Potential upside surprises

[MdWIldcat55]

So, the roster is mostly set. But you can never predict everything about young teams. Here are 5 potential positive surprises I see for next year.

POSITIVE:
1. Reid Travis is all that. I have a couple friends, one a UCLA fan and one an Oregon fan, who say Kentucky may have gotten the guy who was going to be the best player in their conference. Playing on a team with talent to surround him, he could be the catalyst for a great run.

2. Nick Richards 2.0. He's the forgotten man it seems. But he is a 7-foot, very strong and athletic player held back last year by his adjustment to the game - like lots of centers. He has potential to be a defensive anchor and rim protector who can make a huge difference on a team.

3. Green is money. I think people forget he was playing through back troubles a lot of last year. In flashes, he had some of the qualities of a lesser Ulis. If he can make his sophomore season somewhat reminiscent of Tyler's that would be important.

4. Johnson Answers the Bell. To me, the biggest question on the team besides whether Travis comes is how close can KJ come to being the scorer Kevin Knox was. They are very, very different players but it'd be a big positive surprise if Johnson took a significant part of the Knox-Murray-Monk role as a consistent scorer.

5. Angel from Montgomery. Could we be overlooking this guy? Is he a bigger impact freshman than we realize? I honestly don't know what to expect. Worse case: SKJ. Best case: What Skal Labassierre was supposed to be - an efficient scorer and rebounder. That would be a great surprise.

If UK gets 3-4 of those upside surprises, the Cats are a top five team or better. And there are other potential positive surprises of course: Herro is a legit college scorer, Hagans is Fox 2.0, Baker is another Lamb. It's going to be fun seeing what this team is all about.

The potential downside surprises are the reverse of these 5: Travis doesn't come, Richards remains frustratingly slow to react, Green isn't quite the elite guard needed to run the team, so an inexperienced Hagans takes over and plays at times like a freshman, KJ proves ordinary as a college wing, and Montgomery is a year away. All or much of that happens: Top 25 team.

 

[irishcat1965]

I think Richards got down on himself, Sasha improved, PJ improved and Vanderbilt came in for 14 games. It was a perfect storm of circumstances for Richards’ play to decline and for him to mentally lose his edge. I think he surprises this year and him not transferring tells me a lot about his character to not run from competition.

 

[BlueRunner11]

So, the roster is mostly set. But you can never predict everything about young teams. Here are 5 potential positive surprises I see for next year.

POSITIVE:
1. Reid Travis is all that. I have a couple friends, one a UCLA fan and one an Oregon fan, who say Kentucky may have gotten the guy who was going to be the best player in their conference. Playing on a team with talent to surround him, he could be the catalyst for a great run.

2. Nick Richards 2.0. He's the forgotten man it seems. But he is a 7-foot, very strong and athletic player held back last year by his adjustment to the game - like lots of centers. He has potential to be a defensive anchor and rim protector who can make a huge difference on a team.

3. Green is money. I think people forget he was playing through back troubles a lot of last year. In flashes, he had some of the qualities of a lesser Ulis. If he can make his sophomore season somewhat reminiscent of Tyler's that would be important.

4. Johnson Answers the Bell. To me, the biggest question on the team besides whether Travis comes is how close can KJ come to being the scorer Kevin Knox was. They are very, very different players but it'd be a big positive surprise if Johnson took a significant part of the Knox-Murray-Monk role as a consistent scorer.

5. Angel from Montgomery. Could we be overlooking this guy? Is he a bigger impact freshman than we realize? I honestly don't know what to expect. Worse case: SKJ. Best case: What Skal Labassierre was supposed to be - an efficient scorer and rebounder. That would be a great surprise.

If UK gets 3-4 of those upside surprises, the Cats are a top five team or better. And there are other potential positive surprises of course: Herro is a legit college scorer, Hagans is Fox 2.0, Baker is another Lamb. It's going to be fun seeing what this team is all about.

The potential downside surprises are the reverse of these 5: Travis doesn't come, Richards remains frustratingly slow to react, Green isn't quite the elite guard needed to run the team, so an inexperienced Hagans takes over and plays at times like a freshman, KJ proves ordinary as a college wing, and Montgomery is a year away. All or much of that happens: Top 25 team.

Lets all pray for the positive. Likely it will be a mix of both but who knows.

The elephant in the room on the downside is that post season is full of transfers and fringe G league players declaring. The downside is doable when its actually part of a building process.

 

[WildMoon]

Nick Richards is the main key.

