Roster as it stands now

[HagginHall1999]

With some movement with portal and a couple names off the board this is what we are looking at.

Not seeing Cal add much else here. Looks like either Oscar or Dickinson and Reeves/Livingston or transfer in one of those spots.

My guess is Reeves is coming back and that Knecht announcement.

Looking like he will use 11 schollies plus Canada and will probably give one to Watkins.

Guard
-Wagner
-Dilly
-Shep
-Thiero*
-(Reeves)

Forward
-Edwards
-Bradshaw
-Thiero*
-(Livingston or xfer)

Center
-Ugo
-Ware
-(Oscar or Dickinson)

 

[Lukeslaw]

With some movement with portal and a couple names off the board this is what we are looking at.

Not seeing Cal add much else here. Looks like either Oscar or Humphries and Reeves/Livingston or transfer in one of those spots.

My guess is Reeves is coming back and that Knecht announcement.

Looking like he will use 11 schollies plus Canada and will probably give one to Watkins.

Guard
-Wagner
-Dilly
-Shep
-Thiero*
-(Reeves)

Forward
-Edwards
-Bradshaw
-(Livingston or xfer)

Center
-Ugo
-Ware
-(Oscar or Humphries)

Is Isaac Humphries gonna run it back another year?

 

[HagginHall1999]

Is Isaac Humphries gonna run it back another year?

Several bourbons deep gimme a break 🤣

 

[SaltyCat22]

Is Isaac Humphries gonna run it back another year?

Yas Kween!

 

[HagginHall1999]

I mean Humphries and Dickinson do kind of look alike.

 

[Mike-McD]

With some movement with portal and a couple names off the board this is what we are looking at.

Not seeing Cal add much else here. Looks like either Oscar or Dickinson and Reeves/Livingston or transfer in one of those spots.

My guess is Reeves is coming back and that Knecht announcement.

Looking like he will use 11 schollies plus Canada and will probably give one to Watkins.

Guard
-Wagner
-Dilly
-Shep
-Thiero*
-(Reeves)

Forward
-Edwards
-Bradshaw
-(Livingston or xfer)

Center
-Ugo
-Ware
-(Oscar or Dickinson)

That's depressing. This roster screams 22-12 next year.

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

That roster is not great. A lot of holes still exist even with Dickinson, cal would need to add more shooting, and a versatile foward to replace Livingston

 

[Lukeslaw]

Several bourbons deep gimme a break 🤣

I couldn't resist lol

 

[jmw23712]

That’s a team that shoots 2-14 from 3 many games while simultaneously getting out rebounded. This roster needs Oscar back and another shooter. Anything less is a S16 team on a good day.

 

[bookerfan66]

The roster now is pure shit and will get worse with Oscar leaving and Dickinson going elsewhere.

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

The roster now is pure shit and will get worse with Oscar leaving and Dickinson going elsewhere.

I agree, I don’t have a good feeling about Dickinson, I think he ends up at Kansas or even Villanova before Kentucky. At that point Kentucky would either have to get back good with Oscar or scramble to find somebody

 

[RondoBaller21]

Looks like a championship roster to me if Reeves comes back and they add Dickinson. Four potential first rounders, an all American and a sixth man of the year.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

The roster now is pure shit and will get worse with Oscar leaving and Dickinson going elsewhere.

I agree with you, but there was something about this that made me die laughing at 1:00 AM in the morning. I was rolling. Best laugh I had all week. Thank you. 🤣

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Looks like a championship roster to me if Reeves comes back and they add Dickinson. Four potential first rounders, an all American and a sixth man of the year.

Not enough depth. Can't count on Thiero, Onyenso, or Ware. Need more. Even with Reeves and Dickinson, there's only 6 trustworthy players on the roster.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Any roster where you go into the season counting on Thiero, Sheppard, Ware, or Onyenso to be major impact guys is an inadequate roster. All of those guys should be treated as role players (ala Allen Edwards or Jeff Sheppard on the 1996 title team), not guys you have to go into a season depending on as part of your main rotation.

