Does no one believe in Player Development?

[CatFanInIlliniLand]

This isn’t me being condescending. It’s a serious question.

Have we got so used to One and Done’s under Cal that we have forgot how returning college players can vastly improve their game? (I think back to the Jeff Sheppards, Nazr Mohammed’s, etc).

Yes, we need 2-3 portal players. Studs preferably. I still expect Chandler, Oweh, BG, Noah, Travis Perry to all be better versions of themselves in year 2. One of Chandler, Oweh, or BG could make an explosive leap! Add Kam Williams, Jasper Johnson, Moreno, and Acaden Lewis. We are 2-3 pieces away from being elite. Not 10-12 like last year.

 

[jmw23712]

I agree completely! I’m really excited to see how our guys progress. I would like to add a solid PG and a solid PF but anyone other than that is bonus imo. I think a couple of our guys from last season could have breakout years.

 

[jwphelps]

This isn’t me being condescending. It’s a serious question.

Have we got so used to One and Done’s under Cal that we have forgot how returning college players can vastly improve their game? (I think back to the Jeff Sheppards, Nazr Mohammed’s, etc).

Yes, we need 2-3 portal players. Studs preferably. I still expect Chandler, Oweh, BG, Noah, Travis Perry to all be better versions of themselves in year 2. One of Chandler, Oweh, or BG could make an explosive leap! Add Kam Williams, Jasper Johnson, Moreno, and Acaden Lewis. We are 2-3 pieces away from being elite. Not 10-12 like last year.

With the portal that maybe hard to do, now days if a kid is not satisfied with his playing time, just jump in the portal and find a coach who will promise him the world. And the hot 5 stars are still going to leave after one year for the NBA.

 

[Smashcat]

This isn’t me being condescending. It’s a serious question.

Have we got so used to One and Done’s under Cal that we have forgot how returning college players can vastly improve their game? (I think back to the Jeff Sheppards, Nazr Mohammed’s, etc).

Yes, we need 2-3 portal players. Studs preferably. I still expect Chandler, Oweh, BG, Noah, Travis Perry to all be better versions of themselves in year 2. One of Chandler, Oweh, or BG could make an explosive leap! Add Kam Williams, Jasper Johnson, Moreno, and Acaden Lewis. We are 2-3 pieces away from being elite. Not 10-12 like last year.

I agree. Way too early for the meltdowns we are seeing. While I am not a big fan, if Mgbako comes aboard, that gives us three McDonalds All Americans. People are acting like we have zero talent. lol

 

[wildcat_nation28]

yeah but at same time you need studs to compete

 

[$Z71$]

This isn’t me being condescending. It’s a serious question.

Have we got so used to One and Done’s under Cal that we have forgot how returning college players can vastly improve their game? (I think back to the Jeff Sheppards, Nazr Mohammed’s, etc).

Yes, we need 2-3 portal players. Studs preferably. I still expect Chandler, Oweh, BG, Noah, Travis Perry to all be better versions of themselves in year 2. One of Chandler, Oweh, or BG could make an explosive leap! Add Kam Williams, Jasper Johnson, Moreno, and Acaden Lewis. We are 2-3 pieces away from being elite. Not 10-12 like last year.

This is exactly right. We need one more above average big in the portal and one high scoring guard. At that point we have a top 10 team. The panic is insane, these other teams signing transfers left and right have way less returning than we do. Short sightedness is abundant in todays society and it shows with posters here.

 

[Pelosigalore]

It’s mostly about how much money they can get.

 

[Someguywhodoesntlikeyou]

This isn’t me being condescending. It’s a serious question.

Have we got so used to One and Done’s under Cal that we have forgot how returning college players can vastly improve their game? (I think back to the Jeff Sheppards, Nazr Mohammed’s, etc).

Yes, we need 2-3 portal players. Studs preferably. I still expect Chandler, Oweh, BG, Noah, Travis Perry to all be better versions of themselves in year 2. One of Chandler, Oweh, or BG could make an explosive leap! Add Kam Williams, Jasper Johnson, Moreno, and Acaden Lewis. We are 2-3 pieces away from being elite. Not 10-12 like last year.

A year of time isn’t going to make Noah or Perry athletic enough to guard SEC players.

 

[DWMcatforlife]

With the portal that maybe hard to do, now days if a kid is not satisfied with his playing time, just jump in the portal and find a coach who will promise him the world. And the hot 5 stars are still going to leave after one year for the NBA.

