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Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: Is a 3-Point Guard Lineup Coming?

preacher_tom

Junior
May 21, 2015
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There is an obvious debacle when it comes to Kentucky's backcourt for the upcoming season.

Tyler Ulis is locked in as the starting point guard, as made clear by John Calipari. With the commitment of Isaiah Briscoe back in the midst of the regular season last year, the speculative question was would Calipari go with a two-point guard starting front court again?

It worked pretty well back when John Wall and Eric Bledsoe were running that total super team; it could surely work.
Now, we're throwing Jamal Murray right into the mix as well. For those who left all their electronics at home for their summer vacation cruise to the Bahamas, Kentucky landed five-star Canadian guard Jamal Murray not even a month ago. Many have not heard of Murray as he was originally classified in the Class of 2016, but recently reclassified to 2015 and committed to UK.

Many of us got our first real look at Jamal in the Pan-Am Games as he led Canada to a silver medal in the Men's Basketball tournament; as Canada defeated the United States in the semifinals then fell to Brazil in the gold medal game. Murray averaged 15 points per game in the tournament; with his most outstanding moment in the game against the United States.

After going scoreless in the first three quarters, Murray proceeded to score 22 points throughout the fourth quarter and overtime of the semifinal game, which included a game-tying three that sent the game to overtime. Murray showed pure point guard skills, showcasing his scoring ability and also some very flashy passing. Murray also showed a ton of confidence, which is great considering he was the second youngest player in the Pan Am Games.

Now another question must be asked; is John Calipari going to go all out and put all three point guards in the starting lineup? He got away with starting two centers and a power forward last season, and got away with starting three shooting guards the year before. So, who's to say that a Ulis, Briscoe, Murray starting front-court wouldn't be successful?

We all know that Tyler Ulis is the shorty, still listed at 5'9", but he confirmed on his Instagram can dunk now dunk. Isn't that a great thing to know. Briscoe is listed at 6'3" 205 lbs, and Jamal Murray is just under 6'5" 195 lbs. To say that this would be a small, undersized lineup would truly be an understatement; this would stick 6'8" senior Alex Poythress at the four and Skal Labissiere at the five.

Each player brings great qualities to the floor that could make this potential lineup work. Tyler, as we saw last year, is just a naturally great floor general; runs the offense well, is so smooth with his ball handling and floor vision and makes the right passes. Showed solid offense as well, with a very reliable three-point shot and mid-range floater.

Isaiah Briscoe is more athletic; he's going to get to the rim and finish, and probably break his fair share of ankles along the way. The jump shot is a work in progress, but 205 pounds isn't bad at all for a guard coming into his freshman season. Briscoe can bring what Ulis typically cannot when it comes to spacing the floor and getting to the rim.

Jamal Murray will bring you just a little bit of everything, as he did in the Pan Am Games. Murray, though right handed, will attack to his left about eight out of ten times on half-court possessions and fast breaks. Murray's a good isolation player that can and will attack the basket; can either finish at the rim or pull up with a nice teardrop floater or jumper. Jamal shoots the three at an above average rate as well, and is almost as good of a flashy passer as Ulis.

All three are great players, but a lineup with all of them together is no guarantee to work. It would be severely undersized, which would really hurt us when playing Duke, Kansas and LSU. There's no guarantee that Briscoe and Murray will excel as wing players either, which could hurt our half-court offense. Talk about a deadly team if they constantly went fast paced though. We try year in and year out trying to predict what the depth chart will look like the next season; who knows what Calipari is gonna come up with.
 
Positions are just labels. Calipari recruits great basketball players regardless of position. I disagree that we'll be severely undersized. Without names or positions, our starting lineup is:

5'9" (okay, Ulis is short, but makes up for it with skill)
6'3"
6'5"
6'8"
6'11"
 
Positions are just labels. Calipari recruits great basketball players regardless of position. I disagree that we'll be severely undersized. Without names or positions, our starting lineup is:

5'9" (okay, Ulis is short, but makes up for it with skill)
6'3"
6'5"
6'8"
6'11"

Agreed.

KU is expected to start:

G Mason(5'10)
G Graham(6'2)
G Selden(6'5)
F Ellis(6'8)
F Diallo(6'9)

We match up quite nicely with them, IMHO.
 
