Not another Willis thread..

[cal=8]

I know there's been a lot of threads on Willis but I ran across this on you tube. Teammates were talking him up and thinking back I really thought he might of contributed more my now..

We all no he played behind some pretty elite players and that's why he's rode the pine, that's been discussed a lot but after watching this video it makes me wonder if there's more to it..

He definitely shot the 3 pretty well in high school and seems to be a good passer . he's also fairly athletic.

I think he's gonna come off the bench for 10 min per game and knock down some 3's

What say you?


https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=derek+willis+dunks+on+julius+randle

Derek Willis..

 

[cal=8]

Sorry


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soaCQzwUjzk

Derek Willis..

 

[cal=8]

James Young calls D-Willis " A great Shooter"

 

[2Dope15]

Remember when he had a big game last year for a scrimmage or Big Blue madness and people were saying he could get drafted that year.

 

[cal=8]

I actually heard from Cal's mouth that Willis will have a long career in the NBA.. Again, I realize he played behind some elite talent but when you look at what was expected from him it makes me wonder what up?

He's basically played the role of a walk on since being here..

 

[oldsports_]

Originally posted by cal=8:
I actually heard from Cal's mouth that Willis will have a long career in the NBA.. Again, I realize he played behind some elite talent but when you look at what was expected from him it makes me wonder what up?

He's basically played the role of a walk on since being here..

You heard that really? When, where??.....

 

[cal=8]

Originally posted by cal=8:
I know there's been a lot of threads on Willis but I ran across this on you tube. Teammates were talking him up and thinking back I really thought he might of contributed more my now..

We all no he played behind some pretty elite players and that's why he's rode the pine, that's been discussed a lot but after watching this video it makes me wonder if there's more to it..

He definitely shot the 3 pretty well in high school and seems to be a good passer . he's also fairly athletic.

I think he's gonna come off the bench for 10 min per game and knock down some 3's

What say you?


https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=derek+willis+dunks+on+julius+randle

I heard Cal say that Willis' freshman year. If I remember right, it was on his coaches show..

 

[UKWildcats#8]

Willis needs to work harder to get better overall, and earn playing time.

People forget Kaminsky barely played his first two years...so it is not 100% impossible for Willis or Hawkins to become rotation player/s this season or their season year. I used an extreme example in Kaminsky and neither of UK's guys have 1/5 of the ceiling of him but still.

 

[cal=8]

Kentucky won't win another Title with all 1 and dones.. I love having them, I like to follow recruiting and all that.. I love to speculate and dream of getting that perfect class and kicking some a!@. But, without a Darius Miller or walk on Cameron Mills it's gonna be really hard to win it all. We have Key ingredients.. An experienced Poythress and Lee along with one hell of a point guard. We've got a great class coming in.. If we get Diallo it's on.. However. the X factor could be a 6'9 wing that can pass, shoot the 3 and is fairly athletic..

 

[PowerofPelphrey]

I also remember Cal saying Willis will play in NBA for many years. I like what I see out of him. I think his confidence will rise with more playing time. He has a good feel for the game and has some skills.

 

[Chuckinden]

Wasn't that Aaron that said Derek was probably the most versatile score we have?

Willis can play...he just hasn't had a chance. When he has played meaningful minutes, i.e. Blue/White and Bahamas, he's done well.

This coming year, he may follow in the footsteps of Josh Harrellson. At least, I hope he does.

 

[Poetax]

Originally posted by cal=8:
Kentucky won't win another Title with all 1 and dones.. I love having them, I like to follow recruiting and all that.. I love to speculate and dream of getting that perfect class and kicking some a!@. But, without a Darius Miller or walk on Cameron Mills it's gonna be really hard to win it all. We have Key ingredients.. An experienced Poythress and Lee along with one hell of a point guard. We've got a great class coming in.. If we get Diallo it's on.. However. the X factor could be a 6'9 wing that can pass, shoot the 3 and is fairly athletic..

We didn't win the last NC with all OADs.

 

[cal=8]

I thought Hawkins made improvements offensively this year and we kinda know what to expect from him. He's a great kid to have. Willis on the other hand is the mystery. This year no matter who else we sign having we'll need another shooter especially one that can draw a big away from the basket.