After that is EJ/Hagans combo.

Then Herro.

Those 3 are our keys to next season.

 

[nickhorvathsuxazz]

So, the roster is mostly set. But you can never predict everything about young teams. Here are 5 potential positive surprises I see for next year.

POSITIVE:


5. Angel from Montgomery. Could we be overlooking this guy? Is he a bigger impact freshman than we realize? I honestly don't know what to expect. Worse case: SKJ. Best case: What Skal Labassierre was supposed to be - an efficient scorer and rebounder. That would be a great surprise.

Nice John Prine reference...

 

[WonderBraa]

Green will never be Ulis

 

[uk78]

Every pre-season fans elevate every recruit to mythic proportions and then as the season begins finds fault when they don't live up to those lofty expectations. Over the season we will see improvement with Freshman but rarely do they succeed immediately or without some bumps in the road. So relying on Freshman has proven time after time to be a mistake in terms of reaching the promised land. There were many posts last year about PJ should sit, Richards should never see the court either, and so on.

I am now somewhat optimistic about our upcoming season. Why? PJ now has a year under his belt, as does Green. Baker hasn't played but certainly was an observer all season with practices, behind the scenes, etc. Green and PJ played well at times and experience counts especially at point guard. Richards also at least has some experience and knows what to expect.

The key person now is Travis. If he comes, we have a big time experienced proven player. That would be 4 likely starters that have experience. Now you can add the super Freshman into the mix and not be entirely relying on them to be instant impact without much support.

I also feel that Cal made some type of promise to Diallo or kept waiting for him to be the super player everyone thought. In many ways, continuing to give Diallo so much playing time hurt the team in my view. Hopefully, with all the talent we are bringing in, there won't be this situation again where one player seems to get very favorable treatment despite outcome on the court. I believe that will help us as well. Travis again is the key now. Come on down!

 

[nickhorvathsuxazz]

Every pre-season fans elevate every recruit to mythic proportions and then as the season begins finds fault when they don't live up to those lofty expectations. Over the season we will see improvement with Freshman but rarely do they succeed immediately or without some bumps in the road. So relying on Freshman has proven time after time to be a mistake in terms of reaching the promised land. There were many posts last year about PJ should sit, Richards should never see the court either, and so on.

I am now somewhat optimistic about our upcoming season. Why? PJ now has a year under his belt, as does Green. Baker hasn't played but certainly was an observer all season with practices, behind the scenes, etc. Green and PJ played well at times and experience counts especially at point guard. Richards also at least has some experience and knows what to expect.

The key person now is Travis. If he comes, we have a big time experienced proven player. That would be 4 likely starters that have experience. Now you can add the super Freshman into the mix and not be entirely relying on them to be instant impact without much support.

I also feel that Cal made some type of promise to Diallo or kept waiting for him to be the super player everyone thought. In many ways, continuing to give Diallo so much playing time hurt the team in my view. Hopefully, with all the talent we are bringing in, there won't be this situation again where one player seems to get very favorable treatment despite outcome on the court. I believe that will help us as well. Travis again is the key now. Come on down!

Agree...good post. I'm also fairly optimistic--that is, I expect us to have to be accounted for next year if a team other than UK is aiming to win it all--assuming Travis is in the blue and white next year.

 

[Cats192]

I think the keys in the pre-season are the foundation pieces.

We got two HUGE returns.

Quade coming back--gives us an experienced PG. How many times have we had that come back? Harrison and Ulis. Both were really good. Quade struggled at times last year, but got excellent experience. He can shoot it, and I think his shot will translate to games more this year.

PJ Coming back: Will be the best player on the team IMO. He looked like a star at the end of the year and in those combine scrimmages. I think he'll be SEC POY and challenge for All-American honors.

 

[Newcattitudes]

Green will never be Ulis

I could see a second year Green being a first year Ulis.

 

[Aike]

I’m very greedy, but I still hope Maxey comes. I’m not positive we have a full-fledged bucket getter on the wing/in the backcourt. There are some candidates though.

 

[Smashcat]

1. Reid Travis is all that. I have a couple friends, one a UCLA fan and one an Oregon fan, who say Kentucky may have gotten the guy who was going to be the best player in their conference. Playing on a team with talent to surround him, he could be the catalyst for a great run

Also the most talented senior Cal has had since Darius Miller (2012 wound up a pretty good year).

 

[3kidsandme]

I could see a second year Green being a first year Ulis.

So green only averages 5 ppg? If that's the case we are screwed.

