The Kentucky "All-Sidekick" Team

[GonzoCat90]

Every so often, a thread pops up asking about your all-time Kentucky team, or your All-Cal team or whatever, and it's almost always littered with the same names.

With a program as deep and rich in history as ours, with some of the legendary guys we've had wear the jersey, I thought it might be interesting to do something slightly different.

The challenge is to build the best 8-man roster you can without using any player that was ever the best player on the team. Obviously some of this is going to be subjective about who was really the best player on a team, but I think we can generally agree in most instances.

So who you got? I'll share mine after I see some replies.

 

[hotelblue]

was cousins the best player on his team? set a precedent for us and it’ll be easier to reply ; )

 

[ganner918_rivals60369]

We've had some stacked teams, so "second best guy" is still a great player. You could take DeMarcus cousins as your first pick and back him up with Nazr Mohammed (if we call Sheppard the best player on the squad). This also lets you take Wayne Turner as your point guard. Who is the best player on the 2005 team? If we say Hayes, then Azubuike is on the squad as a small forward . We can also take Derek Anderson who was never our best player. Terrence Jones, Antoine Walker, and Walter McCarty are on. I'll add in Jamal Murray (Ulis being our best guy) who can back up both guard spots. That gives us:

Turner
Anderson
Walker
Jones
Cousins

Murray
Azubuike
Mohammed

Four guys who were on our 1996 team. Amazingly, nobody from the 2015 team. Towns was the best, WCS the next best but I can't pick him ahead of Cousins or Nazr.

edit: Obviously I was only considering guys from the 90s on. I may know the greats from our past, but I can't assess our "second best guy" as well from the time before I was watching.

 

[Drcats2025]

Cal Era:

PG: Bledsoe 10
SG: Herro 19
SF: Miller 12
PF: Jones 11
C: Adebayo17

Tried to not duplicate years with mine. I like my team.

 

[StubbornPenny]

PG: Anthony Epps
SGoron Lamb
SF: Darius Miller
PF: Walter McCarty
C: Marquis Estill

Not bad

 

[Rupp'sRunt]

Cal Era

Bledsoe
Booker
Miller
Tjones
Bam

Ulis
Reid Travis
Lamb

 

[Drcats2025]

PG: Anthony Epps
SGoron Lamb
SF: Darius Miller
PF: Walter McCarty
C: Marquis Estill

Not bad

That’s a cool little team

 

[Aike]

Kyle Macy (78)
Derek Anderson (96)
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (12)
Winston Bennett (86)
Mel Turpin (84)

Bench

Jeff Sheppard (98)
Walter McCarty (96)
DeMarcus Cousins (10)


I would go to war with that team, but honestly you could do this all day long and field a ton of great teams.

And I know there’s a bunch of past guys who deserve mention but I never saw most of them play so it’s hard for me to judge.

 

[nolla17]

Cal Era:
PG:Tyler Ulis- 15
SG: Doron Lamb - 12
SF: MKG: 12
PF: Patterson-10
C:Cousins-10

6: Jones- 11
7: Herro-19
8: Travis- 19

 

[armchairpg]

PG ulis
SG herro
SF mkg
PF Patterson
C cauley stein

 

[armchairpg]

Kyle Macy (78)
Derek Anderson (96)
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (12)
Winston Bennett (86)
Mel Turpin (84)

Bench

Jeff Sheppard (98)
Walter McCarty (96)
DeMarcus Cousins (10)


I would go to war with that team, but honestly you could do this all day long and field a ton of great teams.

And I know there’s a bunch of past guys who deserve mention but I never saw most of them play so it’s hard for me to judge.

I like your team. I also had MKG and an easy pick from the 12 team. Bennett was a good pick also. Forgot about him for a second.

 

[ganner918_rivals60369]

Lot of people picking Ulis - do you not think he was our best player in 2016?

 

[cats#1again]

Cousins
Miller
Rhodes
Mercer
Turner
Sparks
Epps
Wcs

 

[GonzoCat90]

Lot of people picking Ulis - do you not think he was our best player in 2016?

I thought the Ulis/Murray debate would be a tough one and that some people would use one or the other.

 

[littlecreek]

I am going a little more old school (75 is the first team that I remember. Jimmy Dan Conner, Rick Robey, Dwight Anderson, Mel Turpin, Winston Bennett, Ed Davender, John Pelphrey, Kyle Macy. You can go back further and include Mike Pratt, Mike Casey, Pat Riley, Ralph Beard, and Mike Phillips.

 

[gossie21_rivals69805]

I'll stick to Cal-era and use NBA draft position to decide any "who was the best player on the team" controversy:

PG: Tyler Ulis
SG: Malik Monk
SF: MKG
PF: Terrence Jones
C: Cousins

Reserve: Enes Kanter, Devin Booker, Bam

 

[GonzoCat90]

I'll stick to Cal-era and use NBA draft position to decide any "who was the best player on the team" controversy:

PG: Tyler Ulis
SG: Malik Monk
SF: MKG
PF: Terrence Jones
C: Cousins

Reserve: Enes Kanter, Devin Booker, Bam

Not that you're bound to it, but if you're going by draft position, Kanter can't be on your team. You'd have to use Knight.

