And still better than SKJ. The SKJ obsession here is mind boggling.
Skj transferrin
- Thread starter WCS15UK
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Sacha played 16 mpg, so near his average, just a bit over. Richards hardly played, only got 7 minutes a game. Sacha had a decent SEC tournament and played well against Davidson, but both of them were complete non-factors against Buffalo and K State. 5 points and 4 rebounds COMBINED over the two games.
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anon_013cn8yrfncx2
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Seems to me DW didn't get to be a starter because of hard work but actually just because after a much too long opportunity Wenyan just couldn't cut it.
So, based on that, I'd suggest SKJ could have worked very hard to get better but his future minutes would depend on someone else's failure. That's what being recruited over is all about.
Lee certainly would have been valuable while Skal was being useless.
Matthews is a biggie and I have a feeling SKJ will go on to put up pretty damn numbers wherever he goes. Would rather have him than Richards.
We need those vets. Not sure why people shout down this common sense proposition.
Matt said as of this weekend or today he was told Wenyen was 50/50 but leaning towards the draft and that was before the EJ commitment. You’d have to think EJ coming here makes it even more likely he leaves. He also said he thought Wenyen knew he wouldn’t get picked and that his payday is overseas.
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I agree on Lee.
Matthews didnt want to sit behind Monk and Briscoe.
Let's give Richards his sophomore season like SKJ had and then make a determination.
What are you talking about?
I simply stated that we have recruited several 3-4 year players and at least 8 of them have left the program on their own and not to the NBA.
So what is the remedy?
I didn’t mean Cal ran him off personally. I meant “ran him off” by bringing in another guy at his position and recruiting over him for the second straight year.
As for the ones who hate me, lol I don’t care. If they wanna get their blood pressure up just because I have different opinions than them then so be it. I’ve always said there’s only a select few here who I’d care what they thought, you being one of those.
This
He sees Richards and EJ this year and is likely looking forward to Wiseman/Carey. High end recruits don't want to set the bench their Jr and Sr seasons or have their role in doubt.
Like stated above, there are only a few schools that recruit at such an elite level that its common for kids that would start and play 30 min a game at 80% of high D1 schools as a Jr and Sr end up getting recruited over; so often the see the writing on the wall and take their red shirt year to transfer and still play 2 years as a key cog at that second tier of programs that don't get all the top recruits so they have to build through development but are still competitive at years end.
The only way to prevent it is to start recruiting the 30s and below type players only and emphasize that your Jr and Sr year is when you'll be the guy. The second you land a top 10 guy then whoever is on the roster at that position knows he is likely to split time at best.
Sure, Cal could have looked at Richards and SKJ combined w likely Vanderbilt and Washington and said "we are done recruiting" and hoped NR or SKJ continued to develop to be the guy and JV stays healthy; But Id rather him go out and get the best talent possible and roll the dice with guys wanting to stay and compete for minutes.
The hell he was. SKJ could actually shoot and score plus block the occasional shot. Richards despite being 7’0 couldn’t block a midget.
I wouldn't say he couldn't block a midget but I damn sure wouldn't want to be one if they were throwing me at him...
Sacha left because he wanted to start as a junior, as he saw that as the way to revive his dwindling hopes for the NBA. I don't blame him. But for him to start at the 4/5 that means Cal shouldn't have recruited four of these players: Nick Richards, Jarred Vanderbilt, PJ Washington, EJ Montgomery, Wenyen Gabriel.
Because SKJ wasn't starting over ANY of those players, based on raw talent and demonstrated ability. And he wasn't content with the 16 minutes or so a game he got THIS year as a back-up. So, tell me hand-wringers and trolls, which four of those players should Cal not have recruited?
Because SKJ wasn't starting over ANY of those players, based on raw talent and demonstrated ability. And he wasn't content with the 16 minutes or so a game he got THIS year as a back-up. So, tell me hand-wringers and trolls, which four of those players should Cal not have recruited?
Lee was on that team and got plenty of opportunities to establish himself. We ended up starting Willis and Poythress because he couldn’t cut it.
Also, maybe this is a hot take, but Matthews doesn’t significantly change the ceiling of this past years team. Our floor spacing would have been even worse than it was. We’ll see what he looks like as a senior, but he certainly isn’t someone I’m spending a lot of time thinking about what could have been.
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Sasha was going to play cigar minutes and made the right decision.
True but that doesn’t change the fact that we need those players to fill the gaps.
Wenyen was a mid to high 5 star before committing here. SKJ was ranked around 40-50 I believe. Going off rivals.
whats funny is this year, Coach K puts together this great OAD and flames out, and we rejoice in his inability to get it done with that level of talent, - now granted he did have Captain Trippy as a Senior, but my point is that the amount of talent you have to amass with the OAD may not even be capable of winning a national championship unless you balance it out with core veteran players. Maybe there just isn't a National Championship solution with a OAD dominated team.
