Devin Askew
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nothing against Askew
but I consider him a low point in the Calipari era for one reason
IIRC he jumped a year of high school to enter college
so we had a high school Senior leading the University of Kentucky as their PG.
now there may be some of you out there that are all in on the Cal philosophy but that is a joke.
and I don't blame Askew, he probably is/was very good at playing ball, but that should never, ever happen at Kentucky. Hell, it shouldn't happen at 90% of the college programs that are serious about Basketball
Askew was the jump the shark moment for Calipari coaching
but I consider him a low point in the Calipari era for one reason
IIRC he jumped a year of high school to enter college
so we had a high school Senior leading the University of Kentucky as their PG.
now there may be some of you out there that are all in on the Cal philosophy but that is a joke.
and I don't blame Askew, he probably is/was very good at playing ball, but that should never, ever happen at Kentucky. Hell, it shouldn't happen at 90% of the college programs that are serious about Basketball
Askew was the jump the shark moment for Calipari coaching
If you want everything to be about Cal then yeah this line of thinking makes sense. Just because Cal *could* be brought up doesn’t also make it annoying af. Most of the board is in agreement they would rather have a new coach but there are some of you that seem more obsessed than others when bringing him up.
Yes the coach is responsible, don’t you think that’s the reason 90% of the board is ready to move on? But don’t you also agree that we can have basketball discussions about other teams, even players that don’t work out here, or anything basketball related without constantly trying to bring it back to Cal.
I agree with your point of view. It took me a while, but I really don't pay attention the the # of stars a player has anymore. I think a coach (including assistant coaches!) should personally evaluate a kid and not rely so heavily on the ratings. He (they) can use it as part of the overall evaluation, but not use it so heavily in the evaluation.
A couple of examples: B.J. Boston (5*) was a bust. I let his play (or lack of) become a thorn in my side that season. Based on ratings and comments from others, I was expecting John Wall type of good. We obviously didn't get that. Then there's Reed. He was rated a 4*. He should have been a 5*. I have a cousin who coaches and he loves to watch KY high school teams from all over the state. I went with him a few times to when Reed was playing. All I can say is WOW!! Watching him as a junior then senior was amazing!!! He got permission from Jeff, Stacy and Reed to record his play so he could use that as a teaching tool for his guys. In my opinion, and only my opinion, he should have been rated a 5*. So every player is different. Both of those guys were freshmen coming in, but so totally different.
Anyway, sorry for the long rambling 🤪🥴 to basically say I agree with your point.🤣🤣
GO BIG BLUE!!!💙💙💙
Enjoyed your comments and basically I have same point of view.
High school players earn their rankings at all-star camps that they attend. To be fair to Akew, he more than held his own against the other top talent in high school which is why he was ranked a high 4-star player. Same with Boston, a program's fit as far as expectations and the players work ethic don't always jive. Jodie Meeks didn't participate in any of the camps when he was in high school and was rated a low 4-star and sometimes a 3-star because none of the talent evaluators never had a chance to see him.
You can act like that but when you can't have any basketball discussion on this board without a group of posters derailing every thread into something about Cal it's a problem.
To answer the OP, I think the staff, like most that follow recruiting thought we would be getting Cade to run the point. When that weird recruitment ended with him going elsewhere the staff had to take the commitment of a guy (Askew) they never actually thought they would need but was the fallback.
I was hopeful he could be a solid multiyear 4 star PG that could shoot that we had not seen here often. Maybe stay multiple years, didn't happen.
I was hopeful he could be a solid multiyear 4 star PG that could shoot that we had not seen here often. Maybe stay multiple years, didn't happen.
Tony Barbee and Joel Justus were opening for us on the recruiting trail at the time. That's what happened with Askew.
Askew and Sky Clarke are kind of like the same situation. Askew was a back up plan and NOT the 1st option. With Clarke, he was not the top option, and when we actually got the first option, Clarke seen the writing on the wall and knew he would not play. Askew on the other hand was gifted the starting spot because we did not get Cunningham, so he stayed and tried to take advantage of the situation. He just was not good enough, neither was Clarke. EVERYONE missed on Askew, Cal wasn't the ONLY coach who recruited him. Sometime kids do not turn out to be what they was advertised. NO coach in the history of the game has a perfect record recruiting. BUT, I am pretty damn sure Cal has done fairly well with guards, I believe he has earned the right to miss on a back up plan, 5 star point guard. Some of you are just so quick to turn every discussion into a Cal bashing party. Yes he has sucked the last few years and has earned some criticism, but let's not turn EVERY discussion into a bash fest. We get it, he has not been what we all want / deserve the last few years UK, just not EVERYTHING is Cal's fault.
