Cal seems genuinely worried.

[Poetax]

I don’t believe I said anything that would warrant crow, aside from us winning a title.

Well having young players is a gripe for some but more then not he has them in contention by March which is very hard to do in my eyes. And really with the exceptions of Dook and UNC, and Kansas to a degree, nobody gets the top players like we do. I don’t want 3 or 4 star players with a 5 Star in for good measure and be in contention every 4 years for a FF, I’m fine with it.

 

[drcats2013]

Lol, most talented squad in KY history? You realize since Cals been here we've had teams go 38-2 and 38-1 right?

You realize I said “could be”. Nothing definitive. This team top to bottom has potential to be that, yes. The Davis team was just a wonderful “team”. But they were only 6 deep. This roster could have 11 guys that 1-11 are deeper than any team we’ve ever had. 4 potential stars in Knox, Diallo, Vanderbilt, and Washington. Then 7 other players would that are extremely talented. Young and will lose some early, but I LOVE this team

 

[Poetax]

For correctly saying 2014, 2015 and 2017 were better?

Nah I thought you’ve been unhappy since 2013, that would have been a long time.

 

[Bluesnky]

I'm eager to see them in a game where they actually try to play defense. The scuttlebut has been that they are already very good defensively.

On offense, everyone has been so worried about three point shooting. They shoot 45%. No optimism?

 

[BoxterS]

As is usually a concern, need some guys that can knock down perimeter shots. This team can be very solid defensively, which is a staple for Cal, and truly where championships are won. But the typical recipe of "packing it in" and daring us to shoot is an annoying, yet consistent Achilles heel for us.

 

[ok-cats-computer]

I think Cal is a little anxious about this team. We are extremely young and inexperienced. I think we will take some unexpected losses early, but I have confidence that Cal will have the team ready in March.

 

[BBUK]

It’s coach speak man. Cal never says what he actually thinks. He’s been here for almost 10 years!

Is coach speak, lying? How you state it is he is lying but he's a coach so that's okay. Not sure Cal is built that way.

 

[Untouchables22]

If I were Cal I would have some anxiety knowing the extremely high standard I have set at UK (regular season SEC champion and #2-#3 is MINIMUM for most.) The BBN nation can turning into a Big Blue Monster rather quickly and this team is going to take some lumps and are going to lose some games we don't normally lose due to inexperience. I love our fans but I'd have some trepidation about asking them for some patience....

 

[rodgersl]

I was at the game and saw 4 or more players walking off the court limping or with cramps. We are looking at a 10 loss season IMO, but so much talent I think we will pull a run together.

 

[Carl1952]

LOL this team will be in the top 10 all year . We have a bad non con schedule which helps. I think we are undefeated going into the game in late Jan. at WVU where we lose. I also think we lose at UF, at A&M and 2 other SEC games. BUt that will win the conference and get us a 2 seed.

I believe this young inexperienced team will have trouble winning on the road in the SEC this year. A lot of the other SEC teams have more talent this year than they have had in a long time.

 

[morgousky]

Excited that we are considered favs for Zion and Bol (top 5) and 4 top 10 players for 18 tho

Yea with some of these guys back it would be picked to win it. That was kind of my point. I don’t think Cal is holding anyone back, but I do think he’s putting more into getting some to stay. At least more than previous years. Maybe looking more into guys who might be more prone to stay. There’s just no way to win another title in this climate without the top 5 guys and 10-25 freshman without returnees.

 

[ashbergh]

I thought my mom was going to slap me through the phone when I said we may lose 8-9 games this year. The SEC is not going to be any type of a walk through for this squad.

 

[BigKari]

So funny how people are forming opinions about an entire season based on an intrasquad scrimmage. One thing this team cannot afford is another injury. They played at about 75-80%. On paper, this Kentucky team is the most talented in the nation this season. It's going to take some time to get where they need to be but the raw talent will pull us through until then. Yeah they'll lose some games but beyond Kansas early and @WVU, I just don't see any other losses jumping out. I would expect 2-3 road losses in conference play but we know by now that's it's nothing to lose our minds about. This team is better than last years (by the end of the year) Yes I'd take Monk, Fox, and Bam over Green, Diallo and Richards but look at the difference between Briscoe and Knox, Willis and Washington, Soph Gabriel over Freshman Gabriel...

16-17 had better top end talent but not by leaps and bounds. This team is far deeper and still has a clear go to guy in the half court and a clear go to guy in transition. Not to mention when Vanderbilt enters the fold, he's a do it all guy who should have no problem gelling with what was already established. I'm excited to watch this young team grow, I'm far from guaranteeing a Final 4, but I see no reason to doubt them either.