 

[docholiday51]

In all this Quickly and Baker are being overlooked or dismissed it seems.We here are prone to over hyping the unknown but at the risk of doing that I believe there are several positive surprises maybe waiting in the wings.

Travis averaged 19.5 for a D-1 team that played pretty good competition.It is not as if he played for Northwest Albany State

Baker( if completely healthy) is a 6'4" SG that was said by some players to be the best shooter on the team.

Quickly made good showings in All-star games(won a 3 pt contest I think)

Richards will be better,he made the decision to return early and hopefully has been working on his game to prepare for next year.

We have balance and a versatile group,maybe not as much athletic ability but more basketball skill and basketball IQ.Even at this point, with as little as we know, it would be difficult to make a case that we haven't upgraded in both areas.

The August trip could be great for us(depending on who all gets to go) it will be good regardless but it great if it includes the whole team.

 

[gossie21]

I am hoping Nick Richards takes a huge leap forward. When I watched him earlier in the year he reminded me of WCS 2.0. He was still raw but he had the athleticism and coordination to be elite on defense and opportunistic on offense. But then he never got it going. I still think the tools are there for him to be great, but with big men sometimes it just takes longer.

 

[caneintally]

I think the keys in the pre-season are the foundation pieces.

We got two HUGE returns.

Quade coming back--gives us an experienced PG. How many times have we had that come back? Harrison and Ulis. Both were really good. Quade struggled at times last year, but got excellent experience. He can shoot it, and I think his shot will translate to games more this year.

PJ Coming back: Will be the best player on the team IMO. He looked like a star at the end of the year and in those combine scrimmages. I think he'll be SEC POY and challenge for All-American honors.

THIS!!!! This offseason worked out insanely well for us . We kept Green and PJ and added hagans, EJ and Reid . Cal putting in that work !

 

[BaronReborn84]

Nick Richards is the main key.

After that is EJ/Hagans combo.

Then Herro.

Those 3 are our keys to next season.

If Nick Richards is the key to anything next season we are screwed.

 

[gossie21]

If Nick Richards is the key to anything next season we are screwed.

I think calling him the key is overselling his impact quite a bit. However, if he comes back as a sophomore year WCS he would certainly push us over the top and into the role as national title favorites.

 

[docholiday51]

I think projecting us as a national title favorite is more than a bit much,we have a chance to be a top 10 team for most/all of the year provided we don't run into any real bad luck. We are likely a better team than we were last year but there is a lot of space between being a better team and being a title favorite.

 

[jrpross]

As I said in another thread, this is the best I’ve felt about a team since 2015. They’re deep enough that if a couple guys underperform, there will be others to jump in. They’ll have speed, shooting, rebounding, defense. They won’t have the star power of a Davis or a Wall but time will tell if it’s really needed or not.

 

[gossie21]

I think projecting us as a national title favorite is more than a bit much,we have a chance to be a top 10 team for most/all of the year provided we don't run into any real bad luck. We are likely a better team than we were last year but there is a lot of space between being a better team and being a title favorite.

I'm not projecting. I said "if" Richards plays at a WCS level it "could" put us over the top and into that role. I provided a sufficient level of qualifiers. Most preseason rankings are putting us in the top-5 spot. Which isn't that uncommon for Calipari coached teams here. But we have a nice mixture of talent and experience that it's not difficult to see this team performing at a high rate.

 

[Nix112]

I know this was against undersized Fort Wayne but Richards has the potential if the game slows down in his mind. Even into late January he was having 8 and 9 rebound games. He doesn't have to be a go-to, if he can defend without fouling and clean up around the rim we're golden.

 

[Cats192]

Richards just wasn’t there mentally.

You can play him 30 minutes and he’ll get decent stats.

The problem is the stuff you don’t see in the box score.

Was constantly lost on D. Always bobbling/droppung passes that should have led to dunks.

He needs reps, but he also needs some guidance in D.

 

[Sparkaces1]

EJ was the top player in this class when he was younger and he dipped a little, but has come on his senior year. I think he could really surprise some people and end up a lottery pick.

 

[Newcattitudes]

I could see a second year Green being a first year Ulis.

Ulis's greatest contribution his frosh year was his steady play and his running the second platoons offensive sets. Our guard corps are going to score plenty of points seeing that it is at least a five or six headed monster right now. Green will have games where he scores 5 and some he scores in the teens. I'm looking for about 7-8 points from him. Hagans, Baker, Quickley,Herro, and KJ could all be around the same thing too. Different guys will be hot on any given game. We don't need Monk like games when we have at least four guards who can shoot the three quite well.

