Matthews is Better Than You Think

[caneintally]

We need offense. That is NOT his strength. He may become a solid player given time but he won't have a major impact as a freshman. Offense will be an issue for next year's class.

Actually it is . Shooting 3's isn't his strength but scoring is . He can score with the best of them but he will only shoot around 35 % ( like the twins ) from 3. He will get better at that but he is great at the mid range game and the can really drive it . I have seen him play 6 times and he compared to the twins in alot of ways IMO . People say liggins but he is a different player altogether then Liggins .

 

[bucsrule8872]

Matthews will be the fourth or fifth option on the floor, most of the time. We just need him to hit the occasional jumper on offense.

It would be better if he were a scorer, but we can't have it all.

 

[cal=8]

I see his rankings anywhere from 40-55 range.
There have been some VERY good players over the years in that range, not all have to be top 10 players
Cauley-Stein, Jordan Mickey, Zach LaVine, Tokoto, Brice Johnson, Niang, Quin Cook, Boatright etc ...

I have seen him play 2x and I was very impressed as well. I think he will be playing a lot next year.

7 man rotation
Ulis
Briscoe
Matthews
Poythress
Skal
--------------------------------------------------------
Guard off bench - Mulder
Big off bench - Lee

Foul trouble guys - Hawkins, Willis

I agree with your rotation 100%.. That could be a very good team by March.

 

[Hoskins91]

. I agree. I'm personally a fan of recruiting shooters and skill players over raw athleticism but I'm not one to argue with success.

You're acting like they are mutually exclusive. I don't think you can call most of the players we've had here unskilled.

 

[Hoskins91]

I'm pretty sure Matthews just committed first. I don't think we picked one over the other, or at least we were not aware that we only got to have one of them.

 

[Kerry Kat]

Dude doesn't shy away from contact at all. He's a gamer and glad he's a CAT

 

[Bluegrass79]

umm I know a legit good player when I see one and this dude passes the eye test. He looks to have good size to him also. I think Charles will start at small forward. Watch and see.

 

[CloverforkCat]

I see his rankings anywhere from 40-55 range.
There have been some VERY good players over the years in that range, not all have to be top 10 players
Cauley-Stein, Jordan Mickey, Zach LaVine, Tokoto, Brice Johnson, Niang, Quin Cook, Boatright etc ...

I have seen him play 2x and I was very impressed as well. I think he will be playing a lot next year.

7 man rotation
Ulis
Briscoe
Matthews
Poythress
Skal
--------------------------------------------------------
Guard off bench - Mulder
Big off bench - Lee

Foul trouble guys - Hawkins, Willis

You think we will start both Ulis and Briscoe ? We could, but I believe either Mulder or Matthews will get the nod. I know Mulder is a juco, but that is still a step up from HS competition. He also is 190lbs, solid build, can shoot the 3 and drive to the bucket. Matthews can too, but he needs some good weight added to his frame.

 

[rabidcatfan]

Kennard took about 30 unofficial visits to UK, and grew up a Kentucky fan, he was ours to lose.

Cal chose to go and get Matthews instead, so Kennard went to Duke.

At the time, Matthews was a 5-star, ranked 12th or 13th in the country IIRC.

Correct. There was a time that people thought we would get both Matthews AND Kennard and Kennard even said something to the effect that Matthews commitment would not sway him away from picking UK (although I believe it did - in fact, I think he picked Duke out of spite of Cal going after and landing Matthews since they were considered to be so similar and we already had Booker coming in). Kennard committed to Duke shortly after. I would have loved to have had Kennard as he was one of the players I was really rooting for Cal to pick up, but you have to also remember that Cal thought we'd have Booker for at least two seasons and was looking for a more athletic, slashing wing instead of just a shooter. The fact that Booker was a OAD hurt us a in this respect.

 

[TT Cat]

Glad we got him. Him dropping to 4* guarantees that he will be back as only 5* is elligeble for one and done

 

[UK90]

Remember, Cal CHOSE Matthews over Kennard.

Wow, this is some laughable revisionist history going on here.

Sorry, fella, but the only "choosing over" that went on in Kennard's recruitment was the kid choosing Duke over us and others. We offered him, we wanted him, and we kept pursuing him until the day he committed. It was simply a miss.

 

[Cats192]

LOL

It's not the off-season until someone says "You don't know how good such and such is."

He'll be decent. He won't be a stud right off.