 

[Cal4Pres.]

Most of us have short term memory loss. We do the same thing most years. Freak out over a scrimmage. This team will be a way better defensive team than last year, offense, I doubt just because of monk and fox. But overall, maybe, hopefully. And they were a bad ref away from F4. Every year we have doubts, and every year by March we are good to go. I trust Cal. The offense will come, it always does. Last year we had to put points up to win, this year our defense will limit a lot of people. You never know, playing each other with the length we have could make a good team look bad.

 

[KYFOSSIL]

I was at the game and saw 4 or more players walking off the court limping or with cramps. We are looking at a 10 loss season IMO, but so much talent I think we will pull a run together.

"We"???
This is your typical negative approach after a scrimmage.

 

[ccukuk]

YOUTH.

It’s youts, as in “the two youts.”
Herman Münster did his best to understand.

 

[SilentsAreGolden]

I don't think my comments have been negative or freaking out. I had very positive comments in the game thread. I think we looked pretty good all things considered. I just don't think our team has enough experience to win it all. Less talented teams have won it all, so it's possible.

 

[KyCatFan]

It's too early to say how good or how bad we will be. We don't even have enough players to play 5 on 5 yet with 2 key players injured unless we use walkons. They all pretty much had to play the whole 40 minutes and that will take a toll on pretty much any team at the start of the season. Plus with the players all split up and changing teams, who knows if we ever even had our best lineup out there together. I'm sure there will be ups and downs as there always is with these young teams, but I am guessing Coach Cal is just doing his usual coach speak to keep the fans from losing it after a couple early season losses.

 

[Montana81]

I'm okay with the occasional down or rebuilding year if we actually get most of the guys back at the end.

 

[Bluegrassking]

Worried? No. Just a real assessment. The team is green and raw so it going to be work to mold a contender but the potential is there.

Youth is not an excuse it is a reality that must be navigated and dealt with because it is a fact and their is no magical pixie dust to sprinkle on it to make the fact disappear it will take time and effort to mold a brand new team of freshmen with even for Cal little experience coming back.
It will likely turn out pretty well but it just isn't reasonable to expect an "just add water" situation.

The most encouraging thing is he seems to have little concerns about want to, coachability, or willingness to communicate.

He was more positive than last week and I'd tend bet he will have more reason to be more positive next week and so on.

This is a work in progress not a finish product. SURPRISE! SURPRISE!! SURPRISE!!!

 

[Dakota25]

This is a build up year for 18-19 as most of these guys will return, a bridge year if you will. We are starting our campaign for the 2019 championship.

Now the non conference schedule in November and December is easier than most years and possibly the easiest since Calipari’s first year. So we should enter January 10-2, but I expect a final record of 21-10 as the SEC will be tough.

 

[stenchymouse]

I think that we'll be pretty good...

The problem is, that our fans aren't okay with "pretty good".

I'll just enjoy the process and support the team.

If we end up being really good, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Bluesnky]

This is a build up year for 18-19 as most of these guys will return, a bridge year if you will.

Speaking of bridges, I have one for sale if you're interested.

We are starting our campaign for the 2019 championship.

I like this team a lot better than last year's team, which I didn't think had a chance to be as good as they wound up being. We had a PF playing C, a SF playing PF, and a not particularly tall guard playing SF. There are no such concerns this year. We are tough to match up against. There's not going to be anyone to go after time and again.

I think it is pretty silly to write this team off in October.

 

[kev69]

I don't think this is an NIT team, but I'm not sure we're looking at a high seed though.

You have to shooters.

 

[Bluesnky]

I don't think this is an NIT team, but I'm not sure we're looking at a high seed though.

You have to shooters.

What if... we do have them?

 

[stenchymouse]

I don't think that there's anything wrong with lower expectations...

The unrealistic expectations are what creates the crazy behavior by some of our fan base.

Like I said...

I'm excited to just watch it unfold.

 

[UK_fan_41102]

Youth and one of our biggest recruits is hurt. This is a year where the impatient parts of our fan base will get loud. They will be ready by March.

Good year to have a weak OOC schedule

Then they should close their eyes and think back to the BCG days or think about the mess down the road. If that doesn't put them in a better state of mind, then they're probably not coming in off the ledge.

 

[FrankUnderwood]

As is usually a concern, need some guys that can knock down perimeter shots. This team can be very solid defensively, which is a staple for Cal, and truly where championships are won. But the typical recipe of "packing it in" and daring us to shoot is an annoying, yet consistent Achilles heel for us.

