ADVERTISEMENT

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

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.


It was Bogans junior year that he struggled. He was thinking of going pro after a standout sophomore season when he lead the team in scoring at 17 points a game. He came back the next year along with Tayshaun and that ended up being team turmoil. We were loaded to start that season though. And were a consensus preseason top 5 team.

But he bounced back as a senior and helped lead us to the overall #1 seed and 26 wins in a row. Then he rolled his ankle and Dwayne Wade happened
 
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.
You had an extremely unrealistic understanding of Sparks' potential if you ever thought he could be much more than he was at UK. It's true that his play took a slight dip his senior year, but that's only because he so OVER-achieved in relation to his physical limitations during his junior year.

He was a pudgy, short-armed, unathletic, 6'0" (and even that listing is stretching the truth) shooting guard that was never expected to be anything more than a mid-major Sun Belt caliber player when he came out of HS ...yet instead became a two year starter and career double digit scorer at the most prestigious program in the country.

In terms of how college performance compared to original expectations, his name belongs in a discussion of pleasant surprises, not disappointments.
 
Last edited:
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
Shaedon Sharpe is #1
The Dragon is #2
Morris doesn’t belong close to the list IMO. He played a lot of games and played well.
 
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.
Man, how Askew was ranked close to the top PG in his class baffles me. The kid did nothing close to elite let alone even D1 level.
 
Last edited:
Since Sharpe wasn't actually a UK player, he should have his own category, something like "biggest fraud in UK history."

I would consider Jodie Meeks for this list, since he didn't come back for 2010 and most likely cost us a title.
 
Oliver Simmons
JP Blevins
Whitney
Skal
Barbour
Askew
Brandon Stockton
Myron Anthony
Jules Camara
Bernard Cote.
Rashaad Carruth
Everyone of those guys were a priority recruit at the time they were offered
 
  • Like
Reactions: Fox2monk
You had an extremely unrealistic understanding of Sparks' potential/limitations if you ever thought he could be much more than he was at UK. It's true that his play took a slight dip his senior year, but that's only because he so OVER-achieved in relation to his physical limitations during his junior year.

He was a pudgy, short-armed, unathletic, 6'0" (and even that listing is stretching the truth) shooting guard that was never expected to be anything more than mid-major Sun Belt caliber player when he came out of HS ...yet instead became a two year starter and career double digit scorer at the most prestigious program in the country.

In terms of how college performance compared to original expectations, his name belongs in a discussion of pleasant surprises, not disappointments.
I agree about Sparks! He was clutch in big games and came up big against UofL when he didn't walk 😂, but got fouled and causes Pitino to get run over by a reindeer walking out of Freedom Hall or however that song went. Then he does it again vs. Michigan State and should've also had a FT to accompany that last 3 he made in regulation. He got fouled on that shot. Not only those, but he beats UK while at WKU before he joining us. I think he and Rondo were better together before they had all the issues over a female.
 
  • Like
Reactions: KFuqua
Several of you put Boston on here, but I correctly predicted him over rated.
 
Only name I’d disagree is Randolph Morris unless you expected Dwight Howard out of him. He was a damn good player but not the nba talent advertised to be.
 
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).
I'll never forget Rhodes forcing bad shots in the 1995 Elite 8 against carolina. Just a dismal performance. I was glad to see him go.
 
Was Prickett highly recruited. I was a pre teen during those years so have zero clue. I just remember him being a very so so player.
 
Was Prickett highly recruited. I was a pre teen during those years so have zero clue. I just remember him being a very so so player.
Top 50-75, but the issue with him was that he never improved. He was basically the same player for four years, after showing a ton of potential as a freshman.

He was actually here for five years total, and I'm not sure if I could honestly say his 5th year here was any better than his first.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EastLansingCat
I agree. What does this negative topic accomplish? Anonymously belittling other people.

Second time through on this topic for OP. Why?
Every sports message board has discussions like this. You need to go check out more message board communities. It's not belittling either. It's discussion. That's why we come here.
 
Last edited:
Prickett scored 999 points and Morris was All-SEC. Won’t call those disappointments.

The rest sure.
 
Only name I’d disagree is Randolph Morris unless you expected Dwight Howard out of him. He was a damn good player but not the nba talent advertised to be.
Looking back on it his numbers don't look bad, but overall I thought that whole damn class was one huge disappointment. Morris came in at a time when guys went straight to the league from HS like crazy, and he too seemingly had that mentality that he could just walk in here and play half ass basketball for a year and then go to the NBA.