If we get Oscar and Reeves back, we'll have 6 real players:

Wagner (replaced Wallace)
Dilly (replaced Wheeler)
Reeves
Edwards (replaced Livingston)
Bradshaw (replaced Toppin)
Oscar

That's not enough for a title. We need at least two more guys. One to replace what Collins should have been for us, and one to replace Fredrick.

 

[dave5164]

We need at least Oscar or Dickinson and we need Reeves to return next year. UK could still use a Power Forward and another shooter to go along with who we have mentioned for next year.

If we get either Oscar/Dickinson and the same with Reeves/Livingston which looks like Reeves will return. Lets say Oscar, Reeves, Thiero, Ware, Ugo along with the Five Freshmen is not enough if once again UK is hit with an injury or two. We still need a Power Forward and a Shooter from the transfer portal and that would give us 12 players on the roster. The last 2 years UK had No bench players and had injuries at the end of each season that killed us in the NCAA Tournament each year. We can't just have the Five Freshmen plus Oscar, Reeves, Ugo, Ware, and Thiero for next season. We need another good shooter and an outstanding Power forward from the Portal to have enough players in case UK has 1 or 2 injuries near end of season and to have an outstanding bench next year. This has hurt UK bad in the last 2 tournaments with our bench play. I remember years with Cal's teams that he would have 10 solid players and most would say that Cal had 2 Top 25 teams on his hands. The last 2-3 years we have not seen that at Kentucky with strong good players coming off the bench. We can't go through another season and especially this year with having 5 Freshmen plus Oscar and Reeves. That leaves us with Ugo, Thiero, and Ware and UK needs another Forward and another good shooter for next year. It is not that hard to look back on last 2-3 years to see that our Roster Management has been terrible and has cost us with our Bench Play each season.

 

[NociHTTP]

Looking forward to getting St. Petered in the first round or so, and the forthcoming canned "love ya Big Blue Nation, I'm moving on to the next chapter of my life via the portal" letters.

 

[TFCats11]

Looks like a championship roster to me if Reeves comes back and they add Dickinson. Four potential first rounders, an all American and a sixth man of the year.

And with Calipari coaching them😂 We can forget that “FF” and “C” words happening for that reason alone.

 

[Lempface]

Looks like a championship roster to me if Reeves comes back and they add Dickinson. Four potential first rounders, an all American and a sixth man of the year.

So we've got this ultra positive look and several ultra negative looks in this thread lol. The truth is no one has any idea. When you've got top flight freshman they can either come in and play like Davis, Jones, Wall, Cousins, etc. or they can come in and play like Boston, Whitney, Skal, etc... Until we know how this particular group of freshman will turn out, no one really knows.

You can make a semi-educated guess based on high school footage but it's almost a coin flip if they will be highly impactful or not as a freshman.

IMO there is currently no need to be super excited or super disappointed in the roster yet and we really won't know how these freshman will do until probably late December or earlier January at the earliest.

Looking forward to how it shakes out in the end, we always seem to get an impactful transfer late in the game we weren't expecting.

 

[Ron Mehico]

Would need another experienced guard if we want to accomplish anything as I think Dillingham will be underwhelming next year

 

[FitchandMurray29]

For better or worse I expect the roster to include Reeves, 2 more transfers, and no Oscar or Dickinson. A total of 11 real scholarship guys, 12 if you count the Canada technicality. Depth is by far the most overrated thing on this board. Are our top 8-9 guys better than our opponent, will as usual determine our success. Even without seeing who the eventual transfers are it is obvious to see that the freshmen will determine our level of success. How good can they be by March of next year?

The Reeves announcement will soften the blow and then when we add some transfers we’ll be right back in the conversation of best rosters on paper in the country. Similar to last year. But having two top 15 recruits(Collins and Livingston) bust while a preseason 1st team SEC(laughable I know but work with me) player quit the team after struggling will bring you down considerably from preseason expectations. The problem is the difference among rosters preseason is so small due to the insane level of player movement in the portal to patch any hole on competitive P5 programs rosters.

 

[thebluestripes]

Thats not a roster that's going to overcome cal's lack of coaching.

 

[bigbluedon]

Cal won’t take the big transfer from UT because he promised Bradshaw and Edwards they would start. This kid is better than both of those freshmen and therein lies the problem. We have a short roster because of Cal playing favorites and promising playing time.

