You left out the Ky boy. Whats your prognostication for him?
Next Year's Class Are Not top ten guys.
- Thread starter dynastydreamuk
- Start date
Wonder how many people have paid attention to the past HS kids 3 point percentages like they have for DJ Wagner and Rob Dillingham ? I’m going to go out on a limb and say most HS kids 3 point percentage isn’t as high as people may want them to be .
Wagner went from a must get to now an underrated prospect on here lol
Wagner went from a must get to now an underrated prospect on here lol
Wagner is on a TyTy/Wallace level and Edwards looks like a more polished version of James Young. Both will likely be productive lottery level freshman.
Dillingham is somewhere between Harrow and Teague. Bradshaw will produce like a freshmen year WCS.
Reed won’t see the floor because Cal made too many promises to DJ and Dillingham.
Unless Cal gets Reeves to come back and lands the best PF in the transfer portal you’re going to be looking at another cluster**** of a season, guaranteed.
Several of them are top 10 recruits. Three of them are nominees for the Naismith Trophy for High School Player of the year.
True . First time I saw the Harrison Twins live I was like “ WOW “ those dudes were huge guards
Think you are wrong about Wagner and Dillingham. Both these kids are ballplayers.
Good thing we got an assclown for a coach who doesn't need talent to win. Getting more from less is blowbag's strong suit .
Yeah, he is pretty highly rated as well. He seems to be the one getting a pass and nothing ever negative said by our "fans" and of course we all know why that is.
I bleed blue and can't wait to watch them next year... all I'm saying is they aren't john wall or Brandon Knight / Fox level despite their ranking in their class and therefore won't have that same impact at the college level. Hope I'm wrong and they developed more and or just prove me wrong. But I will stick with my prediction that they struggle especially early on. Really most of Cals teams have struggled early, even the many of the ones with great "recruit rankings"
Bj Boston was ranked 5th in another said to be down year high-school class...we saw how that worked out. They take more time to develope,
like more than a year but then they are gone to the next
like more than a year but then they are gone to the next
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Dillingham is better than Bledsoe coming out of high school.
He'll be effective in the pick n roll. Plus, Wagner and Bradshaw are used to winning so hopefully it'll carry over.
The G league is not the factor folks thought it would be. NIL erased its impact. The G league is just for the kids who suck at school and can’t get themselves college eligible
I still have a tough time seeing people bag on Oscar. He’s not playing well right now I think it’s a chemistry issue with his teammates. He has equity with me. I don’t know who to point the finger at but I still love Oscar.
Stayed this before but that’s part of the downfall of Cal. Not only did other schools start recruiting 1nDones so they were making super teams….but the high school talent hasn’t been as good as those early years. That was a rare stretch for HS kids. Most classes only have 1 NBA ready guy if that.
But our early classes were loaded w Day 1 impact nba guys forced to go to college for a year, many of which were AllStars. Not decent college players ready to take a shot at the nba after a year and hopefully develop.
We had Daniel Orton and Dakari Johnson playing spot minutes off the bench. Those guys would not only start but dominate on our teams since 2015.
Those early years were a perfect storm of an elevated HS talent era combined with Cal being the only 1ND show in town. Those days aren’t coming back.
But our early classes were loaded w Day 1 impact nba guys forced to go to college for a year, many of which were AllStars. Not decent college players ready to take a shot at the nba after a year and hopefully develop.
We had Daniel Orton and Dakari Johnson playing spot minutes off the bench. Those guys would not only start but dominate on our teams since 2015.
Those early years were a perfect storm of an elevated HS talent era combined with Cal being the only 1ND show in town. Those days aren’t coming back.
I could not disagree more. These 5 guys are the best recruiting class Kentucky has ever had. Bradshaw, Edwards and Wagner have all 3 been #1 at one time or another. Drilling ham is as talented as those 3 but has had some questions about baggage. Shepherd is the perfect glue guy. We're all down on this team but next year will be loaded with talent. It's likely 3 of those guys will go lottery.
Well, since they are the highest rated available who do you suggest he recruit in place of them?
It might not be asking for much, but if they aren't able to perform up to your expectations under the excellent coaching of CCC, you will be as quick to trash them as you have done every other class.
I wholeheartedly disagree on your Dillingham take.
Umm… NONE of those guys “went on to be lottery picks.” Jackson fell to the late first round, Boston fell all the way to the end of the second round, and Clarke tragically never made it to the draft.
Were you watching some different draft than the rest of us?
Have not seen any of these 5 freshmen play in person so I will not comment on them, but on next year’s team.
1. If the core of your team are freshmen, you will not likely have a successful season. Most freshmen should be used as complimentary players. Give them as much playing time as you can in the non-conference to determine which one(s) may be contributors.
