College basketball's top 50 players, from 50 to 1
- Thread starter preacher_tom
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30. Tyler Ulis, sophomore guard, Kentucky. Guilty as charged: I love point guards in the Tyler Ulis mold, those undersized, absurdly quick dudes who’ll pester you all over the court. Ulis is Kentucky’s most important player this year, and honestly, he might have been their most important player during the 38-1 season, too. He had 15 assists in Kentucky’s intrasquad scrimmage, but something we forget about Ulis is his shooting ability; he led the team in three-point shooting last season at 42.9 percent. There won’t be a question as to who is the leader of this new version of the Kentucky Wildcats.
27. Alex Poythress, senior forward, Kentucky. Poythress has had one of the strangest journeys of any college player to play four years in one program. His freshman season, which was supposed to be a one-and-done year going in, was Kentucky’s NIT disaster. His sophomore year was the roller-coaster season in which Kentucky sneaked into the NCAA tournament and then made it all the way to the title game. Then Kentucky’s top glue guy had to watch the 38-1 season last year from the sideline after tearing his ACL in December. More than anyone on this talented Kentucky squad, Poythress will be playing with an urgency of knowing this year will be his final shot. If he continues to accept his down-and-dirty role as he did during the first month of last season, he’ll be the man who holds this young Kentucky team together. When I saw him play in Kentucky’s Blue-White Scrimmage, he looked like the Poythress of old.
9. Skal Labissiere, freshman forward, Kentucky. The guy many people think will be coach John Calipari’s fifth No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft is a near-7-footer who can do it all. He has a post game with refined moves, including a tough-to-stop baby hook. He can hit a jumper. He can get up and down the court magnificently for a big man. And he can block shots. The scary part is how much he’ll progress from November to March. Right now he looks a bit overwhelmed by size. But by March …
7. Jamal Murray, freshman guard, Kentucky. Labissiere is the one pegged as Calipari’s next No. 1 overall pick, but it could be Murray who makes the biggest impact for Kentucky this season. The dude can flat-out score, which he proved with his 40 percent three-point shooting during his bravura performance playing for Team Canada during the summer Pan American Games.. He’s going to be the king of jaw-dropping plays this season. It’s an intriguing dynamic in Lexington. Last year, Calipari was flush with talented big men. This year, he’s flush with talented guards. Will be interesting to see how often Murray, Ulis and freshman guard Isaiah Briscoe see the floor together in a small-ball lineup.
27. Alex Poythress, senior forward, Kentucky. Poythress has had one of the strangest journeys of any college player to play four years in one program. His freshman season, which was supposed to be a one-and-done year going in, was Kentucky’s NIT disaster. His sophomore year was the roller-coaster season in which Kentucky sneaked into the NCAA tournament and then made it all the way to the title game. Then Kentucky’s top glue guy had to watch the 38-1 season last year from the sideline after tearing his ACL in December. More than anyone on this talented Kentucky squad, Poythress will be playing with an urgency of knowing this year will be his final shot. If he continues to accept his down-and-dirty role as he did during the first month of last season, he’ll be the man who holds this young Kentucky team together. When I saw him play in Kentucky’s Blue-White Scrimmage, he looked like the Poythress of old.
9. Skal Labissiere, freshman forward, Kentucky. The guy many people think will be coach John Calipari’s fifth No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft is a near-7-footer who can do it all. He has a post game with refined moves, including a tough-to-stop baby hook. He can hit a jumper. He can get up and down the court magnificently for a big man. And he can block shots. The scary part is how much he’ll progress from November to March. Right now he looks a bit overwhelmed by size. But by March …
7. Jamal Murray, freshman guard, Kentucky. Labissiere is the one pegged as Calipari’s next No. 1 overall pick, but it could be Murray who makes the biggest impact for Kentucky this season. The dude can flat-out score, which he proved with his 40 percent three-point shooting during his bravura performance playing for Team Canada during the summer Pan American Games.. He’s going to be the king of jaw-dropping plays this season. It’s an intriguing dynamic in Lexington. Last year, Calipari was flush with talented big men. This year, he’s flush with talented guards. Will be interesting to see how often Murray, Ulis and freshman guard Isaiah Briscoe see the floor together in a small-ball lineup.
I can't rendered a comment other than to say, I do not agree. I realize some of those players have stats but against who? If possible you could use stats adjusted for strength of schedule or strength of position there may be a better list to be had but I will have to disagree. Thanks Preach for the link in any event.
Decent article, but way too much credence put on "experience." Show me the last time 6 of the top 10 players were upperclassman. Rarely does it happen that way.
I love Kyle, but this is whacko. He would not start for us this year, would he? Can't play D...
Kyle would start, let's not kid ourselves. He would start over Briscoe or Matthews at this point.
![[roll]](http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/img/emoticons/classic/roll.r191677.gif "roll [roll]")
Defense is his Achilles. If you don't play a zone, he's a liability. My opinion...
He averaged almost 17 ppg last year. I'm going to venture and say Cal would trade subpar/average defense for his scoring at this point in the season.
Don't need Wiltjer's scoring, we have that from Murray and Murray is a top notch passer and rebounder as well. Wiltjer does one thing reasonably well and that's about it.
