Good news but we need guards and wings too, all big men so far.
We do. But the pool has a LOT more good guards in it than frontcourt players, especially shooting guards (at least twice as many of those).
I agree. In a different time and situation, I would generally not be in favor of package deals. But I think you're right, SECCats ... I think each of these players - Brandon Garrison (6'11" freshman) and Javon Small (6'3" PG; 15.1 ppg; 4.1 apg) - is good enough to help us right now, and I'd guess that offering a package might make it more likely to bring both of them to U.K.
Reed Sheppard & Rob Dillingham say Hi..... they did pretty good for never playing a college game
Expecting Perry and a kid who hasn't played in 2 years to be that good is a bit much.
From the way he played in the highlight clip of the Baylor game, if this were pre-2015 or so, Garrison would already be in the draft. He can run and pass and he's built like a boxer. Apparently he doesn't have much of an outside shot and depends upon shooting lay-ins and dunks. But I can't imagine pro teams neglecting him for long. Around the basket, he was better than anyone we put out there this past season.
Can’t remember where, but I heard Pope say something to the effect that he will try to play a little different here than at BYU. The traits I’m seeing with these big men are that they are all good ball handlers/passers as well as being great defenders. I’ve also heard that Osobor is a great communicator, which is something Pope stressed in his presser I think. Pope is very smart and knows basketball, so I trust that he has a plan. I think he is adapting to the SEC style and I’ll be excited to see what that looks like.
Devin askew and BJ Boston also trying to say hi
BYU was pretty bad on defense last year and had an athletic deficit at almost every position. They also had very little rim protection. That team was built to win on scheme and analytics to overcome the athletic disadvantage it faced most nights. At UK playing in the most athletic league in the country they will need to adapt. It appears one adjustment is adding rim protection and athleticism at the expense of post-passing skill and shooting.
Great take...
I haven’t done the extensive film study of BYU that some of you have, but it seems to me like Pope’s offense has allowances for both kinds of big men. Certainly the times Khalifa was in the game as almost a point center stand out because of how different that is from what we’re used to seeing, but he split minutes fairly equally with Traore, who’s about as pure of an old school back to the basket scorer as you’re going to find (2/3 on the year from 3), and that still worked because it was hard to double team him when he was surrounded by 4 shooters.
Very nice. Don't sell yourself short. You have a broader understanding of how Pope ran the offense at BYU than me. All I did was watch some video. And you're right also that my view of how Pope was operating was based on video with Khalifa playing Center and his screening and passing from the Center position.
Taking 40% of the starting lineup from an Oklahoma state team that went 12-20 and 4-14 in the B12 reeks of desperation.
Our best player last season came out of Kentucky and was ranked a 4 star. Perry actually scored more than Sheppard even when head to head. So, why not hope for the same?
In 2009 40% of our starting lineup was Patrick Patterson and Jodie Meeks. We got faced in the NIT but I would still today take that 40% of that team over almost any alternative.