2. Who is going to rebound - Only 1 freshman big guy coming in and he has little bulk. If Oscar leaves we will be overpowered on the boards.
3. Are any current big men coming back? My guesses: Collins and Oscar - No; Ware - maybe, but not if he wants to play; Uno - yes, but again COW has promised playing time but not delivered so he may want to transfer to a team that has a coach!
4. Any other returnees? Wallace, Wheeler, Fredrick, Toppin gone; Livingston and Theiro - ???. Chris has played well the past several games and seems to have confidence - He is definitely not ready (see EJ Montgomery) but may put his name in the draft. Theiro's playing time has been so up and down thanks to our HOF CCC. He says the right things and I would love to see him come back as he has the basketball IQ and physical talent.
5. Transfer portal - don't like to get players from here unless you need that 1 piece or some depth. But there will be no choice.
6. Worst probable returnee - CCC
Summary: This is the best case in my opinion - Returnees are Ware, Uno, Livingston, Thiero, and maybe Fredrick (KY kid). There is also a chance that no one returns. Slim, but could happen. Of these only Livingston would get major minutes, the rest would get <10 minutes a game. So next year's team could have only 1 player (Chris) that played any significant time returning. Talk about a completely new team! COW is going to play his freshmen and prove to us that he knows best and we know nothing. But I think we are looking at a 10+ loss season. The silver lining may be that CCC leaves or the UK administration negotiates a buyout.
1. If the core of your team are freshmen, you will not likely have a successful season. Most freshmen should be used as complimentary players. Give them as much playing time as you can in the non-conference to determine which one(s) may be contributors.
2. Who is going to rebound - Only 1 freshman big guy coming in and he has little bulk. If Oscar leaves we will be overpowered on the boards.
3. Are any current big men coming back? My guesses: Collins and Oscar - No; Ware - maybe, but not if he wants to play; Uno - yes, but again COW has promised playing time but not delivered so he may want to transfer to a team that has a coach!
4. Any other returnees? Wallace, Wheeler, Fredrick, Toppin gone; Livingston and Theiro - ???. Chris has played well the past several games and seems to have confidence - He is definitely not ready (see EJ Montgomery) but may put his name in the draft. Theiro's playing time has been so up and down thanks to our HOF CCC. He says the right things and I would love to see him come back as he has the basketball IQ and physical talent.
5. Transfer portal - don't like to get players from here unless you need that 1 piece or some depth. But there will be no choice.
6. Worst probable returnee - CCC
Summary: This is the best case in my opinion - Returnees are Ware, Uno, Livingston, Thiero, and maybe Fredrick (KY kid). There is also a chance that no one returns. Slim, but could happen. Of these only Livingston would get major minutes, the rest would get <10 minutes a game. So next year's team could have only 1 player (Chris) that played any significant time returning. Talk about a completely new team! COW is going to play his freshmen and prove to us that he knows best and we know nothing. But I think we are looking at a 10+ loss season. The silver lining may be that CCC leaves or the UK administration negotiates a buyout.
How in the heck did you come to this conclusion???
Just...unbelievable. I'll stop right there...
If we get the returnees you listed, at least 2 of them start and 3 or 4 get significant minutes, imo.
More people need to read the OP's first comment and adjust their expectations appropriately. I can see next year's team being 20-8 at this same time in 2024. Maybe worse if no one from this year returns. IMO, Calipari's swan song season (according to some) is going to look a lot like this season.
Cal should only recruit the all time top ten best recruits. Just recruiting from the current class is pure laziness.
It’s clear from this thread that people love watching history repeat itself and refuse to learn a thing. I suppose if you build up every team to be the latest and greatest thing you’ll eventually be right, but it starts looking like y’all are just guessing instead of actually following what’s going on.
Dilly might not ever play according to some reports. Normally, I wouldn’t believe these sorts of reports but we live in a different, crappier era of college basketball. I’d honestly be happily surprised if he was the only one who doesn’t play the entire season next year. Players these days don’t seem to want to fight for their spot, they just want the spot.
That all being said I think most of us can agree you need, bare minimum, 2-3 shooters on the floor at all times. So you need about 4-5 on the team to account for substitutions and injury. Where is that going to come from next year? Wagner, Dilly, and Edwards (they likely play positions 1-3) aren’t known for being great outside shooters. In fact they’ve been known for quite the opposite. If they improve on that by season start and I see consistency through December I think the hype train is warranted.
But we haven’t seen that yet. And we got posters on here banking on the idea that these guys will be better than what we have. Just like last year when people were banking on Wallace to be better than TyTy, Reeves and/or CJ to be better than Grady, and Oscar to repeat a NPOY campaign. The only one of those predictions I thought was fair was Oscar, and for most of the season he’s been up to the task with one glaring weakness (defense).