 

[UK90]

Can we get a ruling on 97? As I recall, DA was basically the best for the first half of the season, but Mercer the second half.

Whichever one is disqualified, I want the other one on my team.

 

[UK90]

PG: Tyler Ulis

So you don't think Ulis was our best player in 2016?

 

[BigBlueEric]

Kyle Macy (78)
Derek Anderson (96)
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (12)
Winston Bennett (86)
Mel Turpin (84)

Bench

Jeff Sheppard (98)
Walter McCarty (96)
DeMarcus Cousins (10)


I would go to war with that team, but honestly you could do this all day long and field a ton of great teams.

And I know there’s a bunch of past guys who deserve mention but I never saw most of them play so it’s hard for me to judge.

I will be 50 in a couple of weeks and in my lifetime, this is the winner. At least of what I've seen so far. Some other good teams though.

 

[TortElvisII]

Can we get a ruling on 97? As I recall, DA was basically the best for the first half of the season, but Mercer the second half.

Whichever one is disqualified, I want the other one on my team.

Answer is both disqualified. There were two teams that year exactly as you described.

 

[TortElvisII]

I will be 50 in a couple of weeks and in my lifetime, this is the winner. At least of what I've seen so far. Some other good teams though.

Three starters can't be on the team so... Maybe 4.

 

[UK90]

I will be 50 in a couple of weeks and in my lifetime, this is the winner.
.

It can't be the winner because he chose ineligible players.

 

[TortElvisII]

Robey
Cousins
Turner
Lamb
T. Jones

Bledsoe
Murray
Young
Epps
McCarty

 

[hotelblue]

wayne turner
doron lamb
darius miller
scott padgett
willie cauley-stein

gerald fitch
heshimu evans
josh harrelson

 

[TortElvisII]

wayne turner
doron lamb
darius miller
scott padgett
willie cauley-stein

gerald fitch
heshimu evans
josh harrelson

I left Padgett off because 99.

 

[hotelblue]

I left Padgett off because 99.

yeah forgot that. i’ll have to insert jones like everyone else. so 4 players from the ‘11 team now.

 

[TortElvisII]

yeah forgot that. i’ll have to insert jones like everyone else. so 4 players from the ‘11 team now.

Was Magloire better in 99?

 

[BigKari]

Wanted to go ahead and post before I looked at anyone else’s. I’ll try to take this a step further and limit it to players that were not a top 3 scorer (on any team they were on while at UK) to more or less eliminate the “who was the best player?” argument. Also my bench guys will be guys who started less than 50% of their games at UK.

PG- Eric Bledsoe
SG- DeAndre Liggins
SF- Darius Miller
PF- Trey Lyles
C- Willie Cauley-Stein

F- Derek Willis
G- Dominique Hawkins
C- Josh Harrellson

 

[LowCountryCat]

Cal Era

Bledsoe
Booker
Miller
Tjones
Bam

Ulis
Reid Travis
Lamb

Knight over Bledsoe. Kid took us to a FF

 

[hotelblue]

Was Magloire better in 99?

no but I couldn’t use him because he was in ‘00. it was the turner/evans/padgett tandom but i think although turner was the biggest winner padgett probably was the best player that season.

 

[stoneycat_20]

Cal era

Cousin< Wall
Jones< Knight
MKG< Davis
Monk< Fox
Ulis< Murray

Hero< PJ
SGA< Knox
WCS < KAT

 

[Aike]

You did not read the rules closely enough. It's limited to guys who were not EVER the best player on the team. Kyle Macy had seasons where he was our best player. He does not qualify,

And I think Derek Anderson (at least until the knee injury in 97) and Sheppard (98) arguably were too (although I'll concede those two are close calls with Mercer and Nazr also in contention).

Or maybe I read very carefully. Kyle Macy was not the best player on the 78 team, and 78 Kyle Macy is who I selected.

But thanks for your help, and for alerting others to my use of ineligible players...in this super official mock draft. [laughing]

But if you just want to argue, I’ll say that Sam Bowie was our best player in ‘80 and Dwight Anderson was our best player in ‘79.

 

[gossie21_rivals69805]

Not that you're bound to it, but if you're going by draft position, Kanter can't be on your team. You'd have to use Knight.

Good catch. I didn't consider it a conflict between who was best since Kanter didn't play. I can swap out Kanter for WCS. He gives me more defense anyways.

 

[gossie21_rivals69805]

So you don't think Ulis was our best player in 2016?

I mean, you could just read my whole comment and answer your own question.

 

[TortElvisII]

Or maybe I read very carefully. Kyle Macy was not the best player on the 78 team, and 78 Kyle Macy is who I selected.

But thanks for your help, and for alerting others to my use of ineligible players...in this super official mock draft. [laughing]

But if you just want to argue, I’ll say that Sam Bowie was our best player in ‘80 and Dwight Anderson was our best player in ‘79.

You would be wrong.

 

[Aike]

You would be wrong.

Take it up with Digger Phelps, man.

 

[Jmeeks54thebest]

It can't be the winner because he chose ineligible players.

Honest question, have you ever gone in a thread and not tried starting arguments? Good lord it must be exhausting.

 

[TortElvisII]

Take it up with Digger Phelps, man.

 

[stonethecrow]

No one has yet to mention the greatest bench player of all time! Never missed a shot!!!