I understand, but then people will complain that we're not signing any multi-year players. The problem being that when we do sign players we expect to fill those roles, they end up exceeding expectations and being Lottery Picks after one season like Booker and Shai, or transferring.
Skj transferrin
- Thread starter WCS15UK
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I understand, but then people will complain that we're not signing any multi-year players. The problem being that when we do sign players we expect to fill those roles, they end up exceeding expectations and being Lottery Picks after one season like Booker and Shai, or transferring.
In highschool, check old ratings....not now saying his skill set was never posting up. Always played facing the basket.
Exactly like Tay daddy in HS
I don't think Cal has anything to do with this. The players that come here know Cal is going to continue to recruit the best of the best, They almost all state when they sign with Kentucky that they are looking to forward to practicing against the best players in the country.
While I hate to see Sacha go & like a lot of others on here I think he should of been starting over Richards, Him transferring is his choice I guess he didn't want to compete for playing time.
Anyone who was watching him these past two years could tell that he didnt seem to fit for some reason. I have my personal view as to what happened with him last season where he was just shut off. But even this year where he did seem to be able to help us....he would seem to have been excused for looking at Nick Richards in the starting lineup and asking...WTF.
In the end it is probably the best for him. Maybe he will become another "Matthews." I hope he does and wish him well.
In the end it is probably the best for him. Maybe he will become another "Matthews." I hope he does and wish him well.
Oh, trust me, I feel the same way you do. With EJ I feel that we need to keep at least one of Washington/Vanderbilt & Gabriel if we wanna be serious contenders. Maybe more.
*sigh*
I know SKJ wasn't the greatest player but I was excited to see how he would progress. It's not about losing one player it's just that this is the culture of the program now. If you're a 4 star recruit who takes some time to develop, don't go to Kentucky because 1) you'll be a failure if you aren't a one and done 2) you won't see the court because you'll get recruited over if you don't produce immediately.
Just disappointing and not a culture that's conducive to building a championship roster IMO
I know SKJ wasn't the greatest player but I was excited to see how he would progress. It's not about losing one player it's just that this is the culture of the program now. If you're a 4 star recruit who takes some time to develop, don't go to Kentucky because 1) you'll be a failure if you aren't a one and done 2) you won't see the court because you'll get recruited over if you don't produce immediately.
Just disappointing and not a culture that's conducive to building a championship roster IMO
I'd rather have Richards back next year than SKJ...
Richards is gonna be really good!!
Wait and see!
Ahhh It went from we don’t have senior day to name an out of state player who graduated .
Like Cal can stop a dude from transferring. That would look good for future recruiting. Headlines like “Calipari won’t grant release for SKJ. Forced to return.” Rival recruiters would be slobbering all over themselves, and Jeff Goodman would have that 3 gerbils look.
This is the exact reason he is transferring though. He probably understands at this point that the NBA is a long shot for him. His two options were to continue at U.K. while being recruited over and share a majority of the minutes or transfer somewhere he would be a starter and a main option on the team instead of a cog in the machine. Might as well live out his glory years of basketball and get as many minutes as he possible while he still has some time left in college. It's unfortunate for us because he is the type of player we need to build continuity, stability, and leadership but we just can't retain those types of players. The straw that broke the camels back was the recruitment of EJ. That sent the message to SKJ that Cal didn't have enough trust in him to be a main option next year even though he would be a Junior. That would've resulted in EJ getting more minutes than SKJ throughout the regular season in order to try and reach EJ's maximum potential come March. It's a lose lose situation and I'm not quite sure how we get out of it.
Or maybe he'll become a Stacey Poole or Ryan Harrow, we don't know. Darius was a consistent role player on each of his 4 years at UK. The coaches apparently saw enough from him in the hundreds of workouts and practices to give him PT. Harrellson was only given his shot because Kanter was ruled ineligible. Now, I love Jorts, but tell me, is he a better player than Enes Kanter? The point is that we can't have our cake and eat it too.
Guys like Matthews, Wiltjer, Poole, and Harrow did what they thought was in their best interests. They didn't want to stay and compete for minutes so they went to different situations. Some worked out and some didn't. What you're proposing is to stop recruiting elite talent in hopes of appeasing the 7th or 8th players to amount enough experience to offset your looming talent disadvantage. Why do you want Cal to stop recruiting elite players? I personally like competing for Final Fours and playing our best ball in March every year, but I guess some just prefer the occasional great team every 4 years strategy like you do.
This news sucks. I was hoping for some experience from him and Gabriel.
SKJ played more minutes so who cares who "starts". The kid that's on the court more is more valued.
