1 player away: Diallo

[Tampa_cat54]

Man do I really hope he returns.

It seems to me like we have just been a player away too many times recently!

This season, we took the eventual national champions down to the buzzer. If we had just ONE more piece, we would have more than likely raised banner #9.

In 2014-2015, we were on piece (Poythress for his defense on Dekker) away from raising #9.

In 2009-2010, we were one knock-down shooter away from winning it all.

In 2011 and 2014, we oh so very narrowly lost to the champions UCONN both times. What could have been if we had had just 1 more piece to throw out there.

Luckily, in 2012, those pieces came together. But I'm tired of being 1 piece away.

I'm PRAYING for Diallo to come back, Bamba to get here, and hell, lets sign Cam Johnson anyways. Let's have every piece we can possibly have and win the whole damned thing.

 

[jackcarlson]

in 2012, we were in a class by ourselves. I would like to have teams like that more often

 

[BourbonBalz]

Bamba!!!!!

 

[Tampa_cat54]

Bamba!!!!!

Getting both Bamba and Diallo would put us damn near close to 2014-2015 IMO.

Not saying we go 38-0 obviously, because they won't be as experienced as that season, but they'll be almost as talented

 

[DerekMcPwn]

Bamba!!!!!

This. As much as I want Diallo to come back, I think it's Bamba who makes us the kind of team you're talking about.

 

[Deli owl]

Just for fun lets go get Duval and piss the rest of the fans off.

 

[GonzoCat90]

You're right, but I'm sure lots of teams feel this way. If so and so had returned, if so and so had stayed healthy, if so and so had committed here or we had gotten that transfer...

For example, in 2012, we feel like we had all the pieces and were in a class by ourselves with an unbeatable team. But if Kendall Marshall is healthy, Carolina was going to give us a dogfight for that title. That was a really, really good team.

We just don't follow those teams like we do our own, so it feels like they have all their pieces and we lose out on everything.

But man, Meeks, Xavier Henry, healthy Nerlens, Teague coming back, Kanter, healthy Poythress, Randle with no cramps, healthy Willie Cauley-Stein--there's been a lot of weird near-misses for us.

 

[sefus12]

You're right, but I'm sure lots of teams feel this way. If so and so had returned, if so and so had stayed healthy, if so and so had committed here or we had gotten that transfer...

For example, in 2012, we feel like we had all the pieces and were in a class by ourselves with an unbeatable team. But if Kendall Marshall is healthy, Carolina was going to give us a dogfight for that title. That was a really, really good team.

We just don't follow those teams like we do our own, so it feels like they have all their pieces and we lose out on everything.

But man, Meeks, Xavier Henry, healthy Nerlens, Teague coming back, Kanter, healthy Poythress, Randle with no cramps, healthy Willie Cauley-Stein--there's been a lot of weird near-misses for us.

Yet some on here will complain that Cal's system doesn't work...

 

[Coyote89]

Man do I really hope he returns.

It seems to me like we have just been a player away too many times recently!

This season, we took the eventual national champions down to the buzzer. If we had just ONE more piece, we would have more than likely raised banner #9.

In 2014-2015, we were on piece (Poythress for his defense on Dekker) away from raising #9.

In 2009-2010, we were one knock-down shooter away from winning it all.

In 2011 and 2014, we oh so very narrowly lost to the champions UCONN both times. What could have been if we had had just 1 more piece to throw out there.

Luckily, in 2012, those pieces came together. But I'm tired of being 1 piece away.

I'm PRAYING for Diallo to come back, Bamba to get here, and hell, lets sign Cam Johnson anyways. Let's have every piece we can possibly have and win the whole damned thing.

I also hope Diallo returns, but I'd argue that with Bam leaving, Bamba is even more important to a championship run. There will be plenty of guys that can score from all over the court, with or without Diallo. But having a big-time rim protector and someone that can score in the paint is the difference between good and great. Just look at the 2012 team with Anthony Davis or the 2015 team with Karl Anthony Towns.

