Meyer Now Predicts Killeya-Jones, Alkins, Langford, Simmons, Bridges
- Thread starter Smashcat
- Start date
I hate to be so pessimistic, but if that's our class I will be disappointed. Simmons has potential to be a game changer and I'm not drinking the Monk kool aid as much as others so Langford instetad of him is fine, but to miss out on Giles, Tatum, Jackson, and Smith Jr. would be awful. There is considerable drop off from the those guys to next tier.
Giles and Tatum are Duke bound. Jackson know one knows, Cal hasn't shown to much interest in him. Smith Jr., Duke or NC State. It's still a little early.
I'd take that class.
Hopefully we have Ulis and Lee back.
Starters
G Ulis
G Simmons
G Langford
F Bridges
F Lee
Key Reserves
G Alkins
F Killya-Jones
F Wynyard
I can't see us getting Simmons, Langford, Alkins, and Bridges. Too many 6'5-6'6 wings. Simmons plays a lot at PG, but with Ulis likely back, he is at the 2 a lot as well. Langford at the 2/3, Bridges can slide over to the 4, but then we will have Mulder and Matthews back on the wing as well. That's a bit of a logjam on the wing.
I think we get Simmons and Langford, then one of Bridges, Alkins, and Isaac. Preferably Isaac because of his length and shooting.
Hopefully we have Ulis and Lee back.
Starters
G Ulis
G Simmons
G Langford
F Bridges
F Lee
Key Reserves
G Alkins
F Killya-Jones
F Wynyard
I can't see us getting Simmons, Langford, Alkins, and Bridges. Too many 6'5-6'6 wings. Simmons plays a lot at PG, but with Ulis likely back, he is at the 2 a lot as well. Langford at the 2/3, Bridges can slide over to the 4, but then we will have Mulder and Matthews back on the wing as well. That's a bit of a logjam on the wing.
I think we get Simmons and Langford, then one of Bridges, Alkins, and Isaac. Preferably Isaac because of his length and shooting.
No, or next to no shot at those 4.
Simmons, Alkins, and Langford would be a nasty perimeter. Bridges is a good combo forward. Will need to find a dominant big.
Smith won't leave the state of North Carolina, IMHO.
Simmons is the second best PG in the class and he seems to want to be a Cat, so sign him up and I am happy.
Langford plays AAU ball with Simmons, so they have chemistry. We've had good luck with Bama players recently (Cuz, Bledsoe) as well.
Simmons and Langford, a couple of southern boys who probably want to stay in SEC country and the best place to do that is at UK.
Giles and Tatum are Duke bound, so don't waste your time hoping they becomes Cats. It's as much of a lock as Okafor and Jones last year.
I'd be tickled with a Simmons, Langford, Alkins, Bridges, and Killya-Jones-Jones class.
Simmons is the second best PG in the class and he seems to want to be a Cat, so sign him up and I am happy.
Langford plays AAU ball with Simmons, so they have chemistry. We've had good luck with Bama players recently (Cuz, Bledsoe) as well.
Simmons and Langford, a couple of southern boys who probably want to stay in SEC country and the best place to do that is at UK.
Giles and Tatum are Duke bound, so don't waste your time hoping they becomes Cats. It's as much of a lock as Okafor and Jones last year.
I'd be tickled with a Simmons, Langford, Alkins, Bridges, and Killya-Jones-Jones class.
I'll be straight up. That class isn't good enough. We need 4-5 top 20 players, and 3-4 top 10 guys. Simmons and Langford yeah, but we need a few more elite level guys. Monk, Buike, Giles, Jackson, etc. They'll be a few guys shoot up the rankings too.
People must forget we'll have Matthews and Mulder back as well.
Come on, be realistic.
That would be a great class.
That's three top 15 guys in Simmons, Langford, and Bridges.
Alkins is top 25.
Killya-Jones is rising in the rankings in a class where, aside from Giles, all the bigs are very close in abilities.
With Ulis, Lee, Mulder, and Matthews likely back and Wynyard likely coming in a semester early, we will have tons of talent.
That's a team with six 5-stars. That's plenty of talent.
