Honestly shocked a little Cal let him commit. For a coach who seems to be “no nonsense” when it comes to the recruiting headaches, Tshiebwe has handlers all over him. Huggins flat out said he was “tampered” with in order to get him to leave WV. You know how coach speak usually goes with these things, so the fact Hugs is even saying it makes it that much more surprising Cal is willing to take a chance. I honestly wonder if he would have if the record wasn’t what it was.
Oscar Tshiebwe transfers to Kentucky
- Thread starter shaudyshaud
- Start date
I've been having the same thought. I know it probably won't happen, but I think Clarke coming back, as opposed to Jackson let's say, might make more sense for everybody involved.
Sarr will play for decent money in Europe. Doubt Fletcher stays with the logjam inside (he is not a 3).
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Welcome to Kentucky! I’m excited to see what he can do next year. Decent scorer and a damn good at getting rebounds.
Yeah, I'm not really seeing the big NBA upside of Askew that would make him high on somebody's draft board. What I think I do see is something much more beneficial for UK, which is a really good college PG that is going to be a good shooter to boot. I would take 3 years of an Askew type of PG over a OAD PG 90% of the years available. I think of Askew kind of in the same vein as Cassius Winston at Mich. St.
I agree Fletcher isn't a "3" yet - at least I wouldn't want him seeing major minutes at the 3. But, I think he can become a good 3 in time. Of course, that means patience and opportunity; and I don't know how much of either exists/will exist for Fletcher at UK. I hope it works out, because I can see the potential similar to what I thought with Mathews (although I really thought he would eventually become a better shooter).
By contrast, Hopkins is a tweener that I think will always be much more successful in college as a 4. I think he can pose big problems as a college upperclassman at the 4 - and I also think that him playing that role in college will improve, not hinder his draft stock.
It’s not Cal doing anything to these kids. All these kids nowadays have handlers from the AAU machine. Cal does the best he can to get the kids away from there circle but it’s inevitable that some of these hanger ons constantly get in the kids heads. Not to mention the pressure and demands at a place like Uk is not an easy thing to deal with. We as fans only look at the NBA but even if a kid like Hagans isn’t drafted he can go overseas and live like a rockstar making millions of dollars. Are he can decide to stay at UK get trashed by the crazy ass fans on Social media for free. I wonder what 99.9 percent of the people who complain about guys leaving would do???
That's a good question. Cal also said he would never be held hostage again by a player.
Dude is definitely going to be a plus in practice.
Going to benefit Sarr and Ware banging with this dude everyday.
Going to benefit Sarr and Ware banging with this dude everyday.
Hopkins is a different kind of player than the normal skinny athletic guys Cal gets, I think he will be a pleasant surprise next year!
Nah, don't buy into that crap. It’s our culture that is causing it and Cal needs to change their mindsets before they step foot on campus and especially during the recruiting process.
There also needs to be a set plan in place for each player with goals that must be obtained before they leave so they are putting themselves in the best position to be successful at the next level.
Guys like EJ and Hagans have the tools to play in the NBA, if they stayed the course, they would have gone to the NBA eventually. Playing overseas almost guarantees you never sniff the NBA. You stay with the guy that has more NBA connections than anyone.
Now, you can't sit there and watch guys like Luka Garza, Gillispie, Tshiebwe, Leaky Black, Cockburn, Jared Butler, Drew Timme, Nembhard, Kispert, Bryan Antoine, Brandon Slater, Fulkerson, Pons, Dosunmu, Marcus Garrett, Remy Martin, Garrison Brooks, Hauser brothers, Keyonte Johnson, Trendon Watford, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Hurt, Caleb Mills, Teague, JaVonte Smart and Livers, return and simultaneously state that there's nothing Cal can do to keep kids here. You're head is in the sand if you believe that.
Do the kids at Gonzaga, Baylor, MSU, UT, Villanova and UVA live alone in a cave? Don't they have people in their ears too?
Take a look at the programs that are winning titles and the programs in the top 10 right now, there's a common denominator and it ain't covid.
Cal makes a hell of a lot of money to lead this program, if Mark Few, Tom Izzo, Barnes, Shaka Smart, Tony Bennett and Roy Williams can find a way to retain players, Cal should be able to do it too. He just needs to put less of a priority on the NBA and more on development at UK. This ain't hard.
Well thought out....we ain't the only program dealing with AAU, handlers, shifting mindset on value of college, etc...but we're the only program experiencing this level of max exodus year after year.
He’s definitely going to be a good piece but we should temper some expectations. I saw someone say it would be like adding a top 10 player from this class and they may be true but let’s remember that he was a top 50 player from the 2019 class. Definitely helps that he’s proven he can play and has experience just want to put it in perspective.
I agree with you. Always wise to temper expectations when you haven't actually witnessed something occur yet. But, with Tshiebwe I think you actually have something to base some expectations on - and by the same token, I think his ilk is in general usually going to be better than adding a top 10 high school player.
