My vote is for Travis Perry

[FanofUK]

Ya, he is not ready. But if we are being honest this season is gonna most likely be a punt, why not get him the most experience we can and let him take the point 30 plus mins. If something clicks and he becomes a mini Travis Ford or a version of him then we steal a win or 2 and make some noise.

Doing whatever it takes to win aka - starting Robinson at point but still taking a L feels like a wasted opportunity to grow other people.

Ok this is probably not happening, but realistically is this not an option we could consider?

 

[St.PatterSoN-54-]

I think Perry will continue to get more and more minutes in the lead role, but depending on him to step in and take all of Butler's clock is asking for trouble.

We're still playing for this year.

 

[Cats192]

Ya, he is not ready. But if we are being honest this season is gonna most likely be a punt, why not get him the most experience we can and let him take the point 30 plus mins. If something clicks and he becomes a mini Travis Ford or a version of him then we steal a win or 2 and make some noise.

Doing whatever it takes to win aka - starting Robinson at point but still taking a L feels like a wasted opportunity to grow other people.

Ok this is probably not happening, but realistically is this not an option we could consider?

I don't have the highest expectations.

But I don't want to start losing games in the name of development. We can get in the tournament and win a few games. If we can get fully healthy and improve the defense even slightly, we're good enough to play with anyone.

So, no. I do not want Travis Perry to play 30 minutes a game--when he clearly isn't ready for major minutes vs the SEC.

 

[wildcat_nation28]

I'm not so sure a 4 yr Perry will be the answer

 

[Bluesnky]

He needs to put in the work during the offseason. His current limitations should be apparent to him in a way they probably weren’t before the season began. He will know what he needs to work on.

 

[BlueInBrooklyn]

Ya, he is not ready. But if we are being honest this season is gonna most likely be a punt, why not get him the most experience we can and let him take the point 30 plus mins. If something clicks and he becomes a mini Travis Ford or a version of him then we steal a win or 2 and make some noise.

Doing whatever it takes to win aka - starting Robinson at point but still taking a L feels like a wasted opportunity to grow other people.

Ok this is probably not happening, but realistically is this not an option we could consider?

This is a terrible idea.

 

[yabbadabbadoo]

We just need a good PG by committee deal whilst improving our defense. Switch it up some and catch these teams off guard. Just defend and don’t turn the ball over. We will score points, just focus on the latter and it’ll bring more wins to the record.

 

[bthaunert]

I would go with a strategy of needing 4 of the following 6 guys in the lineup at all times:

Robinson
Almanor
Williams
Oweh
Brea
Carr (if healthy)

Those guys play a minimum of 180 of your 200 minutes.

The other 4 guys (Perry, Garrison, Chandler, Noah) play spot minutes to give guys a breather. This team is still capable of making a run in the NCAA Tournament. You don't mail it in to see if you can develop a guy who isn't ready to play 30 minutes a game.

 

[Stretch98]

Ya, he is not ready. But if we are being honest this season is gonna most likely be a punt, why not get him the most experience we can and let him take the point 30 plus mins. If something clicks and he becomes a mini Travis Ford or a version of him then we steal a win or 2 and make some noise.

Doing whatever it takes to win aka - starting Robinson at point but still taking a L feels like a wasted opportunity to grow other people.

Ok this is probably not happening, but realistically is this not an option we could consider?

We are #14 in the AP and beat Tennessee in Knoxville one week ago today. Only a total defeatist would "punt" this season now. We have proven we can beat anyone in the country if we make shots.

 

[JonathanW]

While I agree with slowly expanding the roles for the 3 FR. I also think if you try to do it too fast, "throwing them to the wolves", it could actually have a negative impact on them. So give them what they can handle, or pushing them a little bit past. But don't expect any of them to go out and play 20+ min.

As for the season, I don't think it is "a punt" if Butler or Kriisa (but especially Butler) can return by March 1. That is 4 weeks away, but would allow to play 2 games before the SEC-T. We've already shown multiple times (Duke, Gonzaga, Florida, UT, Miss St, TAMU) that we can beat the best teams. Sure, we've also shown (as has almost everyone else) that we can lose to "just ok" teams (Ohio St, UL, Clemson, Ark), but that does not negate that we can pullout big wins. To get more than 1 of those big wins, we NEED a PG. And while I think Robinson has played better as a PG than as a Wing, maybe because he is not thinking score first as the PG, our best team is with Butler on the floor, and even Kriisa would help.

 

[Eagles_Ball]

Metrically, Travis Perry is THE WORST player on the team. Hard to justify giving him more minutes. I think he might, eventually, develop into a player that can contribute. That time isn't now.

