Mike Thorne Jr. is a heck of a big man

[Cawood86]

Cal is building depth IMO. Injuries have derailed Cal before and he is very aware of that. Don't think he is being looked as a starter. However, he has a lot of game experience and good size.

UK lost 7. Not gonna get 7 freshman this year, just not happening, so you have to go other routes.

Ulis, Lee, Hawkins, and Willis returning plus Skal, Briscoe, and Matthews ain't chopped liver. Kind of reminds me of Brandon Knight led team right now. Getting Thorne would only help. Get another recruit or two and UK will have a really good team. Relax.

 

[uk78]

I agree with Silents on this one. He may prove to be a good get for the year but if he going to be counted on as a key player then we also could be in trouble. History is typically the best predictor of outcome and the history is so-so. There are some strengths and some weaknesses for this 4 year player. The high school top talent that we may or may not land may be more of the key. If we get a few of those elite high school players still out there we would not be having this discussion. I think what should be considered is having experience is a plus but let's not elevate anyone beyond what they have demonstrated on the court with real competition.

Also, and I hope we get him, but there was a game I watched and maybe it was their league tournament, but there was a center for whomever they played who seemed a bit better and we are not talking about an elite league. He is needed to help with practice, experience to teach a guy like Skal, etc .If we get more than awesome.

 

[marcole]

I saw him play twice (once live and once on TV) against WKU. George Fant, WKU's 6'6" pivot man dominated him - outscoring him 46 to 20 in two games. WKU won both games. But if we don't get Zimmerman and Thorne comes to UK, he will help. He can be an 8 and 6 guy

 

[js40484]

I wouldn't overlook the fact that while yes he may pan out to be more than just a contributor, a big bodied physical 7 ft practice player is essential for our frontcourt development of Skal and Lee.

 

[OHIO COLONEL]

Originally posted by SilentsAreGolden:
These threads are reminding me of the ones in the Gillispie years when we had to convince ourselves that guys like Dakotah Euton and GJ Villarino were actually really good. Starting to get depressed.

My thoughts as well as I see the recruiting trail winding down.

 

[Rhavicc]

Originally posted by Blue Decade:

Originally posted by Rhavicc:

Originally posted by Blue Decade:

Originally posted by Tyblue22:

And remember this...coach Cal said he wanted to build a team around Tyler Ulis.

When? Link? Ulis is a fine, instinctive, fearless player. I am glad Ulis is a member of our team. But some people are building an unrealistic legend that the kid might not be able to live up to. You can't build a team around a 5-8 sophomore who averages 5 points and 24 minutes a game while shooting 40% from the floor. Why did Coach Calipari sign the #1 point guard in the country? Because he understands the strengths and limitations of his players. Calipari knows what he is doing. I love Ulis, but Briscoe is also very good. As things now stand, next year's team will be built around Labissiere and Poythress. If Calipari can sign Malik Newman, don't think for 1 moment that Newman and Labissiere won't be the focus and foundation of next year's team. They will.

Dude, are you anything other than a negative nancy? I'm not entirely sure I've seen you post anything postive. Calipari texted him and told him that he was building the team around him, this was before The Harrisons, Booker, and the rest of the team declared for the draft.
You can build a team around a quick, instinctive, fearless player, because they're quick, instinctive, and fearless. Add in the fact that he's a point guard, and you know what you have? A playmaker. You build teams around playmakers, and you win games. He proved to be as good as any guard in the country last season.
Unless you haven't noticed yet, if we do pick up Newman, and hopefully Zimmerman as well, it leaves you a lot of opportunities to run the same type of Offense that Notre Dame had, except with a better 5 man, and taller players. 2 of whom may be shot blockers, 3 if you use Poythress or Matthews at the 3 position.
How could that help Ulis? He already penetrates the lane with ease to pass, he could do the same with much more ease because the low post is opened up, unlike this previous season, when 2 people were always in there, sometime 3 floating around in that area. He could drive to score, or drive to dish assists. This team should be better offensively than this past year's team fairly easily. Ulis will see many more minutes, so he'll score quite a bit more, and he'll certainly dish out plenty of assists in that time.
But to say that you can't build your team around a point guard with natural basketball instincts and a very high basketball IQ is silly.

There was nothing negative about my post. You might need to read it again for better comprehension, but I don't think it requires any further explanation.

Is anybody saying that he's going to go down as the greatest college point guard to ever play the game? No, we're saying that he will lead this team next season. There were 5 or more people who said similar things to me, and Cal said himself. Ulis will lead the team. All 5 foot, 9 inches of him.
You act like just because he scored (on average) 5 points per game in 24 mpg, that he's incapable or something. Maybe you should go back and look at the number of shots he took in those games. We finally get a true point guard, and suddenly "He can't lead the team, he doesn't score enough".
This kid was dropping 25, 30, and occasionally 40 points per game in high school, it's not like he can't score. It's that he chooses to set the team up in better positions to score.

 

[Brando Mac]

Originally posted by SilentsAreGolden:
These threads are reminding me of the ones in the Gillispie years when we had to convince ourselves that guys like Dakotah Euton and GJ Villarino were actually really good. Starting to get depressed.

I agree, but with Cal a "down" recruiting year (where we'll still have the 2nd best class at worst) has always been followed up with an absolutely dominant class the following season. All I know is that the UK staff feels very good about the kids in the 2016 class and in all likelihood we're going to load up on Top 25 studs once again.