I'm not forgetting, but having a guard heavy team can allow you to do much more in a guard oriented game. A lot of versatility between all of them. If anybody is disappointed in that class, they're insane.
Not a lot of dominant bigs in this class, Killeya-Jones has potential to get to top 20, which is terrific. Wynyard likely has that potential as well, and he may very well be acclimated to the college game at that time (if he comes early).
I'd take Alkins over Smith Jr. in a heartbeat. I also think Isaacs could ultimately be as good as Tatum.
Giles is probably the one guy who is head and shoulders above the rest of the field at his position, but there are a couple of guys out there like Bolden and Jones who could develop into special players, maybe not OADs, but 2-3 year guys like WCS.
Giles is probably the one guy who is head and shoulders above the rest of the field at his position, but there are a couple of guys out there like Bolden and Jones who could develop into special players, maybe not OADs, but 2-3 year guys like WCS.
Do we already have people complaining about a mythical class for next year that might only be ranked 2nd or 3rd? Is that seriously already happening?
Wonder how accurate Meyer has been since he started predicting. Seems a lot of times when a recruit visits a school he changes his pick a lot. Kind of comical, he doesn't seem to know no more than we do and is just a wild guesser at best like we are.
comical statement, whats sad is that you actually believe and disturbing you will go one believing it.
he talks to players and coaches. you talk to nobody. he attends recruiting events. you watch tv.
If you guys are worried about rankings just venture over to 247 and they have them much higher ranked than rivals. That ought to make your feelings feel better and Cal can wipe the sweat off his brow for worrying what you think of a class that is nothing but 5 stars. Terrance Jones was ranked from around 20 to 9 by different services and he was a beast for us.
I've seen quite a few 5 star players play and I just didn't see 5 star talent and I watch some 4 stars and a couple of guys they were not ranked that had nba talent.
Their is a lot of politicing involved in ratings as well. Recently I saw a players mom who is extremely attractive and she was flirting hard with one of the recruiting guru's. After an hr she would venture over to some of the assistant coaches to some schools and flirt with some of them as well.
Her son is an underclassmen and a very nice player but I don't think he is a 5 star player or anything. But he will prob be ranked as such. Heck I might rank him that high I had her hanging and touching all over me lol
I've seen quite a few 5 star players play and I just didn't see 5 star talent and I watch some 4 stars and a couple of guys they were not ranked that had nba talent.
Their is a lot of politicing involved in ratings as well. Recently I saw a players mom who is extremely attractive and she was flirting hard with one of the recruiting guru's. After an hr she would venture over to some of the assistant coaches to some schools and flirt with some of them as well.
Her son is an underclassmen and a very nice player but I don't think he is a 5 star player or anything. But he will prob be ranked as such. Heck I might rank him that high I had her hanging and touching all over me lol
We seem to get every move a recruit does and read tons of interviews from the players, coaches, parents, etc. When Murray visited us and when Jones visited us he was very quick to put out his pick. What did he do within a day or two of the visits? Get the player or their parent on the phone asking them if we lead or not?
Yeah, he talks to plenty of coaches. What are they going to say about where the guy may be going? Surely most of them would not want to lose the distrust of the parents by giving out false info. If he has the ability to coax info out of the parents or the player then I could see him having a true advantage in predicting. But just because he runs around to camps just can't see him getting much more than what we eventually read about ourselves.
We can't have 8 to 10 Five-star players at Kentucky at one time. That is what we went through last year and Coach Cal did the right thing by the Platoon and tried to get all 5-star talent 20-25 minutes a game. In the end though it bit Coach Cal and Kentucky in the Spring Recruiting and Coach Cal has said he wouldn't do the platoon again it was a mistake even though we were 38-1 and Final Four. If we have 5or 6 Five-Star players and 4-5 Four-Star players mixed in with the 5-6 Five-Star players we will be fine.
like i said....you will go on believing what you want....its disturbing. all evidence suggests something else....you believe what you want anyway.
A mythical class that is one guy's prediction and certain to change. I just put this up to have something to talk about, not to complain about.
