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I get why some of the Kentucky guys transfer now

Dontworryboutit23

All-American
Jan 4, 2022
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Guys like juzang, matthews, Hopkins and now livingston(not saying he will transfer) but I get why all the other have. For the first 3 they can have games where they play good, cal will say he needs to play them and not play them, and just give hindsight comments all day. LSU game for Hopkins should have the indicator to put him in the rotation more, juzang was playing better towards the end of the year, he probably would have transferred anyways, but don’t make the same mistake with Livingston. He played well and cal didn’t play at all in the second half and then did his hindsight comment special
 
Do you get why Oscar has a shot at multiple NPOTY awards? The 1st player since Sampson 40 yrs ago.
 
Do you get why Oscar has a shot at multiple NPOTY awards? The 1st player since Sampson 40 yrs ago.
Oscar ain’t winning NPOY this year. Kentucky isn’t good enough for that to happen. And on the other end Oscar isn’t the problem here. The problem is cal doesn’t give certain players the chance to play through mistakes like others and when they have a mini breakthrough, he then proceeds to still bench them and give hindsight comments saying he should have played them more
 
Hopkins situation I get.
Juzang played though. 12mpg, and more than that (like 14-17) the last month or two of the season.
He left because he was scared he would play less, behind Boston and/or Clarke. Maybe he would, maybe not, we'll never know.

It's interesting, 1/2 the time people complain that Cal only plays FR, and the other 1/2 the time people complain that he's not playing the FR enough. Which is it?
 
Knowing how the Covid year went juzang would have helped that team a lot, and my point is I get why some of these dudes transfer. Hopkins and a couple of others weren’t allowed to play through mistakes
 
Oscar ain’t winning NPOY this year. Kentucky isn’t good enough for that to happen. And on the other end Oscar isn’t the problem here. The problem is cal doesn’t give certain players the chance to play through mistakes like others and when they have a mini breakthrough, he then proceeds to still bench them and give hindsight comments saying he should have played them more
Dont be so sure, though he will probably fini 2nd behind the Purdue Center.
That said, UKs schedule is very conducive to make a run and for Oscar to put up big numbers the last 10 plus games of the season.
 
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Cals use of players is nothing short of mind boggling. Livingston 17 first half minutes against Kansas, zero 2nd half. At missouri zero first half minutes for Theiro then 17 in the 2nd. It’s been obvious to all that Theiro should be in the mix getting around 7-10/game but now he’s back to not playing a single minute. After getting 13 minutes in our big win at UT he got a whopping 3 against GA followed by 3 straight DNP’s. Just unacceptable use for a player of his caliber.
 
Dont be so sure, though he will probably fini 2nd behind the Purdue Center.
That said, UKs schedule is very conducive to make a run and for Oscar to put up big numbers the last 10 plus games of the season.
Kentucky is going to be one of the last teams in the tourney(if they make it) Edey is on the number one team and dominates every night. It’s edeys award to lose
 
Hopkins left because of lack of playing time
Juzang left because he was so homesick his grandfather would drive from Virginia to spend time with him
Mathews left because he thought he was a OAD and by his own statement once he seen that he was not he went where he always wanted to go

the only one of the 3 that had a chance of staying was Hopkins had he played close to 20- 30 minutes a game
 
Do you get why Oscar has a shot at multiple NPOTY awards? The 1st player since Sampson 40 yrs ago.
no chance at all......the lack of team success will stop that talk and already has
he could average over 20 points and 20 rebounds to win that again
 
a lucrative NIL package will go a long way in stopping both the second year failure mentality and transferring in spite of how bad our coach screws up a player
 
Up until a couple of years ago, I never blamed Cal for the transfers. Some guys were either impatient or were recruited over. But I don’t see how anyone can defend Cal on his rotation the past few seasons. Last year, there were the injuries but you had guys step up and then you wouldn’t see that rotation or player again. This year, it’s like a dartboard for Cal. We have the Benny lineup and it’s working but it’s like Cal’s so damn determined it really won’t work as we get to March, he’s just throwing out weird combos the last two games.

