Shep was clearly low balled in the recruiting rankings

[HerrosHeroes]

At #22 or what ever it was. I made a comment months again that if Reed was from N Carolina and was the son of a former UNC or Duke great and then picked Duke or UNC to go to college coupled with his basketball skills he would have easily been a top 10 recruit.

Im starting to think more like top 5 now.

Its total BS, these recruit rankings.

Very biased.

And whats even crazier is that Reed always held his own in the All Star games if not excelled but the recruiting services never moved him any higher.

Those bums get what they deserve on this one and hopefully when Shep leads UK to #9 they will all have pie in their eye!!!

 

[KentuckyCat420]

He was ranked as high as a 6’3 white kid will ever be ranked, end of story.

 

[docholiday51]

He looks good so far, lets wait for a bit more evidence on the whole team before making any judgement

 

[Cats192]

At #22 or what ever it was. I made a comment months again that if Reed was from N Carolina and was the son of a former UNC or Duke great and then picked Duke or UNC to go to college coupled with his basketball skills he would have easily been a top 10 recruit.

Im starting to think more like top 5 now.

Its total BS, these recruit rankings.

Very biased.

And whats even crazier is that Reed always held his own in the All Star games if not excelled but the recruiting services never moved him any higher.

Those bums get what they deserve on this one and hopefully when Shep leads UK to #9 they will all have pie in their eye!!!

Bronny James is 6'4 190 vs Reed 6'3 180. He is the son of one of the all-time great NBA players. He's #28 on 247. I don't know that who your dad is does or should matter.

You're making this statement on the tail end of two really good college games. The recruiting rankers base it on what they see in high school. That's all they have to go off of. Not saying his high school tape isn't good. I just don't think anyone can honestly say they thought he'd shoot 70% from 3 through his first 4 games.

If 247, ESPN, On3, etc. kept a running tally based on how guys play in college--he'd be flying up the list.

I think he's someone who has suffered from the lack of elite talent around him in the past. Someone pointed it out in another thread--he's always been the best player on his teams by a large margin. Now he's surrounded by NBA prospects and McDonald's All-Americans that can play. And the defense can't focus on him.

So maybe we're finally seeing what he can do in the absence of such defensive focus. That being said, if he keeps this up, they'll glue a defender to his hip and never leave him. Which means Rob and DJ are going to get to the rim at will.

 

[gharding07]

Being ranked top 25 in the country is still REALLY good! Good lord you guys..

 

[HerrosHeroes]

Reed is easily the best Ky born and breed caucasian basketball player playing at UK as a Freshman since King Rex Chapman 37 yrs ago circa 1987!

In fact their games are eerily similiar.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

At #22 or what ever it was. I made a comment months again that if Reed was from N Carolina and was the son of a former UNC or Duke great and then picked Duke or UNC to go to college coupled with his basketball skills he would have easily been a top 10 recruit.

Im starting to think more like top 5 now.

Its total BS, these recruit rankings.

Very biased.

And whats even crazier is that Reed always held his own in the All Star games if not excelled but the recruiting services never moved him any higher.

Those bums get what they deserve on this one and hopefully when Shep leads UK to #9 they will all have pie in their eye!!!

Every time you post, I get images like this in my mind and I'm not exactly sure why:

 

[Ky_Bred_Cat]

Playing at his local high school, instead of at one of the notable prep schools, must of had an impact on his rankings. Now that he is playing with equal talent around him it's clear to see how solid he really is. He is a very, very good basketball player.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

Bronny James is 6'4 190 vs Reed 6'3 180. He is the son of one of the all-time great NBA players. He's #28 on 247. I don't know that who your dad is does or should matter.

You're making this statement on the tail end of two really good college games. The recruiting rankers base it on what they see in high school. That's all they have to go off of. Not saying his high school tape isn't good. I just don't think anyone can honestly say they thought he'd shoot 70% from 3 through his first 4 games.

If 247, ESPN, On3, etc. kept a running tally based on how guys play in college--he'd be flying up the list.

I think he's someone who has suffered from the lack of elite talent around him in the past. Someone pointed it out in another thread--he's always been the best player on his teams by a large margin. Now he's surrounded by NBA prospects and McDonald's All-Americans that can play. And the defense can't focus on him.

So maybe we're finally seeing what he can do in the absence of such defensive focus. That being said, if he keeps this up, they'll glue a defender to his hip and never leave him. Which means Rob and DJ are going to get to the rim at will.

He dominated Rob’s AAU team (or whatever it was) on national television. Reed was the only major recruit on that squad. It was easy to see how good Reed was the past 1.5/2 years. Personally, not letting the ranking services off the hook here. They whiffed on Reed badly.