Positions are just labels. Calipari recruits great basketball players regardless of position. I disagree that we'll be severely undersized. Without names or positions, our starting lineup is:

5'9" (okay, Ulis is short, but makes up for it with skill)
6'3"
6'5"
6'8"
6'11"

That's not small. Most SF are in the 6'4" - 6'7" range so we're not outsized there and 6'8" PF is much more the norm than abnorm. Actually I look at the line up and wonder who's going to stop UK in a fastbreak situation. We're not going to have to wait for a ball handler to get the ball. We'll always have the ball in one's hand. And I think we truly see more dribble drive. We have guys that can drive and finish at the rim or kick the ball out to a shooting center. Defensively we won't be as dominant but even average I think puts this team as a title contender.
 
Ulis is NOT a lock to start at point guard, he will have to earn it in practice...after a few weeks of practice don't be surprised if Murray & Briscoe are the starting backcourt
 
Starters just aren't important with Cal really . Minutes are . Like last year when lyles was out Hawkins started like 6-7 games in a row but only played maybe 5-10 minutes in those games . We have 8 guys who all will play alot . At times there will be 3 pgs on the floor , alot of times not . In crunch time I think it will be a must though . But the OP is way off base saying it would be a small line up as going 6'3 , 6'5 6'9 and 6'11 at the 2-5 spots is normal if not a little big . As someone else pointed out in college SFs are usually 6'4-6'6 range . This year Murray IMO will start at the SF but Mulder and Matthews will also see time at the 3 as well and both can play SG and will as well.
 
Starters just aren't important with Cal really . Minutes are . Like last year when lyles was out Hawkins started like 6-7 games in a row but only played maybe 5-10 minutes in those games . We have 8 guys who all will play alot . At times there will be 3 pgs on the floor , alot of times not . In crunch time I think it will be a must though . But the OP is way off base saying it would be a small line up as going 6'3 , 6'5 6'9 and 6'11 at the 2-5 spots is normal if not a little big . As someone else pointed out in college SFs are usually 6'4-6'6 range . This year Murray IMO will start at the SF but Mulder and Matthews will also see time at the 3 as well and both can play SG and will as well.

Agreed.
I think our top 8 will be (with estimated minutes per game):

Ulis- 30-31mpg
Labissiere- 30-31mpg
Murray- 30-31mpg
Briscoe- 30-31mpg
Poythress- 28-29mpg
Lee- 22-23mpg
Matthews- 11-12mpg
Mulder 9-10mpg
 
I'm excited about our offense with these guys on the floor. Should make for,some exciting games. That said, I'm not excited about the haters and analyst that will say " ______ should be starting at the point". And furthermore the endless threads discussing the same issue when something goes wrong or we lose a game .
 
I won't be surprised if it's (imo)
100% starter Ulis
100% starter Murray
Matthews ( being overlooked )
100% starter Alex
100% starter Skal


bench
Briscoe
Mulder
Lee
Hawk
Willis
 
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I would be surprised if Ulis, Briscoe, Murray, Poythress, and Labissiere are not on the floor together most of the year, even if they do not start together.

That's the five best all around players on the team, at least on paper. Cal will probably find it hard to put any of those five on the bench for a long period of time unless he has to.
 
I don't see how teams are gonna defend against us this year. We have 3 guards who all have PG skills, can handle the ball, create their own shot, and create for others. Throw in Poy and Skal in the frontcourt and we're the most dominate team in college....again. Seriously guys. Teams are gonna struggle to stop us from scoring this year.
 
Look here. Tyler Ulis WILL start. He's gonna be a star this year. Here's the way it should and will be....

Tyler Ulis
Isaiah Briscoe
Jamal Murray
Alex Poythress
Skal Labissiere

Bench:
Mychal Mulder
Charles Mathews
Marcus Lee
Dominique Hawkins
Derrick Willis

We'll have an excellent bench with Mulder, Mathews, and Lee. I expect big thungs from all 3 of those guys. Mathews should provide good defense, Mulder gives us another big time 3pt shooter, and Lee will give us energy off the bench and play excellent defense, block shots, and score off lobs and offensive rebounds, and energy plays.
 