You're kidding yourself if you think Cal CHOSE to not have Kennard. It wasn't a choice between the 2. If we were only getting 1 wing, why was he still recruiting Brown and Ingram? I know, I know, there elite recruits--but Kennard is a 5 star, top 25. Hell, he's probably better than some of you think.

 

[Tampa_cat54]

Wow, this is some laughable revisionist history going on here.

Sorry, fella, but the only "choosing over" that went on in Kennard's recruitment was the kid choosing Duke over us and others. We offered him, we wanted him, and we kept pursuing him until the day he committed. It was simply a miss.

Very naive.

At the time that both committed, Kentucky was looking at having Booker and potentially even Aaron Harrison back from this years team, and were the favorite for Malik Newman, who at the time, was our top SG prospect.

There was no chance, all of those things considered, that both were going to commit here.

If Cal had wanted Kennard, he would've held off on Matthews and waited for Kennard to decide (which is very common in recruiting).

He chose to take Matthews commitment, knowing full-well that it would cause Kennard, who was ours to lose, to probably go elsewhere.

How is that not choosing Matthews over Kennard??

 

[brianpoe]

You think we will start both Ulis and Briscoe ? We could, but I believe either Mulder or Matthews will get the nod. I know Mulder is a juco, but that is still a step up from HS competition. He also is 190lbs, solid build, can shoot the 3 and drive to the bucket. Matthews can too, but he needs some good weight added to his frame.

I think most believe we will start Ulis and Briscoe. If you are not, I am assuming you are starting Poy at the 3 and Lee at the 4...

 

[bcox13]

Very naive.

At the time that both committed, Kentucky was looking at having Booker and potentially even Aaron Harrison back from this years team, and were the favorite for Malik Newman, who at the time, was our top SG prospect.

There was no chance, all of those things considered, that both were going to commit here.

If Cal had wanted Kennard, he would've held off on Matthews and waited for Kennard to decide (which is very common in recruiting).

He chose to take Matthews commitment, knowing full-well that it would cause Kennard, who was ours to lose, to probably go elsewhere.

How is that not choosing Matthews over Kennard??

He was ours to lose? Why would he possibly be scared off by Matthews? When Kennard committed to Duke he had no idea who they would be returning either. He chose Duke, because that's where he wanted to play.

Nothing wrong with you mentioning it as a possibility, but I think you are in the minority with that line of thinking. I think the Booker aspect probably played a much bigger role than Matthews committing.

 

[bookerfan66]

I've never bought into the whole Kennard was ours to lose because he was a huge UK fan spiel.I think his parents were but not so much him.He had the offer and could have taken it sooner if he really wanted to come here and he didn't know Duke's roster either.

 

[UKWildcats#8]

I think most believe we will start Ulis and Briscoe. If you are not, I am assuming you are starting Poy at the 3 and Lee at the 4...

Yeah, there is 0 chance Ulis and Briscoe both do not start. The other poster has no clue.

 

[ganner918]

You think we will start both Ulis and Briscoe ? We could, but I believe either Mulder or Matthews will get the nod. I know Mulder is a juco, but that is still a step up from HS competition. He also is 190lbs, solid build, can shoot the 3 and drive to the bucket. Matthews can too, but he needs some good weight added to his frame.

I'd bet the house that Ulis and Briscoe both start. Cal puts his best guys out there, and those two are among our best guys. We're "building a team around Ulis," you know he's out there. And there's no way you keep Briscoe off the floor.

 

[UK90]

Very naive.

At the time that both committed, Kentucky was looking at having Booker and potentially even Aaron Harrison back from this years team, and were the favorite for Malik Newman, who at the time, was our top SG prospect.

There was no chance, all of those things considered, that both were going to commit here.

If Cal had wanted Kennard, he would've held off on Matthews and waited for Kennard to decide (which is very common in recruiting).

He chose to take Matthews commitment, knowing full-well that it would cause Kennard, who was ours to lose, to probably go elsewhere.

How is that not choosing Matthews over Kennard??

Good lord, you are really doing some backflips to try to make this theory work.

Look, there was no "choosing" between Matthews and Kennard. Cal offered both guys, and he wanted BOTH guys. The fact that Matthews quickly accepted his offer, but Kennard did not, does NOT mean we liked Matthews more than Kennard, instead it essentially means the opposite: Matthews liked us more than Kennard did.

And we did not stop recruiting Kennard after Matthews committed. Instead, we continued to pursue him right up until the day he committed, so obviously we still wanted him. Hell, I remember the week Kennard committed this board was on pins and needles with all sorts of threads hoping and praying we'd land him. But now we're gonna pretend we didn't really want him? Gimme a frickin break..

