10 most disappointing UK players in the post-probation era.

[Son_Of_Saul]

Who do you have on your list?

Here's mine:





#10. Ryan Harrow
#9. Alex Poythress
#8. Jared Prickett
#7. Marvin Stone
#6. Randolph Morris
#5. Kahlil Whitney
#4. Brandon Boston
#3. Skal Labissiere
#2. Rodrick Rhodes
#1. Shaedon Sharpe

 

[SemperFiCat]

Shandon Sharpe never played basketball at the University of Kentucky. He was no different than an equipment manager.

 

[North Carolina Blue Wildcat]

Boston, Harrow, and Sharpe for me. Coach would be BCG..

 

[Ron Mehico]

Too lazy to make a list. Those were all good ones. I’ll just add players you didn’t have on there that come to mind:

-Antwan Barbour
-Hamidou Diallo

A lot of Tubbys guys who ended up just not quite being as good as expected ie Crawford, Bogans, Sparks etc.


Edit: after deserved criticism Bogans probably doesn’t belong. I stick with fat second year sparks though

 

[Deli owl]

Prickett
Andre Riddick

 

[Montana81]

1 Sharpe
1b Skal (if we’re not counting Sharpe)
2 Marvin Stone
3 Ryan Harrow
4 Rashaad Carruth
5 Antwain Barbour
6 Kahlil Whitney
7 Devin Askew
8 Wenyen Gabriel
9 Jared Prickett
10 Ryan Hogan

Marvin Stone was a top 5 RSCI recruit. He never put up more than 5 and 4 in 2 and a half seasons and then transferred to Louisville.

Barbour was a Juco transfer that was hailed as being a sure fire stud and he never did much either.

Hogan was supposedly the best outside shooter in his class.

Honorable mentions: EJ Montgomery, Keion Brooks, Rekalin Sims, Desmond Allison, Jason Parker, Alex Poythress, Sacha Killeya Jones, Chris Livingston

 

[Montana81]

Who do you have on your list?

Here's mine:





#10. Ryan Harrow
#9. Alex Poythress
#8. Jared Prickett
#7. Devin Askew
#6. Randolph Morris
#5. Kahlil Whitney
#4. Brandon Boston
#3. Skal Labissiere
#2. Rodrick Rhodes
#1. Shaedon Sharpe

My thoughts on Rhodes have always been that Rick ruined him. He started his career off on fire and then Rick got visions of magic johnson and tried to turn him into a point forward. Rhodes could never seem to get going again after that.

On Boston, i don’t completely blame him for how bad he played. That team was put together terribly. We had no returning minutes played at the start of that season and no off season. Those guys all looked bad except Jackson, who had arguably the simplest role on the team. Boston was asked to create points within an offense that didn’t exist. Man that season should have never happened. Complete shit show by the staff.

Askew on the other hand, he was just a bad player. The point guard that struggled to get the ball past half court.

 

[SosaUK1987]

1 Sharpe
1b Skal (if we’re not counting Sharpe)
2 Marvin Stone
3 Ryan Harrow
4 Rashaad Carruth
5 Antwain Barbour
6 Kahlil Whitney
7 Devin Askew
8 Wenyen Gabriel
9 Jared Prickett
10 Ryan Hogan

Marvin Stone was a top 5 RSCI recruit. He never put up more than 5 and 4 in 2 and a half seasons and then transferred to Louisville.

Barbour was a Juco transfer that was hailed as being a sure fire stud and he never did much either.

Hogan was supposedly the best outside shooter in his class.

Honorable mentions: EJ Montgomery, Keion Brooks, Rekalin Sims, Desmond Allison, Jason Parker, Alex Poythress, Sacha Killeya Jones, Chris Livingston

Why Rekalin Sims? He was a 3 star.

 

[Montana81]

Why Rekalin Sims? He was a 3 star.

He was another Juco guy. might have been the #1 juco transfer that year. And he showed a ton of promise early. He had 22 and 7 against Iowa the 3rd game of the season and only topped double figures like 2 or 3 more times.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

1 Sharpe
1b Skal (if we’re not counting Sharpe)
2 Marvin Stone
3 Ryan Harrow
4 Rashaad Carruth
5 Antwain Barbour
6 Kahlil Whitney
7 Devin Askew
8 Wenyen Gabriel
9 Jared Prickett
10 Ryan Hogan

Marvin Stone was a top 5 RSCI recruit. He never put up more than 5 and 4 in 2 and a half seasons and then transferred to Louisville.