I think he was just lazy his freshman year. Stayed in foul trouble. Averaged like 8 pts and 4.5 RPG his Fr year. He only had one damn double-double that whole yr. and none all through the regular season. He only avg 3.7 rebs in conference play. Then tries to go to the NBA with those numbers. He left Tubby a fax.. that rubbed a lot of fans wrong.

It seemed like he just didn't always want to be here. His attitude got better and his numbers improved, but on some shitty teams. The last 2 years he played on teams that went 22-12, 9-7 and 22-13 9-7 with a 6th place finish in the SEC. He was decent, but I do think he was very much a disappointment. His FG% was nice though. For me personally I was glad to see him go.

That time in UK basketball just wasn't very much fun. That's what makes discussions like these interesting though is how certain fans remember different players in different ways.
 
I think Dakari Johnson and Marcus Lee might be at least worth a mention in this thread. Dakari was the No. 1 ranked big man in the country out of HS, and Lee was also a 5 star top 20 ranked McD AA.

Neither ever looked anything like what they were hyped to be.
 
Archie Goodwin was so disappointing that he's forgettable. Haven't seen his name yet. I remember this board being excited he chose us over Arkansas, by the end of the season pretty much everyone wanted him gone. That whole season was a disaster though
 
Archie Goodwin was so disappointing that he's forgettable. Haven't seen his name yet. I remember this board being excited he chose us over Arkansas, by the end of the season pretty much everyone wanted him gone. That whole season was a disaster though
I cut Archie some slack because he was forced to play the wrong position here.

He'd never played point before, he was not supposed to play point here, and because he had such tunnel vision, his game was totally ill suited for that primary distributor role. But thanks to Ryan Harrow's "issues", he was forced into the role anyways. And thus we got "the human bowling ball" as our point.

I think Archie's season would've gone far better for him if he'd been allowed to stay on the wing where he was meant to be.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BlueUKats39
Bogan disappointing? Gotta disagree. Some of the guys listed: Sparks, Barbour, Carter for example were Kentucky born kids that were as much "political" picks as anything. Moriss was a real strange deal.

Kentucky's history of injuries over the past years has been incredible. Makes me wonder if the guys in the 70s and 80s were either tougher or too dumb to quit playing when they were hurt.
 
I think Dakari Johnson and Marcus Lee might be at least worth a mention in this thread. Dakari was the No. 1 ranked big man in the country out of HS, and Lee was also a 5 star top 20 ranked McD AA.

Neither ever looked anything like what they were hyped to be.
I cut Archie some slack because he was forced to play the wrong position here.

He'd never played point before, he was not supposed to play point here, and because he had such tunnel vision, his game was totally ill suited for that primary distributor role. But thanks to Ryan Harrow's "issues", he was forced into the role anyways. And thus we got "the human bowling ball" as our point.

I think Archie's season would've gone far better for him if he'd been allowed to stay on the wing where he was meant to be.
I don't think it matters where you play Archie or anyone else on that team because it all came down to none of them being able to score the ball. It didn't matter if they were driving or tryin to shoot from outside because even if Archie got it on the wing he could really only score if he could put it on the floor anyways and get all the way to the rim. I hated that damn team. Wiltjer should've been a much bigger scoring threat that season. It was hard to get through games that year. It should never look as hard to score a basket as those guys made it look.

Marcus got his money's worth in that Michigan game though. Goes in and scores 8 straight points on dunks and layups and that was huge. He finish with like 10 and 8 with 7 of them being offensive rebs. And it was very unexpected. That's when he should've declared for the draft is right after that season. He could've got in the Daniel Orton way. 😂
 
You had an extremely unrealistic understanding of Sparks' potential if you ever thought he could be much more than he was at UK. It's true that his play took a slight dip his senior year, but that's only because he so OVER-achieved in relation to his physical limitations during his junior year.

He was a pudgy, short-armed, unathletic, 6'0" (and even that listing is stretching the truth) shooting guard that was never expected to be anything more than a mid-major Sun Belt caliber player when he came out of HS ...yet instead became a two year starter and career double digit scorer at the most prestigious program in the country.

In terms of how college performance compared to original expectations, his name belongs in a discussion of pleasant surprises, not disappointments.
That game vs Alabama in 05 was special! He was lights out!
 
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.
His second season? Lol are you trolling right now? Dude averaged more points that year than the year he won SEC POY. But yes, he sucked.
 
I feel certain our insane expectations are just as responsible for the perception of failure on some of these guys as their performance was.

We tend to think every kid's best 5 minutes of play is a standard for all their play going forward ...... sports just doesn't work like that.
 
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT