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Most Under-Appreciated Players in UK History

Have we forgotten DeMarcus Cousins?
DeMarcus was great! Only thing about him was he could only play like 23 mins a game because of fouls and conditioning. Randle gave you 30 mins+ of 100% effort. I don't think DeMarcus is underrated by anyone on here
 
Randle was arguably the best COLLEGE big besides Davis that we've had. In college I think that our best bigs were AD, Randle then T. Jones. Randle consistently gave us 16 &10 a night and made it look easy.
Cameron Mills and Scot Padgent. Key performers 98 Tournament.
 
Occasionally -- like in this thread -- Ralph Beard was mentioned.

Same with Alex Groza and Cliff Hagan.

Bill Spivey is rarely mentioned.

But someone who is almost never noted -- though at the time was a 3-time all-American -- is Cotton Nash.

I think he still lives in Lexington.
 
Eric Bledsoe. Totally overshadowed by Mr. Wall during his season at UK. Surprised the hell out of me how much of a star he's become in the league.

Your opinion is false. Bledsoe blew up his freshman year and gets plenty of praise as far as I'm concerned. The OP didn't ask your opinion on underrated Ca recruits.
 
Could do it by coaches
Cal - Lamb
BCG - Mike Pratt
Tubster - Kalena
Bunny Ranch boy - Nazr
Sutton - Jim Master
Hall - Hord
 
Another one I would add is Ed Davender. Got over looked a lot because he played with Chapman.
My answer to this question every time. Only player in UK history to finish his career at UK ranked in the top 10 in points (7th all time), assists (4th all time) and steals (1st all time). He's also finished his career 4th all time in free throws made.
 
Mel Turpin was a helluva player we don't mention much either.
Agree with this. I recall when Turpin set foot on campus; out of shape, seemed to be lazy, however, he really got himself in shape after his first season. Always liked his game.
 
A couple of players that have been overlooked are Roger Harden and Dickie Beal. Harden was a very good floor general and hit some big shots for UK in his career. Beal came to UK with arguable the worst outside shot of any college basketball player. The improvement he made from his freshman to senior season was off the charts. Without him, we probably don't make the Final Four in 1984.
 
Larry Steele,Truman Claytor,LaVon Williams(got a lot of mileage out of limited talent) Reggie Hanson.Several other good ones already mentioned
 
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While he gets a ton a love MKG impact can't be said enough and while we are at it Lamb as well. A.D. overshadows everyone. Knight , Randel, and Noel for sure for the top notch players.
 
Archie Goodwin comes to mind too. Only alpha dog on a team of panzees besides Nerlens. He took a lot of bad shots but he was the only shot maker we had.

Julius Mays doesn't deserve to be lumped in that group. That kid played his heart out with 100 percent effort at all times, indeed I thought he was the only one still truly doing so at the end of that miserable season.

Julius' problem was never toughness or effort, instead it was simply lack of athleticism--probably the slowest-footed starting guard Cal's ever had.
 
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Gimel Martinez was an overlooked player. No athletic ability but didn't mind mixing it up under the rim. Kid always played hard and was a contributor.
 
Have we forgotten DeMarcus Cousins?

Depends on the roster imo. To me they are equally as deadly, it would depend on need.

It's hard to express how fastly under rated Randle was in college and to this fan base. By far the most under valued player under Cal, top 5 all time, if not number 1.
 
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Larry Steele

Good choice. Always wondered why Steele gets so little notice by the BBN in these discussions.

I'm too young to remember him at UK (but I do remember him on those Blazer NBA teams), but his resume sure looks impressive: was a career starter on very good UK teams, had a very successful NBA career where he led the League in steals and was considered one of the League's best defenders (and was a key rotation player on the 77 Championship team), yet his name almost never even gets mentioned in these UK memory lane type threads.
 
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Julius Mays doesn't deserve to be lumped in that group. That kid played his heart out with 100 percent effort at all times, indeed I thought he was the only one still truly doing so at the end of that miserable season.

Julius' problem was never toughness or effort, instead it was simply lack of athleticism--probably the slowest-footed starting guard Cal's ever had.

I would love to see mays on the other team beside that one. He would have been a hell of a backup role player for us any other time.
 
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Guys usually end up underrated because of what happens after they leave UK. Meaning it's easier to forget about how good a guy was in college if he never has a pro career.

Some of the players mentioned in this thread, I'm not so sure about. Bogans? OK, underrated how? Everyone remembers him, everyone knows he was a really good player. It seems like some people want to elevate him into an all-time great, though, and I don't buy that. He was a good freshman on a bad team (worst UK team between 1990 and 2006, and one of the worst offensive teams in school history), he had an excellent sophomore year, he had an inexplicably terrible junior year, then rebounded to be a lower-level All-American as a Senior. Nice career, but not an all-timer just because he was around 4 years and ranks high on the scoring list. Bogans was a far better player, but I'd add Ed Davender to a similar category.

Some guys get mentioned so much in these discussions that it becomes impossible to keep thinking of them as underrated. Anthony Epps leaps to mind. One of my all-time favorites, but if everyone always mentions him as being underrated, he ceases to be so.

I would nominate Kelenna Azubuike. UK's talent level was seeping away from 02-03 through 03-04, yet UK managed to put together excellent years in 03-04 and 04-05. Chuck Hayes was probably the biggest part of that, but he gets mentioned all the time. Azubuike rarely does, but he was a high caliber player on 2 top 10 teams.
 
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Some guys get mentioned so much in these discussions that it becomes impossible to keep thinking of them as underrated. Anthony Epps leaps to mind. One of my all-time favorites, but if everyone always mentions him as being underrated, he ceases to be so.

I always say the same thing. At what point is someone no longer under-appreciated because they are always mentioned as being under-appreciated. Guys like Epps, Fitch and Daniels are perfect examples.

Buke' is a good one.
 
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