Unless the kids are from Kentucky. Which we’ll have 4 next year. I’d go as far to say 3 of them will be back for 2027. I’ll take it

 

[$Z71$]

yeah but at same time you need studs to compete

Do you? Duke has a ton of first rounders and high end talent. The other 3 final four teams do not.

Clayton Jr from Florida is 29 or later in mock drafts. Broome is projected second round. Florida has two other second round projections and Houston only one. That’s it. So 3 of the four final four teams have maybe 1 first rounder between all 3 of them. So to say you need studs isn’t true. Look at the Baylors, and Rutgers of the world. Studs that didn’t do anything in college for their teams.

 

[know1]

I've wondered the same thing. People have been conditioned to think the coach doesn't do anything but recruit. And that's because that's all our previous coach did.

 

[AshWilliams]

Do you? Duke has a ton of first rounders and high end talent. The other 3 final four teams do not.

Clayton Jr from Florida is 29 or later in mock drafts. Broome is projected second round. Florida has two other second round projections and Houston only one. That’s it. So 3 of the four final four teams have maybe 1 first rounder between all 3 of them. So to say you need studs isn’t true. Look at the Baylors, and Rutgers of the world. Studs that didn’t do anything in college for their teams.

Clayton Jr. - not a stud - LOL!

Broome - not a stud - LOL!

Do you even watch basketball?

Your silly criterium of "NBA draft position" is your sole measurement for "stud?"

Ludicrous.

 

[runt#69]

Great point and it is more than a valid question.

It's best to simply trust that CMP and the staff will get the best players that FIT the system, and they know the kind of personality and mental disposition of the kind of players they want here.

We're going to have a tougher and more talented team this next year, and maybe if people realized that this years team might be the LEAST talented team CMP may ever have, they would feel better about where we are at.

I seriously don't get all the angst and handwringing from some folks, but that's par for the course for BBN. I'm fine with the way things have gone, even though we have missed on landing the guys I've liked.

I'm not the coach. So I'll trust CMP has me in good hands. It's really that simple.

And player development is something that appears to be highly valued by CMP, he's getting guys lined up for multiple years of contribution. Playing at Kentucky, players have a steeper learning curve. So the extra time in development over the course of years will serve us best.

We're in good hands !

Go Big Blue !

 

[AshWilliams]

Great point and it is more than a valid question.

It's best to simply trust that CMP and the staff will get the best players that FIT the system, and they know the kind of personality and mental disposition of the kind of players they want here.

We're going to have a tougher and more talented team this next year, and maybe if people realized that this years team might be the LEAST talented team CMP may ever have, they would feel better about where we are at.

I seriously don't get all the angst and handwringing from some folks, but that's par for the course for BBN. I'm fine with the way things have gone, even though we have missed on landing the guys I've liked.

I'm not the coach. So I'll trust CMP has me in good hands. It's really that simple.

And player development is something that appears to be highly valued by CMP, he's getting guys lined up for multiple years of contribution. Playing at Kentucky, players have a steeper learning curve. So the extra time in development over the course of years will serve us best.

We're in good hands !

Go Big Blue !

Look, things may very well work out in the end, but the angst is coming from the fact that everyone in the portal that we've offered/begged has turned us down. It can start to give us a bad look, like nobody wants to come here. There's a logical reason for the concern. I'm surprised you can't comprehend that. It's not complicated.

 

[Smashcat]

Studs that didn’t do anything in college for their teams.

Yep. Coach K and Cal loaded up with them every year, but after 2015, only K went to a Final Four again. Just one Final Four between them.

 

[KySportsfan74]

This isn’t me being condescending. It’s a serious question.

Have we got so used to One and Done’s under Cal that we have forgot how returning college players can vastly improve their game? (I think back to the Jeff Sheppards, Nazr Mohammed’s, etc).

Yes, we need 2-3 portal players. Studs preferably. I still expect Chandler, Oweh, BG, Noah, Travis Perry to all be better versions of themselves in year 2. One of Chandler, Oweh, or BG could make an explosive leap! Add Kam Williams, Jasper Johnson, Moreno, and Acaden Lewis. We are 2-3 pieces away from being elite. Not 10-12 like last year.

