A few thoughts...
Jeter is absolutely tall enough to be a center. Kid is around 6'10, 6'11 with a good wingspan and decent athleticism. But he has looked completely lost out there; the game moves SO much faster for him. Fingers crossed that he gets better.
Clemson played the game of the year for them. This isn't unusual; Duke shows up, and teams play out of their minds. Haven't you guys seen that over the years for Kentucky?
Not sure how anyone would think Kennard hasn't played well... he was the 21st overall RSCI recruit, which isn't that high, and is averaging about 12 points and 4 boards, despite having a HORRIBLE start to the year... in his first nine games he only scored in double digits three times, whereas in his last eight he has scored in double digits in all but seven (and scored nine in that one), including games where he scored 24, 23, 17 and 18. Still not shooting great from three, but overall he seems to be doing fine.
And this Duke team is YOUNG. Like... super, super, SUPER young, in terms of age AND experience. Right now, only seven guys get any minutes at all (beyond that and you are getting to 3 star types.) That is a grand total of TWO subs. One of those subs is freshman Chase Jeter, who has looked TERRIBLE (more fouls than points or rebounds this year so far, and playing only 8 MPG). Then you have three freshmen (Kennard, Thornton, and Ingram) only one of which is a OAD type of natural talent. As far as non-freshmen you have a barely serviceable career backup center whose BEST scoring year saw him boasting an average of 2 points who is now starting (Plumlee)... Allen, who averaged 4 pts a game last year (and only played nine minutes per game)... and Matt Jones, who averaged 6 pts a game last year. That's it. With only one and a half subs (if that) each starter is going to have to play, like, 35 minutes a game for every game, WITHOUT foul trouble.
This Duke team has a lot of talent... but holy cow, it has a LONG way to go. Honestly, it is almost more a "let the guys grow for next year" type team, IMO, than anything else.
This loss? Eh. Refs were a little rough, but a young team will go through this sort of thing. No biggie. Team will grow and develop with Jefferson out, and if he makes it back great, then maybe the team will have grown enough to make some noise in March.
Jeter is absolutely tall enough to be a center. Kid is around 6'10, 6'11 with a good wingspan and decent athleticism. But he has looked completely lost out there; the game moves SO much faster for him. Fingers crossed that he gets better.
Clemson played the game of the year for them. This isn't unusual; Duke shows up, and teams play out of their minds. Haven't you guys seen that over the years for Kentucky?
Not sure how anyone would think Kennard hasn't played well... he was the 21st overall RSCI recruit, which isn't that high, and is averaging about 12 points and 4 boards, despite having a HORRIBLE start to the year... in his first nine games he only scored in double digits three times, whereas in his last eight he has scored in double digits in all but seven (and scored nine in that one), including games where he scored 24, 23, 17 and 18. Still not shooting great from three, but overall he seems to be doing fine.
And this Duke team is YOUNG. Like... super, super, SUPER young, in terms of age AND experience. Right now, only seven guys get any minutes at all (beyond that and you are getting to 3 star types.) That is a grand total of TWO subs. One of those subs is freshman Chase Jeter, who has looked TERRIBLE (more fouls than points or rebounds this year so far, and playing only 8 MPG). Then you have three freshmen (Kennard, Thornton, and Ingram) only one of which is a OAD type of natural talent. As far as non-freshmen you have a barely serviceable career backup center whose BEST scoring year saw him boasting an average of 2 points who is now starting (Plumlee)... Allen, who averaged 4 pts a game last year (and only played nine minutes per game)... and Matt Jones, who averaged 6 pts a game last year. That's it. With only one and a half subs (if that) each starter is going to have to play, like, 35 minutes a game for every game, WITHOUT foul trouble.
This Duke team has a lot of talent... but holy cow, it has a LONG way to go. Honestly, it is almost more a "let the guys grow for next year" type team, IMO, than anything else.
This loss? Eh. Refs were a little rough, but a young team will go through this sort of thing. No biggie. Team will grow and develop with Jefferson out, and if he makes it back great, then maybe the team will have grown enough to make some noise in March.
![[smoke]](http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/img/emoticons/classic/smokin.r191677.gif "Cool [smoke]")
