Hear me out before calling me a low post count troll. We have had limited AP 1st team all americans at UK. If I remember correctly, Sam Bowie never was one. I think WCS was a great player and loved watching him, but he did not bring it every night. Quite honestly, he brought it no more than 70% of the time. I'm not criticizing his numbers, and realize his limited minutes affected them. If he would have played like he did sometimes every night, I would not question the award. But, my point is, of all the great players that have played here since I started watching in the 60s, Willie was not one of the top 25 that I remember. If we have had 25 or less AP 1st team all americans, I'm not sure that he should be one of them. Just wondering what others think.
Should Willie have been an All American
- Thread starter BBBLazing
- Start date
Not all players face the same competition for the award each year. There are probably years where Willie may not have even made the 3rd team, but timing is everything in life.
Who would you have put in over WCS? Kyle Wiltjer? Bobby Portis?
Karl Towns. A better player and more valuable on the same team. Kyle Wiltjer should not have even been honorable mention. I really like White Boy Academy, but he is way too bad at defense to get all american mention. I'm not sure he would have played much in our platoons.
Karl is Dominican, so it wouldn't make sense for him to be on the All-American team...just kidding.
Karl vs. WCS as first-team All-American is a fair debate, but Willie was a more disciplined player throughout the year in his ability to not come close to fouling out every game. Even if WCS made it in because he is a junior and KAT is a freshman, nobody should really be complaining about one making it over the other for the first team.
I am a big time optimist/positive guy when it comes to UK, but I agree with this. I think he should have been an AA, but not first team - and only an AA because he's just so naturally gifted. His effort was great for parts of most games - but games where he gave full effort the whole stretch, we were unbeatable.
WCS could guard any position , he had his moments when he could score pts. a great shot blocker, he deserve to be a all American..
Agree, absolutely. Willie's grace and fluidity were a thing of beauty to watch. Hey OP, get effing LOST!
Where he is drafted only matters for that moment because without greater focus and a willingness to bring it every night, he will be the next JaVale McGee. For those who followed him in college and as a Washington Wizard, you are aware of the incredible talent he possessed, but he became and still is an enigma that no one has figured out. McGee and WCS are very similar in athletic abilities. WCS received a lot more attention because of the team he played for and the success of the team.
So OP you're giving us one single example of a player you'd have put over Willie? That's all you got?
Also, is calling the Zags 'white boy academy' your way of demonstrating the class that you insisted we show other programs in your thread about a month ago ?
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Also, is calling the Zags 'white boy academy' your way of demonstrating the class that you insisted we show other programs in your thread about a month ago ?
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Again......if not Willie then who? Bet I can find a crap game that guy had too. You play 39 games not all are going to be great
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Well, if you pull up the stats, KAT had better numbers than WCS in every category. That makes it puzzling that WCS was named 1st team.
Maybe they felt like they had to put somebody from UK on there. Personally I thought KAT was more deserving, or maybe no UK players should have been on the 1st team. The thing about this team is that it was so balanced that no player put up big numbers in any category. Maybe place two of them on the 2nd team and a few more as honorable mention. But not the 1st team.
Maybe they felt like they had to put somebody from UK on there. Personally I thought KAT was more deserving, or maybe no UK players should have been on the 1st team. The thing about this team is that it was so balanced that no player put up big numbers in any category. Maybe place two of them on the 2nd team and a few more as honorable mention. But not the 1st team.
I think the answer to the question lies in the ones people are asking. Who else are you going to put there? College basketball as a whole wasn't filled with a lot of standout talent this year. You didn't even have a Jimmer or a Doug McDermotte. WCS was inconsistent this year and was disappointing in UK's biggest stage. Where he gets drafted because of potentional and the fact he is an athletic freak means nothing on being an All-American. Yes, he should of been this year.
1. There are few great players these days, they are picked over by the NBA draft.
2. Defense is just important as offense. Willie is a once in a decade freak on defense, but because he averaged less than 10 ppg, people muse. Yet, how many great offensive players through the years didn't play a bit of defense - but if you average 25 a game, no one questions all america status.
2. Defense is just important as offense. Willie is a once in a decade freak on defense, but because he averaged less than 10 ppg, people muse. Yet, how many great offensive players through the years didn't play a bit of defense - but if you average 25 a game, no one questions all america status.