I don't think a consistent 10 pts./8 rebs.-ish type of production is too much to anticipate. And I think that would be really important and meaningful next season, especially when combined with the way Tshiebwe could positively impact the game in other ways, many that don't show up on the stat sheet. Like, the attention he draws from defenses, the 2nd chance points he's responsible for, and having somebody to go to for a high percentage shot when you have to have a score or at least a foul call.
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It's kind of fun actually. I get to give him a bunch of nicknames and slap him around a little bit. He stops responding after a while.
Speaking of pumpers, have you seen hide or hair of Baller and Bass? I'm almost starting to get bored, I need my two punching bags back. I know Baller hot permabanned, but he came right back with a new account.
he (baller) rolled up last night on an account called “rivals ghost” but it got banned in 15 minutes.
Ha haaaaa, how does that happen? Pumpers should never get banned, they usually talk very positively, even when their house is on fire, but that guy has been banned 3 or 4 times now. Hilarious.
What's even funnier is the fact that one of the mods protects him, even to the point where I get a message from this mod, saying I was over the line, then I read the posts he pointed out and I see that he changed the post I was responding to and mine. That's SEC ref type crookedness there.
I feel like I need to screenshot my posts, so I can prove it next time it happens.
I have watched Oscar play several times last season and a couple times this season.
It is prounced SHEBWAY.
True 5 back to the basket player like Bam.
Offensive rebound machine. Decent free throw shooter. Not a good passer. Comments silly fouls at times. But like Cal the refs hate Huggins. Saw them play Kansas on the road last year and half the WV team fouled out . Pretty sure Huggy got ran. Oscar will have 20 and 12 games then games where he dissappears.
All in all a great get for the Cats.
Look for double double season average. 15 and 10 would be my guess.
It is prounced SHEBWAY.
True 5 back to the basket player like Bam.
Offensive rebound machine. Decent free throw shooter. Not a good passer. Comments silly fouls at times. But like Cal the refs hate Huggins. Saw them play Kansas on the road last year and half the WV team fouled out . Pretty sure Huggy got ran. Oscar will have 20 and 12 games then games where he dissappears.
All in all a great get for the Cats.
Look for double double season average. 15 and 10 would be my guess.
Get Brooks back and this team is going to be trouble next year. If he continues to play like he did Saturday, that certainly isn’t a foregone conclusion.
Like what could a coach tell a kid to lower his expectations going into college?
I would think you go into the recruits home and let them know how you can get them better and hope they cut loose all distractions that’s telling them they are better than they think they are.
If you go into it demanding they stay two or three years and telling them to drop their entourage then you’re not going to get many top level recruits.
I wish it could be the way you envision it but I just don’t see it ever working out tgat
There is no set time table for every kid. With Wall and AD, everyone knew they were 1 year kids. With Herro and SGA, the thought was that they were 2+ year kids.
But there should be an individual plan for each kid. When you have kids leaving after 2 years and they know they aren't getting drafted, the system failed them. They are now in a situation where they could drowned in the GL or overseas.
The agreement should be that you stay at UK until you are ready for the NBA, if you are not ready for the NBA, we need to revise the plan after 2 years.
For every guy that Cal has "helped reach their dreams", there is a guy that failed.
Lets be honest, Cal didn’t do anything to get Wall, Cuz, AD, Randle, Fox, Bam, Knight, TJ, Maxey or Murray drafted, those dudes were going lottery out of HS.
He did help Herro, SGA, WCS, NR and a couple others, but look at the long list of guys that jumped and didn't make it (Teague, Lamb, Goodwin, the Twins, Orton, Young, Whitney, Hagans, EJ and so on).
I realize a couple of those guys spent some time in the NBA, but it was no longer than a cup of coffee, because they weren't ready.
But if dudes are just ignoring Calipari and leaving, like some say is happening, then why go through the frustrations of this one and done thing? The guys that truly benefit are the same guys you would bring in if you were mirroring what Villanova, MSU, UVA and UNC are doing.
It looks to me like there is no individual plan for each player, it appears to be the same plan-in-a-box for everyone.
Cal is a victim of his own success of the first five years. Now the perception is if you are a top 15 recruit and don’t leave after one year, you are a failure. And that’s sad. Another issue is the handlers of these top players- they want their payday now. Not in two years. They want the money flowing as soon as possible. It’s still incredible what happened with Vanderbilt which btw I don’t blame Cal for. That was his handlers 100%
You really need to quit posting. Jeff nailed it and you don’t understand any of it. Damn.
There are just too many negatives with this system. I get it, you end up with more top end talent, but it's only here 1, maybe 2 years, there are handlers that control these kids, there are crooked ass bag men that are trying to get at these kids and then there is the issue of guys like Boston, SKJ, EJ, Skal, Whitney etc… that are not as skilled as the analysts led us to believe.
The next question is, how long can Cal keep this up? I'm exhausted just watching him go through this every year and I'm a lot younger than he is
Nobody is forcing you to watch. Your life would be empty if you could not come on this message board and bitch about Cal.