The OAD is like crack to us now, we have to get as much of it as possible, yet we look across the aisle at Duke, with a very capable coach and they can't solve the riddle either.
We didn't win it this year? We need *MORE* OAD's.
I honestly think in 3 years we're going to look back and see OAD as fools gold for not having an emphasis on balancing it out with upper classmen. I hope Gabriel comes back this year and becomes an anchor on defense and hits 3's on the wing. I hope Green improves his shot and Vanderbilt is the next Dennis Rodman. And I hope that is enough. But I'm afraid it isn't.
Lol yeah, he was only the best or second best player on the team that just went to the title game but he wouldn’t have made a difference here.
There are over 300 schools which have a balanced roster. And they do nothing in the tournament every year. Let me ask you this- do you think Nova fans saw 2016-2018 happening based on Wright’s previous 14 years at Nova?
Agree. He probably shouldve seen the writing on the wall after his freshman year and transferred tbh. Many of us speculated last year. Hard to think he wasnt at least already considering it.
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anon_013cn8yrfncx2
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Maybe yes, maybe no. If you get there thru upsets you pulled off or thru potential better opponents being upset then NO you are not in position to win it all. You may have a chance to win it all but unless you are a very good to great team it isn't happening.
The best team doesn't always win but very few (if any) average or slightly above average teams do so.
We won a title with 4 freshman, 2 sophomores and a senior. We’ve been consistently competitive and have had multiple deep tournament runs. It’s already been proven that it works. If this isn’t good enough for you the level of success you want isn’t realistic.
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I have asked that several times(different threads) but have never got an answer.
Sasha is going to have to work a little harder in practice to get his minutes in an actual game. His work ethic wasn't the best...
Players sometimes think they are better than they are or move on to a place that simply fits them better. I don’t like losing any of them but where else can you improve more significantly than competing against the roster at UK?
Long story short, they transfer, sit out one year and then return to play. Redshirt here-Get in the gym, get stronger and faster. Make it impossible for any coach to not play you. Another commonality of the list you provided is that none one them have the “dog” in them. Stay, learn how to compete and win your spot. Quitting is the easy thing to do!
no, but maybe Jay Wright is only able to do this because UK and Duke are operating in a vacuum.
If you want to base your argument on us being at the same level with Mississippi Valley and SEMO as basketball programs that's fine, but we're really talking about bluebloods and programs that can establish themselves.
The OAD was supposed to be a path to differentiate us. And while its been wildly successful in bringing us back from the waning Tubby days and the drunken stupor of Gillispie, it hasn't separated us from the Blueblood basketball programs.
Actually no, I was too busy bitching about Goodwin that year to care about Kyle’s lack of defense.
All those stats but the only number that matters is “1”. As in just one title. At some point what Cal did 4-5 years ago isn’t relevant to what he’s doing now.
As for your first comment, wtf was I supposed to say in the EJ thread? I’m glad we got him but seriously? “I’m happy we got EJ” or “welcome aboard” like half of the other posts in threads about a new commit. I’ve always said I post the majority of the time to vent. Has zero to do with trolling. Anytime some baby gets their panties in a wad here they accuse someone of being a troll. If you don’t like my POV then put me on ignore.
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anon_013cn8yrfncx2
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Gabriel needs to stay. I can't believe after the progress he's made that EJ will be better but if course that doesn't mean he still wouldn't get Gabe's minutes.
It isn’t going to separate us from other blue bloods. And neither is having juniors and seniors on the team either and never has. Having those older players has gotten us 7 titles since 1903. So to be honest, it’s been an abysmal failure having that type of roster at UK.
Agree with all of that except one thing. I think Matthews has that in him. He was considered a hard nosed player in high school and it looks like it’s showing again at UM. We never saw it because he was never put on the floor. We had to make sure Briscoe got his minutes.
He didn’t show that as a freshman. I like how he turned out-he would’ve became the same or better here but wasn’t able to get over the mental aspect of being exposed on the biggest stage in college basketball.
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anon_013cn8yrfncx2
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Who produced more this year? Matthews or Hami? But you may be right that CM would have sat in favor of Hami, no matter what.
Their region blew up just like ours did. They got spanked by the one actually good team they played. Best case scenario the same thing happens to us, but doubt we make it that far because he isn’t nearly as effective on a team that can’t spread the floor the way Michigan could. He can’t hit threes or free throws. Again, we’ll see what he looks like next year, but all the attention he got was really overblown relative to how good he actually was.