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Dick Vitale praises Reed Sheppard

In the few highlights I’ve seen so far of his play in Canada, he seems every but as athletic and maybe more than his dad was. If he was a couple of inches taller he’d be out of this world. He has a nose for the ball, great timing on his steals, and showed the ability to get to the basket. Loved those plates where he just took it all the way himself. Hope we can get at least two years out of him.
 
Ive been preaching it for 6 months and why not? He showed out in the all star games he played in with the best of the best then.

Like I said if he was born and raised in N Carolina and did what he did in Ky there and won Mr N. Carolina Basketball and scored nearly 4,000 pts in a small N. Carolina HS and was a Mickey D AA and was the son of a 2 time N Carolina/Duke NCAA Champion and picked UNC or Duke to go to College he would have been hailed the 2nd coming of John Havlicek or Larry Bird or Jerry West and would have been the #1 player in the Country.
But since all of that happened in Ky….#25.

BS!
 
In the few highlights I’ve seen so far of his play in Canada, he seems every but as athletic and maybe more than his dad was. If he was a couple of inches taller he’d be out of this world. He has a nose for the ball, great timing on his steals, and showed the ability to get to the basket. Loved those plates where he just took it all the way himself. Hope we can get at least two years out of him.
He’s athletic, he’s not more athletic than Jeff.
 
I took that as a given but ok.
I don’t know what you mean and maybe we’re splitting hairs here, but my original comment was back to the guy who said Reed might be more athletic than his dad. I think he’s a better basketball player at this age, but not more athletic. Again, Jeff was Georgia state high jump champion in high school. Reed is plenty athletic, Jeff had springs in his shoes.
 
I like what I’m seeing for Young Reed. He’s got a long way to go to be as good as his dad. We are talking about UK Royalty. Jeff Shepherd was a gamer and helped hang a banner in the rafters during one of the golden eras of UK basketball.

People toss accolades around prematurely. I think Reed is going to be a good one though.
 
Who is starting shooting guard on this team? I believe Wagner has the 1 and Edwards has the 3. Sheppard or Reeves comes off the bench
 
We are guard rich. If Cal will just use them all once the season starts. It would be nice having guards who aren’t beat up midway through conference play, not worrying about foul trouble, and having 4 guys capable of big nights on any night. If there’s a year to use a deep bench, it’s this one!
 
If he was a Dookie he'd be a top 10 prospect.
This is definitely true. 💯

And I don't think there is any doubt, he should have been a 5-star recruit. But who really cares? Those recruiting services often miss on guys, especially guys in smaller markets. They missed on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, they missed on Tyler Herro, and they missed on Reed Sheppard.

But the main thing for me is not "I told you so." I'm just glad he's at UK. He did look human today a few times, made some bad plays. It happens. He's gonna be a great player for UK in 23-24.
 
Your own link disproves your claim. Nowhere in there does Jeff say he's more athletic than he was.

It is true than Reed is well ahead of where Jeff was at the same age in terms of basketball skills. With the main difference being that Reed has well-developed point guard level ballhandling and passing skills, whereas Jeff was really only effective playing on the wing.

But that's a different thing than athleticism, a term that connotes physical traits like explosiveness, speed and jumping ability. Reed ain't surpassing his daddy in that area. Other than maybe Rex, Jeff remains the most athletic white boy we've ever had.
 
There is no way in hell Reeve's is coming off anyone's bench. If he does, there will be no further doubt that Cal has lost his mind.
The only way he would is if that’s how he prefers it in the college game like last year but no doubt he will get 30+ MPG and he should shooting 56% from 3. He should shoot an average 10 3’s a game this year or Cal better pull him.
 
This is definitely true. 💯

And I don't think there is any doubt, he should have been a 5-star recruit. But who really cares? Those recruiting services often miss on guys, especially guys in smaller markets. They missed on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, they missed on Tyler Herro, and they missed on Reed Sheppard.

But the main thing for me is not "I told you so." I'm just glad he's at UK. He did look human today a few times, made some bad plays. It happens. He's gonna be a great player for UK in 23-24.
Yea, the services missed on those guys but not by much. Shai and Herro were both top 35 recruits, ie borderline 5 stars. Same as Reed.
 
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Jeff said just the opposite yesterday.
Jeff will say what he wants to build up his kid and rightfully so. Reed is very athletic. But I watched Jeff at UK for 4-5 yrs. That guy could jump out of the gym. I don’t agree that Reed is more athletic. But, Reed is an excellent athlete in his own right and is a better all around player than Jeff at the same age.
 
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Yea, the services missed on those guys but not by much. Shai and Herro were both top 35 recruits, ie borderline 5 stars. Same as Reed.
Yeah, the misses were very similar. All those guys were seen as 4-star guys and just outside the "elite" conversation, but they turned out to belong in that conversation. And there are almost always guys they have in the 5-star group that end up not truly belonging. We've had several guys along the way who were 5-star guys who just weren't ready or had holes in their games that prevented them from making an impact. I'm sure I could name 5 or 6 off the top of my head.
 
I like what I’m seeing for Young Reed. He’s got a long way to go to be as good as his dad. We are talking about UK Royalty. Jeff Shepherd was a gamer and helped hang a banner in the rafters during one of the golden eras of UK basketball.

People toss accolades around prematurely. I think Reed is going to be a good one though.
Two banners! 👍🏻
 
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