I really think Willis can help this upcoming team.. Again, he could be the x-factor..

I wonder if Cal was sending him a message this year by basically treating him as a walk-on..

 

[UKWildcats#8]

Originally posted by Poetax:

Originally posted by cal=8:
Kentucky won't win another Title with all 1 and dones.. I love having them, I like to follow recruiting and all that.. I love to speculate and dream of getting that perfect class and kicking some a!@. But, without a Darius Miller or walk on Cameron Mills it's gonna be really hard to win it all. We have Key ingredients.. An experienced Poythress and Lee along with one hell of a point guard. We've got a great class coming in.. If we get Diallo it's on.. However. the X factor could be a 6'9 wing that can pass, shoot the 3 and is fairly athletic..

We didn't win the last NC with all OADs.

Yeah, I'm not sure what the other poster is rambling about. Clearly the best two players on that team were 1 and dones, but you had two great college players in TJ and Lamb, as well a veteran 6th man in Miller.

UK would have 100% won the national title in 2013 if all our guys come back minus Miller so the other poster is 100% wrong about him being the main reason that UK team won it all.

 

[cal=8]

Originally posted by Poetax:

Originally posted by cal=8:
Kentucky won't win another Title with all 1 and dones.. I love having them, I like to follow recruiting and all that.. I love to speculate and dream of getting that perfect class and kicking some a!@. But, without a Darius Miller or walk on Cameron Mills it's gonna be really hard to win it all. We have Key ingredients.. An experienced Poythress and Lee along with one hell of a point guard. We've got a great class coming in.. If we get Diallo it's on.. However. the X factor could be a 6'9 wing that can pass, shoot the 3 and is fairly athletic..

We didn't win the last NC with all OADs.

That's not what I meant Poetax.. I remember Lamb, Jones and Miller.. I probably could have articulated that better for you.. My bad.. lol

 

[UKWildcats#8]

Originally posted by cal=8:

Originally posted by Poetax:

Originally posted by cal=8:
Kentucky won't win another Title with all 1 and dones.. I love having them, I like to follow recruiting and all that.. I love to speculate and dream of getting that perfect class and kicking some a!@. But, without a Darius Miller or walk on Cameron Mills it's gonna be really hard to win it all. We have Key ingredients.. An experienced Poythress and Lee along with one hell of a point guard. We've got a great class coming in.. If we get Diallo it's on.. However. the X factor could be a 6'9 wing that can pass, shoot the 3 and is fairly athletic..

We didn't win the last NC with all OADs.

That's not what I meant Poetax.. I remember Lamb, Jones and Miller.. I probably could have articulated that better for you.. My bad.. lol

And that team would have been blah without AD and MKG, by far the two most important and best players on the team. UK isn't sniffing a Final Four or a national title anytime soon without some one and dones either. You need a mix of veteran and younger players. UK's best players will be freshmen next year, once again.

 

[hotelblue]

i like how decisive willis. he doesn't hesitate and has good energy. he's a valuable asset for practices as he can stretch. i hope he gets a chance to help us in some games this year. and i'd strongly disagree that this implies we may miss on a sf. i mean in 5-10 minutes he can help us. i agree with the notion that he will be a professional on some level.

 

[cal=8]

Originally posted by UKWildcats#8:

Originally posted by Poetax:

Originally posted by cal=8:
Kentucky won't win another Title with all 1 and dones.. I love having them, I like to follow recruiting and all that.. I love to speculate and dream of getting that perfect class and kicking some a!@. But, without a Darius Miller or walk on Cameron Mills it's gonna be really hard to win it all. We have Key ingredients.. An experienced Poythress and Lee along with one hell of a point guard. We've got a great class coming in.. If we get Diallo it's on.. However. the X factor could be a 6'9 wing that can pass, shoot the 3 and is fairly athletic..

We didn't win the last NC with all OADs.

Yeah, I'm not sure what the other poster is rambling about. Clearly the best two players on that team were 1 and dones, but you had two great college players in TJ and Lamb, as well a veteran 6th man in Miller.

UK would have 100% won the national title in 2013 if all our guys come back minus Miller so the other poster is 100% wrong about him being the main reason that UK team won it all.