 

[ganner918]

In 2011 and 2014, we oh so very narrowly lost to the champions UCONN both times. What could have been if we had had just 1 more piece to throw out there.

2014, we probably win if Willie isn't hurt. Dakari got abused on pick and roll defense so we couldn't play him, and had to go small. We then had no rim protection. Willie changed our defense in a big way.

 

[Mr_GG]

2010: Meeks stays at Kentucky or Xavier Henry commits
2011: Kanter is eligible/John Higgins gets demoted to reffing elementary school kids
2013: Teague returns to play with a healthy Noel (also getting 1 of Shabazz or A. Bennett)
2014: Willie Cauley-Stein doesn't get hurt
2015: Alex Poythress doesn't tear his ACL/ John Higgins falls off a rooferee roof
2016: Dakari Johnson comes back
2017: Skal comes back (maybe not a popular opinion but I think he would of been a huge plus)/ John Higgins accidentally gets his whistle stuck in his throat at the beginning of the game and is rushed to the hospital, unable to ref our game

 

[BigBlueFanGA]

Man do I really hope he returns.

It seems to me like we have just been a player away too many times recently!

This season, we took the eventual national champions down to the buzzer. If we had just ONE more piece, we would have more than likely raised banner #9.

In 2014-2015, we were on piece (Poythress for his defense on Dekker) away from raising #9.

In 2009-2010, we were one knock-down shooter away from winning it all.

In 2011 and 2014, we oh so very narrowly lost to the champions UCONN both times. What could have been if we had had just 1 more piece to throw out there.

Luckily, in 2012, those pieces came together. But I'm tired of being 1 piece away.

I'm PRAYING for Diallo to come back, Bamba to get here, and hell, lets sign Cam Johnson anyways. Let's have every piece we can possibly have and win the whole damned thing.

I think Cam is more important than Diallo now that we have Knox. We have plenty of elite athletes, we need a great shooter with size. That is Cam, not Diallo. That is the piece we are missing right now. You don't just find 6'7" guys who have a handle, athleticism and can drain 3's at 41.7%, and he has two years of P5 experience. Thats way more important than Diallo at this point. Cam is going to have an interesting decision to make. Is he more interested in time on the court or the opportunity to chase a NC while honing his craft against the best of the best, giving himself a better shot at a high draft position. Ego vs. brain, it'll be interesting to see what he does. The need for Bamba is a given.

 

[KyFaninNC]

NBA saying he is a freak athlete with no consistant shot and no feel for the game. So what does he bring? Give me a guy that knows the game and can shoot.

 

[Tampa_cat54]

I think Cam is more important than Diallo now that we have Knox. We have plenty of elite athletes, we need a great shooter with size. That is Cam, not Diallo. That is the piece we are missing right now. You don't just find 6'7" guys who have a handle, athleticism and can drain 3's at 41.7%, and he has two years of P5 experience. Thats way more important than Diallo at this point. Cam is going to have an interesting decision to make. Is he more interested in time on the court or the opportunity to chase a NC while honing his craft against the best of the best, giving himself a better shot at a high draft position. Ego vs. brain, it'll be interesting to see what he does. The need for Bamba is a given.

I could definitely understand that. The combo of Baker/Johnson/Knox/Green would be a pretty good outside shooting team.

But Diallo just seems like a stud.

Let's just go get them both

 

[warddr]

You're right, but I'm sure lots of teams feel this way. If so and so had returned, if so and so had stayed healthy, if so and so had committed here or we had gotten that transfer...

For example, in 2012, we feel like we had all the pieces and were in a class by ourselves with an unbeatable team. But if Kendall Marshall is healthy, Carolina was going to give us a dogfight for that title. That was a really, really good team.

We just don't follow those teams like we do our own, so it feels like they have all their pieces and we lose out on everything.

But man, Meeks, Xavier Henry, healthy Nerlens, Teague coming back, Kanter, healthy Poythress, Randle with no cramps, healthy Willie Cauley-Stein--there's been a lot of weird near-misses for us.