LOL at people complaining about getting 3 top 15 guys and then 3-4 top 30 guys . At worst that class is #2 . AT WORST. Also some bozo mentioned 4 guys who we must have and literally none are even UK leans LOL . Talk about setting themselves up for failure . 2 are duke locks , one will never play in the states and the 4th who knows about . Langford , Simmons and Bridges are top 10 guys, at worst top 15. Tai will be top 20 when its done . I doubt we end up with Rawle but he is damn good ( I think we get Monk instead) . Also think we add another top 30 center as well .
You guys are worrying about what some idiot predicts way out in front of signing day or anything close to it..relax and let things play out. Things will change drastically before that day in November when kids can sign. Good Lord.
I'd love to have Langford and Simmons. Throw them alongside Matthews and Mulder and Cal would feature a solid wing group capable of defending anything on the perimeter.
After this spring I'm not getting worried about recruiting a year from now. It would be nice to get an early commit but not real excited about anything until they actually say Kentucky
If I am not mistaken, about this time last year our mythical class according to the 247 Crystal Ball was something like:
Briscoe
Newman- something like 80+% for UK.
Matthews
Brown
Bragg
Diallo
Zimmerman
I think they had Labissiere going to Memphis.
I could be wrong, but that's how I remember or something along those lines.
Anyway, the moral of this story is these guys doing the predicting are guessing like we are (it's just their guesses are based on research, interviews, etc done to try to get in these recruits heads).
And also that it's a long way to signing day and things will likely change a lot between now and then.
One thing that will likely change are the rankings of some of these guys. I can see Isaac getting into the top 5 or so (much like Brandon Ingram this past season). I think there are some other guys that will make big jumps as well. The kid from Atlanta (Banks) comes to mind.
Briscoe
Newman- something like 80+% for UK.
Matthews
Brown
Bragg
Diallo
Zimmerman
I think they had Labissiere going to Memphis.
I could be wrong, but that's how I remember or something along those lines.
Anyway, the moral of this story is these guys doing the predicting are guessing like we are (it's just their guesses are based on research, interviews, etc done to try to get in these recruits heads).
And also that it's a long way to signing day and things will likely change a lot between now and then.
One thing that will likely change are the rankings of some of these guys. I can see Isaac getting into the top 5 or so (much like Brandon Ingram this past season). I think there are some other guys that will make big jumps as well. The kid from Atlanta (Banks) comes to mind.
I assume a few of the people taking about complaints are referring to me so let me say this. I follow recruiting as close or closer than anyone on this board and more so than some scouts who rank the players in my opinion. I used to do work for a scouting service and went from one Adidas event to the next until 2 years ago. So my saying what I said is Cal was all in with Giles from his freshman year and was pretty much all in with Tatum from that stage too. Smith Jr. and Jackson were always pipe dreams but me saying those 4 stand head shoulders above are totally true and accurate, like I said Simmons instead of Smith Jr. and Langford instead of Monk great, those are somewhat marginal in my eyes especially Langford and Monk. However Giles is a phenom and at one point people talked about Cal having a MKG esque relationship with the kid. Coach K was always in the mix too, but Giles loved UK and Cal. Tatum and Jackson are incredible and they are the best wings by a mile so to just give up and say well we can't get them I understand is the most likely thing but I just hate it.
I mean, someone in this thread said they'd rather have Rawle Alkins a 6'4 wing over Dennis Smith Jr. the #1 PG in the class any day. Guy, you don't even get to have a recruiting opinion anymore you're so off base. That's one of the worst takes I've ever read on here.
I mean, someone in this thread said they'd rather have Rawle Alkins a 6'4 wing over Dennis Smith Jr. the #1 PG in the class any day. Guy, you don't even get to have a recruiting opinion anymore you're so off base. That's one of the worst takes I've ever read on here.
This thinking amazes me. How have we become so delusional? Nationally, 2016 is a guard heavy class. Assuming Murray reclassifies to 2015, 10 of the top 17 players left in the 2016 Rivals rankings are guards. And everyone knows we will have Ulis, Matthews, Mulder, Hawkins back. So Meyer is predicting Calipari will sign 5 players ranked 12,17, 26, 27, 73 in the country. Plus Wynyard. He might be wrong, probably is wrong 1 way or another about a roster that would have at least 7 guards. But even if he is right, this is the foundation for the #1 or #2 national class. Calipari is well known for picking out guys like WCS, Booker, Ulis, Matthews, from what you are referring to as the next tier. And some of our fans are disappointed with this prediction? That's really nuts. If you have worked for a scouting service, you must be aware that adding these players to the returning roster would give Kentucky another deep FF contender with speed, versatility, and scoring punch. But I think Calipari is sharp enough to know that this roster would still need another baseline player, and I'll bet he gets another 1.