Barbour was a Juco transfer that was hailed as being a sure fire stud and he never did much either.

Hogan was supposedly the best outside shooter in his class.

Honorable mentions: EJ Montgomery, Keion Brooks, Rekalin Sims, Desmond Allison, Jason Parker, Alex Poythress, Sacha Killeya Jones, Chris Livingston

Stone is a good pick. I'm replacing Askew and adding Stone.

 

[jrpross]

Who do you have on your list?

Here's mine:





#10. Ryan Harrow
#9. Alex Poythress
#8. Jared Prickett
#7. Devin Askew
#6. Randolph Morris
#5. Kahlil Whitney
#4. Brandon Boston
#3. Skal Labissiere
#2. Rodrick Rhodes
#1. Shaedon Sharpe

Not a bad list. I wouldn’t have Randolph Morris on it though. He wasn’t an all-American but he was solid. He put up 13 & 6 as a sophomore and 16 & 8 with a couple blocks as a Junior.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

My thoughts on Rhodes have always been that Rick ruined him. He started his career off on fire and then Rick got visions of magic johnson and tried to turn him into a point forward. Rhodes could never seem to get going again after that.

On Boston, i don’t completely blame him for how bad he played. That team was put together terribly. We had no returning minutes played at the start of that season and no off season. Those guys all looked bad except Jackson, who had arguably the simplest role on the team. Boston was asked to create points within an offense that didn’t exist. Man that season should have never happened. Complete shit show by the staff.

Askew on the other hand, he was just a bad player. The point guard that struggled to get the ball past half court.

Rhodes just didn't have what it takes mentally. Pitino once said Rhodes would only go to late-night shooting practices if he was told to do so. Pitino implied that Rodrick didn't have that internal desire to get better.

He disappeared in so many big games. He was a non-factor in the Michigan game in '93 and he was a total train wreck in the tournament losses in 1994 and 1995 (a combined 3-19 from the field).

 

[BlueWhite21]

Too lazy to make a list. Those were all good ones. I’ll just add players you didn’t have on there that come to mind:

-Antwan Barbour
-Hamidou Diallo

A lot of Tubbys guys who ended up just not quite being as good as expected ie Crawford, Bogans, Sparks etc.

Tubby ruined a lot of players. On the flip side though, he gave guys like Gerald Fitch and Erik Daniels lots of mins and I didn't expect much from those guys coming in but in the end they both worked out and were 2 of my fav Tubby guys.

Guys like Marvin Stone, Michael Bradley and the list goes on and on, but a few others I feel like were just never able to really get all that comfortable and play through mistakes. I know many think Tubby was the greatest thing ever, but damn he could go crazy with his substitution patterns at times.. always screwing with it.

Sometimes you gotta let certain guys play on and not constantly worry about fresh legs. If a player is knocking down shots leave him alone. If a player makes a mistake leave him alone. I don't think some guys knew what to expect or were always able to feel comfortable with Tubby. I liked Tubby and he done a decent job... but I always see ppl say how if Tubby had Cals players how he'd been so successful and I disagree. Look at the 05 class and how it went straight to hell.

Tub could take a 5star player or a no star player and the goal for Tubs was to have them all playing like a 3 stars by time it was over.

 

[Kentucky fan 1989]

Most disappointing coach is Billy G. It's like Jar Jar being General.

 

[SosaUK1987]

He was another Juco guy. might have been the #1 juco transfer that year. And he showed a ton of promise early. He had 22 and 7 against Iowa the 3rd game of the season and only topped double figures like 2 or 3 more times.

Not sure his ranking regarding Juco but I remember him being a 3 star. I never got all that excited for him because of his star rating so he didn’t disappoint me much at all.

And I do remember the game early on he did good. I guess that was the Iowa game. I think he was shooting 3’s really well so we all thought we should expect that and of course, didn’t work out.

 

[king of cali]

Too lazy to make a list. Those were all good ones. I’ll just add players you didn’t have on there that come to mind:

-Antwan Barbour
-Hamidou Diallo

A lot of Tubbys guys who ended up just not quite being as good as expected ie Crawford, Bogans, Sparks etc.

