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How bad do we beat Duke in Nov and who guards Flagg?

Flagg is going to be a tough cover, I say he gets around 20 against us. He’s the real deal. We have to just play good team defense against him. Probably put Williams on him. Maybe Otega out on the wing. Duke is young but extremely talented again. Lots of new guys but we will have our hands full. I hope we win because we finally have the upperclassmen. It will be a dog fight and a 5-9 point win would be great.
 
I’m hoping UK wins obviously.
But I would not be surprised with a win for either team in this game.

If UK looses this game it will not decide the final season outcome as they can and will bounce back.

If UK WINS…. This team and fan base will be pumped and ride the mojo and momentum for most of if not the whole season.
 
Hope we win every game we play but we are gonna be huge underdogs with Duke being a top 10 team and us probably being unranked. If we stay within 8 I'll be very pleased.

If Duke's frosh are intimidated by the big time game atmosphere and our guys are hitting 3's we could win it.
 
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They've got talent no doubt but it's mostly a roster of guys who haven't played together and about 50% freshmen. I see some roster redundancy too - lots and lots of wings who are used to getting shots. Who will be their glue guys? Will Scheyer be able to manage egos when multiple 5 stars are upset they're not playing? I'm expecting Flagg and Malauch to be really good. Will they be great? Will their guard play be good or average?

I'd predict a coin flip game. Assume most non-UK fans would predict Duke though. Would love for Pope to start his tenure with a bang
 
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Duke's actually deeper than we are, and they have a legit star.

That said, they will have around 11 guys who will expect to be rotation pieces. That's just not happening. I think their season ends in turmoil. Too many mouths to feed, especially at the forward/wing positions.
 
The hope here is that the Duke team will be too new and young. The transfers they got aren't going to start over the recruits (I don't think, at least), which means its gonna be a lot of inexperience.

I don't see any way they aren't starting 3 freshman, with another 3 or 4 getting 10-20mpg. Proctor will be getting another 30 and he's pretty meh to me.

I think their experience will be tucked away on the bench, and if it not, that's going to be an issue for them as it means their freshman aren't ready. Kentucky of course has a lot of transfers, but as I recall they were all generally rated higher and seem to be ready to play day 1.

I also will take Pope's coaching over Scheyers at this point, until I see Scheyer prove us wrong. Pope getting BYU to a 6-seed in the big12 is, to me, better coaching than anything I've seen from Scheyer. If anything, scheyer has been a slight disappintment.

All that said, they still have more NBA talent on their roster and one of the highest graded recruits in Flagg. I'm glad we are playing them early.
 
I say we beat them by 15 points with Williams dogging Flagg all night.
Probably will have Williams on Malauch. I do not think Williams is mobile / athletic enough to chase Flagg out around the perimeter and up and down the floor. Flagg is very active out on the break as a scorer and passer. Might will have to go to a untraditional line up when Malauch and Flagg are both on the floor. MAYBE have Almonor (6-7 / 235 lbs.) or Robinson (6-6 / 190lbs.) try and guard him for spurts. Flagg is 6-9 (195lbs.) but Flagg plays the SF spot rather than PF or center.
 
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I would assume that when Carr is in the game, he guards Flagg. They're both PFs, but I believe Carr is currently a better player and will have a bigger impact on winning in that game.
Only in size. He plays the SF position more than anything. Flagg is not one dimensional and does not stay in the post. He floats around on the perimeter, but where I think he will be most dangerous is out in the open court. He is really good at running the floor both as a scorer and is a very good passer. We will need someone really athletic to guard him. Carr is not that. Almonor or Robinson, see my post above.
 
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Will be a tough one to win against young, but solid, talent. They'll be the definite favorite but I think our guys coukd hang with them. If we're hitting shefots well and playing good defense we coukd pull this early season upset.
 
I say we put Oweh on him. Flagg is too athletic and mobile for ours bigs and too tall for the wings and guards. Let Oweh or even Butler get at him when he's dribbling and attack the fact that he has a high dribble. Also Oweh is an ox and won't give him space if he tries to take him in the post. 6'5 and 210lbs of muscle vs 6'9 and 190lbs is not necessarily in the taller players favor.


Also, I'm not in the mindset of trying to stop Flagg. He's going to get his, just dont make it easy. Just don't let the rest of them get hot. One player can't beat you alone.
 
I would assume that when Carr is in the game, he guards Flagg. They're both PFs, but I believe Carr is currently a better player and will have a bigger impact on winning in that game.
Carr is a better player than Flagg? God I love this place.
 
Their coach absolutely has ZERO track record of handling young stars well. He will have to hope and pray that everyone knows what they should be doing.

This is probably not going to be a great year for Duke. And that is Duke hate aside.
 
