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DEC. 17, 2024 


USBWA Tabs Lamont Butler National Player of the Week

Butler scored a career-high 33 points in Kentucky’s win over Louisville


LEXINGTON, Ky. – Lamont Butler’s legendary performance vs. Louisville this past Saturday continues to reverberate throughout the basketball world as the UK point guard was selected as one of five U.S. Basketball Writers Association national Division I players of the week, it was announced on Tuesday.

Returning from a brief two-game absence due to injury, Butler scored a career-high 33 points in the Wildcats’ rivalry victory over Louisville last Saturday, going a perfect 10-of-10 from the field and 6-of-6 from 3-point range.

Butler’s 33 points were the second most ever by a Wildcat against Louisville, and his six-made threes tied for the most by a UK player in the rivalry. He also dished out a game-high six assists in the 93-85 victory inside Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center.

The 10-for-10 shooting performance tied for the third-best in program history. Only Rodney Dent (12 for 12 vs. Morehead State on Dec. 17, 1993) and Kenny Walker (11 of 11 vs. Western Kentucky on March 16, 1986) had better outings. The 6-for-6 performance behind the arc trails only Wenyen Gabriel’s 7-for-7 day in the SEC Tournament on March 10, 2018.

Since 1996-97, Butler is the only Division I player to make all of his shots, score at least 33 points and chart at least six assists. He’s just the second SEC player to finish with 30 or more points and hit all his shot attempts in the last 20 seasons. The 33 points are the most by a Division I player with a perfect field-goal percentage in any game this season.

In addition to the USBWA honors, Butler was also selected as the Co-Player of the Week by the Southeastern Conference. The Moreno Valley, California native is averaging 15.1 points, 4.1 assists and 3.1 rebounds in nine games this season.

USBWA’s five honorees for the week ending Dec. 15 include:

• Lamont Butler, Kentucky
• Tarence Guinyard, UT Martin
• Jamichael Stillwell, Milwaukee
• Taryn Todd, Arkansas State
• Brice Williams, Nebraska

Kentucky returns to action at the CBS Sports Classic inside Madison Square Garden on Saturday. The Cats will take on Ohio State at 5:30 p.m. ET.

Stating that no one pays attention to it once the basketball season starts.

You’d never know that by looking at this board even after a poor football season and a great start for basketball.

Lots of football banter here!

There was a thread about people’s favorite players this year and a few mentioned AW. To me, he has underperformed what I believed he can do with his talents. I’d have to grade him very high on potential but as far as performance this far, he has a pretty low grade. His drive to the middle and throw up a Godawful shot has got to be the worst thing that can happen for this offense and his defense effort is lackadaisical at best.


Again I believe he has a lot of potential maybe even NBA potential but his play thus far is low grade. Can you guys tell me why your so
high on him right now based on his performance? What am I missing?

Get back in here, idiots. Idk why they let us out of our cage. That's messed up. Let's just keep it all together for The Cats and get focused on our tournament run. Amen.

If you love UK - make your decision so we can move on.

I think he'll see this since he's all about social media.
😉

Insanely bad and bizarre time for what many years would probably be our biggest SEC home game of the year. But, what an opportunity.

UF has a lot of exactly what gives us problems. Really tough matchup, one of like 15 in SEC play.

If we win that, we should be a solid 1 seed heading into mid-January.

Rupp HAS to be ready and I hope UK gets creative and does some cool things to make sure the crowd will be jacked and in their seats early. Let's just tailgate the game downtown. Idk. 10am pep rally, whiteout, throwback uni's, pom poms. Something. Whatever it takes we gotta give them energy that day (morning).

I’m 48. I’ll have 4-5 beers and 2 tokes and I’m relaxing and enjoying good music, maybe a fire, friends or even by myself, and thats the perfect buzz and a good time for this old guy. What about y’all?

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Wow. Came at the best time of the season honestly

Of the 5 only Carr didn't get to 20. He had 17 against which is actually his 3rd best point total in a game. Also had 19 against Gonzaga and 18 against Western. Williams hasn't led the team in scoring yet, but he has hit double figures in 6 games with a high of 15 against Colgate.


Otega Oweh has hit double digits in every game. He has 2 games of 21 points. His low was 10 against Bucknell, but only played 19 minutes

We've got a big enough sample size now. What three players top your list on this team? I gotta go 1) Butler, 2) Oweh and 3) Carr.

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stat line...11.5 TFL and 5 sacks...at least two years of eligibility left.

Not a fan of Lunardi at all. UK #1 seed in the West (with Gonzaga and KU). 13 SEC teams in the tournament including Dayton play in games 👀

Norvell is being forced to take a $4.5 salary haircut with those funds now going to help purchase players. How can similar actions not be happening in Lexington?

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I like this idea. He is the third coach to do this. In the future I would be OK for any coach who does not reach 6 wins to have half of his salary taken away and given to the university to spread among the athletes.

Any team is taking a risk giving a coach 9 million or more a year with no conditions for performance. If you can't win half of your games, cut the salary by one half. Kudos to Coach Norvlle for doing this and the university too.

Interesting prospect. Will size and strength be an issue? I am unsure if he will be an effective player in the SEC.

Well, Tiger is back this week for his tournament The Hero World Challenge. TaylorMade Driver, Nike Irons, Bridgestone golf ball, Scotty Putter apparently, new sponsor Monster Energy bag.


Hopeful for a decent week and by decent i mean no yips and playing 4 healthy rounds.




Tee Times Thursday in The Bahamas:


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I have 1 ticket lower level available for this weekends CBS Sports Classic. If interested send me a message

For those talking about some rift...I think it just wasn't a fit in 2023 and he wanted to be in the pros. Seems like he's happier and it's working. Remember, Liam chose to leave the NFL to come back here. So it wasn't the worst place ever to be.

I think it was a combination of the struggles and his desire to be in the NFL. But I think there wasn't bad blood. I mean honestly, would you want to come back in 2024 with BVG as your QB behind that line or go coach a NFL divisional champion in Florida?

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Sending police down to a fan that is standing with threat of being kicked out. What a joke. Let the real fans go & stand & support the team. It’s ridiculous that this is a thing.

All of the portal talk reminded me of these guys. In the old days the JUCO ranks were like the current day's portal. The place football staffs went for immediate help.

Anyone remember? QB Eric Gray and Daymon Carter from UK football lore. Both were JUCO All Americans and rated my recruiting publication (yes, they were real paper based mailings though). They put up all kinds on stats in their two seasons at San Fransico Community College even Carter broke all of OJ Simpsons records. Both came to the UK under Curry, Carter even promised to win the Heisman Trophy at UK. The careers were nowhere never expectations- Gray showed up to campus 75lbs overweight and I don't believe he ever started a game and left after a year. Also, Carter never amounted to much. He ended up transferring to EKU. UK seems to be a place where good players come to die; honestly, these guys were way overrated. You could tell when they arrived. The propaganda was working way back then.