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Jon Rothstein picks Kentucky basketball to finish 4th in the SEC

What outsiders are missing:
UK's recent struggles have been the Point Guard.

This team is LOADED with Guards who are Fast and Basketball Smart.
That and injuries at PG. We had a decent thing going with Ty and Wheeler until both got banged up at LSU.
 
UK may lose their fair share of games, but I do not envision them consistently getting dominated, as your post suggests.

Personally, I like the makeup of this roster. Big fan of the freshman we have coming in, as this appears to be the first prototypical Cal class since 2017. Love that Reeves will not have to initiate his own offense, which he had to do frequently last yr. That will be a huge positive.

Anyway you look at it, at least in my eyes, this is a make or break year for Cal. Anything short of a final four should be enough to send him packing...
I do think this team is going to get beat a lot, especially on the road in the SEC. This league is extremely physical and every team we run into will have developed juniors and seniors that are very physical.

It’s going to take this team a long time to come together and by the tine that happens, we're going to have a lot of losses piled up, which will ensure a lower seed in the NCAAT.

It’s a pretty sad state of affairs when we're picked outside the top 10 in the national rankings and 4th in our own league… .a league we used to own.
 
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What outsiders are missing:
UK's recent struggles have been the Point Guard.

This team is LOADED with Guards who are Fast and Basketball Smart.
Cal had Tyty, he decided to use Wheeler.
He had Maxey, he decided to go with Hagans.
Cal decided Wheeler was the right choice for last years team.
Cal brought Devin Askew to UK to start at pg… .Devin Askew.

The problem has been the guy yelling "GOOOOO".
 
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Can anyone really blame these folks for ranking us a bit lower than usual given our recent results? Whether you can or can’t blame them really doesn’t matter because based on previous results we are not going to get the pre season love we are used to under Cal. And until he wins something of note that isn’t going change, and no amount of message board whining is going to change that.

There’s only thing that can change that perception: winning. It really is that simple.
Yeah you can blame them. What does that have to do with this year? Why doesn’t it apply to Texas A&M? They made 1 NCAA tournament the last 4 years and won zero games.
 
Cal had Tyty, he decided to use Wheeler.
He had Maxey, he decided to go with Hagans.
Cal decided Wheeler was the right choice for last years team.
Cal brought Devin Askew to UK to start at pg… .Devin Askew.

The problem has been the guy yelling "GOOOOO".
Tbf on Askew no one knew until we saw his play and he didn't have other options (that's still on Cal though)

What's even worse was Chris Beard after seeing Askew play thinking he was still great. THAT is mind blowing.
 
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Tbf on Askew no one knew until we saw his play and he didn't have other options (that's still on Cal though)

What's even worse was Chris Beard after seeing Askew play thinking he was still great. THAT is mind blowing.
Nothing Askew did in HS should have made Cal think he was UK good.
Not only that, but Cal had him reclass to come here and run point because he struck out with every other top pg he recruited.
Honestly, he should have tried harder to get Hagans back, but that goes against the culture he created at UK.
 
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I see no reason to doubt JR's prediction. The SEC is going to be VERY tough this year. The top 5 teams are all interchangeable at this point. But, the Cats have a lot of new parts that will need to prove they can play with the more veteran SEC teams IMO. I think 4th is about right this early on.
 
I pick Jon Rothstein to come in last place at his job and first place at sucking.
 
I think we will struggle a bit in conference.

6-7 losses in conference. Probably good for third or fourth in the league.
 
Yeah you can blame them. What does that have to do with this year? Why doesn’t it apply to Texas A&M? They made 1 NCAA tournament the last 4 years and won zero games.
You’re right. It’s probably a conspiracy. That’s the logical answer. Good job for seeing it.
 
It is impossible to predict how good a team actually is now, since there is so much roster turnover now.

But also, we have done nothing to make people think we will be better. Lots of talent, but mostly freshman dominated. I don't blame him for picking us there.
 
Come March, we will not have the 4th best team in the SEC. Might drop a few before then, and yea, might finish 4th, but I only care where we finish at the end of the tournament. There is no better collection of talent on any team in the SEC, and maybe only a couple teams in the country have a comparable amount of talent. All comes down to can Cal coach them. If this team has any offense at all, we win 9.
 
You’re right. It’s probably a conspiracy. That’s the logical answer. Good job for seeing it.
I didn’t say it was a conspiracy I said you can blame them for their awful takes. Saying you can’t blame after the last couple of years when Texas A&M was worse but is still ranked ahead of us is silly.
 
I didn’t say it was a conspiracy I said you can blame them for their awful takes. Saying you can’t blame after the last couple of years when Texas A&M was worse but is still ranked ahead of us is silly.
Oh well if that’s your position then I will retain mine. We’ve been hot trash the last several seasons when compared to UK’s standard and that has culminated in diminished expectations.

People are starting to realize it doesn’t matter who we have on our roster. Hell, we returned the NPOY last season and still couldn’t win more than one game in March. One game with the former NPOY. If it was any other team you’d be dogging us too.
 
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