 

[Cats192]

He dominated Rob’s AAU team (or whatever it was) on national television. Reed was the only major recruit on that squad. It was easy to see how good Reed was the past 1.5/2 years. Personally, not letting the ranking services off the hook here. They whiffed on Reed badly.

That's fine.

I'm not losing a lot of sleep over how well a kid was or wasn't ranked.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

That's fine.

I'm not losing a lot of sleep over how well a kid was or wasn't ranked.

I’m not either. I was just saying. One service had him in the 70s. 🤣

 

[Cats192]

I’m not either. I was just saying. One service had him in the 70s. 🤣

Yeah, that's real bad.

 

[seccats04]

It’s not rocket science why he wasn’t rated higher. He’s a white kid from Kentucky. People just assume he played against weak competition in HS and would get exposed against P5 teams. Same reason Tyler Herro was under ranked.

 

[SmorgusKilos96er]

He’s a white kid from Kentucky and wasn’t a Duke legacy player. That goes for UNC too. Obvious as a donut in a police car.

Reed as a Duke legacy kid would have been top 10, maybe top 5.

 

[WildcatNC]

Somewhat because KY as a state isn't typically strong in the talent department, so assumptionsare made. Ranking kids correctly in KY has always been difficult. Tend to be underrated or overrated more than some other states.

 

[nickhorvathsuxazz]

At #22 or what ever it was. I made a comment months again that if Reed was from N Carolina and was the son of a former UNC or Duke great and then picked Duke or UNC to go to college coupled with his basketball skills he would have easily been a top 10 recruit.

Im starting to think more like top 5 now.

Its total BS, these recruit rankings.

Very biased.

And whats even crazier is that Reed always held his own in the All Star games if not excelled but the recruiting services never moved him any higher.

Those bums get what they deserve on this one and hopefully when Shep leads UK to #9 they will all have pie in their eye!!!

I was watching a segment before one of those all star games where players were asked by interviewer: "Who's the most under-rated player here?" and multiple players ansered reed sheppard. Wasn't consensus, but by far the biggest vote getter.

 

[nickhorvathsuxazz]

Reed is easily the best Ky born and breed caucasian basketball player playing at UK as a Freshman since King Rex Chapman 37 yrs ago circa 1987!

In fact their games are eerily similiar.

I'm pretty sure you could leave "caucasian" out of that sentence and it would still be true? Or at the very least, a strong argument could be made.

 

[kybassfan]

Low balled…..no. That’s not the way those rankings work. What you are seeing with Shep is an adequately athletic basketball player but not as athletically gifted as some others. But!!!! What you are seeing is a very skilled basketball player at a very young age. Those rankings don’t consider skills worth a damn. They only look at athleticism and its applicability to the NBA. Our prep system is FAILING. High schools and the AAU are NOT teaching basketball. They are teaching how to jack threes and dunk No defense. No passing. No team skills. No awareness.

Shep has all those He sticks out like a sore thumb. Thank his mom and dad. They understand the value of basketball skills.

 

[UK90]

Somewhat because KY as a state isn't typically strong in the talent department, so assumptionsare made. Ranking kids correctly in KY has always been difficult. Tend to be underrated or overrated more than some other states.

I think this especially applies to eastern Kentucky, which, fair or not, has gained an unfortunate reputation as a recruiting dead zone whose prospects can’t hack it at higher levels. Shep probably would’ve been ranked a bit higher if he’d been somewhere else.

But not by enough to make an issue of it. The kid finished ranked in the top 25 and was selected as a McDonald’s All American. That’s a shit ton of national respect. More than any white kid from Kentucky has gotten since Rex Chapman.

At this point, I think there may be more of an issue with Wagner having been overranked. I’m still waiting to see why he was so mega-hyped.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

I think this especially applies to eastern Kentucky, which, fair or not, has gained an unfortunate reputation as a recruiting dead zone whose prospects can’t hack it at higher levels. Shep probably would’ve been ranked a bit higher if he’d been somewhere else.

But not by enough to make an issue of it. The kid finished ranked in the top 25 and was selected as a McDonald’s All American. That’s a shit ton of national respect. More than any white kid from Kentucky has gotten since Rex Chapman.

At this point, I think there may be more of an issue with Wagner having been overranked. I’m still waiting to see why he was so mega-hyped.

I always thought both Reed and Rob were under ranked and both DJ and Edwards were a little over ranked. Now, Edwards has a pretty good all around game. He’s just weak and really doesn’t possess a ton of ball skills currently.

 

[Runnin'Ramel]

At #22 or what ever it was. I made a comment months again that if Reed was from N Carolina and was the son of a former UNC or Duke great and then picked Duke or UNC to go to college coupled with his basketball skills he would have easily been a top 10 recruit.

