Our guys dominating Mcd's 3 vs 3

[Bluegrass79]

According to updates on KSR our guys Nick Richards, Quade Green, and Vanderbilt are kicking ass in 3 vs 3 at the Mcdonalds game practice sessions right now. This is a very good omen for next year.
Apparently Vanderbilt is freaking awesome. I think I called that yesterday in a thread. Vanderbilt will be a star.

 

[Crankdatmustard]

Vanderbilt is the Elite SF we havent had since MKG

 

[Bluegrass79]

Vanderbilt is the Elite SF we havent had since MKG

I like this !

 

[BostonCat2001]

Vanderbilt is the Elite SF we havent had since MKG

more darius miller. diallo is more MKG. we are going to get bamba. knox is the missing piece. get him...we should go to the final four with a very complete team. we will lose a lot of games, but come march the talent will start to show out with some experience.

got to get knox.

 

[Smashcat]

I've watched Vanderbilt for a while. I'd call him a poor man's Ben Simmons. Has the point forward skills, not quite the rebounder, but still a good rebounder, and like Simmons needs to work on his jump shot. But according to some tweets I've read his jumper is falling at McD practice. If he indeed can hit enough jumpers to keep defenses honest as a college frosh, he will shine.

 

[ganner918]

After two years of being a small team, it'll be nice to have size again.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

Small Forwards can be hard to handle. If he can be just a 30% 3-pt shooter, rebound and play decent defense.. we will have one of the rare quads where every position is representing.

Green, Diallo, Vanderbilt, Washington/Gabriel/Bamba, Richards. All pretty much true to their positions, at least in the college game.

 

[GoCatsForever2k15]

It'll be interesting too see who, if anyone, from this class turns out to be a reliable shooter. Think I read a tweet that said Knox's shot was looking much better.

 

[Rhavicc]

I've watched Vanderbilt for a while. I'd call him a poor man's Ben Simmons. Has the point forward skills, not quite the rebounder, but still a good rebounder, and like Simmons needs to work on his jump shot. But according to some tweets I've read his jumper is falling at McD practice. If he indeed can hit enough jumpers to keep defenses honest as a college frosh, he will shine.

Much better defensive player, and he is a better shooter at this moment.

 

[GonzoCat90]

The best part about Vanderbilt is that he'll be playing next to other guys who can attack from their position, and Quade is the only one that isn't physically imposing.

Diallo, Vanderbilt and Washington are all great off the bounce and have superior physical abilities to most guys they'll be matched up against.

There are going to be LOTS of 63-59 SEC Tuesday night rock fights next January, but we're going to be a tough out come March. We'll be built the way Cal likes to play, so we may see less difficulty transitioning than in the last couple of years where Cal had to adapt to what he had.

Won't be our most talented team, but it might be one of the 2-3 best defensively and on the boards, with lots of versatile guys who can attack.

 

[ThroughBlue]

After two years of being a small team, it'll be nice to have size again.

This

 

[Rhavicc]

It'll be interesting too see who, if anyone, from this class turns out to be a reliable shooter. Think I read a tweet that said Knox's shot was looking much better.

Sounds like Quade Green will be one based on the reports thus-far. If we can lock up the Mark Smith kid out of Illinois, that would be great. He looks like an elite shooter with NBA range.

I think people will be pleasantly surprised to hear that Nick Richards has a pretty solid stroke from 3, as well as having the ability to take players off the dribble, and of course there's the lob and post-up part of his game. PJ Washington is also solid from 3, and is reportedly improving quite a bit there (big focus in his game for his senior season, he and his dad had been working on it).

I think the weakest shooter in this class for us as far as perimeter guys go is Jarrad Vanderbilt, but if he can continue to build on his performance today, he's going to be absurdly hard to defend in college. He'll play a lot of 3 and thrive there with his versatility, but he'll probably log minutes at the point guard spot for us, and Cal will probably use him to post up other guards, or shoot over the top if his shot is reliable.

I'm pretty much in love with Vanderbilt's game.

 

[G-PIP]

Is Vanderbilt considered to be the SF with the highest upside in this class? I know Knox is apparently the much better jump shooter at this point, but does Vanderbilt's ball handling, rebounding and physicality give him a higher upside in the long term (e.g., at the pro level)?

 

[Mojocat]

There are going to be LOTS of 63-59 SEC Tuesday night rock fights next January, but we're going to be a tough out come March. We'll be built the way Cal likes to play, so we may see less difficulty transitioning than in the last couple of years where Cal had to adapt to what he had.

Won't be our most talented team, but it might be one of the 2-3 best defensively and on the boards, with lots of versatile guys who can attack.

Informed and insightful comments. Thx.