Cal’s time at UK is so over
 
Guys like juzang, matthews, Hopkins and now livingston(not saying he will transfer) but I get why all the other have. For the first 3 they can have games where they play good, cal will say he needs to play them and not play them, and just give hindsight comments all day. LSU game for Hopkins should have the indicator to put him in the rotation more, juzang was playing better towards the end of the year, he probably would have transferred anyways, but don’t make the same mistake with Livingston. He played well and cal didn’t play at all in the second half and then did his hindsight comment special
It's not just that.

They also transfer because the know Cal has committed a fair amount of PT to the new in-coming potential one-and-dones so they may not get much court time.

And then some of them transfer because they realize they aren't getting good coaching or development and are playing in a "system" that isn't preparing them well.
 
They get here and find an angry, overweight, underachieving narcissist who plays the same style as their grandpa's did three decades ago...

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Dont be so sure, though he will probably fini 2nd behind the Purdue Center.
That said, UKs schedule is very conducive to make a run and for Oscar to put up big numbers the last 10 plus games of the season.
He is behind 5-7 players depending on the Vegas site. Don't see him finishing second at this point. Compared to last year- his minutes are up, FG% is down, FT% is down, Rebounds are down, Blocks are down, Steals are down, Personal fouls are up, and points are down. Assists are up. Turnovers are about the same.

He is still averaging 16/14 which is better than we will likely ever see again.
Edey is 22/13
Wilson is 21/8
Timme is 21/7

Once we either don't make the NCAA, or lose in the first weekend, Oscar will fall.
 
Kentucky needs to get rid of that second year failure narrative, Hopkins would help this team out a lot. The players have to be mad when CALs so I should have played them more and then never does it
The second year failure has hurt UK significantly. Other coaches have players go early, but none as often as Cal’s. It leaves you wondering what would have happen otherwise.
 
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Dont be so sure, though he will probably fini 2nd behind the Purdue Center.
That said, UKs schedule is very conducive to make a run and for Oscar to put up big numbers the last 10 plus games of the season.
For the record oscar is 8th in the current odds and Zach edey from Purdue is -1200. It's locked up already.
 
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Guys like juzang, matthews, Hopkins and now livingston(not saying he will transfer) but I get why all the other have. For the first 3 they can have games where they play good, cal will say he needs to play them and not play them, and just give hindsight comments all day. LSU game for Hopkins should have the indicator to put him in the rotation more, juzang was playing better towards the end of the year, he probably would have transferred anyways, but don’t make the same mistake with Livingston. He played well and cal didn’t play at all in the second half and then did his hindsight comment special
Do you realize how many guys transfer to UK?
 
And some get homesick. And some aren’t as good as freshmen as they think they are. Pleasers leave for many reasons.
Fair point, juzang should have been playing more to begin with, Hopkins is obvious that’s just a straight miss by cal, matthews is a little of both he wasn’t great but also wasn’t given enough chances
 
Guys like juzang, matthews, Hopkins and now livingston(not saying he will transfer) but I get why all the other have. For the first 3 they can have games where they play good, cal will say he needs to play them and not play them, and just give hindsight comments all day. LSU game for Hopkins should have the indicator to put him in the rotation more, juzang was playing better towards the end of the year, he probably would have transferred anyways, but don’t make the same mistake with Livingston. He played well and cal didn’t play at all in the second half and then did his hindsight comment special
OP, you are simply wrong.
Juzang and Matthews played.

Matthews averaged 10.3mpg. And was not good offensively (44%/25%/41%). The 25% was only 1-4, and he was basically Ware at the FT line. He only played because he could play good defense. But he was backing up a very similar guy (also a FR) in Briscoe. So he probably arrived thinking Briscoe was OAD, and as a Soph he would step in, but then realized "Briscoe is better than me, but not good enough to be OAD", and that why he left.

Juzang averaged 12.3mpg, and it was higher than that (like 14-16) the last couple months of the season. And he was not tearing it up either (37%/32%/83%), the 83% was nice but he didn't get to the line much (12 FTA compared to 77 FGA). So he was simply afraid to compete vs the next class for PT. But also, MOST of the recruits from California, have transfered out since I've been a fan in the 80's, usually going back West. Hayes and Prince are the only 2 exceptions I can think of.

