Everybody eats?

[Wall2Boogie]

I know cal has said this before, so I ask this question. Is it better to go to a school like UK and get 20-25 mins tops(obviously some exceptions) or go to a school and be the man like Simmons. I ask this because if you're surrounded by excellent talent it's easy to hide your flaws, but if your the guy of a team you have to bring it every night. Does having 4 decent guys around you work better than having a team full of mcds all Americans?

 

[wcc31]

I think for the elite of the elite it's better to go to a UK or Duke. You get to play with other great players on the game's biggest stage under the best coaching and also have a chance to win a title in your one year in college.

For guys like Willis- guys who may be really good given enough reps and opportunity, going somewhere like Purdue is probably best.

JMO. Depends on the kid and situation.

 

[Poetax]

I know cal has said this before, so I ask this question. Is it better to go to a school like UK and get 20-25 mins tops(obviously some exceptions) or go to a school and be the man like Simmons. I ask this because if you're surrounded by excellent talent it's easy to hide your flaws, but if your the guy of a team you have to bring it every night. Does having 4 decent guys around you work better than having a team full of mcds all Americans?

First of all, LSU has a very nice recruiting class that came in. Add that to a good group like senior (Hornsby), junior (Quarterman), sophomores(Victor, Patterson and Epps) and you have a decent team that has been built over the last 4 years. If their two bigs had stayed this year, they would be talking national championship possibilities in Louisiana. But to answer your question, it works when you have a team like LSU this year but look at where the great PG went to, Mississippi State, look at the mess he went to and still LSU has to prove they can go to away games and beat people on the road and in the tournament if they made it. Like most SEC home games, you don't get that Jordan protection at the away games.

 

[Blue ice]

I know cal has said this before, so I ask this question. Is it better to go to a school like UK and get 20-25 mins tops(obviously some exceptions) or go to a school and be the man like Simmons. I ask this because if you're surrounded by excellent talent it's easy to hide your flaws, but if your the guy of a team you have to bring it every night. Does having 4 decent guys around you work better than having a team full of mcds all Americans?

You are stupid if you think that the talent around Simmons makes him.

 

[Poetax]

You are stupid if you think that the talent around Simmons makes him.

I don't agree with the OP but you do realize without his teammates and our bigs getting into foul trouble they would have lost that game. Holding Simmons to 8 points all the way until Alex and Lee were gone was the only thing that we did right that night. But he now has a great deal of support as those players distributed 21, 15, 9, and 8 points. Pretty good help.

 

[wildcatsboston1984]

Hiding ones flaws would only improve one's draft stock, or at least not hurt it in the case of a guy like Simmons who can't mathematically improve his draft stock

 

[Wall2Boogie]

First off it wasn't anything to agree upon it was a question. Secondly, I know he has some good talent around him but they are not mostly freshman. I know he's a great player but so is/was/supposedly Newman as well, yet he doesn't have near the talent around him

 

[JeffGoodmansVestigialTwin]

I know cal has said this before, so I ask this question. Is it better to go to a school like UK and get 20-25 mins tops(obviously some exceptions) or go to a school and be the man like Simmons. I ask this because if you're surrounded by excellent talent it's easy to hide your flaws, but if your the guy of a team you have to bring it every night. Does having 4 decent guys around you work better than having a team full of mcds all Americans?

It really doesn't matter. Neither can save you from the realities in the NBA. Either you got it or ya don't.

 

[stoneycat_20]

Only difference is at UK,Duke,KU you will play with as good or better talent and have a good chance at a title..Simmions is great, but he will not win a title...Kinda like Bama in FB players know they will have a shot at a title at the bigtime schools..As far as NBA they will find you no matter where you're at..Might not be derafted as high, but you will get there..

 

[JPScott]

I know cal has said this before, so I ask this question. Is it better to go to a school like UK and get 20-25 mins tops(obviously some exceptions) or go to a school and be the man like Simmons. I ask this because if you're surrounded by excellent talent it's easy to hide your flaws, but if your the guy of a team you have to bring it every night. Does having 4 decent guys around you work better than having a team full of mcds all Americans?

I think this is a false scenario, at least this year. Cal may have mentioned the 'everybody eats' line at some point this season but mainly that was relevant to last year when UK was oozing with talented depth.

If someone like Simmons had come to UK he would certainly be playing more than 20-25 minutes. (which is 50-62.5% of the time on the floor). In UK's case this season, both Jamal Murray and Tyler Ulis are currently playing significantly more minutes than that.

As far as your question about what is better for the player, as Cal mentions going to a school with other great players means you have a lot more practice time against great players, to go along with the games (where typically the top schools are going to be playing tougher schedules than your average). I think there's a lot of validity to that.

Beyond that you add in the exposure issue, which in some cases can be tied to how well the team does, whether they make the tournament and how far they go.

Obviously for someone as talented as Simmons in this year's draft, it probably won't be a factor regardless of how LSU does, but it could for others.

 

[Lob2Davis]

I know cal has said this before, so I ask this question. Is it better to go to a school like UK and get 20-25 mins tops(obviously some exceptions) or go to a school and be the man like Simmons. I ask this because if you're surrounded by excellent talent it's easy to hide your flaws, but if your the guy of a team you have to bring it every night. Does having 4 decent guys around you work better than having a team full of mcds all Americans?

I think one of the main factors is development. Simmons is very talented and could have gone top 5 out of high school probably but I don't think he's going to get much better under Johnny Jones, same thing with Newman at Miss State. Players come to UK or Duke and they improve(most of the time) look at how much better Karl Towns got over the season last year, his year under Cal definitely moved him up to the #1 spot.