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Get used to disappointment cuz we ain't gettin those guys. That class will undoubtedly change but if a class like that isn't good enough for you, I don't even know what to say. The only chance of someone with a better class would be Duke and even they would need more than Jiles and Tatum.
If Duke can sign both, which remains to be seen, Giles and Tatum would be a great foundation for their class. But Duke is losing every consequential player from their championship team, and most of Duke's 2015 signees will be OAD next year. So Duke will need to bring in lots of new players and make them fit together. Others are sure to disagree with me, but I fully expect Ulis, Hawkins, Mulder, Matthews, Willis, Lee, Wynyard on Kentucky's roster for the 2016-17 season. That's a pretty good nucleus. If Calipari adds Kobi Simmons, Josh Langford, Miles Bridges, and a couple of decent baseline players to that mix, we would have another serious FF contender with athleticism and depth. I know what some people will say. Where will Calipari get the baseline players? This is my answer. Where did he get Kanter and Wynyard? It's a big world out there, and Calipari is the best in the business.
If Lee comes back and Cal signs another big, we'll be fine down low. If he improves enough to leave this year, which is a real possibility, Cal will have to pull a rabbit out of his hat or something because there are very few quality bigs in the '16 class.
It wouldn't bother me one bit if fans like this would just pick another team to root for. Makes us all look bad. 99% of UK fans are thrilled with the unbelievable classes Cal has brought in since he's been here, but realize that signing five top ten guys is unrealistic every year and not necessary to win a title.
Yeah - I'd rather have Alkins - the elite 2G we will need instead of Smith Jr., the PG we won't need since we'll have Ulis and most likely Simmons already on the roster. Apparently, Cal prefers a couple of guys over Smith Jr as well, since he hasn't offered him yet and isn't even really recruiting him.
Also, as good as some of those top 3-4 guys are - I think the recent consensus is that some of them haven't developed as much as expected, whereas guys like Alkins, Isaac, etc. are rising fast.
That seems to be a common theme in recent years where we start hyping these guys up earlier and earlier and by the time they're Seniors, some of them have topped out to some extent, whereas some late bloomers are still rising. The NBA is full of guys who had little high school hype.
We saw that to some degree with Newman last year - a guy who had been hyped as the No. 1 player in the class since his freshmen year, but who had slipped a bit by his senior year. Ingram on the other hand was a late bloomer who shot up to Top 10 after the All-Star games.
The fact is - now that K is all-in on the OAD, Cal is going to have to get more creative in his recruiting. The top guys especially if they're good students are going to lean toward Duke. K is going to continue to benefit from his Team USA affiliations. I'd love to see us bring more WCS types and keep a good balance of OAD, 2AD, etc. I hope we don't see many repeats of 5 freshmen starters.
Also, as good as some of those top 3-4 guys are - I think the recent consensus is that some of them haven't developed as much as expected, whereas guys like Alkins, Isaac, etc. are rising fast.
That seems to be a common theme in recent years where we start hyping these guys up earlier and earlier and by the time they're Seniors, some of them have topped out to some extent, whereas some late bloomers are still rising. The NBA is full of guys who had little high school hype.
We saw that to some degree with Newman last year - a guy who had been hyped as the No. 1 player in the class since his freshmen year, but who had slipped a bit by his senior year. Ingram on the other hand was a late bloomer who shot up to Top 10 after the All-Star games.
The fact is - now that K is all-in on the OAD, Cal is going to have to get more creative in his recruiting. The top guys especially if they're good students are going to lean toward Duke. K is going to continue to benefit from his Team USA affiliations. I'd love to see us bring more WCS types and keep a good balance of OAD, 2AD, etc. I hope we don't see many repeats of 5 freshmen starters.
