No one can say how Mark Pope's hastily assembled Portal Paladins (that's for the old folks -- "Have Gun Will Travel") will fare. But one criticism I'm seeing that it's a patchwork, or ragtag bunch who were not highly recruited out of high school seems to imply those kind of players are inherently less effective than the dazzling 5-stars to which Kentucky fans have grown accustomed.
But even under Calipari, who clearly could not let go of his model of a half dozen high school NBA products a year, haven't we seen that the older, more experienced portal players are -- recruiting star-for-star superior?
It is a small sample. But think back to that period in 2021-2022 when Kentucky looked like world beaters, crushing eventual NCAA Tourney finalists North Carolina on a neutral court, Kansas at home and Tennessee when the Vols were Top Five. Wheeler and Kellan Grady -- along with transfer Oscar Tschiebwe-- were arguably the stars of the team during that run. Grady got hurt. Wheeler started trying to do too much. But for a useful sample of the season they were terrific.
Then you have the past two years. Who was the best player, despite rosters that included Top Ten high school recruits on both teams? The Southern Illinois transfer Antonio Reeves (and until he was hurt Mitchell.) And the year before Oscar and Jacob Toppin, the Rhode Island transfer, were hardly overmatched in the SEC.
Obviously, Kentucky wants better results than the past three NCAA tournaments. But everyone was satisfied that those teams had enough TALENT to get the job done -- with the right COACHING and the right offensive scheme.
So why couldn't Brea, Butler, Carr, Oweh, Williams, Garrison, Kriisa, perform as well as Reeves, Grady, Toppin, Wheeler, Oscar and Mitchell?
Some of us may still be prejudiced in favor of guys loaded with gaudy rankings coming out of high school.
But even under Calipari, who clearly could not let go of his model of a half dozen high school NBA products a year, haven't we seen that the older, more experienced portal players are -- recruiting star-for-star superior?
It is a small sample. But think back to that period in 2021-2022 when Kentucky looked like world beaters, crushing eventual NCAA Tourney finalists North Carolina on a neutral court, Kansas at home and Tennessee when the Vols were Top Five. Wheeler and Kellan Grady -- along with transfer Oscar Tschiebwe-- were arguably the stars of the team during that run. Grady got hurt. Wheeler started trying to do too much. But for a useful sample of the season they were terrific.
Then you have the past two years. Who was the best player, despite rosters that included Top Ten high school recruits on both teams? The Southern Illinois transfer Antonio Reeves (and until he was hurt Mitchell.) And the year before Oscar and Jacob Toppin, the Rhode Island transfer, were hardly overmatched in the SEC.
Obviously, Kentucky wants better results than the past three NCAA tournaments. But everyone was satisfied that those teams had enough TALENT to get the job done -- with the right COACHING and the right offensive scheme.
So why couldn't Brea, Butler, Carr, Oweh, Williams, Garrison, Kriisa, perform as well as Reeves, Grady, Toppin, Wheeler, Oscar and Mitchell?
Some of us may still be prejudiced in favor of guys loaded with gaudy rankings coming out of high school.
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