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The Joel Justus/Tony Barbee years might have cost us Trae Young, Anthony Edwards, Cade Cunningham, Cam Reddish, Jalen Green, etc.

It sickens me when I look back at the recruiting travesties that were caused by the ineptitude of Joel Justus and Tony Barbee.

I truly believe that if we had our current staff in place in that crucial period from 2017-2020, we would have landed most of these guys.

Young, Edwards, Reddish, Green, and Cunningham all had UK in their final two. Edwards and Cunningham both basically wanted to commit after their visits to Kentucky. The UK staff convinced Cal to move away from Trae Young if Quade Green committed first. Jalen Green was either going pro or to Kentucky, and a better staff could have persuaded him UK was the better move long term (same for Jaden Hardy). Calipari freaking coached Reddish at the FIBA games and still couldn't close that recruitment because of the sluggishness of his assistant coaches.

Kentucky could have had a monopoly in the NBA on good elite guards. Think about it:

We already have Fox, SGA, Murray, Booker, Herro, and Maxey. Those six guys represent about 40% of the best young guards in the NBA.

What if we also had Trae Young, Anthony Edwards, and Cade? We would have absolutely monopolized the young guard market, and dominated recruiting even more.


I'm a greedy SOB, ladies and gentlemen. I want all the nice things. I'm hoping the next 5 years under Calipari can provide an absolute monopolization of elite recruiting. VJ Edgecombe is the first step because we need to put Scheyer in his place.

Interesting UK stats (11 games)

If you dig into the stats, you can come up with the following:

- 5 players averaging double digit scoring (10+), a 6th is 1 point away (9.9), 8 players averaging 7.6+
- 8 players averaging 21+ mpg
- of the 8 guys with more than 1 FGM/gm, 5 are shooting 52.9%+, 7 are shooting 46.7%+
- 4 players are averaging 1.36+ made 3's/gm, 6 are averaging 0.72+/gm, & 7 averaging 0.5+/gm
- 2 players are averaging 4.3apg, 4 averaging 3.5+ apg
- 4 players averaging 1.2+ Stl/gm, 5 averaging 0.91+, 7 averaging 0.63+
- NO players are averaging 2 TO/gm, highest is 1.63
- 10 of the 11 scholarship recruits have a blocked shot (0 for Hart in only 6min)
- Mitchell averages 1+ of everything (made 3's, made FTs, Pts, Reb, Ast, Stl, TO, F, Blk)
- at the moment, For UK players in the 2000's, Sheppard, Reeves and Dillingham would rank #1, #4 & #5 in 3pt % for a season (#2 & #3 held by Lamb).
- still very early (just 2 games), but Onyenso averages more Blocked Shots per game (2.5) than Points (0.5) and Rebounds (1.5) combined; and his blocked rate is 8.8 per 30min (the UK record is Davis & Onyenso last year 4.4)
- although down from last year, Theiro again leads in getting to the FT line, with 3.3 FTA-per-30min
- Sheppard joins Rondo, as only UK players in 2000's to average 4+ RPG and 4+ APG; but Dillingham is only 1 rebound shy (3.9) of making it 3 players
- in 11 games, UK has had 6 different players lead the team in scoring for a game, just 2 players 3 times, and 1 player twice
- have also had 6 different players lead the team in rebounds for a game

Big Z: Is it time to go to court?

Enough of this talk about how badly we feel for Big Z. Why doesn’t he go to court to seek a temporary injunction? My question is as a foreign citizen, does he have a right to seek relief in a US court? If the fear is that the NCAA would then just deny him the right to play, they must have proper grounds under their own rules. If they don’t and still deny him, then Big Z could have at them. Either way could he force a quicker resolution.?The NCAA has been taking a terrible beating in the courts. My guess is that there are plenty of attorneys in Lexington who would represent him for free. Has anyone ask Cal or Mitch if this is a possibility?
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CBS top 100 NBA players lists former UK guys at #8, #11, #13, #18, #19, #20, #37, #59, #60, #78, #88.

Has Kentucky ever had 6 guys in the top 20 before? Absolutely insane stuff.

#8 - Booker
#11 - SGA
#13 - Davis
#18 - Murray
#19 - Fox
#20 - Bam
#37 - Towns
#59 - Randle
#60 - Maxey ** Keep in mind, this list is from the early season. Maxey is established in the top 50 now.
#78 - Herro
#88 - Quickley
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