we don't have enough data to have a pattern/trend.... nor can we tell what will happen during the 25-26 season.
Jaland Lowe to uk
- Thread starter BlueBloodKyFan
- Start date
True. Trust the highlight reels. That tells the real story more than actual numbers. 🙄
Was merely talking about recruiting. Agreed, there’s not enough data. But he has signed approximately 20 players so far. Some very nice gets, that we can all agree on. I think what is also pretty evident is we lacked THAT DUDE this past season. And unless I’m completely missing something, we’re not going to have him again this coming season. That’s an issue. That’s all I was saying. I think Pope can coach and scheme with the best of them. My concern is his ability to go get elite level talent. Gotta have it to win like we should win.
I do get your point, and I agree to an extent, but let's not be too hasty in saying we won't have "that dude" as if making the pronouncement makes it so before the process has finished or the next year is even begun. Oweh could already be the dude for us next year like Cryer is for Houston this year. I'd say that right now. Oweh steps up his game, he can be an all american easy and who better to be THE DUDE on our team?
I'm just thinking out loud too.
The combination of DUDES is more important than the one "go to" dude. Altogether, we're going to be more talented and better top to bottom without a doubt. And there's no guarantee we dont already have THAT DUDE already locked up.
I just wouldn't jump the gun opn making a sweeping pronouncement yet on it when the process isnt finished yet.
Folguieras (sp?) and Lowe, Kam Moreno, Lewis, to add with what we have already is a monster team already. Just a few key pieces left to fit and it would be top 5 from the get go. The glass is either half full or half empty. It's a lot closer to full than everyone thinks.
we're in good shape
Go look at Florida's roster, then list all of the "elite" talent they used to advance to the national championship game. They have several key guys who were unrated kids out of high school and a bunch of transfers that were ranked anywhere from 50th to beyond 100 in their portal classes. Nobody on that roster jumps out as "elite" or as "that guy". What they have is a situation where the sum of all the various parts adds up into them having a superior TEAM. They are experienced and have played together for a while. And they fit their system. That is the formula for winning national championships in today's college basketball landscape, something Duke hasn't seemed to have figured out yet.
Whose stats are these his only year in college? 27.5% from 3 65% Free Throws 0.6 Assists . . . . . Devin Booker.
See, its the difference between actually watching basketball and just hearing/reading about it.
Read a report that said that Pope's offense will fix Lowe's shooting. It said with the motion offense he will not have to shoot near as much and he should have more assists than ever. I did not know he was one of if not the fastest and quickest players in the country. Reminds me of when Fox was here. That speed itself will be a big weapon. Breaking the press will be much easier also. And, with Oweh, we have two guys very effective getting to the rim instead of just one.
Plus being the fastest guy on any court with the ball will equal a lot of easy points
He wouldn't have been one of my choices but I trust that Pope knows what he's doing. I know that Butler was a good shooter except off the dribble and in Pope's offense he didn't have to shoot much off the dribble so I'm hoping it's something similar with Lowe.
Wait, are you saying those are Booker's stats from 14/15?
I'm seeing 47% fg, 41% 3-fg, 83% ft and 1.1 apg
You might wanna look Book's stats up again. You're not even close. But hey, if you don't include a link you can just make stuff up and others will believe it.
Devin Booker College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
Devin Booker - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more
www.sports-reference.com
What good did it do Duke to have 3 guys who by all accounts are "that dude"? We made the sweet 16 with the closest thing we had to "that dude" injured and our defensive leader/ PG at 80% from his own assessment. Having "that dude" can be overrated IMO. How many elite level players were recruited to Auburn, Florida or Houston and yet they all made the final four? Now do they have players that developed into elite guys? Yes but we can get guys who on paper don't look like "that dude" right now but will if we can get them to stay in the program more than 1 year.
Well, they did get to the Final 4. That would be nice. I'd take that. And I'd also be willing to bet Pope wouldn't piss down both legs like Scheyer did when it got tight.
and none of them did it with a first year coach. Pearl's had 11 years at Auburn, Golden 3 years at Florida, Scheyer 3 years at Duke and Sampson 11 years at Houston. Let's wait at least 3 years to let Pope get himself out there with the UK brand/backing and then compare him to those guys.
Wait...That's in no way bashing Pope or saying this season wasn't successful. Stop moving the goalpost. I wasn't comparing Pope to anyone. I simply replied to your question.
You said...What good did it do Duke to have 3 guys who by all accounts are "that dude"?
I simply replied that they made the Final 4.
My only point in all of this is we lacked THAT DUDE this past season. Seems like we might again. Hell, one could develop into it. Don't know that. But I, and I'm sure about any other, see the need for a guy that can absolutely go get his own at all three levels.
I just finished watching the full UofL @ Pitt game from early in the conference schedule. At the time Pitt was a projected 6 seed. A few notes:
- One thing I wanted to see was how the team looked when Lowe wasn't in. Well, I didn't get to see that. He missed at most the last two mins of the first half after picking up his second foul, but otherwise played the whole game.
- Made all 13 free throws and I think only one touched the rim. Beautiful form. He looked Sears-like in his ability to get to the line when driving the lane.
- He had a couple possessions in the first half and probably four in the second that are the reason I can see his shooting percentage was so low. He would get a favorable matchup, or get the ball late in the clock, or late in the game when they were trailing, and take a quick, on the move/step back shot that never really had a chance. Shot 5/15 for the game.
- He missed one gimme layup with under 2 mins when down 2. Discarded his man on the drive and just clanked the bank shot. Should've hit it and if he did the final result may have been different.
- Good defense, not great. He was involved in 3 miscommunications on defense that I saw, twice on switches and once in transition. Hard to know who was at fault exactly. The good news is twice he recovered and disrupted the shot enough to force a miss (one three and one drive). A couple times due to screens he was trailing a driver and was quick enough to get back and contest the shot or force a pass out.
- Takes some risks on defense jumping passing lanes. He had one steal at the top of the key that led to a run out.
- Sometimes gets in the air without a plan but I don't think that ever resulted in a turnover. He always figured something out. I was surprised to look at the stat sheet afterwards and see him credited with 4 turnovers. I can remember two, not sure where the others came from.
- Passes accurately with one hand on the move. Likes to penetrate and jump to throw two hand passes to the perimeter over the big men.
- I think he tried to push the pace every time he got the ball off a miss. More often than not it got Pitt advantage, and more often than not it resulted in him in the lane going for a layup. A few times he found an open man in the corner or got into the lane and kicked it out/dumped it off. That's probably the aspect of his game I'm most excited about.
- He plays really fast. The ball doesn't stop when it gets to him, either whipping a pass or starting a dribble drive. He maybe have had one catch and shoot all game, early in the first half. He mostly played under control when playing fast too. I think sometimes Lamont got going faster than he was comfortable and would miss a layup he should've hit or make a turnover. Shouldn't be a problem with Lowe.
- The announcers were very complementary of him and talked at one point about being really impressed watching Pitt practice the day before, the way he led the team and took command.
- Unrelated, but I really like Zach Austin. Looks like he graduated this year but he seemed like the perfect 3 and D wing. Super long, blocked a couple shots and hit a couple 3s. It made me excited for the potential of Kam Williams!
