Compare this team to the 14 team

[FrankUnderwood]

That team was primarily freshman oriented/ dominated. Made the title game essentially with 5 freshman.
Came up short, but we were there . Pretty much every year cal has UK in the "discussion " for a FF / title run. Which is all you can really ask for. Those who bash Cal or say we should have 19 titles "bc of all our talent " blah blah , are clearly devoid of how basketball works and operates.

Anyways, getting off topic. But I thought it was interesting that this year , we will pretty much be very freshman heavy etc.
just like the 14 team, who took some bumps during the year , but was obviously talented enough to play with the best of the best.

So, you think this team has more upside? Less? The same ?

Thoughts


I think Our PG position will be better with this team , than last- as I'm excited about having a "true" point guard.

 

[HoptownCat93]

Guard/Wing-Guards: Harrison, Harrison, Young, Hawkins, Polson vs. Green, Diallo, Alexander, Baker

Forwards/Wing-forwards: Poythress, Hood, Willis vs. Knox, Washington, Vanderbilt, Gabriel

Post Players: Cauley-Stein, Randle, Dakari, Lee vs. Richards, Jones, Tai

2017-18 advantages:
I think we have a better defensive back court this year. I think Green is more of a facilitator that can more people involved than the Harrisons did at that point. Shai and Baker are way better options off the bench than Polson or Hawkins ever were at that point.

Way more athletic on the wing. I could see this team being way better defensively. Overall, a much more athletic team.

This team also seems to have more versatility from all the position players.


2013-14 advantages:
Better shooting/scoring from the guards. They did not move the ball that well, but the Harrisons and Young could get you points when they needed to get them. They def had an edge at being able to score points.

Randle and Dakari both had great post games. Randle drew double teams constantly and could battle in the post for buckets. This new team does not have a "big butt" guy to hold the paint.


Ties:
Length from the post players. I think the new guys may have more options for length, but having Willie as the main rim protector along with the other guys made it tough for teams to go inside on us.

Depth is good for both. While 2014 had more players that were just "dead weight" kind of guys, they had a lot of options overall and more high level stars. This new team has 10 guys I see that can be good contributors with no real star in the bunch like a Randle.
I think the post length is about even. Though there are more options

 

[JonathanW]

This ^ comparison to the 14 team is the most appropriate one for the 17-18 Wildcats, even though most of us have never seen our 8 FR play.

The 14 team was a large FR class (8), led by the Harrison twins, Randle & Young (all 4 started). Johnson, Hawkins & Lee also contributed, while Willis rode the pine.
The 18 team is also a large FR class (8), likely to be led by 4 (possibly 5 or 3) FR starters.
I'm not sure we have a player of the caliber of Randle in this group, but I also think the worst/bottom 2-3 will be better than the worst/bottom 2-3 of the 14 FR.

The 14 team did have a little bit more returning players with WCS, Poythress, Polson & Hood. Poythress had started the prior year and was 2nd in points & 3rd in rebounds that year. WCS was the starting C the last third of the year (after the Noel injury). Polson had worked his way from walk-on to contributing backup PG, and Hood bad knees and all at least was that SR presence.
The 18 team will have less returning experience, with just Gabriel, SKJ & Wynyard. There is also Diallo who at least has 1/2 a season of practices under his belt.

Going position by position:
PG, Andrew H & Polson vs Green & SGA: Andrew was more physically ready for the college game, but he also showed to be a bit slow. That shouldn't be a problem for Green, but the size could be at times. SGA certainly has more upside (even as a FR) than Polson had. I'll call this a wash/even, although if I had to pick I'd go w/ 18.
SG, Aaron H & Hawkins vs Diallo & Baker: Aaron because of the NCAA games has the rep of a shooter, but he only made 35.6% of his many 3's in 14. That is still probably a higher % than Diallo will make. But Diallo may play better in all other facets of the game. Also Baker certainly is much more ready to contribute offensively than Hawkins, although probably not as good on defense. I'll also call wash/even here, but if I had to pick I would lean slightly to 18.
SF, Young vs Knox & Vanderbilt: Young was a nice slasher, but he was a volume scorer (40.7% overall, 34.9% from 3). I think Knox & Vanderbilt will push each other (or else sit), and one of them will be at least as good (if not better) than Young. The other will be a good backup. 18 wins here.
PF, Randle & Poythress vs Gabriel & Washington: Like I said there isn't (probably) a Randle on this team. And Poythress was a nice backup. I like the Gabriel & Washington pair almost as much as Knox & Vanderbilt, & like them the SFs, they will push each other. But 14 wins here.
C, WCS & Johnson & Lee vs Richards & SKJ: I actually can see Richards being similar to Willie. And even though he didn't play much last year, I can see SKJ being similar in production to Johnson. I'll call this one a wash/even too. But if I had to pick, I'd lean to 14.

