ESPN Already Trash Talking

[Dakota25]

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebask...verrated-and-other-top-storylines-for-2015-16

They are saying that this UK team could be like the NIT team. So they are saying this team may not be better than that team post Noel. I'm confident this UK team is better than a lineup of Harrow, Goodwin, Mays, freshmen Poythress, and freshmen Cauley Stein with Wiltjer and Polson being the bench.

I think this team is somewhere between the 10-11, 13-14 teams and 11-12, 14-15 teams. I know the article says that they may not be overrated at the same time but if they were overrated it wouldn't be that bad to the point to where they can't make the tourney. At worst three or four seed.

 

[CatPhight]

A hack named Myron looking for hits.

 

[wcc31]

It's not ESPN. It's one man's opinion- Metcalf, a guy who has been on UK's bandwagon before. He's not biased against Kentucky. He may have a point here. I disagree, but we'll see.

 

[AllCats22]

The reason it won't be is there is better talent at the top of our roster and combine that with some of our bench players are better than a starter or two from that season. Don't think UCONN had great talent when they beat us in the championship two years ago. They had two guards that controlled the entire game. We have three guards who are better than those two although Napier was a really good college player when he wasn't flopping.

 

[ukcatsfan2]

File that Segment away for April and let's revisit it....

 

[LineSkiCat14]

I mean, jeez, I guess ANYTHING can happen. But this applies to literally every other team. Duke has incoming players that are unknown.. Where's their NIT article?

 

[kb22stang]

I'm sorry, but I don't see anything disparaging in that article. He simply says we don't know, which we don't. NO reason to get your undies in a bundle.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

And FFS, we were only NIT bound because we lost Nerlens Noel, who, looking back, might have been one of the most detrimental injuries in college basketball over the last decade! Only Hummel and Irving come to mind who might have been bigger injuries.

 

[bthaunert]

Who is "they" you speak of? If you mean one blogger, then yes, he's not sure what to expect from this team. He's not sure if this team is closer to last years squad or the NIT team. Oh the horror.

 

[BBUK]

Reading nothing else but where he states; uncheat NCAA pending penalties I like this guy. (I haven't seen that in the press in many areas.) I bet that is enough of a statement to send The Richard into a hissy fit. (He may sick his lawyers on him for a retraction.) This guy gets a pass on this article from me...not that it matters.

 

[Hoskins91]

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebask...verrated-and-other-top-storylines-for-2015-16

They are saying that this UK team could be like the NIT team. So they are saying this team may not be better than that team post Noel. I'm confident this UK team is better than a lineup of Harrow, Goodwin, Mays, freshmen Poythress, and freshmen Cauley Stein with Wiltjer and Polson being the bench.

I think this team is somewhere between the 10-11, 13-14 teams and 11-12, 14-15 teams. I know the article says that they may not be overrated at the same time but if they were overrated it wouldn't be that bad to the point to where they can't make the tourney. At worst three or four seed.

I don't see the issue. I think it's perfectly reasonable to question if we are a top 3 team out of the gate. I don't think we go to the NIT, but I don't think it's outlandish to predict 6-9 losses either.

 

[WeWant9]

The 13 team was vastly overrated, in preseason polls, because UK was coming of a banner year. That team lacked veteran leaderahip and had suspect guard play.

While we are once again young, we have some upperclassman who can help guide the new guys. We also have 3 guards who could end up being 1st rd picks next year. Another difference is in 13 we lacked depth, Which had to hurt the competition in practices. This year we have plenty of bodies to have competitive practices and help push guys at every position.

 

[Hoskins91]

I mean, jeez, I guess ANYTHING can happen. But this applies to literally every other team. Duke has incoming players that are unknown.. Where's their NIT article?

They always make the tournament, and they are always a high seed. We've missed it pretty recently (and we had a close call even more recently) when we were in a similar situation as this.

 

[BBUK]

DEY OUT TO GIT US OMG RUN YALL

Sounding like BLW or that Dunnstan guy...... "careful....careful..."

 

[Blueblood22]

One team lost a lot, and this other team lost a lot.

Therefore, one might equal the other.

Terrible point of view.

 

[kybassfan]

Baiting article. I'm guessing the guy knows that we have fans that will bleat and screech over any article that doesn't proclaim Kentucky's brilliance at every turn. Means hits for him. Also serves as a bit of a seed crop in case this years team does tank, he can lay claim to the prognostication. Don't fall for crap like this. Act like we've been here before.

 

[BlueBomb]

Some of ya'll crack me up.

 

[LouievileKat]

You know the seasons about to tip off when our fans start posting ESPN's after us articles

BASKETBALLS FINALLY HERE!!!!

 

[Aike]

I guess they could be like the NIT team...

If Skal gets hurt.

And Ulis has a meltdown.

And Murray turns into Julius Mays.

And Poythress plays like a freshman.

Briscoe as Archie Goodwin I can totally get on board with. But then we had to hand the keys to Goodwin.

 

[mccollums]

He always tries to take stabs and guesses -- that's his style. Funny thing is they are usually WAY off and show his lack of knowledge of college basketball.

Barring multiple injuries - this team is no where near the NIT team. The reason - GUARD PLAY. Tyler Ulis by himself would have made the 2013 team a lot better. Murray, even though he has yet to do it at the college level is a pretty safe bet to play much better then Goodwin/Mays. Also, we have 2 veteran post players (poy, lee) and have 2 legit 3 point threats in Ulis/Murray and as many as 4 others ( Hawkins, Willis, Poy, Mulder)

College is dominated by guard play, 3 pointers, and defense.