Not sure why it's so hard for some fans to accept that we simply got beat for a recruit without trying to invent these half-cocked after-the-fact excuses.

 

[BigBlueManSouthCentralKY]

A lot of people are sort of counting out or downplaying Matthews impact on next years team.

Remember, Cal CHOSE Matthews over Kennard.

The kid is going to be VERY good.

I've seen him play in person 3-4 times and came away very impressed each time.

If it hadn't been for his injury, he'd be a top 15 prospect.

He'll be 6th or 7th man next year and get a lot of minutes.

Think DeAndre Liggins with far more offense at this point.

View embedded media

So, how consistent of a shooter is he? Is he off and on or can we expect him to be a good shooter every game? Who does he compare to intensity wise?

 

[Tampa_cat54]

He was ours to lose? Why would he possibly be scared off by Matthews? When Kennard committed to Duke he had no idea who they would be returning either. He chose Duke, because that's where he wanted to play.

Nothing wrong with you mentioning it as a possibility, but I think you are in the minority with that line of thinking. I think the Booker aspect probably played a much bigger role than Matthews committing.

Well, I see them as going hand-in-hand.

I think Kennard probably assumed (as most of us did) that Booker would be a 2-year guy.

So with that, there really isn't room for 3 elite SGs on one team.

It's not so much that he was "scared off", it's that we can only, realistically, have so many SGs on the roster to get all the minutes and what not.

Cal accepted Matthews commitment first. He could've held him off and waited for Kennard, but he didn't.

So, Kennard was looking at Booker and Matthews both being at UK, at a time when Matthews was ranked higher than he was.

If Cal had held Matthews off, we (more than likely) would've gotten Kennard.

But he didn't, and we didn't.

Cal chose to go ahead and take Matthews, which, considering that we THOUGHT Booker would be back, sealed the deal on Kennard.

@UK90 read above^. Of course Kennard still had an offer, no point in making some grand symbolic gesture of pulling a scholarship offer that Cal most-likely knew Kennard wouldn't take anyways. Cal knew that by taking Matthews, it most likely eliminated us with Kennard.

He chose to do so anyways.

It happens.

 

[Ryan Lemonds Diary]

Correct. There was a time that people thought we would get both Matthews AND Kennard and Kennard even said something to the effect that Matthews commitment would not sway him away from picking UK (although I believe it did - in fact, I think he picked Duke out of spite of Cal going after and landing Matthews since they were considered to be so similar and we already had Booker coming in). Kennard committed to Duke shortly after. I would have loved to have had Kennard as he was one of the players I was really rooting for Cal to pick up, but you have to also remember that Cal thought we'd have Booker for at least two seasons and was looking for a more athletic, slashing wing instead of just a shooter. The fact that Booker was a OAD hurt us a in this respect.

Kind of ironic if he picked Duke out of spite and then they recruit and get Ingram who will probably play over him.

 

[UK-chulo]

Kind of ironic if he picked Duke out of spite and then they recruit and get Ingram who will probably play over him.

I'm sure he has had some time to think about that.

 

[TheBigBluePrint]

This thread has too much of the "told you so" feel to it. If people hyping Matthews are right, then "told you so." If Matthews is average all the people loving the rankings and pointing to his slide will say, "told you so." Let's just see. He looked "ok" at best in the Jordan game, but that doesn't always turn out to be a great measuring stick. I just hope he's not Stacey Poole part 2.

 

[DDS62]

I know nothing about Matthews but articles on his play paint a rosy picture of his potential. He is apparently now a true 6'6" wing, possibly still growing, and a hard worker with a great attitude. And he was indeed a true 5* before a series of nagging injuries. Just hearing him mentioned with Liggins sends a chill. Matthews, Hawkins and Willis could be an ideal platoon of support for a terrific starting five and their is always the possibility of Wynyard showing up early.

 

[BlueBlood66]

Well, I see them as going hand-in-hand.

I think Kennard probably assumed (as most of us did) that Booker would be a 2-year guy.

So with that, there really isn't room for 3 elite SGs on one team.

It's not so much that he was "scared off", it's that we can only, realistically, have so many SGs on the roster to get all the minutes and what not.

Cal accepted Matthews commitment first. He could've held him off and waited for Kennard, but he didn't.

So, Kennard was looking at Booker and Matthews both being at UK, at a time when Matthews was ranked higher than he was.

If Cal had held Matthews off, we (more than likely) would've gotten Kennard.