I'd much rather talk trash about an 18 year old kid who was put in a position to fail on the biggest stage in college basketball
Are you saying Cal put him in a position to fail or did I read it wrong ? If you are saying Cal, he gave the kid every chance to succeed, he just wasn't good enough for big time college ball. Texas and other teams also put him in a position to "fail". Just because a kid does not succeed, doesn't mean it is the coaches fault. Sometimes the kid is not good enough, or he just doesn't have the determination / work ethnic to do what it takes. Several other guys got the same opportunity and took advantage of it.
If you was being sarcastic toward the posters blaming Cal, disregard my rant / opinion and not directed toward you, but the crazies wanting to blame the coach for EVERYTHING, whether warranted or not. Askew has failed everywhere he has been after leaving UK, it is not the coaches, it is Askew. Same for Clarke, it is why they bounce around to 2/3 schools, they think they are better than they actually are, and their inner circle keeps propping them up telling them what they want to hear and not what they NEED to hear.
If you was being sarcastic toward the posters blaming Cal, disregard my rant / opinion and not directed toward you, but the crazies wanting to blame the coach for EVERYTHING, whether warranted or not. Askew has failed everywhere he has been after leaving UK, it is not the coaches, it is Askew. Same for Clarke, it is why they bounce around to 2/3 schools, they think they are better than they actually are, and their inner circle keeps propping them up telling them what they want to hear and not what they NEED to hear.
Cal doesn't do any actual coaching, though. He basically throws them out there with no guidance or plan and let's them twist in the wind.
This. This is what Cal does to players.
And then some of our jerk fans pile on and criticize these kids unmercifully.
I saw Marvin Stone as a high school sophomore and thought he was going to be a monster as a senior. I saw him again as a senior, and he was only marginally better than the first time I saw him. Some kids just peak early.
I don't really care where he's failed after UK. His is what he is.
You say Cal gave him a chance. Cal gave him more than a chance, he put the season on the kids shoulders when it was obvious very early he wasn't ready for it. He wasn't going to flip a switch and turn into SGA.
He was 3rd highest in minutes on the team.
He missed on him. I'm not going to blame a player for being recruited here, showing up and at least trying, and then say he is a failure. I'm going to blame the coach that puts him in a position where he is asked to do more than he can.
A coaching philosophy of treating players at mercenaries and not investing in them year over year is why this happened to Askew.
I still believe that was a panic move initiated by Cal or Justice when they knew they had lost out on Cunningham.
That is what happens when a coach doesn't build a legitimate roster. One lost recruit can tank a whole season.
This has been my (main) problem with Cal since 2013. Every season can be at risk because of some over rated 18 year old being controlled by adults for obvious reasons.
That is how Cal and UK ends up being held hostage by some of these players and their theiving possies.
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yea and having a Dominque Hawkins type player who could be a serviceable backup or in this case, the starting replacement when your 5 star wunderkind struggles probably would have been the difference in us having an above .500 season
and by extension, I think Wheeler was a panic move in response to Askew
again, a situation that could have been addressed by a Dominique Hawkins type player on the roster. Yea, lets bring in the starting PG for the 14-12, 7-11 SEC Georgia Bulldogs to run the program.
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Yeah, I think you're right, and this may be a good comparison. Stone peaked in high school- he was clearly better than the competition at that point and he was seen as a dominant post player from then, on. BJ Boston might be another example from UK. Skal Labissiere is perhaps another, though his issue may have been that he was a little raw coming into college. Sebastian Telfair might be another example from about 10 years ago. More recently for UK was the now LSU player Daimion Collins. He was a 5-star player and struggled at UK. He may yet become a good player but we haven't seen it yet.
The OP specifically stated "How did they miss so badly on him in high school ? 5 star I believe. Was he playing weak competition?"
You legit think that that should be talked about without mentioning the coach? Not trying to be a dick but come on man. Cal is a big part of the discussion when it comes to player recruitment and development.
Cal mis-evaluated him. Beard mis-evaluated him. ESPN and 247 mis-evaluated him.
He's a senior. He's appeared in 6 games. He's shooting 31% from the field and 14% from 3. I think some of that speaks to not putting in the work.
Don't get me wrong. He clearly is not who people thought.
He's a senior. He's appeared in 6 games. He's shooting 31% from the field and 14% from 3. I think some of that speaks to not putting in the work.
Don't get me wrong. He clearly is not who people thought.
Yes but WHY, because he was a 4 star by all the services. Why was he rated somewhat highly and what did everyone see. I don't think they ever intended for him to be a starter here.
