Tyler Ulis is the Key...

[UKCAT5FAN]

Rookie backcourt with so -so backups will lose some games . 6 to 13 losses. 13 losses if Fox isn't great and 6 losses if he is John Wall. 18 sec games is a gauntlet for rookie guards. 13-5 , 12-6.

One thing about McDonald's game is 95% of the time the best players score and score a lot. The cream always rises to the top.

I disagree with that statement. It's not the case 95% of the time. Some of the best college players have had a so so showing in that game. Yes, some of the best have had some really great games and a lot of those same players have had great college/NBA careers but some of the best have also had average showings in this game and the other all star games. It's definitely not as high as 95%, IMO.

 

[mbc82584]

Here's a great link on historical success in the McDonald's game.

http://basketball.realgm.com/highschool/mcdonalds/stats/Historical

Looking at all-time top scores, the trend definitely seems to indicate that if you do great in the McDonald's game, you will mostly likely perform well in college and/or the NBA. Look at the top 10-15 on the list. Jordan, Webber, Pierce, Stackhouse, LeBron, Redick, JR Smith, Kevin Durant. Hell even guys like Eddy Curry, Jonathan Bender, Dajuan Wagner, and DeShawn Stevenson each spent multiple years in the league.

Look at all time +/- on the game too--again, another list of mostly total studs in college/NBA. Interestingly, Bam Adebayo comes in second on that list at +21.4, which is even more impressive than I realized.

When you go to the bottom of that list, you are much more likely to find Devin Durrant than Kevin Durant (seriously, in 1978, you would find a Devin Durrant who scored 0 points, and you've never heard of him either). Now, don't get me wrong, there are several people who were very successful after performing poorly in the game, but by and large the majority of the people who scored less than 5-6 points without making some other impact ended up never living up to expectations.

 

[bluedog79]

Here's a great link on historical success in the McDonald's game.

http://basketball.realgm.com/highschool/mcdonalds/stats/Historical

Looking at all-time top scores, the trend definitely seems to indicate that if you do great in the McDonald's game, you will mostly likely perform well in college and/or the NBA. Look at the top 10-15 on the list. Jordan, Webber, Pierce, Stackhouse, LeBron, Redick, JR Smith, Kevin Durant. Hell even guys like Eddy Curry, Jonathan Bender, Dajuan Wagner, and DeShawn Stevenson each spent multiple years in the league.

Look at all time +/- on the game too--again, another list of mostly total studs in college/NBA. Interestingly, Bam Adebayo comes in second on that list at +21.4, which is even more impressive than I realized.

When you go to the bottom of that list, you are much more likely to find Devin Durrant than Kevin Durant (seriously, in 1978, you would find a Devin Durrant who scored 0 points, and you've never heard of him either). Now, don't get me wrong, there are several people who were very successful after performing poorly in the game, but by and large the majority of the people who scored less than 5-6 points without making some other impact ended up never living up to expectations.

I love this post. I figured I was right. The badass players always do well.

 

[UKCAT5FAN]

Here's a great link on historical success in the McDonald's game.

http://basketball.realgm.com/highschool/mcdonalds/stats/Historical

Looking at all-time top scores, the trend definitely seems to indicate that if you do great in the McDonald's game, you will mostly likely perform well in college and/or the NBA. Look at the top 10-15 on the list. Jordan, Webber, Pierce, Stackhouse, LeBron, Redick, JR Smith, Kevin Durant. Hell even guys like Eddy Curry, Jonathan Bender, Dajuan Wagner, and DeShawn Stevenson each spent multiple years in the league.

Look at all time +/- on the game too--again, another list of mostly total studs in college/NBA. Interestingly, Bam Adebayo comes in second on that list at +21.4, which is even more impressive than I realized.

When you go to the bottom of that list, you are much more likely to find Devin Durrant than Kevin Durant (seriously, in 1978, you would find a Devin Durrant who scored 0 points, and you've never heard of him either). Now, don't get me wrong, there are several people who were very successful after performing poorly in the game, but by and large the majority of the people who scored less than 5-6 points without making some other impact ended up never living up to expectations.

You get down past the top 10-15 players and it's a who's who of guys that didn't amount to much. It's impossible to gauge a players future career off of this single game. It may be a small indicator but that's it.

 

[Wall2Boogie]

We've seen what we can possibly get out the hump. Which it was be Atleast his jr yr before he is a major factor. If waynard isn't Matt pilgrim like there will be hell to pay. I actually really like Matthews he didn't play much but when he did he played his *** off he is a perfect 3-4 player that will help this team big time

 

[ZaytovenCat]

While I do think BBN is overrating this class, Monk is up there with the best Cal has had. He's better than Murray. I'd take him over Jamal any day. Losing Ulis will hurt. No way around that but I think our backcourt will be great again. I'm worried about our front court. We have a lot of bodies but no Davis, DMC or Towns level big man. Bolden could come close to being that but if we miss on him we will have a similar year down low that we had this year. Won't be quite as bad I don't think but still will be taken advantage of if we face a team with a front court like UNC this year.

 

[TruBluCatFan]

So are you really comparing the final four teams this yr to what UK will potentially look like next yr assuming the usual guys go pro? Villanova, Carolina, and Oklahoma are all very, very experienced with huge production out of seniors. I don't understand your point at all.

and people need to stop comparing UK to LSU when it comes to basketball in any form.

Really, you can't understand my point. That's on you not gonna explain it. If you think I compared UK and LSU in anyway then SMDH.