JR, OO, AW and KB will have to play 34+ mins/game the rest of the way. That's the best case scenario. As long as Carr is healthy it allows for a little flexibility in that fifth spot. Somehow Carr, Almonor and Garrison can rotate through the fifth spot. Noah can get some spot mins. I'm not sure I'd play Perry or Chandler unless absolutely forced to. Numbers don't lie, and those two are the worst (metrically) on the team.

 

[rick64]

I would go with a strategy of needing 4 of the following 6 guys in the lineup at all times:

Robinson
Almanor
Williams
Oweh
Brea
Carr (if healthy)

Those guys play a minimum of 180 of your 200 minutes.

The other 4 guys (Perry, Garrison, Chandler, Noah) play spot minutes to give guys a breather. This team is still capable of making a run in the NCAA Tournament. You don't mail it in to see if you can develop a guy who isn't ready to play 30 minutes a game.

I would tend to agree.

 

[Eagles_Ball]

I would go with a strategy of needing 4 of the following 6 guys in the lineup at all times:

Robinson
Almanor
Williams
Oweh
Brea
Carr (if healthy)

Those guys play a minimum of 180 of your 200 minutes.

The other 4 guys (Perry, Garrison, Chandler, Noah) play spot minutes to give guys a breather. This team is still capable of making a run in the NCAA Tournament. You don't mail it in to see if you can develop a guy who isn't ready to play 30 minutes a game.

This. Every single word of this.

 

[catlogic15]

I think Perry’s current limitations will still be future limitations.

 

[chasingwildcat]

I would go with a strategy of needing 4 of the following 6 guys in the lineup at all times:

Robinson
Almanor
Williams
Oweh
Brea
Carr (if healthy)

Those guys play a minimum of 180 of your 200 minutes.

The other 4 guys (Perry, Garrison, Chandler, Noah) play spot minutes to give guys a breather. This team is still capable of making a run in the NCAA Tournament. You don't mail it in to see if you can develop a guy who isn't ready to play 30 minutes a game.

If brea does not shoot well, he should not be in the cour

His defence is pathetic

 

[Eagles_Ball]

If brea does not shoot well, he should not be in the cour

His defence is pathetic

Who would you replace him with? That's the issue. I agree, he's not good defensively. He rebounds well though. But the main issue is...Who fills in?

 

[yabbadabbadoo]

Metrically, Travis Perry is THE WORST player on the team. Hard to justify giving him more minutes. I think he might, eventually, develop into a player that can contribute. That time isn't now.

JR, OO, AW and KB will have to play 34+ mins/game the rest of the way. That's the best case scenario. As long as Carr is healthy it allows for a little flexibility in that fifth spot. Somehow Carr, Almonor and Garrison can rotate through the fifth spot. Noah can get some spot mins. I'm not sure I'd play Perry or Chandler unless absolutely forced to. Numbers don't lie, and those two are the worst (metrically) on the team.

I think 34/gm is too much, especially in this league. Gotta back that off some. We can still get really good minutes from the bench. Garrison has great runs sometimes, Noah, Perry, and Chandler can give really good breaks to our guys.

 

[Stretch98]

Chandler is the only active player on the team with the length and quicks to stay with the likes of Chaz Lanier and Nellie Davis defensively. I expect him to be matched up some with Sean Pedulla (who scored 29 against Auburn Saturday) tonight.

 

[chasingwildcat]

Who would you replace him with? That's the issue. I agree, he's not good defensively. He rebounds well though. But the main issue is...Who fills in?

Noah. His defense and hustle is better

If Kobe can not make shoots, what is the difference with him and Noah, with worse defense and rebounding

 

[JRCAT14]

I would go with a strategy of needing 4 of the following 6 guys in the lineup at all times:

Robinson
Almanor
Williams
Oweh
Brea
Carr (if healthy)

Those guys play a minimum of 180 of your 200 minutes.

The other 4 guys (Perry, Garrison, Chandler, Noah) play spot minutes to give guys a breather. This team is still capable of making a run in the NCAA Tournament. You don't mail it in to see if you can develop a guy who isn't ready to play 30 minutes a game.

I generally agree with this, but if Brea isn't shooting/scoring well. I would just soon give Noah his minutes.
Edit: Sorry to be redundant as I see someone else posted similar before I posted.

 

[billoliver40]

We have passers but few with the quickness to drive to the hoop. But we will have to see what comes about.