Nope, probably not. You had an undefeated Kentucky team chasing a perfect season that was THE main story and media focal point in college basketball all season long. SOMEBODY from that team had to be named an AA. Willie did have an outstanding season, but I doubt he'd be named AA if he'd had the same season for nearly any other team.
This post was edited on 4/11 11:24 AM by UK90
I'd have to see the other possible replacements. But in hindsight I think WCS got a pass on what the OP mentioned, not showing up to play for 30% of the games. He played maybe 10 minutes of good basketball in our final 80 minutes. If you're supposed best player does that you probably won't win the title, and we didn't in large part because of that. Sure he didn't commit three shot clock violations, but had he played his game we wouldn't have been in the position to blow it in the first place.
If I see " he could guard all 5 positions " one more time I might puke . No he couldnt . He could do a bunch of things WHEN HE WANTED TO . To answer your question . No .
Their were a lot of good players this year but unfortunately many of them were on bad teams. Usually those awards goes to kids that are on winning programs. The Payne kid for Murray St was a good player, Hawes for BYU was another one shoot their are several.
Townes is a much better player than WCS is.
Townes is a much better player than WCS is.
Should Willie have been an All American[/URL]
BBBLazing posted on 4/10/2015...
Hear me out before calling me a low post
count troll. We have had limited AP 1st team all americans at UK. If I
remember correctly, Sam Bowie never was one. I think WCS was a great
player and loved watching him, but he did not bring it every night.
Quite honestly, he brought it no more than 70% of the time. I'm not
criticizing his numbers, and realize his limited minutes affected them.
If he would have played like he did sometimes every night, I would not
question the award. But, my point is, of all the great players that
have played here since I started watching in the 60s, Willie was not one
of the top 25 that I remember. If we have had 25 or less AP 1st team
all americans, I'm not sure that he should be one of them. Just
wondering what others think.
-________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I liked Willie, but thought he was overrated somewhat . He had some very good games, but was inconsistent. He was more of a role player in my opinion He was not the go to guy, but was excellent shot blocker, which is important.. I think being named an All American requires you to come ready to play every game. Willie did not...
I'm not putting Willie down, he was an excellent player but falls short of being an All American. Hope the best for him in pro career.
BBBLazing posted on 4/10/2015...
Hear me out before calling me a low post
count troll. We have had limited AP 1st team all americans at UK. If I
remember correctly, Sam Bowie never was one. I think WCS was a great
player and loved watching him, but he did not bring it every night.
Quite honestly, he brought it no more than 70% of the time. I'm not
criticizing his numbers, and realize his limited minutes affected them.
If he would have played like he did sometimes every night, I would not
question the award. But, my point is, of all the great players that
have played here since I started watching in the 60s, Willie was not one
of the top 25 that I remember. If we have had 25 or less AP 1st team
all americans, I'm not sure that he should be one of them. Just
wondering what others think.
-________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I liked Willie, but thought he was overrated somewhat . He had some very good games, but was inconsistent. He was more of a role player in my opinion He was not the go to guy, but was excellent shot blocker, which is important.. I think being named an All American requires you to come ready to play every game. Willie did not...
I'm not putting Willie down, he was an excellent player but falls short of being an All American. Hope the best for him in pro career.
We were undefeated and Willie was a media and fan favorite. A guy who came back who could have left twice now to win a championship. He was also the perceived best player on the team for the first half of the season. I agree that if he was on a different team, he would not have been an all-American. He wasn't even the best player on the team.
KAT deserved it.
In the first half of the season, WCS was playing like an AA. Then KAT made a big leap on both ends of the floor, becoming our #1 option on O & defending the rim like a boss.
In the first half of the season, WCS was playing like an AA. Then KAT made a big leap on both ends of the floor, becoming our #1 option on O & defending the rim like a boss.
I never heard anyone say white boy academy. Must have been some internet thing.
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BTW, I did not promise I was leaving the board. That post has been consistently misinterpreted. I said this "may be my last post" because the post was critical of some of our fans. As predicted, the thread was deleted. I was also assuming/predicting that I would be banned from the board for being critical of UK fans and not being a ra ra homer. That is what I meant when I said it may be my last post. I was not banned, so it was not my last post.
Lol, I think he meant to say my last post of the night. That was a great thread. As for willie, he deserved to be an all American. He played great most of the time during the regular season. He had a few times he stumbled, but overall he deserved it
I would say yes. Sure there are other players who may have deserved it and weren't recognized. Willie could impact the game in a lot of ways.