Good point and there are just too many variables to determine what difference one player could make in a single elimination tournament. For example, Cauley-Stein is considered the missing link to winning in 2014 but what if he doesn't get hurt, has only an ok game against Michigan, and Marcus Lee doesn't get the playing time to play out of his mind and we don't even make it to the Final Four. It is impossible to determine what difference one player could make in a tournament run when only one game is potentially the difference between a title and a tournament exit.

 

[dezyDeco]

I'll settle for a proper seed and a fair whistle in the NCAAT.

2017: Lee stays/Allen picks UK.

 

[BigBlueFanGA]

I could definitely understand that. The combo of Baker/Johnson/Knox/Green would be a pretty good outside shooting team.

But Diallo just seems like a stud.

Let's just go get them both

I sure wouldn't mind but I don't think we get Cam if Diallo comes back but I don't think Diallo has ever intended to come back so hopefully we can get Cam.

 

[lkc1234]

Man do I really hope he returns.

It seems to me like we have just been a player away too many times recently!

This season, we took the eventual national champions down to the buzzer. If we had just ONE more piece, we would have more than likely raised banner #9.

In 2014-2015, we were on piece (Poythress for his defense on Dekker) away from raising #9.

In 2009-2010, we were one knock-down shooter away from winning it all.

In 2011 and 2014, we oh so very narrowly lost to the champions UCONN both times. What could have been if we had had just 1 more piece to throw out there.

Luckily, in 2012, those pieces came together. But I'm tired of being 1 piece away.

I'm PRAYING for Diallo to come back, Bamba to get here, and hell, lets sign Cam Johnson anyways. Let's have every piece we can possibly have and win the whole damned thing.

Not happening. Hope we get Johnson.

 

[Thompkins4uk]

NBA saying he is a freak athlete with no consistant shot and no feel for the game. So what does he bring? Give me a guy that knows the game and can shoot.

Freak athlete + Cal = lock down defender

 

[Jbapp1978]

Man do I really hope he returns.

It seems to me like we have just been a player away too many times recently!

This season, we took the eventual national champions down to the buzzer. If we had just ONE more piece, we would have more than likely raised banner #9.

In 2014-2015, we were on piece (Poythress for his defense on Dekker) away from raising #9.

In 2009-2010, we were one knock-down shooter away from winning it all.

In 2011 and 2014, we oh so very narrowly lost to the champions UCONN both times. What could have been if we had had just 1 more piece to throw out there.

Luckily, in 2012, those pieces came together. But I'm tired of being 1 piece away.

I'm PRAYING for Diallo to come back, Bamba to get here, and hell, lets sign Cam Johnson anyways. Let's have every piece we can possibly have and win the whole damned thing.

thats a frustrating feeling, we MIGHT of had that missing piece this year sitting the bench. Life goes on, just wasnt meant to be.

 

[UK_fan_41102]

Just think about how many shots Bamba could block or alter next year if he comes to UK. Look back to the Georgia game where Frazier was basically getting to the basket at will, do you think he does that much with a rim protector like Bamba down low? Another thing, if Bamba gets into foul trouble, UK brings in Richards, who is pretty damn good in his own right.

 

[JJBlue06]

This year I think if we had Bridges instead of Gabriel (nothing against Gabriel) we would have won it all. Just never had someone to stop he Justin Jackson's and be an athletic beast at the 3 spot.

 

[kyups01]

While Diallo returning would be great and all we really need an inside presence that can make an immediate impact offensively.

 

[SilentsAreGolden]

Now that we have Knox, I honestly don't care one way or the other. I just want it to be over. I'm ok with adding Johnson and Bamba and calling it a day.

 

[phart]

Diallo is really a bad dream for UK. HASN'T played a single second and never will, hope we never this again.

 

[caneintally]

Diallo is really a bad dream for UK. HASN'T played a single second and never will, hope we never this again.

Even if he never plays for UK it has helped Cal with recruiting as it proves we are a players first place and that is how you get the best. Some just are too dense to understand this because it takes tact to understand .
But that aside I don't really care what Diallo does as long as we get Bamba . We get Bamba we are head and shoulders above anyone else come march. We will lose 1-2 non con games and 3-4 SEC games due to all freshmen basically but come March Holy crap!!!

