would it be Cal's best roster yet? I am also assuming Hagans is apart of the team. I think it would be, especially in terms of depth and guard play. It may not consist of 6 1st round draft picks, but it would be a great college roster.
If we were to get all three back...
- Thread starter Bigjoecatfan56
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I always enjoyed a good cardstink thread. It wasn't a great poster but had some funny one liners while taking hits. As for the question. Simply put, no. 2015, even 2012, or 2009 could have an argument
I don't think even those teams would have the depth of this one. 2015 would be close, but I would give this team the nod.
2012 was our best team IMO and our best team ever IMO, I could see this team being our 2nd best team as we get 2 of the 4 plauers being talked about as long as one of those 2 are vando. I think we get JV and Reid and we form the second best team in the cal era. Reason for me saying it'll be second best team? Because I think we will be the overwhelming title favorites with 2 of the 4 and also think we win the title, and if we win the title then they'd have to be cal's second best team. With Reid and Vando we would have the best backcourt and best frontcourt in the country. We'd also have a mixture of youth and experience, and an overwhelming perfect mixture of players who compliment each others talents.
We will have shooters for days, we will have tons of great passers and ball handlers making it cal's best ball movement/passing team IMO, with Vando we will have crazy rebounding ability, we will also have low post scorers in Reid or Washington and Vando, and insane versatility in our big men with Vando and EJ who can step out, we will have 3 of the best absolute dog like defenders in all of CBB with Vando, KJ, and Hagans, to go along with a ton of potential great/very good defenders (Green, Quickly, maybe Richards). We will also have players who can attack the rim with the best of them in Hagans, KJ and Vando, we will also have 2 of the best mid range shooters weve seen under cal in Herro and KJ. Also shot blockers in Richards and Vando and possibly EJ. We will legit be able to come at teams in every single possible way a CBB team can come at you. We will have every single dimension a basketball team can possibly have, and IMO it'll be the most complete team in the Cal era and maybe in the modern era of CBB point blank period, though 2012 will always be the best team IMO.
A lot of this though is predicated on the assumption Vando returns and stays healthy, which I think will happen. If this is to happen, I believe he will be our team's superstar and a candidate for NPOY. I also firmly believe we get 2 of the 4 players being talked about with Vando being one of them and PJ/Reid being the other, likely being Reid.
We will have shooters for days, we will have tons of great passers and ball handlers making it cal's best ball movement/passing team IMO, with Vando we will have crazy rebounding ability, we will also have low post scorers in Reid or Washington and Vando, and insane versatility in our big men with Vando and EJ who can step out, we will have 3 of the best absolute dog like defenders in all of CBB with Vando, KJ, and Hagans, to go along with a ton of potential great/very good defenders (Green, Quickly, maybe Richards). We will also have players who can attack the rim with the best of them in Hagans, KJ and Vando, we will also have 2 of the best mid range shooters weve seen under cal in Herro and KJ. Also shot blockers in Richards and Vando and possibly EJ. We will legit be able to come at teams in every single possible way a CBB team can come at you. We will have every single dimension a basketball team can possibly have, and IMO it'll be the most complete team in the Cal era and maybe in the modern era of CBB point blank period, though 2012 will always be the best team IMO.
A lot of this though is predicated on the assumption Vando returns and stays healthy, which I think will happen. If this is to happen, I believe he will be our team's superstar and a candidate for NPOY. I also firmly believe we get 2 of the 4 players being talked about with Vando being one of them and PJ/Reid being the other, likely being Reid.
A ton of assumptions here.
Reid and Vando best frontcourt?
Reid is solid but still not good enough to warrant an invite to the NBA combine and was on a 18-15 PAC team.
Vando can’t shoot and played in a handful of games due to bad wheels.
Best backcourt?
We have one returner who didn’t start and one who didn’t play. No John Wall’s coming in.
Experience? .... lost to K State way too early. Last year’s squad was without a doubt the lowest b-ball IQ group Cal has had.