PT, is this your write up? If so it is good. If not it might be an idea to give credit to the writer. If it is you it is a good write up. I couldn't tell from how it was posted.
 
Look here. Tyler Ulis WILL start. He's gonna be a star this year. Here's the way it should and will be....

Tyler Ulis
Isaiah Briscoe
Jamal Murray
Alex Poythress
Skal Labissiere

Bench:
Mychal Mulder
Charles Mathews
Marcus Lee
Dominique Hawkins
Derrick Willis

We'll have an excellent bench with Mulder, Mathews, and Lee. I expect big thungs from all 3 of those guys. Mathews should provide good defense, Mulder gives us another big time 3pt shooter, and Lee will give us energy off the bench and play excellent defense, block shots, and score off lobs and offensive rebounds, and energy plays.


Might see Lee starting early in the season 'til Poy knocks the rust off.
 
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Some very interesting combos mentioned. Matthews and Mulder kind of overlooked. Big mistake in my opinion.

Not being sarcastic but I wonder if Cal or the other coaches ever look at threads like this and what they would think after reading them?
 
Some very interesting combos mentioned. Matthews and Mulder kind of overlooked. Big mistake in my opinion.

Not being sarcastic but I wonder if Cal or the other coaches ever look at threads like this and what they would think after reading them?

Matthews and Mulder will be in the mix, along with Lee. They should be part of a 8-man rotation. I expect Lee to get starter type minutes whether he starts or not. I expect Matthews and Mulder to split the backup minutes at the wing. They probably both get close to double digit minutes unless one emerges as being a lot better than the other.
 
Ulis is NOT a lock to start at point guard, he will have to earn it in practice...after a few weeks of practice don't be surprised if Murray & Briscoe are the starting backcourt

You don't pay a lot of attention to Cal, do you. Cal has already named the horse he's riding and I don't think I've ever seen him change horses midstream.
 
Starters just aren't important with Cal really . Minutes are . Like last year when lyles was out Hawkins started like 6-7 games in a row but only played maybe 5-10 minutes in those games . We have 8 guys who all will play alot . At times there will be 3 pgs on the floor , alot of times not . In crunch time I think it will be a must though . But the OP is way off base saying it would be a small line up as going 6'3 , 6'5 6'9 and 6'11 at the 2-5 spots is normal if not a little big . As someone else pointed out in college SFs are usually 6'4-6'6 range . This year Murray IMO will start at the SF but Mulder and Matthews will also see time at the 3 as well and both can play SG and will as well.

That's an article OP copied and pasted, without saying so or linking it.
 
If Tyler can dunk as easily as he did in that video something interesting has happened to him over the past year. At pro day his max reach was 10'5". You might be able to sneak the ball over the rim for a dunk with that max reach but everything would have to be just right. He must have improved his leg strength quite a bit and increased his vertical from 37 to something like 40. Then it still wouldn't be easy.
 
A friend saw the team out at a restaurant and said that Ulis appeared to dominate the table. He is literally the team leader. He has the personal moxie necessary to get players doing what they're supposed to be doing. So often observers reduce athletics to a series of check boxes -- runs this fast, jumps this high, etc -- but it just can't be done.

Ulis is the team leader. He'll start. He'll run things.
 
I doubt preacher tom meant to deceive.

He's a high character guy. He likely just forgot to site for some reason.
 
A friend saw the team out at a restaurant and said that Ulis appeared to dominate the table. He is literally the team leader. He has the personal moxie necessary to get players doing what they're supposed to be doing. So often observers reduce athletics to a series of check boxes -- runs this fast, jumps this high, etc -- but it just can't be done.

Ulis is the team leader. He'll start. He'll run things.

So he was hogging all the bread? Mental note to self, don't go out to eat with Tyler.
 
must not have copied the author. Iwill just give you the link and you can go look for yourself.. to much perfection around here..

No biggie but it is worth doing. Case in point; The next 100 Walleye you catch just give them to me. I will say I caught them and will eat them. (All your effort and enjoyment is gone. (I'd really take you up on that if you are willing. :)) (It may even cost you a little dough in the process...)

Myself, I always want what's coming to me, good or bad (In this life) I won't take credit for someone else's good works. Just common courtesy.

Be Good, nothing against you PT.
 
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