was just stirring the pot including myself but maybe Livey really told him he was coming
Well then Dariq Whitehead is a dick
That’s not true at all. I’ve read many posts, although mostly on HOB wondering is Bona was the better fit. Many were saying we need to take Bona now and then take our chances with Lively assuming he’s deciding late.
I don’t see anyone saying we never wanted Lively, I’d take him in a heartbeat. However myself and many others openly thought Bona was a better fit for 1 year of college all along.
Chris Fisher just changed his pick to Duke.
It's now 100% Duke on Rivals and 247.
It's now 100% Duke on Rivals and 247.
Even if we get Lively, I still want Bona. Bona is the 5 we need. Lively needs to play the 4 in a 4 out system. His skill set is much better suited to play a stretch 4. Lively would be incredible for us as a stretch 4, IMHO. And Bona would be the perfect complement at the 5. I think it would be like having WCS and Bam together, except Lively has a jumper and WCS never did.
Duke 100% did this to stave off our momentum
Was totally orchestrated. This includes leaking stuff to make recruiting insiders make picks for UK going into this week. So it gives the appearance that Duke came in and stole away a recruit, when in reality he is already a Duke lean.
Is that you Biden?
A bit conspiracy theory-ish for me, but wouldn't put it past them, after getting Bolden to follow Brad the day before he committed to Duke. Dick move.
I get it, but if there is a way to frame a situation that makes you look even better...
Really wanted lively to. Pick UK
7 footer that can shoot, rare ability
Tired of losing recruits to duke
7 footer that can shoot, rare ability
Tired of losing recruits to duke
AD could shoot too but you would have never known it based on how he was anchored under the basket. So, why do you think Lively would ever get the chance to display his outside shooting at UK? I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this is some of the negative recruiting that Duke has used against coming to UK. If I was recruiting against UK, I would ask the recruit if UK showed him any video of how they have previously used other versatile big men anywhere other than under the basket?
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Lively is clearly better. Bona looks great. But he’s not Lively. Plus I’d rather have a 7ft plus guy. Bona is 6’9” or 6’10”
Kentucky got the #1 recruit. It’s quite alright either way
It’s a new
Recruiting battle. We have a new staff. They have a new head coach soon. The past is irrelevant. Kentucky is showing they can recruit elite talent again. We’ll be great. Kentucky and Duke might just both be the kings of recruiting
Here's how I've felt all along. Cal is not going to let a 7-footer shoot. So if push comes to shove Bona probably fits what we need more than the player with a much higher ceiling. The ceiling we don't benefit from while he is at UK. But we can use a low post banger to grab boards and bully SEC front court players.
Not saying Lively wouldn't be great to get, but one is for the NBA and one may contribute more to winning college games.
He let Sarr shoot all he wanted. Lively is a UK type player and Flip is a pure Duke player but looking like they got both. smh
The worst part is that a completely unproven HC is beating Cal for the elites now.
Im glad that recruiting titles isn’t a thing then. We’ve done just fine and none of the above mentioned recruits were that big of a miss over who we ended up with. It’s the nature of the beast, but at the end of the day doesn’t count for anything. They don’t give out championships for landing a recruit.
Meh they didn’t win anything with 3 top 5 recruits. Granted, i’d rather have them than not. But it doesn’t guarantee anything.
honestly I think Lively is overrated and I'll take Bona who plays with a chip on his shoulder and is stronger . but Lively is better defensively and can hit the face up jumper some. I think in year one, Bona will be able to rebound and bang inside better than lively and if you already have stars like Sharpe and Livingston, Bona would definitely do well with them. if and thats if we get Bona or someone comparable to him, imo its no real huge deal of missing on Lively outside of Cal losing a player to Scheyer ....yuck
Listening to the Sources Say podcast, and based on what they are saying, everyone at Duke and UK were of the mind it was going to be UK, and then over the next few hours it did a 180. Very fishy. They talked about a guy called Tipton Edits, sorry but I don't know who that is, and that he is one of the 3 people who know what Lively is going and he won't tell.
I would say it depends.. are sec refs gonna start calling it when teams manhandle our bigs down low? physicality is a great equalizer if refs let it go and they always do against us...... so at any other school i think Lively would be better but at UK.... its possible that the stronger guy with a chip on his shoulder would do the little things for us to win more. maybe... i mean for all i know lively might be a player that wants to fight through contact ... its just i dont get that impression from his highlights