I'll give you Hopkins. And yes, the LSU game and then subsequent games, I can't blame him.

Livingston is getting his chances. And while he's had moments, he has also had lapses in those same games. Vs KU he had them on defense, but he also passed up wide-open 3's like he was afraid to shoot. You can't be afraid at this level. But we still have 12-19 more games, so lots of opportunities for him to have that 'break-out game'. I'd love to have CL and Edwards as our 2 forwards next year. Neither a PF, not sure is a SF either, both kind of 'tweener' Forwards who can take advantage of matchups. Those 2 with Onyenso (blocking shots) and the 2 FR guards, will be a good 5. Then throw in Theiro and Reeves and Fredrick and Collins and Bradshaw and Sheppard to backup.
 
OP, you are simply wrong.
Juzang and Matthews played.

Matthews averaged 10.3mpg. And was not good offensively (44%/25%/41%). The 25% was only 1-4, and he was basically Ware at the FT line. He only played because he could play good defense. But he was backing up a very similar guy (also a FR) in Briscoe. So he probably arrived thinking Briscoe was OAD, and as a Soph he would step in, but then realized "Briscoe is better than me, but not good enough to be OAD", and that why he left.

Juzang averaged 12.3mpg, and it was higher than that (like 14-16) the last couple months of the season. And he was not tearing it up either (37%/32%/83%), the 83% was nice but he didn't get to the line much (12 FTA compared to 77 FGA). So he was simply afraid to compete vs the next class for PT. But also, MOST of the recruits from California, have transfered out since I've been a fan in the 80's, usually going back West. Hayes and Prince are the only 2 exceptions I can think of.

I'll give you Hopkins. And yes, the LSU game and then subsequent games, I can't blame him.

Livingston is getting his chances. And while he's had moments, he has also had lapses in those same games. Vs KU he had them on defense, but he also passed up wide-open 3's like he was afraid to shoot. You can't be afraid at this level. But we still have 12-19 more games, so lots of opportunities for him to have that 'break-out game'. I'd love to have CL and Edwards as our 2 forwards next year. Neither a PF, not sure is a SF either, both kind of 'tweener' Forwards who can take advantage of matchups. Those 2 with Onyenso (blocking shots) and the 2 FR guards, will be a good 5. Then throw in Theiro and Reeves and Fredrick and Collins and Bradshaw and Sheppard to backup.
And do you think In that time it is enough to play through mistakes without looking over your shoulder, juzang played the last couple of games of the year. But my point has been the whole time, cal will not give guys like these the ability to grow on the court like others. The min matthews, juzang, Hopkins, or players like this make a mistake they get yanked and always look over their shoulderh
 
And do you think In that time it is enough to play through mistakes without looking over your shoulder, juzang played the last couple of games of the year. But my point has been the whole time, cal will not give guys like these the ability to grow on the court like others. The min matthews, juzang, Hopkins, or players like this make a mistake they get yanked and always look over their shoulderh
you know what, you are right. all 10, 11, 12 scholarship players should be given 20+ minutes so they can play through their mistakes, even if they aren't contributing a whole lot. Wait Cal tried to do that one year (9 averaged 16mpg+ if you count Poythress), and many of you complained about that too because that means your best guys aren't playing 30+min.

In an interview, Juzang said himself, he wanted to come home, to be able to come home have some dinner, do some laundry, see his family, whenever he wanted. Like I said, we've lost most of our CA recruits the past 30 years, and it has little to do with UK or the coaches or teammates or fans.

Juzang was playing "ok", certainly not enough to justify 20-30min. Same for Livingston now. Matthews was worse.
 
Oscar ain’t winning NPOY this year. Kentucky isn’t good enough for that to happen. And on the other end Oscar isn’t the problem here. The problem is cal doesn’t give certain players the chance to play through mistakes like others and when they have a mini breakthrough, he then proceeds to still bench them and give hindsight comments saying he should have played them more
Would you say they was good enough last year?
 
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