For some reason, I feel like I remember reading/hearing that a lot of players in that class wanted to play with him as their PG, since he was a true pass-first PG and wouldn't be taking shots away from them. I'm sure it was BJ Boston, Cunningham (when we thought we were getting him), etc.
But to your point - definitely a big miss by recruiting services, if we're allowed to use hindsight bias. But here's some guys in that same class
#11 Greg Brown - drafted 45th overall
#8 Joshua Christopher - currently plays for the Sioux Falls G-League team
#15 Day'ron Sharpe - drafted 29th overall
#9 Mousa Cisse - he's now on his 3rd college basketball team
#18 Makur Maker - G League player
#20 Isaiah Todd - G Leage player
These national recruiting guys aren't really great at their jobs, to be honest. But again, it's a pretty tough gig and really difficult to project how each one of these kids will turn out.
This is the truth. Did Calipari misjudge him? Yes. He doesn't get a pass. But this is a case where EVERYONE misjudged him. Every recruiting service had him as a 4 or 5-star recruit. I think, as I said above, he developed early and was strong as a sophomore in high school. And it should be said- he was a good ball handler and a strong player with good size for a point guard (6-3). It was thought that his shooting would improve. That's not uncommon. People thought they were getting an Ashton Hagans type- ball handler with strength and good assist potential whose offense would come, but that's not what we got. His real problem was his lack of quickness and athleticism. We saw it again and again. He couldn't get by his man, so creating for himself or others was a struggle. And he couldn't make shots outside. He struggled with quick guards on both ends.
Well, SEVERAL former players disagree with you. I am going to take the players who actually played for him (most recently Devin Booker), saying he changed their lives over a disgruntled message board poster. Call me crazy, but, yeah I will take their word over yours. Booker was a 4 star guard without ANY pre-college NBA draft boards buzz, same as Herro, Ulis, Sheppard, the list goes on and on and on who ended up getting better. Hell, Ulis is a coach on his staff, if Cal didn't help him, you think Ulis would be on his staff ??? Get real, Maxey and Quickley BOTH have talked several times about how they would not be where they are without Cal's coaching. I can list SEVERAL other situations with players getting better if you would like ?
Who would you have played at PG instead ? Zan Payne ? Kareem Watkins ? Riley Welch ? Clark got hurt. He wasn't really a PG, but Cal was going to play him there because he had an idea Askew wasn't going to be the man, he was stuck with Askew. Make up your mind on your agenda, did he ruin the kid by playing him too much, or ruin him because he played him over other point guards who where even worse than he was ??? You do not think if Cal would have started one of the 3 walk on PG's over him it would not have ruined him ? Pick one, can't use both. If he would have never played him, he would have left because he did not get a chance. If I recall, at the end, he cut his minutes significantly. He ended up moving Mintz to point guard and he played out of position because Askew was so bad.
I would have made sure we had a solid backup PG to Askew. That makes your entire rant moot
Cal put him in a position to fail because Cal had limited options. Hagans got pissed , bolted and Cal had no veteran PG to fall back on because, well, Cal never has a veteran to fall back on.
And the result was the worst season in program history.
OK whatever you say. Have a point guard ahead of him and he never gets to play (he gets pissed and leaves), OR give him minutes (another pg or not is irrelevant) and see if the kid can work hard, get better, prove he is worthy of his high ranking, he failed and left. How did Cal not having another point guard cause him to fail ? If he didn't get to play, he fails, he played big minutes and guess what ? He failed. Had nothing to do with Cal, it had everything to do with Askew not being very good. What is his excuse at the other places ? All the coaches ? Now Cal DID fail UK by not having a proven or another option at PG, but he did NOT fail Devin Askew, Devin Askew failed. Askew by not putting in the work to get better, or just wasn't ever going to be good enough. Yes Cal failed UK, but NOT Askew.
That must be why John Thompson (rest his soul) went over to Calipari and asked him how in the world he got his Freshman to switch and play such high level defense down the stretch against Wisconsin when we beat them in 2014 or why Harrison Barnes looked at the bench and said "wow" in the 2011/2012 season when Cal directed a play from start to finish that produced 2 points when Anthony and company beat them in Rupp. I'm sure there are an infinite amount of other examples. I guess our players just "winged" it at Auburn this year. Your post is nonsense.
its a very simple concept. He was not talented enough to be the PG at the University of Kentucky.
That's not on Devin Askew. I'm sure he tried to the best of his ability.
Its like bringing him in to run a 4.25 in the 40 but he can never do it because he just isn't capable
That isn't failing, that's putting him in a position to fail.
Its Cal's job to evaluate talent.