If Newman and Brown are mostly concerned about getting theirs then there's nothing we can really do. We play team ball here and are all about lifting the status of the individual players up through the play of the team, and we've proven it time and time again that # of shots/points don't matter. If Zimmerman thinks UNLV is going to develop him into a better post player than Cal with his track record, then good luck to him on that.

As for Thorne, he seems like a poor man's Dakari Johnson. He can definitely play a few minutes when needed and is a big body to throw out there, but unless he's a lot better than what his numbers show I hope we don't have to count on him to log major minutes. We need to add some more skilled offensive players/shooters, and I just don't know where that's going to come from if we miss on Newman and Zimmerman. That probably means we're going to need a guy like Derek Willis to put in the work and put up or shut up.

 

[ZaytovenCat]

Here we go hyping up a freaking Charlotte transfer and a 3star Bama decommit in another thread. Some UK fans will say anything to make themselves feel better about missing the actual good recruits or about the roster next year. This is the same exact things IU and UL fans say when they can't get good recruits.

This has to be the most delusional fanbase in the country.

 

[RondoBaller21]

Originally posted by ZaytovenCat:
Here we go hyping up a freaking Charlotte transfer and a 3star Bama decommit in another thread. Some UK fans will say anything to make themselves feel better about missing the actual good recruits or about the roster next year. This is the same exact things IU and UL fans say when they can't get good recruits.

This has to be the most delusional fanbase in the country.

Bet Thorne is better than Dakari. Its not like hes gonna be a starter or anything, just a solid rotation guy

 

[Rhavicc]

Originally posted by ZaytovenCat:
Here we go hyping up a freaking Charlotte transfer and a 3star Bama decommit in another thread. Some UK fans will say anything to make themselves feel better about missing the actual good recruits or about the roster next year. This is the same exact things IU and UL fans say when they can't get good recruits.

This has to be the most delusional fanbase in the country.

I'll agree that this fanbase is delusional, but I think a lot of what you're saying has more to do with you being a d-bag.
I don't see what you're complaining about. The guy is averaging 10+ points and 7+ rebounds per game in 26 mpg. Better numbers than Dakari Johnson, and the guy is a big body. We need a player with a big body on this team, the guy is certainly no worse than Plum-bob III from dook.
As for the 3-star Bama decommit, the kid played on Devin Booker's AAU travel team. He won Mr. Basketball in Alabama, is very athletic, and shoots it well. He's more or less a watered down Charles Matthews, and the kind of player that takes 3 or 4 years to fully develop. When that kind of player develops though, they're promising. That's the kind of player that we didn't have this past season, and the kind of player we did have on the 2012 team (i.e. Liggins), so stop your incessant nagging, complaining, bi***ing, moaning, groaning, or whatever you want to call it. The need to not recruit this caliber of player will cease once we can get the top 25 players in the country to stay at Kentucky for all 4 years, until then, you need to deal with it. I, for one, am happy that we're getting some blue collar players in here.

 

[Joneslab]

The fanbase is delusional, but it goes both ways.

There are guys who think every recruit is going to be Anthony Davis and there are those who think everybody without five stars next to him is going to be a dog. The super positive folks and the vapidly negative posters are equally annoying. (And always wrong. About everything.)

It's a lot more complicated than this. A poster above suggests that this guy could be a solid addition in terms of Skal's and Lee's development.

I agree with that take.

At this point, Zimmerman or no, we need bodies. Cal said after the Knight year that he'd never again be caught with numbers too low to field a five-on-five practice session. Thorne could be a means to an end in that regard.

 

[BengalWACO]

A big man like that is a plus.. Even if he isn't ULTRA skilled, he offers 5 fouls... mind you.. very HARD ONES if he is as big as advertised.

 

[UKwannabe]

I'd feel pretty good about a front court of

C-Skal, Thorne, Lee
PF-Poythress, Skal, Lee, Thorne/Willis
SF-Matthews, Poythress, Willis

It'd be nice to add a 2/3 wing, but the above front court is solid...I know we've turned Willis into an enigma, but watching him in the Bahamas I was impressed. I feel completely comfortable with Willis playing 10-20 meaningful minutes. I feel SIGNIFICANTLY more confident with Willis at the 3 more so than Poythress at the 3.

In fact,

C-Skal
Pf-Poy
Sf-Willis
Sg-Briscoe
Pg-Ulis

That's a nice well rounded lineup in my opinion. Defensively sub part to UKs standards but 4 guys that can shoot 35%+ from 3 and then Skal with ability to knock it down at 15 feet.

 

[jslash1]

Originally posted by Blue Decade:

Originally posted by Tyblue22:

And remember this...coach Cal said he wanted to build a team around Tyler Ulis.

When? Link? Ulis is a fine, instinctive, fearless player. I am glad Ulis is a member of our team. But some people are building an unrealistic legend that the kid might not be able to live up to. You can't build a team around a 5-8 sophomore who averages 5 points and 24 minutes a game while shooting 40% from the floor. Why did Coach Calipari sign the #1 point guard in the country? Because he understands the strengths and limitations of his players. Calipari knows what he is doing. I love Ulis, but Briscoe is also very good. As things now stand, next year's team will be built around Labissiere and Poythress. If Calipari can sign Malik Newman, don't think for 1 moment that Newman and Labissiere won't be the focus and foundation of next year's team. They will.

Where have you been? Just talking out your arse in this post but maybe that's the norm.