Tough room when a guy who ends up #4 on the all time scoring list is viewed as not being as good as expected.

 

[BlueWhite21]

Most disappointing coach is Billy G. It's like Jar Jar being General.

It's a drump ball, drunk ball, jump ball between Eddie and Billy. Hell with it... Possession (of Cocaine) arrow is pointing in Clyde's direction so he got the title...

 

[stereonut]

Who do you have on your list?

Here's mine:





#10. Ryan Harrow
#9. Alex Poythress
#8. Jared Prickett
#7. Marvin Stone
#6. Randolph Morris
#5. Kahlil Whitney
#4. Brandon Boston
#3. Skal Labissiere
#2. Rodrick Rhodes
#1. Shaedon Sharpe

Morris off/Vanderbilt on.

Good list though.

 

[numberone4ever2002]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned C.J. Frederick yet. Not for reasons of his own doing (he gave us everything he had), but disappointing because he could just never shake the injury bug and be the bucket he was projected to be coming in. I was so excited to be getting a near 50% three point sniper. And he just never was.

Man, it's hard not to wonder "what if" we had him healthy the last two seasons and he was close to the player he was at his peak at Iowa. Probably would've given Grady some relief in 2021-22, and Reeves some relief in 22-23. There's no question we'd have gotten further in the tournament both years if he had been the guy we hoped he would be.

 

[bbncal02]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned C.J. Frederick yet. Not for reasons of his own doing (he gave us everything he had), but disappointing because he could just never shake the injury bug and be the bucket he was projected to be coming in. I was so excited to be getting a near 50% three point sniper. And he just never was.

Man, it's hard not to wonder "what if" we had him healthy the last two seasons and he was close to the player he was at his peak at Iowa. Probably would've given Grady some relief in 2021-22, and Reeves some relief in 22-23. There's no question we'd have gotten further in the tournament both years if he had been the guy we hoped he would be.

Yeah, hard to blame him. Dude was hurt when he got here, then hurt his shooting hand, and then bruised ribs (which hurts just by existing, much less playing an aerobic sport.)

 

[bbncal02]

Skal is up there for sure.
Boston too. Everyone whiffed on him.
Vanderbilt is on there, but at least he played a bit.
Whitney is on there as well.
I'll even add Wheeler on there. He had potential to be good, but didn't want to take a secondary role.

 

[JonathanW]

Skal and Stone head my list.

 

[SosaUK1987]

Yeah, hard to blame him. Dude was hurt when he got here, then hurt his shooting hand, and then bruised ribs (which hurts just by existing, much less playing an aerobic sport.)

I thought it was his legs he hurt in the Duke warmup?

 

[bbncal02]

I thought it was his legs he hurt in the Duke warmup?

He did that too.

But he was coming off an injury when he transferred.

Then hurt his leg. Then his shooting hand (which was minor, but still altered his shot), then his ribs.

Felt bad for him, but it wasn't his fault.

 

[Montana81]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned C.J. Frederick yet. Not for reasons of his own doing (he gave us everything he had), but disappointing because he could just never shake the injury bug and be the bucket he was projected to be coming in. I was so excited to be getting a near 50% three point sniper. And he just never was.

Man, it's hard not to wonder "what if" we had him healthy the last two seasons and he was close to the player he was at his peak at Iowa. Probably would've given Grady some relief in 2021-22, and Reeves some relief in 22-23. There's no question we'd have gotten further in the tournament both years if he had been the guy we hoped he would be.

I did forget about Fredrick. I’d swap Hogan out for him tbh.

 

[SosaUK1987]

He did that too.

But he was coming off an injury when he transferred.

Then hurt his leg. Then his shooting hand (which was minor, but still altered his shot), then his ribs.

Felt bad for him, but it wasn't his fault.

Yeah. I thought I remembered it was his legs that was the big injury that set him back once he got here. Who the hell gets hurt in the damn layup line tho? Let’s get real here. Lol

 

[bbncal02]

Yeah. I thought I remembered it was his legs that was the big injury that set him back once he got here. Who the hell gets hurt in the damn layup line tho? Let’s get real here. Lol

It's our luck with injuries man

 

[SosaUK1987]

It's our luck with injuries man

No kidding.