EXCELLENT contribution.

 

[Sawnee Cat]

A lot are concerned about cramping but I am not. This was a scrimmage and most of the players had to play a full 40 minutes. This early in the season you are going to get cramps. The trainers will have that corrected by the first regular season game. In regular season we will have 3 or 4 players that may play 30 minutes with a lot more TV timeouts and plenty of fluids going into their body. Plus they are going to be in much better condition.

The team has a long way to go but plenty of time to get there. Today they will practice twice and cramping will be addressed as Cal whips this team into shape. The good thing is the team will work hard and a great attitude will get them over a few humps in the road. They do not have any "prima donnas" on the team that I know of and that is half of the battle when working with this type of talent. I like this team.

 

[Calsthebomb]

I don't think this is an NIT team, but I'm not sure we're looking at a high seed though.

You have to shooters.

We have 8 five star recruits on our roster. To see people saying nit is ludacris to me

 

[armchairpg]

This team has some great pieces and they seem to like each other. Also Cal has a little experience in giving young players a crash course in college level ball. Therefore I am not worried. Only this is I hope we can steal some wins so we can preserve as good a seed as possible.

Barring major injuries NIT is not a concern.

 

[Buck Creek Cat]

The ESPN announcers for the scrimmage brought up the NIT first round loss to Robert Morris in ‘13 a few times, even showed some clips. What they and other analysts conveniently failto mention every time the ‘13 season is discussed is that if 7 footer Noel doesn’t go down with a season ending injury in the Florida game Kentucky goes to at least the NCAA Sweet 16 that year, IMO.

 

[Willy4UK]

Lol

Smh

 

[FrankUnderwood]

We have 8 five star recruits on our roster. To see people saying nit is ludacris to me

Agreed

 

[FrankUnderwood]

What’s gonna be mist frustrating is if we drop a few games early (not s big deal at all) this board is gonna melt down and “UK fans” who are super scared about UL losing their banner (and insisting that UL doesn’t have to “physically bring down the banner ) will be calling for cal’s head , saying he can’t recruit anymore , saying we need shooters .... blah blah blah. Then inevitably start suckling on Duke/ coach K.

Besides K, who else would people want ? It’s ludacris to even entertain the thought.

 

[Lovebaskelball]

I tend to wait instead of eating crow later. Several could learn from this advice.

Why? It's what makes a message board fun. No one knows either way but it makes for lively discussions.

 

[JonathanW]

I've said this all summer, this team reminds me of the 14 team, and some of the 15 team. NOT as good as the 15 team, but similar quality depth where there is little difference between 1-5 and 6-10. I wouldn't feel too confident in picking the winner of
Green, Diallo, Knox, Gabriel, SKJ vs
SGA, Baker, (healthy) Vanderbilt, Washington, Richards

But the similarity between 18 and 14 is large.
The 2 biggest FR led classes we've had.
Both return 2 talented bigs who needed some work, and nothing else.
Randle v Washington, I may take Randall but the difference isn't great
Young v Knox, pretty even but I might take Knox
Andrew v Green, very different styles but could be even
Aaron v Diallo, also very different but could be even
WCS v SKJ, WCS wins
Poythress v Gabriel, AP regressed as a Soph and it appears Gabriel may be leaping forward so I may lean toward Gabriel
Johnson v Richards, even but it's O vs D
Hawkins v SGA, SGA all day
Willis v Vanderbilt, if he plays Vanderbilt all day

 

[JC CATS]

I tend to wait instead of eating crow later. Several could learn from this advice.

Wait until we drop a few, I would be willing to wager there will be people on here calling for Cal's job and other's just short of it. So many on here and the Lair by halftime saying " X outclasses us, why don't we have their players and coach" Then we wind up winning the game. I may let out frustrations at home, but I would never do it on the board and look like a fool later

 

[armchairpg]

The ESPN announcers for the scrimmage brought up the NIT first round loss to Robert Morris in ‘13 a few times, even showed some clips. What they and other analysts conveniently failto mention every time the ‘13 season is discussed is that if 7 footer Noel doesn’t go down with a season ending injury in the Florida game Kentucky goes to at least the NCAA Sweet 16 that year, IMO.

Exactly. That team had a major injury to its best player late in the season and no point guard..and poor chemistry.

A lot of things would have to change to find this years team in that boat.

 

[rodgersl]

"We"???
This is your typical negative approach after a scrimmage.

Yeah, when your entire family spends thousands and travels with the team all over the country...I think WE is okay to say. You can call that negative, but I will call it realistic? Nothing wrong with losing some games in preparation for a tournament run.