Are we overrated? Depends. If you look at our potential, probably not and if we are ... just a little bit. Are we the #1 or #2 team right now, no way.

 

[CatPhight]

NIT was tossed in there to appease the haters.

No comparison whatsoever between this roster and 2013.

 

[Lumpy 2]

Medcalf predicts UK to make the Final Four so he must not think they are overrated.

 

[kyups01]

Ummm I think this could end up being Cals beat team ever.

 

[Jkwo]

Well, let's see here.. We have three different players on this team who are as good as the lone superstar on that team, way more returning experience, and at point, instead of a head case who will quit the team two different times over the season and cause locker room strife, we have the consummate leader who is as good a pure college point as cal has had.

Besides that, basically identical.

 

[caneintally]

Listen the article is trash as this is one of Cal's top 2 teams in terms of great NBA talent ( only 2010 had more) but we might drop 4-5 games so there is some questions IMO. THe idea we could be even remotely a NIT team or a 10 loss team is joke though.

 

[Brando Mac]

I actually think this team is more like a deeper version of 10-11 instead of the NIT team.

Our guards are so much better than the NIT group that it's laughable. Harrow was soft and unfortunately had some problems off the court that he had to deal with that distracted from his play; Ulis is tough, a grinder, and a leader that makes everyone better. Murray is a skilled passer, rebounder, and shooter; Goodwin tried hard but he was an out of control athlete with not many basketball skills. Briscoe is just way more ready to play at UK than Mays was just on an athletic level. Skal to me is a much more offensively polished Noel. Seems like we lost a billion close games early that year because Noel just couldn't hit shots, don't see that happening with Skal. Junior Lee is more ready to contribute than freshman Willie. 4th year Poythress is more confident and knows his role a lot better than freshman Poy. Potential controversial take alert so all the people that bashed Wiltjer while he was here yet love him now please divert your eyes: Willis is less of a liability on both ends of the court right now than sophomore Wiltjer was. Matthews, Hawkins and Mulder are better than any guard option off the NIT teams bench. Humphries (and perhaps Wynyard) will provide the post depth that the NIT team just didn't have.

I know we're prone to overly negative hyperbole and "let's not get too excited until we see them against real competition"-type lines, but some are really exposing themselves with bad takes here. I'll flat out state right now that if this team remains healthy throughout the year, they will not lose more than 6 games before the NCAA tournament starts and will be no worse than a 3 seed. 5 losses, an SEC tournament and/or regular season championship, and a win over Kansas or Duke (hopefully both) nets us a #1 seed. I'm not worried about seeding right now, I just want them to play their best ball in March and April, and be in position to win #9.

 

[prossdog]

Eh, not as bad as it was made out to be. But I think the chances this team ends up in the NIT are extremely slim. '13 was just rough. Harrow was a flop and they still would have made the tournament if Noel hadn't gone down. They were 17-6 and had won 5 straight before collapsing. This team might be like that if Ulis, Murray, AND Skal go down.

 

[RondoBaller21]

Anybody who doesn't think this UK team could end up around the same place as the 2011 or 2014 teams -- tournament ready but after 8-9 regular season losses (without looking it up) is being willfully blind. This isn't the 2010 or 2012 or 2015 team that can steamroller the SEC after bulling through all comers in the OOC.

This writer tweaked it a bit to work in the 2013 team, but he's not far off.

Yes he is way off

 

[Teachable Moe]

Some of ya'll crack me up.

Someone somewhere said something I don't like.

 

[dckala2]

You go to 4 of 5 final fours. Including a championship and a 38 straight win streak and people can only slurp big blue so much.

But that team falling apart was a perfect storm. As others have mentioned, harrow was weak mentally, Archie was me first and noels injury collectively fkd us

 

[KDcats11]

They always make the tournament, and they are always a high seed. We've missed it pretty recently (and we had a close call even more recently) when we were in a similar situation as this.

Past precedent has nothing to do with anything. Completely different teams. If you're going to make a comparison like this, do it on an analytical and player by player process instead of saying, "they lost a lot of players so they could go to the NIT." That's not great analysis there. And given the new recruiting strategy of Duke as of late it would be perfectly reasonable to suggest that they could go to the NIT based on the same reasoning. I personally don't care a bit about what the article said, but your reasoning is simply off base.

 

[reddickulis81]

I'm sorry, but I don't see anything disparaging in that article. He simply says we don't know, which we don't. NO reason to get your undies in a bundle.

Your right. If people don't say "Kentucky is just better than every other team" then that person is bashing or stupid. He was right we don't know. I tend to have a lower expectation going into the season, a wait n see aproch. That way I don't feel the way I felt after 2010. That hurt and I am not gunna our myself threw that again.

 

[KWilt43atbuzz]

That NIT team with Noel didnt have half the talent this UK team does.

Stupid article.

Not the first either by Myron....

 

[JerseyCat84]

Medcalf predicts UK to make the Final Four so he must not think they are overrated.

So he's not sure if we're good but he picked us to the final four?

 

[BigRedMachineBigBlueNation]

NIT bound but #2 in the nation... Okay...

 

[Primedfor9]

Stupid article, this isn't the year to bet against UK. The roster is much closer to our best teams than the NIT team.

 

[Cornered Weasel]

This one of the most athletic teams we've seen at UK in some time. Injury would be the only thing that could derail this team, IMHO.

 

[W_Heisenberg]

NIT bound but #2 in the nation... Okay...

That's not what he said.

 

[W_Heisenberg]

This entire topic, especially the header, is officially...

 

[SilentsAreGolden]

I don't have a quibble with the bulk of that paragraph on this team, but his line about there being a question if this team is closer to the 2013 NIT team is too laughable to even address. What a joke.