 

[kyjeff1]

thats a frustrating feeling, we MIGHT of had that missing piece this year sitting the bench. Life goes on, just wasnt meant to be.

That missing piece was 8 months behind in development. He was playing at a + high school level, not February/March college level. We just need to let that excuse go, he was not ready to contribute.
I have an idea, can we all just pretend that Diallo never left HS early and was never here? I think that would help.

 

[kyjeff1]

I'm confused, Poythress took a beating on here after almost every game, but now the narrative is that he was the missing link to the Wisconsin loss?
How about we just play ball instead of trying to run clock? We had the game won.

Diallo wasn't the missing link in 17, we had a 5 point lead with under 2 minutes to go and decided to jack up bad shots and not get rebounds. Couple that with inept officiating and you get a loss, but it had nothing to do with missing a player.

So WCS was the missing link in 14? Same guy that totally disappeared in the FF loss in 15? Okay.

Bottom line is we were good enough to win titles in 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2017, but we didn't, it's not because we were missing players, it was because it's a single elimination tournament and our luck ran out. Nothing more, nothing less.
Also, when you play youth in extreme pressure games like the FF or the title game you will see them do things that they hadn't done all season. We saw that in 2011, 14 and 15. The pressure got to our guys.

 

[kyjeff1]

This year I think if we had Bridges instead of Gabriel (nothing against Gabriel) we would have won it all. Just never had someone to stop he Justin Jackson's and be an athletic beast at the 3 spot.

Heck, if we're going to play that game, why don't we just say "if we could have just had that dern Kevin Durant, instead of Wenyen, we would have beaten dem dern tarholes".

 

[Great Grandson of All American]

Man do I really hope he returns.

It seems to me like we have just been a player away too many times recently!

This season, we took the eventual national champions down to the buzzer. If we had just ONE more piece, we would have more than likely raised banner #9.

In 2014-2015, we were on piece (Poythress for his defense on Dekker) away from raising #9.

In 2009-2010, we were one knock-down shooter away from winning it all.

In 2011 and 2014, we oh so very narrowly lost to the champions UCONN both times. What could have been if we had had just 1 more piece to throw out there.

Luckily, in 2012, those pieces came together. But I'm tired of being 1 piece away.

I'm PRAYING for Diallo to come back, Bamba to get here, and hell, lets sign Cam Johnson anyways. Let's have every piece we can possibly have and win the whole damned thing.

Dont forget Jodie Meeks now.

 

[CatColumbia]

I like the optimism from OP but to be honest, getting Diallo and Bamba would probably put us around 14-15 class range.. Nobody has seen what Diallo has to offer and remember, the 14-15 team lost 11 games that year.

Cal's three best teams and BY FAR are 09, 12, 15 and all three of those teams had some type of veteran/experience players. This team will have just Gabriel...

 

[Col. Angus]

Starting lineup of Green, Diallo, Knox, Washington, and Bamba with the depth off the bench UK would have would be a dominant team by March.

 

[Jbapp1978]

That missing piece was 8 months behind in development. He was playing at a + high school level, not February/March college level. We just need to let that excuse go, he was not ready to contribute.
I have an idea, can we all just pretend that Diallo never left HS early and was never here? I think that would help.

What would it help with? There is no problem EXCEPT you being rude by politly telling me to sut up. You KNOW he wasnt ready! Jeff allow me to repay you kindness back.



Stay in Your lane, mind YOUR buisness, im not hurting anyone, nor was i bothering anyone. If you have a problem with me, wich clearly you do for God knows why please dont hesitate to hit that ignore button. Thanks, hand have a great day.

 

[kyjeff1]

What would it help with? There is no problem EXCEPT you being rude by politly telling me to sut up. You KNOW he wasnt ready! Jeff allow me to repay you kindness back.