Shooters for days?
Other than Green the rest of these shooters have yet to play a college game.
Great passers and ball handlers?
Only Vando has proven to be a quality passer.
Vando has not proven to be a scorer.
Richards has not proven to be close to a shot blocker.
Best rim attacker’s?
2 freshmen and Vanderbilt who showed zero scoring ability?
Vanderbilt can step out and score? We have never seen it. Can EJ? We don’t know.
Great defenders?
Green? Really? KJ and Hagans have yet to play on this level but definitely have potential.
2 of the best midrange shooters seen under Cal? Seriously? Lamb and Ulis probably disagree.
Let’s hope KJ lives up to that and see where Herro fits in the rotation.
Most complete team in Cal era...?
Did you watch any games this past season?
If the returning players were half as great as you say they are we wouldn’t have sucked ass nearly as bad as we did. Outside of the SEC tourney run it was not a very successful season, especially blowing the gift we had in a cakewalk to the Final Four, which we couldn’t take advantage of...
Most incomplete squad Cal has ever had with returning players that exhibited:
Terrible b-ball IQ.
No shooters.
Poor defenders.
No rim protector.
Couldn’t beat a so so K State team.
Along with zero major impact, elite incoming freshmen.
Most complete team in modern era CBB?
This is where I think you are fooling us all and the entire post is a bad joke.
If not, I hope you are correct in your assessment. However, this post has more unsupported hyperbole than Dick Vitale announcing games sitting on K’s lap.
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Well that just shows how little you know about basketball.
This. You definitely have to hope that anyone who returns improves by a great deal. Because if they show up, go through the motions, and perform similarly to their freshman year than we won’t be that much better. Too many unknowns and unprovens on this team, and the knowns have a lot to prove as well.
2012 and 2015 are the most complete teams of the Cal era. I give the nod to 2012 in practice because they won the title, but 2015 was the most complete team on paper. 2 deep at every position until Poythress went down.
2012, 2015, 2009, and 2013 are Cal’s most talented UK squads. Again, 2012 getti the nod for me because they won the championship, but on paper, 2015 was more stacked 1-10.
This team has great potential if we get 2/3 to 3/3 back. But they still have a lot to prove.
Apparently every returning player is going to improve 200% and our recruiting class has become #1, 2 and 3 this offseason....
"2012, 2015, 2009, and 2013 are Cal’s most talented UK squads. Again, 2012 getti the nod for me because they won the championship, but on paper, 2015 was more stacked 1-10."
I'd switch 2013 with 2014 and 2009 with 2010....
(thanks Jeff)
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Will not happen. No need to speculate on something that will not happen. He gone.
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Depth is overrated when it comes to tournament success, imo. I’d rather have 6-7 extremely solid guys than 9-10 guys that are good but have significant flaws.
It is interesting to read everyone's take on this and note how the collective board view has changed over the years.We now seem to expect the unexpected and to be surprised by almost nothing.
I think this particular group has moved several to the camp of they do what they do and we don't care either way. They aren't world beaters,we know that but they don't know that
I think this particular group has moved several to the camp of they do what they do and we don't care either way. They aren't world beaters,we know that but they don't know that
I meant the 2013-2014 team and the 2009-2010. If I have the years right the former was the Randle team and the latter was the Wall team. If I have the years wrong I apologize.
![[roll]](http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/img/emoticons/classic/roll.r191677.gif "roll [roll]")
Any team with AD and MKG on it is going to be better than what we will have next season. AD was a transcendent talent who could change a game without scoring a point. Hell, if you all recall, teams gave up on driving the post when he was in the game.
I'll be very quick to refer back to this absolutely ridiculously moronic post. Yes Vando is a monster, been following his game a long time, I understand why some people doubt him, but he never had time to get adjusted and comfortable. When he does, he will without a doubt be a force in offense, defense he's already a force. Him alongside Reid and EJ will make up the best frontcourt in country. Vando if healthy will be an All American. Yes Reid played on an 18-15 team that had a dreadful start to the season due to injuries and finished well. Care to talk about the individual and his stats? Tons of shooters? Without a doubt.