Im starting to think more like top 5 now.

Its total BS, these recruit rankings.

Very biased.

And whats even crazier is that Reed always held his own in the All Star games if not excelled but the recruiting services never moved him any higher.

Those bums get what they deserve on this one and hopefully when Shep leads UK to #9 they will all have pie in their eye!!!

It's not a science. If Reed was 2-3" taller, though, he would have been top 15. He was a McD's player. He also suffered from playing against Kentucky HS talent/teams ... sadly .... had he gone to Montverde or Oak Hill, I suspect he would have been ranked higher.

 

[Jjohnb5393]

It’s hard to get a feel nationally for a guy in the 12 th or 13th region in Southeastern KY with the competition played. He rose up when he played well in summer camps and all star games , etc.

 

[susan2361]

At #22 or what ever it was. I made a comment months again that if Reed was from N Carolina and was the son of a former UNC or Duke great and then picked Duke or UNC to go to college coupled with his basketball skills he would have easily been a top 10 recruit.

Im starting to think more like top 5 now.

Its total BS, these recruit rankings.

Very biased.

And whats even crazier is that Reed always held his own in the All Star games if not excelled but the recruiting services never moved him any higher.

Those bums get what they deserve on this one and hopefully when Shep leads UK to #9 they will all have pie in their eye!!!

I totally agree!

 

[STL_Cat]

Why anyone even cares about that at this point is beyond me.

 

[BC_Wader]

Rankings don't matter and I can care less about them. I remember when Orlando Lightfoot was called a once in a generation player back in the day. Who? Exactly.

 

[cats#1again]

The top 20 recruits in the country are put there based on their NBA potential. Most of those players never turn out to be decent college players

 

[DreadLox]

HS ranking is an echo chamber.

There's no way these bozos can see enough players to accurately evaluate them. Adou Thiero from 2 classes ago should have told you. The comic aspect is that they give these people numeric scores as if there are numeric pegs that resolve their various attributes -- this is supposed to lend an air of authority to their opinions. After a tiny subset of dominant players, it's pure guesswork.

Thiero wasn't the "tell" for me. That belongs to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He was relegated to the Derby Classic. He absolutely dominated against very good players. What had the evaluators based their rankings on. I suspect few of these evaluator bozos trekked to Canada to see for themselves.

 

[azubuikefan]

It’s hard to get a feel nationally for a guy in the 12 th or 13th region in Southeastern KY with the competition played. He rose up when he played well in summer camps and all star games , etc.

This is correct. He's ranked about as high as he could be with the competition he played against in high school. He did well in AAU. Some kids don't even play AAU which is how you get players with little offers that are mega talented. He was also a McD's All American, so he was definitely recognized on a national level..

 

[G-PIP]

The top 20 recruits in the country are put there based on their NBA potential. Most of those players never turn out to be decent college players

James at TN is a non-UK example. Coming out of high school he was one of the top ranked 2Gs. But he couldn’t have played 2G effectively in college as a freshman if his life depended on it. Still, he had the size and athleticism to be a “prototypical” NBA 2G. TN tried to play him at 2G (probably because that is what they promised him they would do) and he killed them because how much he played out of position. Every minute he was on the floor at 2G probably cost TN a point or two. Like you said, however, his ranking was based on potential, not how good of a college 2G he was going to be as a freshman.

If James had tried to leave for the draft after his freshman year he might have still got drafted on that potential, and TN would have basically been hurt for even recruiting him because of all the undeserved minutes he got. In that case, TN would have probably been much better off with some NAIA true 2G for that season.

But James instead stuck around and TN started using him more effectively as a PF because he was a good rebounder and could create matchup issue on offense. Today, James could play a good SF for TN because his skills matured, TN thinks it gains an advantage by being able to use James at the PF spot.

How many “prototypical” NBA 2G/SFs who didn’t have the skills to play those positions have been recruited to play at UK? And for the ones that only stayed at UK for one season, wouldn’t UK have actually been better off taking a much lower ranked player with good 2G skills who didn’t project to play in the NBA, but looked like a guy who could be a good CBB player as an upperclassman?

 

[cats#1again]

James at TN is a non-UK example. Coming out of high school he was one of the top ranked 2Gs. But he couldn’t have played 2G effectively in college as a freshman if his life depended on it. Still, he had the size and athleticism to be a “prototypical” NBA 2G. TN tried to play him at 2G (probably because that is what they promised him they would do) and he killed them because how much he played out of position. Every minute he was on the floor at 2G probably cost TN a point or two. Like you said, however, his ranking was based on potential, not how good of a college 2G he was going to be as a freshman.