Stay in Your lane, mind YOUR buisness, im not hurting anyone, nor was i bothering anyone. If you have a problem with me, wich clearly you do for God knows why please dont hesitate to hit that ignore button. Thanks, hand have a great day.

Hmm, this must be your first shot at a message boad.
The last portion of my post was a general message for all the people that can't let go of the whole "Diallo refused to play" bs. It's not true and those people should just pretend that he was never here, he was just trying to get a head start on the 17/18 season.
The first part of my post was simply a fact. He was 8 months behind everyone else. You took offense to a fact like I said something about your momma.
You might not want to post here if you're going to be so sensitive about a reply that isn't all rainbows and unicorns.

 

[kyjeff1]

I like the optimism from OP but to be honest, getting Diallo and Bamba would probably put us around 14-15 class range.. Nobody has seen what Diallo has to offer and remember, the 14-15 team lost 11 games that year.

Cal's three best teams and BY FAR are 09, 12, 15 and all three of those teams had some type of veteran/experience players. This team will have just Gabriel...

14-15 lost 1 game.
Sorry, had to do it.

 

[kmann0433]

I think Cam is more important than Diallo now that we have Knox. We have plenty of elite athletes, we need a great shooter with size. That is Cam, not Diallo. That is the piece we are missing right now. You don't just find 6'7" guys who have a handle, athleticism and can drain 3's at 41.7%, and he has two years of P5 experience. Thats way more important than Diallo at this point. Cam is going to have an interesting decision to make. Is he more interested in time on the court or the opportunity to chase a NC while honing his craft against the best of the best, giving himself a better shot at a high draft position. Ego vs. brain, it'll be interesting to see what he does. The need for Bamba is a given.

Bingo. I agree. The length and athleticism that we have now would be hugely, hugely benefitted by having a guy like Cam Johnson. He's already shot 40+% from three in the ACC and has two years left. It's a ridiculous conversation but I'd take Johnson for two years over Diallo, if you put a gun to my head (please do not).

 

[morgousky]

I will be very upset if we miss on Johnson. Those guys don't come around often and UK needs what he brings. 6'8/6'9 crafty shooter with ACC experience. With THIS kind of team around him he'd be unbelievable. If we sign Johnson, Diallo returns, and Bamba commits, we should win the championship. Will we don't know. But we should.

 

[KyFaninNC]

Even if he never plays for UK it has helped Cal with recruiting as it proves we are a players first place and that is how you get the best. Some just are too dense to understand this because it takes tact to understand .
But that aside I don't really care what Diallo does as long as we get Bamba . We get Bamba we are head and shoulders above anyone else come march. We will lose 1-2 non con games and 3-4 SEC games due to all freshmen basically but come March Holy crap!!!

Calling someone dense because they dislike the Diallo situation is the same as someone calling you a blind homer. You support and defend everything Cal.

 

[GonzoCat90]

I will be very upset if we miss on Johnson. Those guys don't come around often and UK needs what he brings. 6'8/6'9 crafty shooter with ACC experience. With THIS kind of team around him he'd be unbelievable. If we sign Johnson, Diallo returns, and Bamba commits, we should win the championship. Will we don't know. But we should.

No team relying on that many freshmen "should" win the title. Can? Absolutely. Might? Sure. Should? No way. In fact, there's no team next season that "should" win the title.

Duke should have won the title this year.

We should have won the title in 15.

Carolina should have won the title in 12.

2007 Florida should have won the title.

We don't have one of those teams this year.

 

[morgousky]

No team relying on that many freshmen "should" win the title. Can? Absolutely. Might? Sure. Should? No way. In fact, there's no team next season that "should" win the title.

Duke should have won the title this year.

We should have won the title in 15.

Carolina should have won the title in 12.

2007 Florida should have won the title.

We don't have one of those teams this year.

Cal has to take some of these years wen we're stacked. The youth excuse aside.

If we land Bamba and Diallo + Johnson we are one of those teams. Not sure how much more people want. Jordan?

And lol at Carolina in '12. Don't buy any of that UK was the leader of the pack.