But he didn't, and we didn't.

Cal chose to go ahead and take Matthews, which, considering that we THOUGHT Booker would be back, sealed the deal on Kennard.

@UK90 read above^. Of course Kennard still had an offer, no point in making some grand symbolic gesture of pulling a scholarship offer that Cal most-likely knew Kennard wouldn't take anyways. Cal knew that by taking Matthews, it most likely eliminated us with Kennard.

He chose to do so anyways.

It happens.

When Kennard committed to duke they already had three SG's on the roster and would still have three if Sulaimon hadn't got kicked off the team. Next year they have Grayson Allen and Matt Jones.

 

[Tampa_cat54]

When Kennard committed to duke they already had three SG's on the roster and would still have three if Sulaimon hadn't got kicked off the team. Next year they have Grayson Allen and Matt Jones.

None of them are even close to the level of a Devin Booker, and as has been said MANY times, Matthews was the better SG prospect at the time they both committed.

Matt Jones and Grayson Allen don't scare anybody. Allen had one good game this season, it just happened to be the title game. Kennard looks at Dukes roster and says, "I can play over those guys".

Kennard looks at Kentuckys roster at the time with Devin Booker and a SG recruit ranked higher than he is in the same class, he's not going to see as much playing time as maybe he would like.

 

[BlueBlood66]

None of them are even close to the level of a Devin Booker, and as has been said MANY times, Matthews was the better SG prospect at the time they both committed.

Matt Jones and Grayson Allen don't scare anybody. Allen had one good game this season, it just happened to be the title game. Kennard looks at Dukes roster and says, "I can play over those guys".

Kennard looks at Kentuckys roster at the time with Devin Booker and a SG recruit ranked higher than he is in the same class, he's not going to see as much playing time as maybe he would like.

When Kennard committed to duke both Booker and Allen hadn't played a game in college yet and Booker was only rated one spot higher than Allen in RSCI.

 

[JustthefaxMa'am]

At the risk of sounding sarcastic, can you tell me how much I think of him in the first place since you seem to know?

 

[UK90]

When Kennard committed to duke both Booker and Allen hadn't played a game in college yet and Booker was only rated one spot higher than Allen in RSCI.

This. And, at that time, Duke still had Rasheed Sulaimon, who it appeared would be back next year along with Matt Jones and Grayson Allen, all three being 5 star McD AAs who play the same position as Kennard. Plus, at that time, it was pretty much assumed Aaron would be gone after this year. In short, when he committed there appeared to be every bit as much or more shooting guard competition at Duke next year than UK, even with the Matthews signing.

The OP's whole line of argument on his "chose over" claim is utter nonsense, total revisionist history. Hell, even if Kennard's reason for choosing Duke had been because he thought there'd be less competition at his position, it STILL would not mean "Cal chose Matthews over Kennard." The more the OP tries to defend that line the sillier he looks.

 

[Tampa_cat54]

At the risk of sounding sarcastic, can you tell me how much I think of him in the first place since you seem to know?

You seem like a generally happy person

 

[JFCats22]

Gotta love his confidence!

Charles Matthews ‏@_JustCharles_
Kentucky will be 2016 National Champs. Best believe it.

 

[Tampa_cat54]

Gotta love his confidence!

Charles Matthews ‏@_JustCharles_
Kentucky will be 2016 National Champs. Best believe it.

Love it. Glad Matthews has more confidence in himself and our team next season than most of the posters here

 

[SilentsAreGolden]

I'm a bit hazy on the difference between the 26th best player and the 41st best.

I think after the first 15 or so, it's pretty much just a guessing game on the next 25-30 guys. The 25 number is really just random and based on the notion that every year the top 25 players are "5-star" guys.

 

[JustthefaxMa'am]

You seem like a generally happy person

I'm actually an overly happy person.

 

[JasonS.]

Gotta love his confidence!

Charles Matthews ‏@_JustCharles_
Kentucky will be 2016 National Champs. Best believe it.

 

[Cats192]

Love it. Glad Matthews has more confidence in himself and our team next season than most of the posters here

All kids think more highly of their own abilities than anyone else outside of say maybe their mothers. That's why some kids don't care about a school's track record--they think they're so good they'll carry Kansas or Cal to a title.

 

[Bluegrassking]

MKG couldn't shoot, Matthews will be a good player for us. He'll be a stat sheet stuffer, and be our defensive stopper.

Yes he could, he just wasn't a 3 point bomber. 15-17 feet and in I recollect him as a very reliable shooter.