Idc if they haven't played a college game or not it doesn't take a freaking rocket scientist to see that Herro and JB are absolutely dead eye shooters. Quade is a damn good shooter, Quickly is a real good shooter. KJ is an underrated shooter. Yea I definitely expect great shooting next season. Couldn't beat a bad KSU team? So next years team apparently can be judged in any way shape or form on this years team's loss to KSU? That seems to be an absolutely ridiculously outlandish way to judge a cal team.
Poor defenders? We were best 3 point defensive team in the country for most of last season, we were one of the best FG percentage teams in the country as well. Most of our issues came from the offensive end. It is also well documented that KJ and Hagans will come in and be some of the best defenders in the game from day one. Vando has already proven to be an elite defensive player, when he was on the floor, he showed he was the best defensive player we've had since Noel/AD. So that's 3 top notch elite defenders right there.
Best passing team? Absolutely! Hagans is an amazing passer, Vando is an amazing passer. Oh and there's 2 more point guards on the roster who aren't too shabby at passing themselves in QG and IQ. JB played a lot of point and is a good passer as well. So yea, I see this easily being our best passing team as we have great passers at every position. KJ and Herro are real good passers in each's own right as well. EJ is also a real good passer.
Yes, I'll take a frontcourt consisting of Reid, Vando, and EJ over any other frontcourt in CBB next season without a doubt. I say this because I know if healthy for a full season, vando will be an All American. We won't be the best shotnlocking team, but I expect Richards to do a solid job at protecting the rim, Vando showed he was real good at defending the paint and perimeter himself, and EJ could be better than expected at shot blocking. As always we'll definitely be one of the better shot blocking teams in the country.
Best backcourt? Yea. I'll definitely take QG, AH, TH, JB, IQ, and KJ over anyone else. You're talking about next years team as if they're a fringe top 25 team at best. Laughable. I'm joking? We'll see what the joke is by midseason, I'll be sure to bookmark this for future reference for the giggles I'll get. I told everyone last season that Vando would be best rebounder in CBB the second he steps on the floor, people called me stupid for saying that about a player who hasn't played. I know a lot about all of these players, and on paper with these players in next years down season in CBB.
I'll definitely take our team over anyone else and not even close. Yea you can pretend we are full of bad passers, terrible shooters, terrible BBall IQ all you want. You couldn't be more wrong, have your fun now, you think being absolutely ridiculously negative by putting a worst case spin on everything that I promise you is an absolute impossibility of happening in regards to what you're saying about next years team and what to expect.
I'll keep my realistic spin on things myself tht are very likely to happen considering I know these players games and know what to expect. And it's lockdown defense, raining 3's, and terrific passing to go with top notch bball IQ and rebounding, basically the exact opposite of what you said to expect. Have your fun being negative now. But it will come off as pure stupidity come December and I promise you that.
Troll thread or not, this team is at best 4th. It's really not even debatable. That Bing said, I love this year's team. Even more if we get 2 of PJ, WG or JV back
If Vanderbilt is 100% then it’s gotta be close. If Richards can average around 2-3 ish blocks a game and be a rim stopper this team definitely could be his best team. Only difference would be a way better SOS with all the solid teams in the SEC.
Well I was an assistant coach on the naia level for 7 years before giving it up to spend more time with my family; plus I have followed the game all of my life. I don't get why you want to be rude to me when we agree on almost everything???? If you would have responded with some facts as to why I am wrong that would have been a better response. If we get all 3 guys back, we could literally go 11 deep. What other team could do that?
Even with the assumption we get all three back - and no one seems to be factoring in WG's contribution - there's no way to know how next years team fits into the rankings of the Calipari era.