I don't keep up with recruiting or recruits until they get here. Will take your word - sounds like a promising group.

 

[Rhavicc]

The best part about Vanderbilt is that he'll be playing next to other guys who can attack from their position, and Quade is the only one that isn't physically imposing.

Diallo, Vanderbilt and Washington are all great off the bounce and have superior physical abilities to most guys they'll be matched up against.

There are going to be LOTS of 63-59 SEC Tuesday night rock fights next January, but we're going to be a tough out come March. We'll be built the way Cal likes to play, so we may see less difficulty transitioning than in the last couple of years where Cal had to adapt to what he had.

Won't be our most talented team, but it might be one of the 2-3 best defensively and on the boards, with lots of versatile guys who can attack.

Size and length are the two biggest factors in college basketball defense, and our team will actually be bigger than our 2015 team. I think we'll have better guard-play on this team as well. Think I would take Quade Green, Hamidou Diallo, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Mark Smith (assuming we get him), and Jarrad Vanderbilt (he'll play some point guard, I'm fairly certain of it) over Andrew Harrison, Aaron Harrison, freshman Ulis, Booker, and sophomore Hawkins.

 

[docholiday51]

Hope Bamba is thinking" hey these guys are good,it would be cool to play with them for a year at a place like UK,man that practice facility is nice,I'm in"

 

[BlueSince92]

Sounds like Quade Green will be one based on the reports thus-far.

Quade shot 38% from 3 this season which I'm surprised I haven't seen mentioned here before. He did have several teammates shooting similar which means he probably didn't get the same D focus he'll get here, but he did shoot the highest volume of all of them.

http://www.maxpreps.com/athlete/quade-green/kwdXWGLWEeOzMAAmVebBJg/gendersport/basketball-stats.htm

 

[LineSkiCat14]

It seems we've had more trouble in recent years with top recruits having a tough time in their freshman seasons.. Gabriel, Skal, Briscoe.. Almost every recruit had some growing pains, but none of them had it for a whole year like the guys above.

Hoping that all our recruits play to their ranking next year. When that happens and we don't have any "dud" freshman campaigns.. we're a tough out.

 

[Rhavicc]

Is Vanderbilt considered to be the SF with the highest upside in this class? I know Knox is apparently the much better jump shooter at this point, but does Vanderbilt's ball handling, rebounding and physicality give him a higher upside in the long term (e.g., at the pro level)?

Well here's the thing with Knox's jumpshooting. If it's reliable now, then that's a new thing. Before this camp, he's never been known to be a consistent jumpshooter. Just a guy with PF size and SG skills.

People do love Vanderbilt though. I think it's fair to say that he's the highest upside wing player in the class, and possibly the highest upside player, period (depending if he can continue to shoot well). Biggest knock on his game is obviously shooting, but today he was hitting step-back threes, making terrific passes, playing great defense, making good post-up moves around the basket, and so on. If you get all of that from your 6'8 wing player, then there's a good chance that he can be a top 3 draft pick, if not #1.

Hell, biggest knock on LeBron has always been his jumper too. People love an athletic, versatile small forward that can do it all.

 

[Rhavicc]

It seems we've had more trouble in recent years with top recruits having a tough time in their freshman seasons.. Gabriel, Skal, Briscoe.. Almost every recruit had some growing pains, but none of them had it for a whole year like the guys above.

Hoping that all our recruits play to their ranking next year. When that happens and we don't have any "dud" freshman campaigns.. we're a tough out.

I think each of them have their own reasoning though. Was Gabriel just a summer sensation against over-matched competition? His size hurt him the most. Hard for him to play down low when he's so physically weak and unstable. Skal was coming off of a major injury and had a lot of rust to shake off, plus he was used wrong (Cal admitted as much), and Briscoe played out of position during his time here. He was often playing against a more athletic, taller, longer player than himself, and he can't shoot the ball well. That's a recipe for struggle.

 

[MWes11]

Kevin Knox is sitting at the Kentucky table. Take that as you will - Joe Mussato.

 

[BassProCat]

Kevin Knox is sitting at the Kentucky table. Take that as you will - Joe Mussato.

Sounds like Green is putting in work for Cal. Said green called knox over and said sit with us.

 

[brian5562]

Vanderbilt is Lamar Odom skills wise. Odom had more range but Vanderbilt can get there.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

I think each of them have their own reasoning though. Was Gabriel just a summer sensation against over-matched competition? His size hurt him the most. Hard for him to play down low when he's so physically weak and unstable. Skal was coming off of a major injury and had a lot of rust to shake off, plus he was used wrong (Cal admitted as much), and Briscoe played out of position during his time here. He was often playing against a more athletic, taller, longer player than himself, and he can't shoot the ball well. That's a recipe for struggle.