Probably not but it not beyond possible.That is always on the table here at UK(not saying it is right or wrong or Cal's fault) but it is how things go here.There is no need to try and dance around it or pretend it doesn't exist,it is what it is.
Trading SKJ for Montgomery is probably a good thing,if we trade SGA and Diallo for Hagans it is probably O K too(SGA ,like Knox ,was a long shot at staying anyway.There was little doubt that 4 would go and there may be more to come.
We were in a world of hurt with a 3 man class,that is why Cal kept working at signing other players,was it that hard to see?
SKJ is young. He stil has NBA potential. The kid has a nice shot and started this past season to demonstrate better response time on defense. He is still filling out. Wish him well.
Some people like it that wayIt started out a happy day and now everyone is bitching again.
Hate this. I'd rather have the JR SKJ, than the FR EJM.
Oh yeah I agree with you . I don’t care how Cal recruits as long as he gets who he wants . I’m disappointed that SKJ left but like you said some of the multi year guys we recruited ended up good enough to leave after one year.
Others like SKJ and Matthews decided not to stick around . Not a lot Cal can do about that
The full court press on EJ was in direct correlation to SKJ wanting to transfer. Cal has known this for over a week now and most say SKJ transferring was a few months in the making. SKJ transferring due to the commitment of EJ isn't true. It was the other way around.
I wish him well
Now to all the foolishness of fans !! The kid struggled at times this year playing with a bunch of freshmen. He could t make a shot from the short Conner standing wide open!! Please give it a rest people.
Now to all the foolishness of fans !! The kid struggled at times this year playing with a bunch of freshmen. He could t make a shot from the short Conner standing wide open!! Please give it a rest people.
It is possible but I would be shocked if we lost PJ or Vanderbilt. They would definitely be listening to the wrong advice if so
A "decent KY boy" is rare. The state for whatever reason just doesn't create many. And the few that do turn out decent, 4 years earlier when they were in HS looked just like 20 other kids that didn't develop. We could select 1 KY kid each year, and odds are we would have a decent one as a JR or SR once every 5 or 6 years.
Obviously you don't follow closely during the year. Cal has a shorter leash on certain players. SKJ and Humphries are two that stick out in my mind. Any little mistake he would send them to the bench and keep them there. Of course they want to transfer and that's fine, until February when we are losing a lot of games due to inexperience and this boards is in shambles.
Agree. Let’s drill down on this. SKJ has some upside, but he averaged 3.3 points and 13 minutes a game. He is getting better, but he isn’t in our top 7. I had a chance this year to stand near SKJ and Wenyen Gabriel. Honestly, Wenyen is at least an inch taller than Sasha. I believe Sasha is between 6-8 and 6-9. He is listed at 6-10 on UK’s official roster, but there is no way. Washington and Vanderbilt will test the NBA waters, but they will almost surely come back for another year. Our roster for next year is Richards, Vanderbilt, Gabriel, Montgomery, Washington, Johnson, Herro, Baker, Green, Quickley, and probably Hagans. That’s 11. Calipari still has time to add another reclassification besides Hagans over the summer. SKJ saw the handwriting on the wall. Calipari is committed to Richards and Montgomery, plus Wiseman will be here soon. SKJ correctly saw that his playing time was not going to increase. And let's be honest. SKJ isn’t a bad player, but he isn’t particularly big or particularly skilled. He is making the right decision.
I was thinking the same thing.Do people really think SKJ just woke up today and decided to transfer without Cal having a clue?
I wish it worked out for SKJ here but, like others said, if we keep PJ, Vanderbilt, and Gabriel while adding Montgomery than Sacha wasn't going to see the court. He's solid, but not as effective as the 4 mentioned.
That being said, I hope nothing but the best for him, no matter where he lands.
That being said, I hope nothing but the best for him, no matter where he lands.
I forgot about him but it’s not me complaining about it. Anyway the guy I was responding to will just say he wasn’t here four years .
You can thank his ACL tear for that. Cal has even said so. Plus he only stayed 3 years.
If every other big man comes back ( which I expect will happen) UK will have a top 2-3 front court . Every player in our front court minus Gabriel is a 1st round prospect . Richards deservedly got a ton of slack in SEC play but that kid is uber talented he just needs to gain confidence. We saw earlier in the season when he was confident how good he could be and even that was scratching the surface. He is a project but in the way Magloire or Nazr was ie a project who can be a 1st rounder.
It's only going to get worse. Anytime transfer is here, people don't realize how bad things can get until they destroy it.
If a dude that averaged 3 points a game is the difference between being a contender or not we were probably in trouble next year