 

[Seth_C]

I would go with a strategy of needing 4 of the following 6 guys in the lineup at all times:

Robinson
Almanor
Williams
Oweh
Brea
Carr (if healthy)

Those guys play a minimum of 180 of your 200 minutes.

The other 4 guys (Perry, Garrison, Chandler, Noah) play spot minutes to give guys a breather. This team is still capable of making a run in the NCAA Tournament. You don't mail it in to see if you can develop a guy who isn't ready to play 30 minutes a game.

That will require Pope to relent from his "always sit someone before their productivity suffers due to fatigue" strategy. The reality is a 70% efficient version of some players is still better than a 100% energetic Perry at this point in his career.

 

[CHAMPCAT11]

I like Travis Perry and I know ALL of the guys on this year’s team give it everything they’ve got. I don’t think it’s time to punt but with the injuries we have we’re in a bad spot. I worry TP may be more of a Tubby kind of player than a championship player but I could be wrong and I hope I’m wrong. Right now I just have to hope that Mark Pope pushes the right buttons and we finish strong. And I’m REALLY glad the Triple C huggers seem to have crawled back into their holes.

 

[BlueSince92]

Pope is already earning $5.5 million for playing Perry in the situations where it’s feasible and playing him a little beyond that in service of exploring Perry’s abilities, stealing PG minutes when there’s no other way to do that, getting Perry experience, and helping him face adversity and grow. The advantages of playing him more than that would be:

• Zero
• Zip
• Zilch
• Nada
• Nihil
• Null
• Nothing
• Jack
• Squat.

(And Jack left town)

 

[SemperFiCat]

I don't really know why, but it feels like Noah is the resource we aren't tapping into. Kid seems willing and tough enough to help our defensive woes. At least some. I like Perry, and see him as a really fine Junior and Senior. But, it's too much to ask of him right now. Robinson could help us out if he could just be strong with the ball and create his own shot. I guess we'll see what these extra Chandle minutes turn into. I'm not overly impressed, but not nearly as down on him as some here. And Oweh... OO needs to stay in attact mode. I think he kinda disappeared against Arkansas and it really threw the Offense out of whack, IMO.

And Brea? This is gonna sound harsh, but I honestly don't care if he ever logs another min. I got no use for lazy BS effort.

 

[CBBCrazy]

I would tend to agree.

I agree also, but no one will ever improve without playing time under the gun. I think some of us look differently at lazy turnovers by some of our starters than those the freshmen make. Our starters make some telegraphed passes that 4th graders make. We have to give these guys some rope and let them hang themselves a few times to improve. jmo

 

[Imafan4evr_]

Probably catch some heat for this, but of the three freshman, I only see real contributor potential from Noah. Chandler is an absolute deer in headlights offensively and doesn’t seem to have a redeemable skill on that end of the floor. Perry, honestly, just confuses me. To have scored so many points in high school, he must have the ability? Maybe in time he can be a guy that comes in and knocks down a couple threes and solidly handles the ball for 10-15 minutes a game. It seems like he gets cooked defensively by any guard that even so much as thinks about a drive, though. If we are truly looking for anything overly impactful from any of them game to game, I’m concerned. I don’t think Pope’s longterm vision includes major, major minutes though.

 

[TuckyFan]

I think the issue is defense. And, I think a lot of it is defending guards. Playing a guy not physically capable of defending guards in the name of development is going to give opposing guards a lot of points. It seems unlikely to yield desirable results. I hope he can get quicker in coming years but I'm not banking on it. He may never be a starter at Kentucky, and that's OK. I'm glad he's on the team and he has a role.

 

[Eagles_Ball]

I think 34/gm is too much, especially in this league. Gotta back that off some. We can still get really good minutes from the bench. Garrison has great runs sometimes, Noah, Perry, and Chandler can give really good breaks to our guys.

There's no doubt it's too much. But the issue is, per the numbers, it's impossible to play Perry and Chandler (especially together). The drop-off from Garrison to Williams is huge, but I can see an argument where Garrison gets 10ish mins. Garrison is SO BAD defensively when compared to Williams. The injuries have killed the depth. I know it's fun and cliche to say "next man up", but the next man up is getting us beat.

 

[Eagles_Ball]

Noah. His defense and hustle is better

If Kobe can not make shoots, what is the difference with him and Noah, with worse defense and rebounding

Noah is limited, but I'd give him a look. For sure prior to Perry or Chandler.

Brea is a better player than Noah, there's no doubt. That gap narrows when Brea isn't hitting shots, but it's really hard to tell when that is. Hell, most of his misses rattle out. But I agree, Noah could get some minutes there.