It could be our guards overwhelm just about everyone we play. We don't know what we'll get from Richard's until we see his progress or from JV until he proves he's healthy. We could be very good inside or fairly weak. Only time will tell.
You do have to like the potential this team brings to the table.
It could be our guards overwhelm just about everyone we play. We don't know what we'll get from Richard's until we see his progress or from JV until he proves he's healthy. We could be very good inside or fairly weak. Only time will tell.
You do have to like the potential this team brings to the table.
I am as positive as anyone but you just described several absolutes applied to freshman that have yet to play a game and two injured sophomores. Not to mention comparing them to front courts with AD and MLJ and Jones or even Willy and Randle is ridiculous at this point.
You are just hoping. How you can even compare a past team with one that has yet to play one game is beyond me. Your naia experience means nothing. Truth is we won’t know a damn thing about this team till after conference play starts. To imply this team is better than or even close to a team that went 38-1 is the worst take I have seen on this board.
While I hope you are right, to make the kind of statement you made is ludicrous without seeing one game played.
Brian, I get where you are coming from with your negativity on the possibilities for next year. Trust me, I totally agree with you about the I.Q of last year's team; it was awful. However, it has always seemed to me as if most players make the biggest improvement from their freshman to sophomore seasons. In addition, Cal's best teams here have been the ones that returned a lot of experience from the previous teams.
With those two things combined, I feel like next year would once again be a great team. One of Cal's best. Now, that is only if all the stars fall in place and we get everyone back. So, that is still a huge if, and I do not think it will happen anyway. I do think you are not seeing that potential depth that we would have in all areas next year if we caught a lucky break finally with guys returning. Anyways, nice talking with you.
Obviously the IQ was low or we still wouldnt be waitin to see who is coming back
Listen,I said it would be Cal's best roster IF we get everyone back, which I don't think we will. Of course I have not seen a game played yet, but is that not what hypotheticals are for? It is a down time of the year so why not? To me,a message board is the perfect place to compare teams when it is a down time in the year for Kentucky sports. I stick with what I said, if we get everyone back, and I understand that is a huge if, it will be Cal's deepest and most complete team. If you really think about the lineups that we could put on the floor, maybe you would come to your senses.
lmao...the 4th best team cal has had if we get everyone back?! That is a ludicrous take; and my god can some of you people knock this troll crap off? Gee whiz its old already.
I agree completely, we will be stacked. Not sure why the thought of this seems to make others furious. I get that last year sucked, but the only thing that got me through was the hope that most would return. If they do, I think it could be Cal's best team.
That team was great, but this team would be way deeper than that team. It would be loaded at every position essentially. Like I said,it may not be loaded with nba players, but it would make a great college roster in my opinion.
Maybe you are what you say,I'll take it at face value because
it doesn't change the issue at hand:
Everyone mostly agrees that last years's team had low basketball IQ.Will they magically be that much smarter by day one of next year?
The team last season was young but so has every team Cal has had here,looking at their total body of work they weren't very successful by Cal/UK standards.We caught a good draw in the SECT and benefited from upsets in the NCAAT,when it came time to take advantage of a gift wrapped trip to the Final Four we came up short because the team wasn't very good
If next years team is going to be improved as much as you imply it wil be because the incoming players fill the many holes that last year's team had.If it happens Vanderbilt will have to stay healthy,Gabriel will give us about what he did last year(maybe a little better) Clearly Washington's priority is to find a way out just as was Diallo's last season.
Hopefully the team is better next year but that hope rests on the backs of players we haven't seen play as of yet more than the 3 yet to make up their minds about returning.Yes we need at least 2 back in order to have enough warm bodies and a better balance of front and back court players.Saying we will be all world or best ever if all 3 return is just wrong even if you are Coach Rupp reincarnated
Again you are hoping it happens and I hope you are right. But I don’t see it. The ones that do come back will still be low IQ, who knows what we get with the freshmen.
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