 

[azubuikefan]

Too lazy to make a list. Those were all good ones. I’ll just add players you didn’t have on there that come to mind:

-Antwan Barbour
-Hamidou Diallo

A lot of Tubbys guys who ended up just not quite being as good as expected ie Crawford, Bogans, Sparks etc.

Bogans was a two time All American, SEC Player of the Year, and is Top 5 in scoring at UK.

 

[Marine_In_VA]

Does Orton belong on this list?

 

[Cowtown Cat]

My thoughts on Rhodes have always been that Rick ruined him. He started his career off on fire and then Rick got visions of magic johnson and tried to turn him into a point forward. Rhodes could never seem to get going again after that.

On Boston, i don’t completely blame him for how bad he played. That team was put together terribly. We had no returning minutes played at the start of that season and no off season. Those guys all looked bad except Jackson, who had arguably the simplest role on the team. Boston was asked to create points within an offense that didn’t exist. Man that season should have never happened. Complete shit show by the staff.

Askew on the other hand, he was just a bad player. The point guard that struggled to get the ball past half court.

Absolutely agree on Rhodes. He still put up solid numbers. Just didn’t live up to his all world hype.

 

[cats#1again]

Who do you have on your list?

Here's mine:





#10. Ryan Harrow
#9. Alex Poythress
#8. Jared Prickett
#7. Marvin Stone
#6. Randolph Morris
#5. Kahlil Whitney
#4. Brandon Boston
#3. Skal Labissiere
#2. Rodrick Rhodes
#1. Shaedon Sharpe

Antwan Barbour is by far the most disappointing

 

[cats#1again]

Too lazy to make a list. Those were all good ones. I’ll just add players you didn’t have on there that come to mind:

-Antwan Barbour
-Hamidou Diallo

A lot of Tubbys guys who ended up just not quite being as good as expected ie Crawford, Bogans, Sparks etc.

Sparks gave about everything he could. Not sure why he was disappointing.... He was a slow kid , that was known from the start

 

[M4CAT]

Skal
Stacey Poole
Jared Carter
Ryan Hogan
Devin Askew
Antwain Barbour
Desmond Allison
Andre Riddick
Kahlil Whitney
Rashaad Carruth

 

[kywildcatsfannumber1]

The Dragon
Skal Labissiere
Derrick Jasper
BJ Boston
Andre Riddick
Jared Carter
Cam'Ron Fletcher
Rashaad Carruth
Shagari Alleyne
SKJ

 

[UK90]

They might not have been 5 stars, but quite a few in-state recruits like Jon Hood, Josh Carrier and Jared Carter are worth a mention. Hood was a top 40 ranked recruit in HS, Carrier was once being hyped as a bigger better version of Louis Dampier, and I remember fans giddy about Carter's potential to develop into a Walton-like big man force in the middle.

Yet they ended up looking like walk on level scrubs in way over their heads for pretty much their entire UK careers.

 

[know1]

Why have a thread like this?

 

[Ron Mehico]

Sparks gave about everything he could. Not sure why he was disappointing.... He was a slow kid , that was known from the start

His second season here he was out of shape and didn’t improve at all. His first season I really enjoyed him.

 

[UK90]

A lot of Tubbys guys who ended up just not quite being as good as expected ie Crawford, Bogans, Sparks etc.

WTF? Sparks was rated a mere mid-major prospect not good enough to play at big time schools out of high school. Yet he ended up a two-year starter and double digit scorer at the nation's premiere blue blood. He did much BETTER in college than originally expected, not worse.

And Bogans was an All American here and remains our 4th All Time leading scorer. That's not good enough for you?

It's true that Tubby had some very disappointing recruits (see Marvin Stone), but you picked awful examples to try to illustrate that point.

 

[Ron Mehico]

WTF? Sparks was rated a mere mid-major prospect not good enough to play at big time schools out of high school. Yet he ended up a two-year starter and double digit scorer at the nation's premiere blue blood. He did much BETTER in college than originally expected, not worse.

And Bogans was a friggin First Team All American and is our 4th all time leading scorer. That's not good enough for you?

It's true that Tubby had some very disappointing recruits (see Marvin Stone), but you picked gawdawful examples to try to illustrate that point.

I was a student at UK during those times. Sparks second season here he was 10 lbs heavier and was very disappointing. Bogans second season sucked but yes he was good probably doesn’t belong on the list.