I'm not really sure how to respond.. let me clarify what I said.. One and dones are great but as proven we have to have role players and guys with experience to complement a championship team.. Ala 2012! That's why I'm interested in what a JR Willis can bring to the table..

Again, we pretty much know what Hawkins can do.. Glad to have him.. But Willis is a player that could really help.. Ya know back to the original post..

 

[cal=8]

Again!! I'm not disputing the importance of Elite talented players. They're the brick while guys like Hawkins, Willis and likely Mulder will be the mortar..

We're gonna have 5 or 6 Mcdonalds All Americans but we talkin bout Willis.. We talkin bout role players that can help our team..

 

[Poetax]

Originally posted by cal=8:
Again!! I'm not disputing the importance of Elite talented players. They're the brick while guys like Hawkins, Willis and likely Mulder will be the mortar..

We're gonna have 5 or 6 Mcdonalds All Americans but we talkin bout Willis.. We talkin bout role players that can help our team..

Media people used to say that Cal's recruiting ways would never get a NC. But now he has almost done it 4 times. I do think it would be terribly hard for an all starting OADs to win it without some older players being a big part of the team.

 

[cal=8]

I remember during the 2012 NC Lamb knocking down two 3's in a row. Miller was an absolute zonebuster in 2012. He had that jump stop into the lane where he'd lob it to AD for the easy dunk.. That was such a great team.. The perfect compliment of OAD's and Soph's along with Miller..


This post was edited on 4/19 11:41 PM by cal=8

 

[MrHotDice]

I hope cal tells Willis the whole season depends on him. Put pressure on him to produce since he is the Kentucky kid who everyone wants to do well .

Of course I assume that is the case.

 

[Ky-troutbum]

Originally posted by Poetax:

Originally posted by cal=8:
Kentucky won't win another Title with all 1 and dones.. I love having them, I like to follow recruiting and all that.. I love to speculate and dream of getting that perfect class and kicking some a!@. But, without a Darius Miller or walk on Cameron Mills it's gonna be really hard to win it all. We have Key ingredients.. An experienced Poythress and Lee along with one hell of a point guard. We've got a great class coming in.. If we get Diallo it's on.. However. the X factor could be a 6'9 wing that can pass, shoot the 3 and is fairly athletic..

We didn't win the last NC with all OADs.

We've never had and never will have a team of all one and OAD's

 

[Brando Mac]

I think that Willis can fill a role as a veteran off the bench that gives a few minutes and hits a few shots a game. Expecting anything more than that is unrealistic until proven otherwise. Depending on how this uncertain period in recruiting plays out, though, we might really need him to step it up even more than what we'd hoped.

Some will scoff at this, but the fact remains that every UK team that has won the national championship has had a key contributor from the state of Kentucky. It's time for Hawkins and Willis to put in the necessary work that will help them take that next step and get role player minutes on the floor, because history shows we need at least one of them to contribute to win it all.

 

[cal=8]

Originally posted by Brando Mac:
I think that Willis can fill a role as a veteran off the bench that gives a few minutes and hits a few shots a game. Expecting anything more than that is unrealistic until proven otherwise. Depending on how this uncertain period in recruiting plays out, though, we might really need him to step it up even more than what we'd hoped.

Some will scoff at this, but the fact remains that every UK team that has won the national championship has had a key contributor from the state of Kentucky. It's time for Hawkins and Willis to put in the necessary work that will help them take that next step and get role player minutes on the floor, because history shows we need at least one of them to contribute to win it all.

We've got some great players coming back. Having Ulis back was paramount. Having Poythress and lee is very important too.

If we have a guy that's been sitting on the bench at 6"9 that can shoot, that would really compliment the athleticism of the incoming class.

I can see Willis hitting threes from the corner in transition.

If you've got that weapon it'll make it that much easier to score under the basket in transition and the 1/2 court.

 

[cal=8]

Matt Jones just said.. If we don't get Diallo we will be relying on Willis for quality mins.. So prediction time.. Will he play and if so what's your guess as to what get out of him.

 

[Kampus Korner]

Originally posted by cal=8:
I know there's been a lot of threads on Willis but I ran across this on you tube. Teammates were talking him up and thinking back I really thought he might of contributed more my now..