Best post I have read in a while on here. Everyone needs to chill out. We are not Calipari's Ky anymore where we have to have 5 NBA first rounders to make the sweet 16 if we are lucky. Pope made the sweet 16 last year and had an amazing year with a team that had less NBA talent than any team Cal had here in his entire Tenure. I would even ague had it not been for injuries we would have been a 2 seed for sure and probably had a double bye in the best SEC ever.

 

[zgcrawfo94]

really now-a-days you are developing a player just to go secure a bigger bag and ball out elsewhere.

 

[KySportsfan74]

Best post I have read in a while on here. Everyone needs to chill out. We are not Calipari's Ky anymore where we have to have 5 NBA first rounders to make the sweet 16 if we are lucky. Pope made the sweet 16 last year and had an amazing year with a team that had less NBA talent than any team Cal had here in his entire Tenure. I would even ague had it not been for injuries we would have been a 2 seed for sure and probably had a double bye in the best SEC ever.

I would also argue on paper right now we are far more talented next year as the roster stands right now, so if we can pick up a just 1 or 2 more good portal players this team should be just fine.

 

[bnewt]

Clayton Jr. - not a stud - LOL!

Broome - not a stud - LOL!

Do you even watch basketball?

Your silly criterium of "NBA draft position" is your sole measurement for "stud?"

Ludicrous.

May not be nba studs, but they sure are in college

 

[AshWilliams]

May not be nba studs, but they sure are in college

Exactly.

 

[Woodrow_Call_1998]

Any fan has a right to be concerned at this point. To get to the level that we need to be at, we need to start landing some of these top portal guys that we’ve been missing on.

 

[bnewt]

I would also argue on paper right now we are far more talented next year as the roster stands right now, so if we can pick up a just 1 or 2 more good portal players this team should be just fine.

Fine for what........finishing middle of the pack in the SEC, wi. 1 sec tournament game, Sweet 16
That was OK for last year, but not going forward

 

[Pelosigalore]

We can be good next year, but we don’t want to be good. We want to be in the Final Four again. It’s been 10 years.

 

[Wildcats1st]

This isn’t me being condescending. It’s a serious question.

Have we got so used to One and Done’s under Cal that we have forgot how returning college players can vastly improve their game? (I think back to the Jeff Sheppards, Nazr Mohammed’s, etc).

Yes, we need 2-3 portal players. Studs preferably. I still expect Chandler, Oweh, BG, Noah, Travis Perry to all be better versions of themselves in year 2. One of Chandler, Oweh, or BG could make an explosive leap! Add Kam Williams, Jasper Johnson, Moreno, and Acaden Lewis. We are 2-3 pieces away from being elite. Not 10-12 like last year.

You still need a couple elite studs. Player development only goes so far in the ncaa. I youre fine with sweet sixteen ceilings then stick with your philosophy but if you create a player that guy will be under threat to be plucked by a guy like cal. No cbb now is season to season. Last season we were 2-3 pieces from being elite. How many players has pope put in the nba? How many top 10 recruits? We are a second tier sec program right now and the perception is we aren’t close to being ready to compete for a title. This is why we are losing players too. You have to build a team and a culture that values getting the best. Being top 5 every year through action not hype. Ultimately I think the elite players there is a culture gap between pope and those guys. Barney has run things like we are a religious school.

 

[the nail at the foul line]

Moreno looked way better than many are acting like he is.

 

[The_Answer1313]

Like most said, you still need elite players to compete for national titles.

There is no amount of coaching or conditioning that it going to turn players into exactly what we need here.

Sure we'll grab some guys that will stick around for 4 years. They might improve. They might be key pieces moving forward but you still need that elite talent around them.

 

[Woodrow_Call_1998]

I’m not saying the sky is falling but it’s really surprised me we’ve missed on so many considering the production we have to replace.

 

[Smashcat]

 

[Smashcat]

Moreno looked way better than many are acting like he is.

If he had committed to another school people would be screaming at Pope for letting him leave the state after that game.

 

[bbncal02]

View embedded media

There in lies the rub. UofL is gonna be a problem to deal with.

I don’t dislike our commits but we sure could use an alpha. Maybe Oweh morphs into that.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

This isn’t me being condescending. It’s a serious question.

Have we got so used to One and Done’s under Cal that we have forgot how returning college players can vastly improve their game? (I think back to the Jeff Sheppards, Nazr Mohammed’s, etc).

