Khalifa eligible for '25-'26 season...
- Thread starter Blueathletics
- Start date
I know we have owned them in recent years, but that game is going to be a war.
I was worried that Khalifa was going to follow Coach Pope to UK last season and be our starting big man. He is just not that good.
It’s kind of telling that Pope didn’t ask him to come and he was their starting big, Right.
Might've been out of shape. He's had a body transformation, so we'll see.
This guy has gotten far too much attention. He's not that good.
You're probably right, but this post guarantees he will have a career high against us, including 5-5 from three.
That's an awesome G-League lineup.
Kentucky by 8.
You’ve got your blue shades on for sure. I hope you are right.
Brown is a likely OAD and McKneely and Conwell are 40+ % from 3. They will spread the floor, let Brown try to get to the rim and kick out for 3 or lob to the bigs.
If we can keep Brown out of the paint, we win. But that’s a big if.
His best attribute is high post passing. He's a defensive liability and moves like he's a 300 lb player who broke a leg and became 400 lbs. I think he's more likely to be put on a poster by Oweh, Williams, Aberdeen, and maybe Johnson (*for JQ as we'll see how rehab goes).
Pope blew his '24 NCAA Tournament game at BYU by continuing to force this guy on the game. It was embarrassing and hurt the team. New BYU coach who obviously knows what he's doing didn't bend over backwards to keep him either. But we're to fear him? Eat a dunk fat kid.
It's not blue-shaded to speak the truth. They have a bunch of portal guys and then maybe one OAD frosh who will be playing on the biggest stage for the first time in his life. We've seen how that goes for about 60% of these supposed OAD guys, especially in early November when they routinely crap the bed early on.
Outside of Conwell, the rest of their guys don't have the tourney experience that guys like Aberdeen and Mo-D have. I'm not saying we're towering over them with elite NBA talent, but we will at minimum have more than they will.
Plus, they will have all the pressure on them. It's a "must-win" for their program in every imaginable way. I'm taking junior-year Lowe over freshman Brown in early November. I'm not sure they'll have a positional advantage at any spot on the floor.
Not only Lowe we probably will see Brown trying to get around Aberdeen and Oweh. Mo-D could help as well on switches. I think we can control the freshman
They don’t look as good when you see their starters in print. UK is much better.
I'm so much more relaxed going into this next season. We're stronger almost everywhere. If we have a slight drop in 3pt % we'll more than make up for it with our defense and rebounding. Pope will use his bench to really pressure the other team while keeping everyone on our side somewhat fresh. In the 2nd half UL will have to keep their best guards in the game in order to stay in striking distance and they'll either start to break down physically or make some poor judgement plays. Likely both. The UL players are talking confident because they know what a raucous crowd it will be but I guarantee the UL coaches know it will be a tall task to beat us.
Pryor and Khalifa wouldn’t start for us and Brown is a Freshman, I don’t know enough about the other two. We have defensive stoppers in Aberdeen, Mo and Oweh, they are all exceptional defenders who can score on offense too. The pressure is on them.
Man, I hope you guys are right. If we were playing them at home, I would give us the edge for sure. Neutral court, we win. I just don’t about playing them at their place. I think it’s going to be closer than most of us expect.
I like the fine dining the redbirds will make for us next season. We're as eager to kick their ass as they are us. Except we usually do it to them a whole hellofa lot more than they to us, and worse, I might add.
I'll love eating the dirty birds and polishing them off to start the year right next season !
ZERO worries.
HUGE expectations, but tempered with wisdom....
Cats by at least a dozen. It'll wake up the college basketball world to start the year.
Go Big Blue !
I'll love eating the dirty birds and polishing them off to start the year right next season !
ZERO worries.
HUGE expectations, but tempered with wisdom....
Cats by at least a dozen. It'll wake up the college basketball world to start the year.
Go Big Blue !
If you consume any UL sports media at all, these people act like he was the missing piece to a title run. It makes zero sense, but so does 99% of their sports reasoning.
So he went from being fat and unskilled to slim and unskilled?
That changes everything!
Kentucky by 11.
I’ve always admired those who take the initiative to transform their bodies, athletes or otherwise.
I don't believe in jinxes but I do believe in angels.
Plus, while beating Louisville is always fun, the result of that game is pretty much "meh." We've absolutely dominated them recently.
Plus, our 1998 title team lost to a then 3-6 Louisville team at Rupp. It didn't affect our long-term prospects at all.
He's still not in the type of shape you need to be in to play elite basketball. He doesn't take this serious and he's an overrated stiff. As the former great Bill Walton would say " GET THE STIFFS OFF THE COURT".
So, do you think Pryor starts at the 5, maybe with Hadley at the 4?
That matches up better with us, I would think, at least defensively.
Or do you think Fru will start at the 5?
Pryor is the better player. That said, I really don't care about what Louisville does. They were not that good last year but played in a rotten conference which was exposed in the NCAA Tournament. I think they have some nice additions and will be a better shooting team and Brown is extremely talented but I don't see this elite team and Kelsey has proven to be a complete tight ass in NCAA games. Remember he had a team who was picked by many media people to upset Alabama in the '24 NCAA's prior to his departure to Louisville. Then last year, he's in Lexington to play a good but beatable Creighton team and they were tight/nervous and got punked again. He's got to prove he can calm his ass down and not let that tight approach trickle down to his team.
I think some of the fans keep thinking that Kentucky is going into the game with the same team/style that they played last year. It's a different roster and built more like an SEC program that is a serious contender. Defensively it'll be Pope's best team he's ever had. They should get more points off defense compared to what he's had on the court. Length/athleticism without sacrificing skill. Now I am not even counting on Quaintance playing in that game early in the year (if he does, great) but even without him, they'll be far more explosive and athletic which was painful to watch by February after injuries, and seeing what he had to try to throw out there against more athletic teams who also were skilled-which was how he thought he'd have a huge advantage.