 

[Rideordiewildcat]

So, the roster is mostly set. But you can never predict everything about young teams. Here are 5 potential positive surprises I see for next year.

POSITIVE:
1. Reid Travis is all that. I have a couple friends, one a UCLA fan and one an Oregon fan, who say Kentucky may have gotten the guy who was going to be the best player in their conference. Playing on a team with talent to surround him, he could be the catalyst for a great run.

2. Nick Richards 2.0. He's the forgotten man it seems. But he is a 7-foot, very strong and athletic player held back last year by his adjustment to the game - like lots of centers. He has potential to be a defensive anchor and rim protector who can make a huge difference on a team.

3. Green is money. I think people forget he was playing through back troubles a lot of last year. In flashes, he had some of the qualities of a lesser Ulis. If he can make his sophomore season somewhat reminiscent of Tyler's that would be important.

4. Johnson Answers the Bell. To me, the biggest question on the team besides whether Travis comes is how close can KJ come to being the scorer Kevin Knox was. They are very, very different players but it'd be a big positive surprise if Johnson took a significant part of the Knox-Murray-Monk role as a consistent scorer.

5. Angel from Montgomery. Could we be overlooking this guy? Is he a bigger impact freshman than we realize? I honestly don't know what to expect. Worse case: SKJ. Best case: What Skal Labassierre was supposed to be - an efficient scorer and rebounder. That would be a great surprise.

If UK gets 3-4 of those upside surprises, the Cats are a top five team or better. And there are other potential positive surprises of course: Herro is a legit college scorer, Hagans is Fox 2.0, Baker is another Lamb. It's going to be fun seeing what this team is all about.

The potential downside surprises are the reverse of these 5: Travis doesn't come, Richards remains frustratingly slow to react, Green isn't quite the elite guard needed to run the team, so an inexperienced Hagans takes over and plays at times like a freshman, KJ proves ordinary as a college wing, and Montgomery is a year away. All or much of that happens: Top 25 team.

With this group I really think they will challenge each other and push each other to be their best. They all want big playing time and with 10 it's going to be amazing practices I'm sure and I love this group and the fact they get the summer trip this year to build chemistry. Also love Dook as the first game, Dead Meat!

 

[Joneslab]

Green will never be Ulis

No, but I love his attitude. You have to have guys who are willing to take big shots. You would hope Green goes from just a willingness to take them and hits a couple for us.

His lack of speed makes it so that he has to be more of a probing, careful player. He isn't going to burn by anyone obviously. But with some strength I think he can go body to body against guys next year and convert. He missed a lot this past season when he went into the paint. He needs to be one of these thick, bulldog type guards who can play really low to the ground and hit you chest to chest, and if you back off he'll stick a three.

I think at some point he's going to be a breakout player in college. But I'm not sure if that's when he's 21 or 22 or if he can start being that guy next year.

 

[nickhorvathsuxazz]

Richards just wasn’t there mentally.

You can play him 30 minutes and he’ll get decent stats.

The problem is the stuff you don’t see in the box score.

Was constantly lost on D. Always bobbling/droppung passes that should have led to dunks.

He needs reps, but he also needs some guidance in D.

Nick needs a better set of hands. Whatever exercises are out there to improve hand strength and flexibility, he needs to be doing for an hour or so, daily, until the season starts. That's the biggest chink in his armor.

 

[Blueisbest]

I know this was against undersized Fort Wayne but Richards has the potential if the game slows down in his mind. Even into late January he was having 8 and 9 rebound games. He doesn't have to be a go-to, if he can defend without fouling and clean up around the rim we're golden.

View embedded media

I was at that game and Richards was a beast that day. I know it was Fort Wayne but if we can even see a glimpse of that type of play by Richards on a more consistent basis, we are going to be really, really good.

 

[DocLockdown]

Very good post, some great points in there OP.

 

[Chuckinden]

Nick needs a better set of hands. Whatever exercises are out there to improve hand strength and flexibility, he needs to be doing for an hour or so, daily, until the season starts. That's the biggest chink in his armor.

 

[nickhorvathsuxazz]

LOL...that won't work. The hand model in Seinfeld lost his career because it turned his hand into a claw.

 

[docholiday51]

I'm not projecting. I said "if" Richards plays at a WCS level it "could" put us over the top and into that role. I provided a sufficient level of qualifiers. Most preseason rankings are putting us in the top-5 spot. Which isn't that uncommon for Calipari coached teams here. But we have a nice mixture of talent and experience that it's not difficult to see this team performing at a high rate.