 

[JerseyCat84_rivals57050]

While I do think BBN is overrating this class, Monk is up there with the best Cal has had. He's better than Murray. I'd take him over Jamal any day. Losing Ulis will hurt. No way around that but I think our backcourt will be great again. I'm worried about our front court. We have a lot of bodies but no Davis, DMC or Towns level big man. Bolden could come close to being that but if we miss on him we will have a similar year down low that we had this year. Won't be quite as bad I don't think but still will be taken advantage of if we face a team with a front court like UNC this year.

No team has a "Davis DMC or Towns" level big man.

 

[BucN1Cat]

...to us having a great season next year.

Without him, we are going to really struggle, particularly in the early going. Our players will be very talented, but they are all immature and there is no "transcendent" talent coming in like wall, Davis, Towns.

I'd guess there is a 15-20% chance Tyler comes back. If he does, we will be dominant from day 1. If he doesn't, go ahead and plan on losing 8-10 games, this board losing their mind all season, us getting shafted on our seed, and maybe making an unexpectedly good run in the tourney.

I'd agree that we need Ulis back to increase our chances of a NC but, as far as the rest goes I'll hold judgement. Tyler needs to stay 1 more year IMO. I may be a little greedy.

 

[Cat Ballou]

I think Bam looked absolutely awesome. He is the best big in the class - no contest - and will be in contention for No. 1 pick next year for any team that is looking for a guy who is a hybrid of Dwight Howard and Blake Griffin. This is a guy who is a can't miss prospect. He will wreck the SEC next year. Put him on this year's team and we'd have been in the Final Four.

I thought Monk looked awesome as well. Sure he missed a couple of threes, but as we saw from the 3-pt competition, he's a guy that can get hot and scorch the nets. Meanwhile, his athleticism is unparalleled as far as guys we've had at UK. Bledsoe, maybe, with better range? Monk is another guy I'm fully confident will be a lottery type talent next year.

Fox is the guy most are concerned with after the McD game, but I've watched the game 3 times now, and De'Aaron struggled with the same thing that just about every kid in the game - including Tatum - struggled with - and that is playing against a level of competiton that was substantially higher than what what they'd faced recently in high school. Fox had a couple of shots stuffed on him and took a couple of badly missed three's late in the game when I think he felt some pressure to score, but if you watch the game closely, almost all the backcourt guys had a similar experience.

Fultz, Simmons, Ferguson, Ball, etc. all struggled at times. So forget the misses - otherwise, when I look at Fox, I see a kid who is an elite athlete, great passer, true PG (unlike Jackson), and potentially an elite defensive stopper. Once Cal gets a hold of him, his decision-making is going to improve immensely. Think Teague as far as a kid who may struggle a little early, but really blossom towards the end of the year as the team gels.

 

[jameslee32]

...to us having a great season next year.

Without him, we are going to really struggle, particularly in the early going. Our players will be very talented, but they are all immature and there is no "transcendent" talent coming in like wall, Davis, Towns.

I'd guess there is a 15-20% chance Tyler comes back. If he does, we will be dominant from day 1. If he doesn't, go ahead and plan on losing 8-10 games, this board losing their mind all season, us getting shafted on our seed, and maybe making an unexpectedly good run in the tourney.

 

[UKCAT5FAN]

While I do think BBN is overrating this class, Monk is up there with the best Cal has had. He's better than Murray. I'd take him over Jamal any day. Losing Ulis will hurt. No way around that but I think our backcourt will be great again. I'm worried about our front court. We have a lot of bodies but no Davis, DMC or Towns level big man. Bolden could come close to being that but if we miss on him we will have a similar year down low that we had this year. Won't be quite as bad I don't think but still will be taken advantage of if we face a team with a front court like UNC this year.

You are presuming way too much about this class. You'd take Monk over Jamal any day? Monk may one day become better than Jamal, no one really knows at this point. But I think I'd take a guy proven to be an elite college player over just about any freshman that has never stepped foot on a college floor yet, except maybe the Lebron or Kobe type talents, which is not Monk. I think it's safe to safe that the majority of the people on here, the logical ones anyway, would take a proven sophomore Murray over a freshman Monk. I really really like Monk but Murray is really damn good. You may very well be right in your comments about Monk at the end of next year but if you had to choose now, I just have a hard time seeing the logic in your comments about taking Monk any day. But I'm open for discussion.

With that said about Malik, it also works the other way too. We may very well have a player like a Boogie or Towns (Davis is in his own category) on the roster already. Fact is that we just don't know yet. Nobody thought that Boogie or Towns would be AS good as they turned out to be in their year here. Hell, nodody would've thought Anthony would be as good as he turned out to be either. Boogie didn't start to become a OAD candidate until after the midway point of the season when he started really playing well. Some thought Towns could be OAD but nobody thought he would be the #1 pick in the draft. So, my point is that we just don't know what we have. It works both ways, good and bad. We may have that elite big that we think we need or we may have Skal 2.0. Until we see what they have when they step on the court, we will just have to hope that they turn out to be as good or better as advertised. The cards are in our favor though but a dealer like Cal handing out the cards. I like our chances.

 

[UKCAT5FAN]

........So forget the misses - otherwise, when I look at Fox, I see a kid who is an elite athlete, great passer, true PG (unlike Jackson), and potentially an elite defensive stopper........

Don't know much about Jackson although I was impressed with him in the festivities and the game itself. Knocked down a few shots and his shot looks effortless and so smooth. You said he isn't a true PG. Is he more of a scorer? More like a SG? Just curious to hear what you think about him. Just trying to learn a bit more about him. Looked really good to me for the time that I saw him.