We all no he played behind some pretty elite players and that's why he's rode the pine, that's been discussed a lot but after watching this video it makes me wonder if there's more to it..

He definitely shot the 3 pretty well in high school and seems to be a good passer . he's also fairly athletic.

I think he's gonna come off the bench for 10 min per game and knock down some 3's

What say you?


https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=derek+willis+dunks+on+julius+randle

If I were Willis I would be in working out harder than ever. I would be in the weight room, in the gym, and otherwise getting n prime shape. It is really up to him. Thus far I have not seen the effort. I have not seen much, if any competitive desire on his part. I hope he changes. His time is now.

 

[rabidcatfan]

Willis' own worst enemy is himself. His lack of focus in practice and his unwillingness to work hard to achieve his goals are whats holding him back, pure and simple. He has the tools necessary to be an NBA caliber forward and to definitely be a star at UK if he'd just put in the time at the gym and bring 100% each and every day. If he'd do that, he could be a 12-13ppg, 5rpg kind of player who could really contribute and be an asset next season, but it's totally up to him.

 

[JonathanW]

Originally posted by cal=8:
Matt Jones just said.. If we don't get Diallo we will be relying on Willis for quality mins.. So prediction time.. Will he play and if so what's your guess as to what get out of him.

If we don't add another F or C, then we will have Poythress, Labissiere, Lee and Willis (4 guys) to play those positions. We will have a little more depth at G with Ulis, Briscoe, Hawkins, Matthews & likely Mulder. In which case, I think we would go often with a 3 guard set, and Matthews or Mulder at the 3. Say we did that for 30 of the 40 minutes, we would still need 90 minutes from the 4 big guys I listed. So maybe 30 each from Poythress & Labissiere, that leaves 30 for Lee & Willis, which could go 20 & 10 or 25 & 5. Of course those minutes would increase the less 3-guard lineup we go.

 

[UK90]

Originally posted by cal=8:
Matt Jones just said.. If we don't get Diallo we will be relying on Willis for quality mins.. So prediction time.. Will he play and if so what's your guess as to what get out of him.

Matt Jones does not know any more than anybody else here about how much Willis will play.

What Cal has proven is he will play the number of guys that he has faith in and believe will help us win. When he only had faith in 6 guys in 2011, he played an extremely short 6 man rotation for much of that year. And when he had faith in 9 or 10 guys in 2015, he played an extremely long 9 or 10 man rotation.

Even if we don't land Diallo or any other big man, there still no guarantee that Willis will get rotation minutes. That still leaves at least 7 or 8 scholarship players likely ahead of Willis, and Cal has often proven in the past that he'll play a shorter rotation than that. Nothing is guaranteed, if Willis doesn't earn his minutes, Cal simply will go short with the rotation like he has in the past

 

[cal=8]

Originally posted by UK90:

Originally posted by cal=8:
Matt Jones just said.. If we don't get Diallo we will be relying on Willis for quality mins.. So prediction time.. Will he play and if so what's your guess as to what get out of him.

Matt Jones does not know any more than anybody else here about how much Willis will play.

What Cal has proven is he will play the number of guys that he has faith in and believe will help us win. When he only had faith in 6 guys in 2011, he played an extremely short 6 man rotation for much of that year. And when he had faith in 9 or 10 guys in 2015, he played an extremely long 9 or 10 man rotation.

Even if we don't land Diallo or any other big man, there still no guarantee that Willis will get rotation minutes. That still leaves at least 7 or 8 scholarship players likely ahead of Willis, and Cal has often proven in the past that he'll play a shorter rotation than that. Nothing is guaranteed, if Willis doesn't earn his minutes, Cal simply will go short with the rotation like he has in the past

When Poythress went down I thought Willis would get some PT. Somethings wrong because you watch the above video during his freshman year and you'd thought he would've played some by now.. Cal treated him as a walk on this year basically. I've heard he has a poor work ethic and that must be true. You'd think if he's not happy he'd transfer. I don't understand how any 3 star or better player would want to play somewhere where they sit on the bench. Players wanna play. He must really love KY.. John Hood was another and I don't think Hood was near what Willis could be but Hood could've played for Western Ky or somewhere similar and played..

 

[dezyDeco]