Johnny Juzang
- Thread starter sosoblue
- Start date
Yes. Cal would have “run him off” and people would have accused him of not caring about the university.
Good grief man...no clue where you are coming from. Both guys played a lot as Freshmen. Juzang was a steady climb throughout that year culminating with 33 minutes in last game of season. He transferred because he was homesick.
Looks like most of y’all don’t realize that he intended to strike while the iron was hot and go pro after the Final 4 run. He was projected as a mid 2nd round pick with some thinking he could go late first because of his tournament performance…until the combine. Reports said that he was the worst player there and it wasn’t even close. He returned because it was clear he wasn’t going to be drafted. Dude went off for 5 big games, but beyond that he wasn’t overly spectacular as a college player. Shot 35% from 3 which is solid, but again not spectacular.
He tried to strike while hot
They told him to go back to school
They just not that into you lol
Final Fours don't matter though Jeff. It is just winning the region. You said so yourself.
Again did not say player success I said draft but I guess reading comprehension is a problem. Johnny was a shooter with limited physical abilities that translate in the NBA, UK was not going to cure that problem.
It's better than going 9-21 though isn't it?
Is getting to the FF better than not even qualifying for the NIT?
No no, you got it all wrong bro, Calipari would have turned him into a lottery pick while he sat on the bench. He's a real magic man that Calipari.
So that's why Johnny never came marching home. Hurrah, hurrah!
Nah, we would have played them in the next round. Followed by St. Bonaventure and St. John's in the finals.
What does that have to do with anything?
Whether JC wanted JJ to leave or not, is irrelevant. He probably didn't want Kyle Wiltjer, Charles Matthews, Marcus Lee, or Dontaie Allen to leave either, but that doesn't change the fact that Cal played his NBA prospects over guys that are set up to win college games.
But my point stands, while UK is judged on titles, it doesn't mean Final fours aren't great, it doesn't mean FF's aren't a thousand times better than going 9-21 and missing the tournament. Cal went 9-21 with his NBA prospects, UCLA used a guy UK threw away, to get to a FF. Not only did JJ help them get to the FF, he was the guy that dragged them there.
Bold implies what my exact question to you was. Do you think Cal wanted Juzang to leave? If you think UK "threw away" Juzang then you answered the question with a resounding "yes".
You're claiming JJ was homesick, come on, you know better. JJ saw that BJB and TC were coming, he knew he wasn't going to play and if Cal actually wanted to keep Juzang, he would have recruited him back, but he didn't.
John Calipari is supposed to be a great recruiter, but he couldn't get one of his own players back? Do you honestly believe that?
Are we going to act like Cal doesn't play his NBA potential guys over his non NBA potential guys?
Juzang left and Cal was more than fine with it, which was a bad mistake.
Also, JJ wasn't home sick, he had schools on his list that weren't anywhere close to his hometown.
A response full of speculation on your part. Not trying to be rude, just saying everything above is speculation.
Cal plays the best players 99% of the time or those who he thinks have to be good for the team to be good. Literally the only example is DA 2 years ago with Boston and let's be real, that team was going nowhere quick without BBJ. Cal gave Allen ample opportunity last year and he did nothing, including refusing to play vs WKU.
The most likely scenario is a 17-18 year old kid from California who returned to California after playing a year across the country was homesick...but who am I to say...should probably just read his Dad's quote:
“When you think about being homesick, I’m not sure how he played at the end was much of a factor,” Maxie Juzang, Johnny’s father, told The Athletic. “Johnny was young, so it took him a little longer to adjust mentally and maturity-wise, and the fact that me and my wife both work and didn’t get out there near as much as we thought we might really made it tough.”
Point remains:
Juzang made a career crippling mistake transferring.
And you're wrong for implying otherwise.
We'll just have to agree to disagree. I think you buy too much of Cal's BS and believe what is put out for us fans to chew on.
Of course they said he was home sick, that's the least damaging thing it could be, of course.
I refuse to believe he was homesick. That's about as believable as Cal's famous "I haven't seen him" crap.
I was suspicious of that too at the time, especially considering that JJ reportedly was considering Villanova as a possible transfer destination. However, JJ’s own father said that he was homesick. I don’t see why he’d make something like that up just to cover for John Calipari.
I think some have failed to realize this . We have had a good amount of undrafted guys . Juzang probably doesn’t have the season he has at UCLA at UK.
I think, at the end of the day, kyjeff felt Juzang deserved to take away minutes from Quickley (a sophomore that played comparable minutes to Juzang the year before) and Maxey. That’s the position he played. If not then who the hell knows what he’s arguing.
I agree with this too . I think he might have been a little homesick but I think he knew his playing time wouldn’t increase the way he wanted it to be with Boston and Clarke coming . Even if the time increased the ball wouldn’t be in his hands at Kentucky as much as it was at UCLA. He was the man at UCLA and still didn’t get drafted . I can’t see him being a role player at UK getting him drafted especially with Devin Askew being his PG the next year .
I'm sure he was a little homesick, heck, every kid that leaves home for college gets at least a little homesick.
But you just have to read between the lines and look at the situation. JJ knew he wasn't getting minutes at UK the next season and the Juzang family didn't want to throw Cal under the bus.
You can't give the media anything. These kids learn that on day 1. There is no way the Juzang's were going to trash UK and Cal. That's what it would have come across as. They simply took the high road.
Under Cal, if you're a future draft pick, you're getting the bulk of the minutes. If you don't have what the NBA wants, you take a back seat.
Yup, UK had some good players ahead of JJ in 2019/20, but JJ did his research and he knew he had no shot of getting playing time over Clarke and Boston. No shot even though JJ was the better college player, that doesn't matter. JJ made the smart decision and it paid off for him. He would have sat the bench for 4 years here.
Only thing that would have made us wrong about this is the fact that Clarke ended up being hurt but that’s not something Juzang could predict of course .
You say that, but the very year Juzang was here, Calipari played a sophomore Quickley over Khalil Whitney. How would that be different than Juzang over Terrence Clarke? In 20/21, before Clarke's injury, Calipari was already playing Davion Mintz and/or Devin Askew over Clarke (by the UL game)
Calipari didn’t just come out of the gate playing Quickly over Whitney. He tried to force feed Whitney into the starting lineup, but he was so bad, Cal had to take him out.
Lets not act like Whitney didn’t force Cal's hand.
Quickly still played over Whitney the vast majority of times, hence why he transfered mid season...