If James had tried to leave for the draft after his freshman year he might have still got drafted on that potential, and TN would have basically been hurt for even recruiting him because of all the undeserved minutes he got. In that case, TN would have probably been much better off with some NAIA true 2G for that season.

But James instead stuck around and TN started using him more effectively as a PF because he was a good rebounder and could create matchup issue on offense. Today, James could play a good SF for TN because his skills matured, TN thinks it gains an advantage by being able to use James at the PF spot.

How many “prototypical” NBA 2G/SFs who didn’t have the skills to play those positions have been recruited to play at UK? And for the ones that only stayed at UK for one season, wouldn’t UK have actually been better off taking a much lower ranked player with good 2G skills who didn’t project to play in the NBA, but looked like a guy who could be a good CBB player as an upperclassman?

Maybe so but not everyone can play defense for us. Cal demands a lot out of his guys on defense And not everyone is athletic enough to play man to man at this level

 

[G-PIP]

Maybe so but not everyone can play defense for us. Cal demands a lot out of his guys on defense And not everyone is athletic enough to play man to man at this level

I think most good offensive CBB players can learn to play pretty good team defense. But, I agree a guy has to be able and willing to play defense. The fact that Calipari has pushed his guys to play good man-to-man defense has been important, because Lord knows many of those OADs couldn’t shoot nearly well enough – and even more impressive is the way he has usually gotten freshmen to do it fairly well.

 

[IL Wildcat]

It just goes to show that recruiting rankings always place too much importance on athleticism and the measurables and not enough on skill and intelligence/understanding of the game. Sheppard will never likely be a lottery pick (for some similar reasons), but he can be a great college guard, and I'll take that all day as a UK fan.

 

[drew_ukfan]

I was also upset about it then I put my panties on, applied my lipstick and went to finishing school like a big girl

 

[SkyPrince1]

Rankings don't matter and I can care less about them. I remember when Orlando Lightfoot was called a once in a generation player back in the day. Who? Exactly.

I think ended up at Idaho lol.

This thread has mentioned white players, Duke, UNC players which brings me ask if anyone remembers Shavlik Randolph and Chris Burgess.
Both white kids who were ranked top 5.
Both went to Duke.
Two of the most overrated players I've ever seen.

 

[TopCatCal]

At #22 or what ever it was. I made a comment months again that if Reed was from N Carolina and was the son of a former UNC or Duke great and then picked Duke or UNC to go to college coupled with his basketball skills he would have easily been a top 10 recruit.

Im starting to think more like top 5 now.

Its total BS, these recruit rankings.

Very biased.

And whats even crazier is that Reed always held his own in the All Star games if not excelled but the recruiting services never moved him any higher.

Those bums get what they deserve on this one and hopefully when Shep leads UK to #9 they will all have pie in their eye!!!

I don't think that his ranking as a recruit which was clearly too low is about who he is. It's more about where he's from. I've been thinking who was the last player from eastern Kentucky that was good enough to play at any school in the country. And I'm not talking about Richie Farmer & John Pelphrey 2 players that Eddie Sutton was pressured into signing. The last player from Eastern Kentucky that was good enough to be recruited & wanted by all the big BB programs was probably Todd May all the way back in the class of 1982. As a result, the so called recruiting experts just couldn't believe that a white kid from eastern Kentucky could be this good.

 

[cardkilla]

the great white Hope is always underrated round here. Let's talk after about 30 more games and see how he's doing. Hopefully averaging 25/game but let's not put savior label on him just yet.

 

[aikenite4uk]

22nd best player in the land certainly isn't a low ball IMO. The fact that some people think "analysts" can discern with absolute certainty between who's #10 vs #20...or even #100 is pretty laughable.

 

[Catzman]

He was ranked as high as a 6’3 white kid will ever be ranked, end of story.

This. And honestly he looks closer to 6'1/6'2. If he was Tyler Herros size at 6'5/6'6 I think he'd have been top 10.

 

[Cobb4uk]

Playing at his local high school, instead of at one of the notable prep schools, must of had an impact on his rankings. Now that he is playing with equal talent around him it's clear to see how solid he really is. He is a very, very good basketball player.

Yes, just like Travis Perry, both finishing their careers in high school, and the same conservation except Perry's Dad & Mother didn't play ball at UK. Only in Kentucky does being the all time leading scoring leader mean anything.

 

[JwUKFan11]

Being ranked top 25 in the country is still REALLY good! Good lord you guys..

This board is so crazy. They want a group of probably 20 people to evaluate HS players across the entire US and some of the rest of the world and provide a list of exactly how good they will be in college and also factor in how they will fare in the NBA.

Also these same people have already decided 4 games into their college careers how good they are, strengths, and we even have some that agree with Jay Williams that one might transfer.