But now you got posters thinking Dilly is going to be better than Bledsoe. That Wagner is close to Wall/Knight in raw ability. Folks, let them get on campus. Let them play. At some point you have to let the insanity of doing the same thing every year with similar results end.
Dilly might not ever play according to some reports. Normally, I wouldn’t believe these sorts of reports but we live in a different, crappier era of college basketball. I’d honestly be happily surprised if he was the only one who doesn’t play the entire season next year. Players these days don’t seem to want to fight for their spot, they just want the spot.
That all being said I think most of us can agree you need, bare minimum, 2-3 shooters on the floor at all times. So you need about 4-5 on the team to account for substitutions and injury. Where is that going to come from next year? Wagner, Dilly, and Edwards (they likely play positions 1-3) aren’t known for being great outside shooters. In fact they’ve been known for quite the opposite. If they improve on that by season start and I see consistency through December I think the hype train is warranted.
But we haven’t seen that yet. And we got posters on here banking on the idea that these guys will be better than what we have. Just like last year when people were banking on Wallace to be better than TyTy, Reeves and/or CJ to be better than Grady, and Oscar to repeat a NPOY campaign. The only one of those predictions I thought was fair was Oscar, and for most of the season he’s been up to the task with one glaring weakness (defense).
But now you got posters thinking Dilly is going to be better than Bledsoe. That Wagner is close to Wall/Knight in raw ability. Folks, let them get on campus. Let them play. At some point you have to let the insanity of doing the same thing every year with similar results end.
What determines how good a top kid is..... Is grit Toughness and willingness to learn
Wagner , Shepard ,Edwards have all of that
Time will tell.
Thiero could be a star next season and get Livingston back. Be ok
Yea in a heartbeat don’t you think. We have supposed fans that can’t even wait till the flipping kids get on campus to start dogging good lord !
I get what you’re saying. In general, freshmen can’t shoot. The college game is a different animal than high school, and there is no way to get around the fact that it takes time to acclimate to it. Because of that, I hate the idea of UK relying on freshmen for 3 pt. shooting. BUT… in their defense, I think Wagner, Shepherd and Dillingham are all 3 pt. scorers – meaning they can take and make tough 3pt. shots without a lot of time or space – in addition to being pretty good drivers. I also think Wagner and Dillingham’s 3pt. percentages (and maybe even Shepherd to a lesser degree) are not as good as it could be because of shot selection (i.e., taking bad shots).
Caleb Love and RJ Davis at UNC are examples of 3 pt. scorers. They can hit crazy last minute 3 pt. shots with people hanging on them; but they can and often do shoot their team out of games. However, if Love and Davis are reigned in some AND have another guy on the floor with them who is a good 3pt. shooter (e.g., Manek) then it can work out pretty well.
Heck all those guys could quit basketball before next year. Why not wait till they have played say 10 games and then make a wild statement. No lets make stupid a stupid post while they are not even on the team or have anything to do with this team. Yup, you cannot fix stupid. OP is just pathetic on a topic like this.
I cannot believe I am actually going to go there but ....
At least it'll be better than looking "forward" to Shaedon Sharpe's Kentucky career
(we hope)
At least it'll be better than looking "forward" to Shaedon Sharpe's Kentucky career
(we hope)
I would be more optimistic if they weren’t coming in to play for Cal who seems to have a negative effect on most of the players’ shooting percentages that come through here.
Would love to be wrong!
I'm not ready to be too optimistic yet either. I want to see what upperclassmen end up being on the roster. But oddly for me, I'm not as worried about 3pt. shooting for next season as I normally am. I think Reeves may well be back, and Thiero shoots it well as a spot up shooter (still just lacking some self-confidence). And I like the idea of having some 3pt. scorers again - guys that can get their own 3pt. shot off the dribble.
Since UK has had so many freshmen dominant teams under Calipari, I wonder if the idea that Calipari does something that causes supposed shooters to not be able to shoot is more due to fans thinking freshmen are going to come in and shoot lights out. They sometimes do pretty well – Cason Wallace, for example, has surprised the heck out me with how well he shoots the 3 as a freshmen (although he’s still in the stage of being more of a spot up 3pt. shooter) – but I think that happens more often when they don’t have to be relied on to be “the man.”
Is all that Cal's fault. And the fact that this years class doesn't measure up to some all time greats change the fact that the experts think they are the best available THIS year?
They ARE top ten guys, maybe not as good as some of the all time greats whose names are being thrown out there, BUT they are top ten for this year. No one knows how they will turn out yet.
Including you.
