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First game hot takes

Maybe. But I'm not seeing him being able to create. I don't see strong handles. I don't see instinctual transition game. And I don't see high motor rebounds. Not trying to be overly critical after a small snippet. I'm just not seeing a top lotto pick.
His handle I agree with, not the best but it’s not horrid like a Whitney. His athleticism isn’t mind blowing but he has the frame, good enough athleticism, and everything else to be really good. I think he will be like Knox but hit his potential more often and sooner. I think with this team you will have 5-7 guys fighting for who plays the best each night, which is a good problem but will make it seem like sometimes they aren’t playing the best overall.
 
He’s soft. There’s no getting around it. A finesse guy. We’ll just need him to hit the open threes, grab some boards, and move without the ball to get easy dunks. If you could inject him with Thiero’s strength and aggression, then he might be the top pick.
 
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Hopefully he’s good with averaging 10 to 15 per game. Plenty of people on this board think he’s going to average 20 and that’s just not gonna happen. I hope he doesn’t think he’s going to average that and create locker room issues.
Why would you even think reeves would cause locker room issues? Has hardly ever shown the traits of a selfish player. Just a weird comment.
 
Maybe. But I'm not seeing him being able to create. I don't see strong handles. I don't see instinctual transition game. And I don't see high motor rebounds. Not trying to be overly critical after a small snippet. I'm just not seeing a top lotto pick.
Did you see a top lotto pick in Karl Towns when he averaged 6.4 points per game in his first five college games? He turned out to be the #1 pick.

Give it time, man.
 
I actually really like what I've seen from Edwards so far. His two backcuts were NBA-level. He's not an elite ball handler, but for a 3, he's pretty solid and he'll only get better. His midrange game is already NBA level. That midrange pullup for his first jump shot will be his go-to move by March.

I think you guys were expecting RJ Barrett level production from Edwards, but he's not an explosive scorer and never probably will be. He's a do-it-all guy, and tonight he showed that. He's only going to get better.
 
I actually really like what I've seen from Edwards so far. His two backcuts were NBA-level. He's not an elite ball handler, but for a 3, he's pretty solid and he'll only get better. His midrange game is already NBA level. That midrange pullup for his first jump shot will be his go-to move by March.

I think you guys were expecting RJ Barrett level production from Edwards, but he's not an explosive scorer and never probably will be. He's a do-it-all guy, and tonight he showed that. He's only going to get better.
I really hope you're right. And there's a lot of time.
 
I actually really like what I've seen from Edwards so far. His two backcuts were NBA-level. He's not an elite ball handler, but for a 3, he's pretty solid and he'll only get better. His midrange game is already NBA level. That midrange pullup for his first jump shot will be his go-to move by March.

I think you guys were expecting RJ Barrett level production from Edwards, but he's not an explosive scorer and never probably will be. He's a do-it-all guy, and tonight he showed that. He's only going to get better.
RJ Barrett played a lot of bully ball and had success, no reason Edwards can't do the same. Comparable games.
 
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I think Edwards looks great. Very agressive, good shooter and great finisher. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a too 5 pick.
 
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My hot take is the same one I had this summer: Kentucky dodged a bullet not getting Hunter Dickinson and is a better team —faster, more aggressive, better balanced—without him.
my hot take on this is :

Damn, that's a great hot take. Md.

Well said. I like it.

Best for the chemistry of this team without a doubt.

Then I try to be extra optimistic thinking about plugging some of our bigs into this mix.

Why cannot this be an absolutely Lethal TEAM ?
 
You are going to take a lot of heat for this one.

My hot take is simply that Wagner is not our best point guard, nor should he be in the starting lineup.

A second take is that Thiero is the most important player on this team. He’s very active defensively and on the boards and he looks to dunk every time he blows by his man. I think he’s the glue and we need him on the court even if he’s not scoring. There are very few guys on this team that can make huge impacts without scoring, but he’s one of them.
Wagner played ok, he is just not a consistent shooter, plays hard.
Disagree on thiero, he is the weak link. UK should have gotten the kid that went to Tennessee from the portal. He can score inside and out
 
Not getting too crazy either way until the Kansas game. These games are basically glorified exhibitions until then.
Eh.....this is one year I don't think a loss at the KU game will mean much. Don't get me wrong I want that win bad. But as long as we don't get torched by 20 we will be fine.

As far as glorified exhibitions, well, ask Izzo how that worked out.
 
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Eh.....this is one year I don't think a loss at the KU game will mean much. Don't get me wrong I want that win bad. But as long as we don't get torched by 20 we will be fine.

As far as glorified exhibitions, well, ask Izzo how that worked out.
James Madison was picked to win their conference. They are a good team and showed it. Yeah if we play well and still lose I'm fine with that. Just saying it's hard to gauge a team against subpar competition.
 
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a lot of upside to this team and it seems the floor is high. Steam rolling teams isn’t something we’ve done well in a long time. That and cal looking like a pro instead of waking up from moms basement.
 
My hot take: Rob should start over DJ and/or be in the game in the last five minutes over DJ if it’s one or the other. I also think Sheppard deserves starter minutes, which he got as he was the most efficient guard for UK.

I’m also surprised by how many of you are getting bent out of shape over some controversial takes in a thread titled “first game hot takes.”

It’s like jumping in chummed shark infested waters and expecting not to get to bit.
 
Couple of takeaways from a numbers standpoint

Just turnovers on 8.6% of their possessions. Pretty good given that normally this is a problem for freshman first half the season.

Just rebounds on 28% of our misses. Obviously the lack of big men hurts in this regard. But even when they do eventually play it might be a far cry from the numbers Oscar was helping put up.

Took a ridiculous amount of 3s. Again lack of big men might have been the reason but we took 44% of our shots from 3. That's a sharp departure from anything we have done in previous years under Cal. Unfortunately, we only shot 31% from 3 as opposed to 63% from 2. Maybe should have taken a little bit more 2s.

Played at an extremely fast tempo. Averaged only 14 seconds on offense.
 
Dillingham is in the same mold of Wall and Fox: Guards that we can generally trust to get the job done and not disappear. It's something we haven't had in a few years, and I think he's going to quickly pass guys like Cason and TyTy.

Just feels like he's ready. He knows he can play at this level from day 1, and has next level ability. It's been a while since I've seen that from our guards.
I thought he was one of the better players last night, but truth be told, I am old and fell asleep early in the second half (long day) so, I am going by first half play.
 
My hot take is that Edwards isn't the dog I was expecting. To me he seems timid and reactionary instead of dictating and taking. I thought he was going to be some relentless dog. It's early, I know, but I'm not blown away. You can throw any numbers you want at me, but I'm simply going eye test.
I was thinking the same thing, but as you posted too, it is still early.
 
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