Thought he was a developmental guy we had to bring to get his dad? Just a 3 star? I know I was wrong. Seems more mature than some of the older guys. Got some tenacity— ulis like vibes. Seems to be shooting well now too
Mason Williams
- Thread starter MY_POPE
- Start date
I put 3-5 but I hope people don't think that means I don't think highly of him. He is going to get some decent minutes at the backup PG when both Alex and Zoom need a breather, but he comes across as one of those guys who's influence doesn't always show up on the stat sheet. Hustle plays, guarding one of the teams better scorers, his work ethic. He's going to be a good one, and it's awesome he's already flourishing as a shooter.
There won't be enough minutes for him to score more than a few points per game. I'm still high on Mason Williams. I love legacy players because they often turn out to be really good. I just don't see Diallo and Wilkins giving up much playing time to Morton and Williams.
Kam seemed open to the prospect of playing the “2” but also mentioned the “3” and “4”, saying he will do anything to help the team win. I took that as his response that it is fans putting him at the SG not the staff. If so, I think Morton and Mason will be key spelling Lex and Zoom. Even so, 3-5 pga would be solid. Jasper Johnson averaged under 5. I think Mason offers more in other areas than scoring (projecting from what I have seen), but not more in the area of scoring. Time will tell. Looking forward to it.
If 0-3 was an option I’d have chosen it. He’s an unheralded frosh that shouldn’t and probably won’t get many minutes. If he gets 12-15 mins/game, something is probably very wrong or there have been a rash of injuries.
Somebody has to get minutes. We have two guards, Zoom and Wilkins, who we know we can count on and we're not going to play them 35 minutes each. Morton is not a point guard and I'm not optimistic about his ability to contribute in the SEC. Mason will get minutes over Zyon.
Smart observers know that absent injuries to his teammates, he will get the minutes he deserves rather than minutes constricted to an unheralded frosh. Minutes given based upon praise from recruiting services sounds like a really bad plan.
BTW, our starting 2G was an unheralded frosh last year who earned offers from top schools out of the portal.
What a nice problem to have considering our last 2 years.
He will get mins out of necessity.
Lord willing, we deserve a break from the basketball gods for no injuries. We are due. Last year was entirely on Pope though for not recruiting any depth, hopefully he learned his lesson but it may not matter. We shall see.
This is probably right realistically. He seems like a solid guy, definitely has a pedigree, and I'm optimistic about his development if he sticks around. But even if he's good and has upside, promising freshman with great games here and there doesn't add up to high per-game average. Trent Noah the Mountain Mamba averaged 2.7 ppg his freshman year when we had more minutes available than anyone could shake a stick at. Jasper Johnson last year clawed his way all the way up to 4.9 ppg as a result of us riding him way, way too long given our PG woes. And while Johson was definitely flawed, it would still be a tough sell if someone's trying to argue Williams is as offensively gifted as Johson was.
Dear Lord, let us dodge the injury bug this year. If we don't, that equation may change a bit for Williams. But as it looks now 0–3 ppg is the right range to expect across the season, even if he explodes in a game or two which I certainly hope he does. Not gonna complain if it turns out I was wrong.
Another way to put it:
Even if he's Tyler Ulis rather than Josh Carrier or Trent Noah when the lights come up in big games, and even if minutes are available, he would still have to be offensively gifted enough to consistently contribute meaningful points while also being defensively solid enough to keep him on the floor and let him take advantage of that across the season as a freshman. Certainly not impossible, but it's still a lot of things that would have to go surprisingly better than expected for a mid-ranked freshman recruit in a tough league. To where the numbers say probably not.
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There are lots of talent out there, sometime it's a matter of getting the chance. I think Mason W, will be a good one, and a surprise, I hope like hell he is at Kentucky for his college career, and doesn't show it somewhere else.
Hard to argue that. One of the things that is uber concerning about this roster.
And still hasn’t done a thing that matters yet. He could be really good. Or he could be just another guy that averages about 10 points or so. He needs to be the former for the team to be good.
It sounds like a dude making shots w/o defense. Remember, Trent Noah can’t get on the court. Kinda like when Cole Trickle took Rowdies car for a spin when he first met Harry Hogg. Need to see what he does in traffic.
I’d say 3-5 is the smart thing to bet on. He may play better and more than we think. Usually guys who aren’t starters rarely average more than 5 a game. I would love to be wrong and that he is so good that we are forced to play 3 guards more than we thought and he’s a 8-9ppg type kid over the year.
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I think if he adjusts to the speed of the college game he can be more effective than JJ because of his size and strength already.
Or like when in top gun when pete maverick Mitchell and the younger people have to train on the dummy course before the final bombing run
Very impressive !! Hopefully, he is a gamer and will shoot well. If so, we have a helluva young player.
I agree. I meant it more along of I could see him maybe not reaching more than 5ppg, but his impact on games would be felt way more. As you said outside a few outside shooting games JJ largely didn’t have any effect on games outside scoring here and there.
The most likely answer is the 0-3 that has been discussed.
But if UK got a steal, we'll likely see it. People love to talk about players developing, but the reality is that if a guy can really play, he usually shows it pretty quickly.
Steph Curry got overlooked as a recruit because he was too small. He averaged 21.5 his 1st year at Davidson. Steve Nash and John Stockton were complete unknown recruits, and they were kind of slow burn, but they both showed enough to get PT as Freshmen and then lock down starting positions (and play really well) as Sophomores. And for UK, SGA came in as the 7th rated player in the 2017 UK recruiting class. He started proving that wrong really quickly, and by the end of that season was clearly the best player on the team.
Not that I expect Mason Williams to come in and be a HOF player, just saying if he's been severely underrated, it should be obvious right away.
But if UK got a steal, we'll likely see it. People love to talk about players developing, but the reality is that if a guy can really play, he usually shows it pretty quickly.
Steph Curry got overlooked as a recruit because he was too small. He averaged 21.5 his 1st year at Davidson. Steve Nash and John Stockton were complete unknown recruits, and they were kind of slow burn, but they both showed enough to get PT as Freshmen and then lock down starting positions (and play really well) as Sophomores. And for UK, SGA came in as the 7th rated player in the 2017 UK recruiting class. He started proving that wrong really quickly, and by the end of that season was clearly the best player on the team.
Not that I expect Mason Williams to come in and be a HOF player, just saying if he's been severely underrated, it should be obvious right away.
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