You have also said you would offer a son of a UK player just because of who he is. That’s how you become Indiana.
Reed Sheppard committing Saturday
- Thread starter JFCats22
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And before anyone gets mad my uncle coached at Betsy Layne for 20+ years. Their middle school boys used to come out to “Iron Man” and it was f’in badass.
There’s a follow button? I post from a Commodore 64 and don’t think my keyboard supports that feature.
Isn’t Jack Pilgrim also a student at North Laurel?
Hey, you’re not wrong. You changed my mind on that.
I’d offer Kentucky legacy kids a spot where available. So if Anthony Davis’ kid isn’t any good and picks his nose, I’d tell him he can walk on here. If Cousins kid was decent but not UK standards, and I had a scholarship, I’d give it.
Jeffy and Stace? Reed is guaranteed. They did too much for this program. I don’t apologize for thinking it.
Not in basketball even though CM coached there. I’m only a fan of their Mathletics department.
Gonna suck when Reed is 11th in the rotation behind a bunch of 6’10 extremely raw, extremely athletic projects.
The biggest irony in this whole recruiting saga is when Reed averages 13pts a game his freshman year at UK, shoots 42% from three, and is one and done.
Is Richie playing tomorrow night?
Jeff has said that 6’3 white guys that can shoot and jump are a dime a dozen in the NBA. The chances of Reed being a one and down are slim to none. He will be a great college player and I hope that is at UK for selfish reasons but it would be much easier to go to UVA and be a star for 3 to 4 years and make his mark instead of worrying about being recruited over year in and year out. I believe he can make a ton at UK with the NIL revenue but I also realize that in the long haul he will make a really good living playing several years overseas like his dad could have had he not chosen to hang it up early. And no I’m not saying he won’t play a few years in the NBA but I am saying he won’t be there long. This young man and his family are not short term in their thinking and that is why he has been considering all his options. I respect that but still hope they can find a way to capitalize on continuing the family legacy at UK.
And you'll still find a way to bitch about it even after he commits to UK.
We actually have fans bitching that the more talented players get more time than less talented players. That's how insane some of these people have become, just scouring every possible angle to tell us how much they hate Calipari. They'll make up the worst possible scenario and then tell us how awful Cal is about that imagined scenario.
I've been on this board since the Tubby days, and if you said we'd have fans wanting to bench our 5 star players to lose games with home grown kids instead, you'd have been laughed off the board. Now we have people wanting those days back. Baffling to say the least.
I think that’s a good middle grounds. You definitely consider former players kids, when you are at the top of the top like UK you better be able to play as well.
Because that's the kind of team Cal is building now. We don't have 1 guy 6ft10 this year and a ton of guards and 3 of the 4 signed up for next year are guards. So I don't see the scenario coming about.
Only one way to find out! I think the early announcement is good news!
No doubt some will be clamoring for him to start and if he doesn’t get big minutes really soon, it will be we have Reed on the bench! Cal sucks. I can feel that already.
Saturday morning couldn't come fast enough, but 1st we got some games! Let's go Sheppard some wins.
I loved Hawkins, he played great defense, and like you said by his Junior/Senior year he could sub in the game for anyone and we wouldn’t miss a beat.
I wouldn’t blame the young man if he went elsewhere. His father and mother were players at UK but, he may need to carve his own path. Either way, I wish him well and believe he will be a good player for either UVA or UK. I do not understand the mentality of denigrating a person for choosing a school other than UK. Mature adults don’t put others down for making a personal choice or having preferences different from ourselves. Putting fandom aside, he has to make the best decision for himself and his future and it may not be UK. IMO
There seems to be a whole lot of "Cal will play one and dones over Sheppard" and equating Dontaie Allen to Reed Sheppard. Or Cal's only interested because he's Jeff Sheppard's kid.
Reed Sheppard is a top 25 player with room to go up. He's not some three star Kentucky Mr. Basketball winner. I'm not entirely sure why so many seem to think he's going to be some bench player until his junior year or just a legacy offer. He'd contribute from day 1.
He has a lot more in common with your average Cal recruit than he does with Allen or Willis or Hawkins.
Reed Sheppard is a top 25 player with room to go up. He's not some three star Kentucky Mr. Basketball winner. I'm not entirely sure why so many seem to think he's going to be some bench player until his junior year or just a legacy offer. He'd contribute from day 1.
He has a lot more in common with your average Cal recruit than he does with Allen or Willis or Hawkins.
Kid hasn’t committed yet and already some preemptively bitching about Cal losing a recruit. Even bigger goobs have a built in excuse if he does pick Uk that it was in spite of our coach or that Cal won’t play him.
I have no clue but would assume all signs point to UK.
And yeah, some of you are truly miserable people.
I have no clue but would assume all signs point to UK.
And yeah, some of you are truly miserable people.
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That is not what has been said
do you HONESTLY think the Boston deserved all the playing time he got last year. He was lousy
He gave no effort, yet he played the minutes. Some of the lesser kids should have gotten some of that time
that could not have played any worse. That is the complaint and has been for years
Allen should have got some of Boston’s minutes last year.He could not have done any worse and may have helped him improve.
Cal's belief he'd rather sit a guy that can contribute now and play a guy that he *thinks* can contribute more in March, even if it results in a loss.
Its bitten him in the ass more than once the last few years and add to fan discontent.
Sitting Boston in the final minutes of a game he wasn't coaching for a win just added fuel to the fire.
He will be a lightening rod , no doubt. I would hope people would be patient and let him develop on a normal path , but I realize that is too much to ask .
We just have to except him for what he is.He has always said its all about the kids and getting them drafted he don’t lie about it.
I think, maybe, if he wasn’t so highly ranked he might have that shot but with his ranking, no way that’s gonna happen. Sucks for all involved but is what it is at this point.
Great post. You said it better than I did.
Going a step further (and out on a limb here) - it's possible him going elsewhere is already baked in and Cal knows that. Cal had almost no choice but to offer, there was really no way around it so he did his part. As has been suggested, if Reed was from any other state it's not likely Cal would have offered. And it just seems possible that if the family is thinking short-term, long-term and best fit, which you know they are, the sensible choice would be somewhere else like UVA. Having said that it's very possible he still picks UK anyway, for the more obvious reasons. Either way it may have been a much more difficult choice than many would like to think.
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accepting situations they aren't happy about isn't a strong suit of Kentucky fans
I mentioned three guards that were ranked around Sheppard from previous classes in Quickley, Herro, and Juzang. I think he follows the Quickley path and plays behind Wagner, Fredrick, or whoever his freshman year and then is a leading scorer in his sophomore year and goes to the NBA. I don't think he'll be a Herro, nor would he bail like Juzang did, if he's playing behind two NBA draft picks.
Why? Does Cal often not go after the top 5-star guards/wings?
Cam Fletcher, Johnny Juzang, Immanuel Quickley, Tyler Herro, Jemarl Baker, Quade Green, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Devin Booker were all ranked right around or below where Sheppard is now.
have to agree
sure seems like Cal did not want to offer the kid & finally did so grudgingly
after the youngster kept rising and rising in the rankings.
wouldn't be surprised if the family knew & felt this and have decided to take
another path. I would hate that because the state just doesn't produce many
quality basketball players. Being rated as a 5* is a pretty big deal and very rare
IF this does happen, IMO it's just another instance of Cal's arrogance to UK
and the fans