Only in size. He plays the SF position more than anything. Flagg is not one dimensional and does not stay in the post. He floats around on the perimeter, but where I think he will be most dangerous is out in the open court. He is really good at running the floor both as a scorer and is a very good passer. We will need someone really athletic to guard him. Carr is not that. Almonor or Robinson, see my post above.
Catsfanbgky, I appreciate the way you discuss basketball and explain your position a little bit. Makes me value your opinion. I have watched video of Flagg (although perhaps not as much as you) and was impressed by how hard he played. I see skills that, when combined with a high motor, would probably make him formidable as a college PF even as a freshman (no small thing in its own right). But I don’t see a level of SF skills yet (although I can see the upside there) that worry me in our game or make me think he’s one of the better college SFs next season – and his projected (or actual) draft position doesn’t speak to how good (i.e., how much he impacts his team winning games) he is as a freshman.

Personally, I love the idea of Duke playing him at SF, rather than PF, in the early game vs UK. Just think it might be giving away productivity potential from a team standpoint. Meaning, for example, would Duke be a better team with Sion James at SF & Flagg at PF vs Flagg at SF & Brown at PF? Truthfully, I don’t know enough to have a real strong opinion on this, but I tend to think James at SF would be the way to go. Not to get into a Cal bashing thing, but playing Flagg at SF smacks of what Cal might do for his NBA draft positioning rather than what helps the team the most.

And I still think Carr won’t have any problem guarding Flagg, plus I think Carr’s length will cause Flagg to be frustrated and less effective.
 
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Hope we win every game we play but we are gonna be huge underdogs with Duke being a top 10 team and us probably being unranked. If we stay within 8 I'll be very pleased.

If Duke's frosh are intimidated by the big time game atmosphere and our guys are hitting 3's we could win it.
We will be ranked like 20th and not huge underdogs.
 
Duke's actually deeper than we are, and they have a legit star.

That said, they will have around 11 guys who will expect to be rotation pieces. That's just not happening. I think their season ends in turmoil. Too many mouths to feed, especially at the forward/wing positions.
Of course not, plus Scheyer uses the K philosophy and only plays a 7 deep rotation when they figure it out.
 
I would put Oweh on Flagg. He is going to get his either way but make him beat a double in the post. Harass is ass outside as much as you can.

Less we forget, Pope will run a zone of it fits.
 
Flagg seems like the exact type of kid that needs 3 years in college to be ready for the nba. People who project his production in 3 years on this year are going to hurt that kid.
 
Flagg seems like the exact type of kid that needs 3 years in college to be ready for the nba. People who project his production in 3 years on this year are going to hurt that kid.

Not from what I've seen, he looks like the polar opposite...but maybe he has good video editors.
 
I would assume that when Carr is in the game, he guards Flagg. They're both PFs, but I believe Carr is currently a better player and will have a bigger impact on winning in that game.
You believe Carr is a better player than Cooper Flagg? Bruh…I get being a fan but I can only assume you aren’t familiar with Cooper Flagg and his game. He’ll be the #1 pick in the draft and is quite possibly the best player in College Basketball.
 
Flagg seems like the exact type of kid that needs 3 years in college to be ready for the nba. People who project his production in 3 years on this year are going to hurt that kid.
I have no dog in this fight, but this has to be a bit right? I can’t imagine anybody actually believing this to be true, I just refuse to believe it.
 
Flagg is going to be a tough cover, I say he gets around 20 against us. He’s the real deal. We have to just play good team defense against him. Probably put Williams on him. Maybe Otega out on the wing. Duke is young but extremely talented again. Lots of new guys but we will have our hands full. I hope we win because we finally have the upperclassmen. It will be a dog fight and a 5-9 point win would be great.
No way flag dogs Williams, Williams is a beast
 
Not from what I've seen, he looks like the polar opposite...but maybe he has good video editors.
Dude is awesome and has dominated on every level, in every tournament, against the elite of the elite. Hell they brought the kid to practice against Team USA. I mean…he’s as good as they come, baring injury, he’s likely to be the best player in the country.
 
You believe Carr is a better player than Cooper Flagg? Bruh…I get being a fan but I can only assume you aren’t familiar with Cooper Flagg and his game. He’ll be the #1 pick in the draft and is quite possibly the best player in College Basketball.
You saying he will be the number 1 pick in the draft, did you not see what happened to the anointed number 1 pick Edward’s last year under cal?
 
You saying he will be the number 1 pick in the draft, did you not see what happened to the anointed number 1 pick Edward’s last year under cal?
Bookmark this post, barring injury, he will 100% be the first pick in the NBA draft next year. He’s as close to can’t miss, as you can get. I’ll eat my whole plate of crow if he’s not, but he will be. Edwards isn’t in the same stratosphere as Flagg.
 
Williams may be a beast, he ain’t Cooper Flagg brother. Dude drags anybody 1 on 1, maybe Pope has a magic defense that can slow him down, but this dude is the absolute truth.
I’m not your brother, cooper flag going up against a 5th year senior, flag didn’t impress me at all in the McDonald’s all American game against smaller bigs.
 
Bookmark this post, barring injury, he will 100% be the first pick in the NBA draft next year. He’s as close to can’t miss, as you can get. I’ll eat my whole plate of crow if he’s not, but he will be. Edwards isn’t in the same stratosphere as Flagg.
Nothing is ever 100% been a lot of busts
 
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