Certainly possible. So then really, the freshman that really struggled were some sort of circumstance.. Gabriel was also probably played a bit out of position also because we had such frontcourt issues.

Bodes even better for us. Cal's track record is much better, almost perfect, with freshman recruits coming around by March. Should be much better this coming year, especially with more recruits.

 

[BostonCat2001]

Vanderbilt is Lamar Odom skills wise. Odom had more range but Vanderbilt can get there.

huh...odom was 6-10!!!!

 

[Cowtown Cat]

Vanderbilt was the one I wanted to sign the most.

 

[MWes11]

huh...odom was 6-10!!!!

You can't have the same skill set of someone that is 2 inches taller than you?

 

[Brando Mac]

Man I hope we're able to land at least one of Knox or Bamba with all the work Quade's putting in, dude is relentless

 

[MWes11]

Man I hope we're able to land at least one of Knox or Bamba with all the work Quade's putting in, dude is relentless

Supposedly our commits made Knox BBN cookies last night lol.

 

[GonzoCat90]

It seems we've had more trouble in recent years with top recruits having a tough time in their freshman seasons.. Gabriel, Skal, Briscoe.. Almost every recruit had some growing pains, but none of them had it for a whole year like the guys above.

Hoping that all our recruits play to their ranking next year. When that happens and we don't have any "dud" freshman campaigns.. we're a tough out.

I think the difference has been the strength of the class around them. We could have a freshman like Marcus Lee struggle when the rest of the class was Randle, the twins, and James Young. Wiltjer can be freshman Wiltjer when Anthony Davis and MKG are beside him.

When you're Skal, and there's no help, or you're SKJ and there's a glaring hole in the big man rotation that you were supposed to fill, suddenly you look exposed. SKJ playing behind the '11 or '13 class isn't noticeably absent.

And for the record, I think Briscoe played really well as a freshman, he just didn't shoot well. Gabriel and Skal played great to start and then tapered off against elite competition--typical freshman stuff. Not sure it's fair to say they struggled the whole year, their growing pains just went in reverse.

 

[Kybluedude]

No love for Washington? He might be the best all around recruit. MKG motor!

 

[Jakarii]

No. Highest upside is Porter then Knox as far as SF

Is Vanderbilt considered to be the SF with the highest upside in this class? I know Knox is apparently the much better jump shooter at this point, but does Vanderbilt's ball handling, rebounding and physicality give him a higher upside in the long term (e.g., at the pro level)?

 

[Brando Mac]

No love for Washington? He might be the best all around recruit. MKG motor!

Love Washington. Reminds me a bit of Erik Daniels with his passing ability for a 4 man. Or maybe a skinnier Draymond Green. He's a jack of all trades type of player.

 

[G-PIP]

No. Highest upside is Porter then Knox as far as SF

Thanks. I can certainly understand that opinion. But beyond outside shooting, which has been discussed a ton already, and if you follow recruiting closely and know the skill sets, how would you compare and contrast Vanderbilt's and Knox's other skill sets and attributes (e.g., ball handling, rebounding, passing, motor, etc.)?

 

[BostonCat2001]

You can't have the same skill set of someone that is 2 inches taller than you?

what made odom great was that he had that skill for a guy 6-10. 6-8 he is just another SF who can you know...do what most SF can do

 

[MWes11]

what made odom great was that he had that skill for a guy 6-10. 6-8 he is just another SF who can you know...do what most SF can do

We weren't talking about what made Odom great. I thought what was said was they have similar skill sets? To which you implied that because someone is 2 inches taller, they can't have similar skill sets. I disagreed.

 

[Bobcat94]

You can't have the same skill set of someone that is 2 inches taller than you?

Skill set has nothing to do with height. Now owning a skill set while being taller does give the advantage to the taller player.

 

[brian5562]

what made odom great was that he had that skill for a guy 6-10. 6-8 he is just another SF who can you know...do what most SF can do

I disagree that most small forwards can do what Lamar Odom could do. He was an excellent passer which Vanderbilt appears to have some of that same skill. There aren't many small forwards that can pass like Odom did. Odom had above average handles for his size. Again Vanderbilt looks to have that same ability. Vanderbilt's game reminds me most of Odom.

 

[CatChow]

Sounds like Green is putting in work for Cal. Said green called knox over and said sit with us.

Green is going to be a fan favorite, calling it now. Kid loves our program.

 

[BlueSince92]

You can't have the same skill set of someone that is 2 inches taller than you?

Nope.

Realistically to have the same skill set you must be the same height. And have the same haircut. And wear the same clothes.

I don't mean the same ISBN number clothes. I mean the same clothes.