Didn't intend to single out your post,we all get our hopes up maybe more than we should with every new crop.I agree if things go as right as possible we could contend for a title but a lot of pieces have to fall into place,we are due for a good break or two

 

[WildMoon]

If Nick Richards is the key to anything next season we are screwed.

Nick Richards without a doubt is crucial for next year. If he comes through, we can be scary good. While we aren't depended on him so we can be good team, we are depended on him in the sense of becoming major title favorite.

Not sure the hate.

He was a freshman, that struggle with holding the basketball. Knowing defense, and etc. Raw talent...without a doubt.

However it doesn't change the following point.

1. 7' 240+ Lb, 7'4" wingspan with no-step vertical of 32inches

2. shot 61.6% better from 2 point field goal, while missing his lobs.

3. shot 71.8% from FT...not like our previous bigs like Lee, WCS, or others who sucks at FT...he would really HELP with our FT...

4. His rebounding was 4.4 rpg...or 12.1 rebounds per 40 minutes. Again, this isn't BAD at all. This is again, with having "stone hands".

5. Unlike some of our past mediocre bigs, he can shoot out to midrange. Meaning, he won't KILL spacing.

6. He had .9 blocks per game. Without understanding or more accurately being able to play defense instinctively correctly. He is still raw, and he still had decent rate on the block rate.

This is beginning point for him...his overall efficiency rating was at 19.9 PER. He wasn't bad. He started because he was actually better than our other bigs, just had issues that drove people insane.

Now...think about how he will be BETTER player next year. You don't think he can potentially breakout. EJ/PJ/NR could be super scary interior trio. (I ignored RT, because he hasn't joined UK yet.)

 

[Pizza Slice]

The only thing Richards is missing is mental toughness/basketball IQ and a set of hands. He's got super soft touch, athletic, good free throw shooter, can hit a midrange J, and a good rebounder without even knowing how to rebound properly. If he can improve just a tad bit on both areas he will be a really good player. Especially if he improves his hands.

 

[kyjeff1]

Every pre-season fans elevate every recruit to mythic proportions and then as the season begins finds fault when they don't live up to those lofty expectations. Over the season we will see improvement with Freshman but rarely do they succeed immediately or without some bumps in the road. So relying on Freshman has proven time after time to be a mistake in terms of reaching the promised land. There were many posts last year about PJ should sit, Richards should never see the court either, and so on.

I am now somewhat optimistic about our upcoming season. Why? PJ now has a year under his belt, as does Green. Baker hasn't played but certainly was an observer all season with practices, behind the scenes, etc. Green and PJ played well at times and experience counts especially at point guard. Richards also at least has some experience and knows what to expect.

The key person now is Travis. If he comes, we have a big time experienced proven player. That would be 4 likely starters that have experience. Now you can add the super Freshman into the mix and not be entirely relying on them to be instant impact without much support.

I also feel that Cal made some type of promise to Diallo or kept waiting for him to be the super player everyone thought. In many ways, continuing to give Diallo so much playing time hurt the team in my view. Hopefully, with all the talent we are bringing in, there won't be this situation again where one player seems to get very favorable treatment despite outcome on the court. I believe that will help us as well. Travis again is the key now. Come on down!

You make a decent point, but in fairness, for every freshman that came in hyped, but underwhelmed, there are 5 that came in and blew us away and many that played as expected. Can't help but pump these kids up when we've seen them come in and put up eye popping numbers and performances.

 

[kyjeff1]

LMFAO, yes, that excersize can strengthen your hands..or so I've heard. Ha ha.

 

[Wall2Boogie]

LOL...that won't work. The hand model in Seinfeld lost his career because it turned his hand into a claw.

He wasn't the master if his domain

 

[Gametown_baller]

Tyler Herro is going to surprise a lot of folks, and not just from shooting.

 

[WildMoon]

Reviewing this thread from May makes me excited. The Bahamas trip makes it appear the original post was possibly too conservative. Four of the five potential upside possibilities look plausible, and Montgomery didn't get a chance yet. And Herro was only listed as one of the "other potential surprises."

my keys were Richards (he has a good start to the season, we need him to develop from this point)

Then Hagans / EJ's combination. Which unfortunately we didn't get to see. Hagans had rather interesting start, wonder how he will evolve.

Then Herro. Herro looked fantastic, literally not worried about him anymore. The way he scored effortlessly in the last two games were insane.