Yes, we need 2-3 portal players. Studs preferably. I still expect Chandler, Oweh, BG, Noah, Travis Perry to all be better versions of themselves in year 2. One of Chandler, Oweh, or BG could make an explosive leap! Add Kam Williams, Jasper Johnson, Moreno, and Acaden Lewis. We are 2-3 pieces away from being elite. Not 10-12 like last year.

The problem with the player development notion is its now mostly outdated. Every guy will be in the portal or cost more to keep. Everything is a one year window.

Taking jrs that need alot of work isnt going to win like we want to win. Its just that simple. Especially not when other schools way ahead of us are taking guys built to win immediately.

 

[CatFanInIlliniLand]

Clayton Jr. - not a stud - LOL!

Broome - not a stud - LOL!

Do you even watch basketball?

Your silly criterium of "NBA draft position" is your sole measurement for "stud?"

Ludicrous.

A lot of it is star gazing syndrome from the Cal era.

“Ooooh, we have this 5 star guy named BJ Boston coming! We are gonna be great!” (Insert Skal, Keion Brooks, Devin Askew, Marcus Lee, Archie Goodwin, etc etc etc. people just believe the rankings until Oakland & St Peter’s busts us in the mouth with randos).

 

[CatFanInIlliniLand]

The problem with the player development notion is its now mostly outdated. Every guy will be in the portal or cost more to keep. Everything is a one year window.

Taking jrs that need alot of work isnt going to win like we want to win. Its just that simple. Especially not when other schools way ahead of us are taking guys built to win immediately.

We can worry about that next year.

As of this moment - None of Chandler, Noah, Perry, BG, or Oweh are in the portal. Let’s see if they develop. At all. Even minimal gains are gains. Barring injury, I don’t see any of those guys being worse.

In fact, I think some guys aren’t committing bc word is out that they would have to compete with Oweh, Chandler, BG, and Jasper for minutes. They aren’t confident they are better

 

[TheBlueMist]

Us older fans remember it. Some folks have been broken by one-and-done drafts on potential.

 

[bookerfan66]

I'm afraid that isn't going to happen when you can play for 4 schools in four years.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

We can worry about that next year.

As of this moment - None of Chandler, Noah, Perry, BG, or Oweh are in the portal. Let’s see if they develop. At all. Even minimal gains are gains. Barring injury, I don’t see any of those guys being worse.

In fact, I think some guys aren’t committing bc word is out that they would have to compete with Oweh, Chandler, BG, and Jasper for minutes. They aren’t confident they are better

Oweh and Garrison are the only two that would even have options. I can guarantee we had to up their nil to keep them out of the portal, if they ultimately do stay out.

 

[Lempface]

This fan base is in a weird spot because of Cal's approach and the changing landscape of NIL and unlimited transfers.

I'm just chilling, had no idea what was going on last year and we ended up going further in the T than we have since 2019, more post season wins since 2019 by a good margin, and tied a record for top 15 wins.

Imma let him cook and sit back until there is reason to question him.

 

[uk78]

Of course players develop. But, they also develop at other programs too.

 

[BigBlueManSouthCentralKY]

This isn’t me being condescending. It’s a serious question.

Have we got so used to One and Done’s under Cal that we have forgot how returning college players can vastly improve their game? (I think back to the Jeff Sheppards, Nazr Mohammed’s, etc).

Yes, we need 2-3 portal players. Studs preferably. I still expect Chandler, Oweh, BG, Noah, Travis Perry to all be better versions of themselves in year 2. One of Chandler, Oweh, or BG could make an explosive leap! Add Kam Williams, Jasper Johnson, Moreno, and Acaden Lewis. We are 2-3 pieces away from being elite. Not 10-12 like last year.

No when it comes to shooting a basketball, dribble a basketball, teach intensity, physicality and heart. Those things should already be in place before coming here.

 

[Soupbean]

This isn’t me being condescending. It’s a serious question.

Have we got so used to One and Done’s under Cal that we have forgot how returning college players can vastly improve their game? (I think back to the Jeff Sheppards, Nazr Mohammed’s, etc).

Yes, we need 2-3 portal players. Studs preferably. I still expect Chandler, Oweh, BG, Noah, Travis Perry to all be better versions of themselves in year 2. One of Chandler, Oweh, or BG could make an explosive leap! Add Kam Williams, Jasper Johnson, Moreno, and Acaden Lewis. We are 2-3 pieces away from being elite. Not 10-12 like last year.

I used to but Cal killed that in me!