 

[Eagles_Ball]

Chandler is the only active player on the team with the length and quicks to stay with the likes of Chaz Lanier and Nellie Davis defensively. I expect him to be matched up some with Sean Pedulla (who scored 29 against Auburn Saturday) tonight.

Chandler kills the offense. Arkansas still scored 43 in the second half with Chandler playing 15 mins. I know Davis didn't do as much, but the net result was they still scored on our defense and our offense was putrid with Chandler on the court.

 

[twwilliams9]

Ya, he is not ready. But if we are being honest this season is gonna most likely be a punt, why not get him the most experience we can and let him take the point 30 plus mins. If something clicks and he becomes a mini Travis Ford or a version of him then we steal a win or 2 and make some noise.

Doing whatever it takes to win aka - starting Robinson at point but still taking a L feels like a wasted opportunity to grow other people.

Ok this is probably not happening, but realistically is this not an option we could consider?

You can’t fabricate athleticism. You either have ot or you don’t. Travis doesn’t. He’s a shooter. Plain and simple.

 

[Stretch98]

Perry has been well coached all his life and he knows how to play; and he can make shots. That player has value. He can be an effective scorer if surrounded by big time athletes who can penetrate on offense and hide him a bit on defense. That does not work this season because (a) he is still adjusting from Lyon County to the SEC, and (b) when he is in the game, several of his teammates on the court with him are defensive liabilities also so he cannot be hidden.

 

[Eagles_Ball]

That will require Pope to relent from his "always sit someone before their productivity suffers due to fatigue" strategy. The reality is a 70% efficient version of some players is still better than a 100% energetic Perry at this point in his career.

100% correct. Of the same vein an 80% health Carr or Butler is better than the alternative.

 

[Eagles_Ball]

Perry has been well coached all his life and he knows how to play; and he can make shots. That player has value. He can be an effective scorer if surrounded by big time athletes who can penetrate on offense and hide him a bit on defense. That does not work this season because (a) he is still adjusting from Lyon County to the SEC, and (b) when he is in the game, several of his teammates on the court with him are defensive liabilities also so he cannot be hidden.

Agreed. Well put.

 

[MegaBlue05]

Judging by the way other teams go immediately at Travis as soon as he enters the game, I don’t like this idea.

As of now, Perry is a capable shooter who is an extreme defensive liability on a bad defensive team.

 

[Stretch98]

Chandler kills the offense. Arkansas still scored 43 in the second half with Chandler playing 15 mins. I know Davis didn't do as much, but the net result was they still scored on our defense and our offense was putrid with Chandler on the court.

It did not help the offense that Brea could not make a shot, and he plays zero defense. That spot is where Trent Noah can help us now that Carr is making his way back.

 

[Eagles_Ball]

It did not help the offense that Brea could not make a shot, and he plays zero defense. That spot is where Trent Noah can help us now that Carr is making his way back.

Brea still requires someone to be completely attached as a defender. That's indirectly helping the offense. And he can make a shot at any second. It's easy to say, after the fact, because Brea isn't hitting shots blah, blah, blah. I get it. Hell, when Brea is 2-6 my problem isn't the lack of makes, it's the lack of attempts.

BTW...there's a difference between killing the offense and not helping it. In this offense, that's a wide gap. FTR, I've got no issue with Noah possibly getting some mins at the 3.

My two biggest issues with the patterns are the lack of MAJOR mins for the 3-4 best players. They just simply can't come off the floor. The second is the combination. Perry and Chandler just CAN'T be on the floor together. It's a killer. Take it a step further with Noah. Heck, I'm pretty sure there have been multiple instances of this season where Chandler, Perry, Noah, and Garrison have been on the floor together. Just can't happen.

 

[ImTheVillageIdiot]

Pope gets the choice. He’s the coach so there isnt a vote, but if there was a vote I’d still go with Chandler. He at least has the athleticism to potentially guard PGs.

But I wonder why people are saying the season is a wash…Didn’t we beat Gonzaga and Tennessee in hostile environments without Butler? Or does only the Arkansas game matter?

 

[Eagles_Ball]

Pope gets the choice. He’s the coach so there isnt a vote, but if there was a vote I’d still go with Chandler. He at least has the athleticism to potentially guard PGs.

But I wonder why people are saying the season is a wash…Didn’t we beat Gonzaga and Tennessee in hostile environments without Butler? Or does only the Arkansas game matter?

Gonzaga isn't very good. Tennessee just completely missed open shots we gave them. That's probably a bad strategy (see Arky game).