It's close!!!
If the 18 can be respectable from 3, then this team will be very good come March. They should rebound very well, and we think they will play very good defense. Defense wasn't a strength of the 14 team.

 

[stoneycat_20]

Guards = 14
Forwards = 17-18
C = 14

 

[jackcarlson]

I don't know how well they are going to do, but I am convinced THIS team is going to be entertaining! I am getting excited.....

 

[Smashcat]

Like 2014, I can certainly see this team struggling thru the season and then taking off in March.

 

[Mr_GG]

An. Harrison > Green
Aa. Harrison < Diallo
Young < Knox
Randle > Vanderbilt
WCS > Richards
Poythress = Washington (because of Poy's inconsistency)
Dakari < SKJ
Lee < Gabriel
Polson/Hawkins = Alexander (Polson/Hawkins averaged 1 ppg a piece)
Willis/Hood = Baker (Willis/Hood both averaged 1 ppg a piece)

Shooting - 2014
Quality depth - 2018

It's kind of hard to make predictions like this when you've not seen all our guy's from this new class play at a high level. I think there are a lot of similarities between both teams though and I'm really excited to see this team play.

 

[KeepingItReal74]

Love these comparisons of what most haven't even seen yet.

 

[FrankUnderwood]

Love these comparisons of what most haven't even seen yet.

People Just making conversation during the slow summer months.

You have the ability to not click on threads/ post in them if you think comparisons are silly etc.

(-:

 

[GonzoCat90]

If given both rosters, here's who I'd start:

Andrew
Aaron
Diallo
Randle
WCS

If Quade Green is better than Andrew Harrison, we're going to be hell on wheels. But he's not.

That 14 class was deep and full of elite guys at the top. This year is deep and versatile but there's no Randle and our guards won't be as good.

 

[Dakota25]

13-14 had higher rated freshmen but the twins didn't live up to the hype thier freshmen year, hence why they came back. Poythress was always a good role player but never lived up to the hype in his career. That team was mediocre in the regular season but had a tournament run many of us will remember for her rest of our lives. Also getting a good draw on the one and four seeds helped too.

17-18 I haven't seen yet. Not sure who will live up to the hype and who won't but there are so many of them that I wouldn't worry about every single one not living up to their hype and would count on a few being as great as advertised. If 17-18 is to make a run Green will need to be similar to Ulis, Knox similar to Young, Diallo being a star as expected, and a couple front court guys will need to be like Randal and Noel. It's possible but it's a to be seen type team.

 

[HoptownCat93]

People do forget the stride Poythress made down the stretch for this team. He always could make a game changing play and lock down the opposing team's best scorer if needed. He was a monster going into his junior year.

Poy got robbed of a year where he was playing at his best and then his senior year he was really recovering from that injury. I say the Sophomore and partial
Junior year Poythress lived up to his hype.

 

[Jakarii]

Only way to fairly compare it is compare them coming out of H.S like we compare this years recruits. Using hindsite it will be easy to say this class is better at this or that but based off everyone at ththe same stage

14 backcourt was easily considered better and old threads on here confirms that

Young was considered better than the SF in this recruiting class

Randle was considered better than the PF in this class

Dakari was considered better than Richards.

Based off a combination of rankings, scouts, and people on this forum and what they wrote about the 14 class coming in

That team was primarily freshman oriented/ dominated. Made the title game essentially with 5 freshman.
Came up short, but we were there . Pretty much every year cal has UK in the "discussion " for a FF / title run. Which is all you can really ask for. Those who bash Cal or say we should have 19 titles "bc of all our talent " blah blah , are clearly devoid of how basketball works and operates.

Anyways, getting off topic. But I thought it was interesting that this year , we will pretty much be very freshman heavy etc.
just like the 14 team, who took some bumps during the year , but was obviously talented enough to play with the best of the best.

So, you think this team has more upside? Less? The same ?

Thoughts


I think Our PG position will be better with this team , than last- as I'm excited about having a "true" point guard.