 

[bucsrule8872]

Starters

G Dillingham
G Wagner
G Edwards
F Bradshaw
F Tshiebwe(or Dickinson or other transfer)

Reserves

G Reeves(or transfer)- 6th man
F Onyenso
G Sheppard
F Ware
G Thiero

Maybe add another late signee, reclass, or transfer. I don’t see us adding someone real impactful for this spot.

11 scholarship players as usual.

 

[Lempface]

Cal won’t take the big transfer from UT because he promised Bradshaw and Edwards they would start. This kid is better than both of those freshmen and therein lies the problem. We have a short roster because of Cal playing favorites and promising playing time.

How is that any different from the UT player's perspective? He's not coming here with out knowing he's in a featured roll and neither are the top freshmen.

From the coach's perspective are you confident your freshmen will be better than a good-to-decent transfer who wasn't nearly the best player on his team?

If you are then you don't take the transfer.

Much of this board seems done with recruiting anyone who isn't a KY boy and they want the rest to be instant impact transfers who have showed their prowess on CBB stage already.

You can probably win with that mentality but then you'll never have the chance at a generational talent who explodes once he gets to campus.

 

[bigbluedon]

How is that any different from the UT player's perspective? He's not coming here with out knowing he's in a featured roll and neither are the top freshmen.

From the coach's perspective are you confident your freshmen will be better than a good-to-decent transfer who wasn't nearly the best player on his team?

If you are then you don't take the transfer.

Much of this board seems done with recruiting anyone who isn't a KY boy and they want the rest to be instant impact transfers who have showed their prowess on CBB stage already.

You can probably win with that mentality but then you'll never have the chance at a generational talent who explodes once he gets to campus.

You are missing part of the point. The UT kid has experience, size and has proven he is a good player. Our skinny freshmen have proven nothing. A normal coach would tell these kids you earn your time in practice but not the asshole we have. Playing time has already been determined. Cal keeps the transfers from coming in as they know this already.

 

[Lempface]

You are missing part of the point. The UT kid has experience, size and has proven he is a good player. Our skinny freshmen have proven nothing. A normal coach would tell these kids you earn your time in practice but not the asshole we have. Playing time has already been determined. Cal keeps the transfers from coming in as they know this already.

I don't think I missed any point from your response. But I think you missed mine.

You have to promise big time players they will play or they'll go somewhere where they will get a promise of a bigger role.

This is especially true for big time freshmen AND the top tier transfers. None of the best guys are showing up to compete with other great players at their position unless the coach has a specific plan to get them both 28+ minutes a game.

It's just the nature of the beast at this point with instant eligibility for first time xfer and NIL.

You can live back in the 80s and 90s and expect differently or realize times have changed and adapt.

 

[BlueWorldOrder74]

Sweet Sixteen - if we are lucky.

 

[EdgeHD]

With some movement with portal and a couple names off the board this is what we are looking at.

Not seeing Cal add much else here. Looks like either Oscar or Dickinson and Reeves/Livingston or transfer in one of those spots.

My guess is Reeves is coming back and that Knecht announcement.

Looking like he will use 11 schollies plus Canada and will probably give one to Watkins.

Guard
-Wagner
-Dilly
-Shep
-Thiero*
-(Reeves)

Forward
-Edwards
-Bradshaw
-Thiero*
-(Livingston or xfer)

Center
-Ugo
-Ware
-(Oscar or Dickinson)

Guard
Dillingham
Wagner
Sheppard
Thiero
Reeves

Forward
Edwards

Center
Bradshaw
Onyenso
Ware

Bradshaw can handle 4 offensively, but not defensively except against teams that try to go big against us. If I am right, Cal really needs to pick up a couple of big athletic forwards from the transfer portal. Would like to get Dickerson too but not essential. Getting Reeves back would help lots.

 

[delk4three]

I don't think I missed any point from your response. But I think you missed mine.

You have to promise big time players they will play or they'll go somewhere where they will get a promise of a bigger role.

This is especially true for big time freshmen AND the top tier transfers. None of the best guys are showing up to compete with other great players at their position unless the coach has a specific plan to get them both 28+ minutes a game.

It's just the nature of the beast at this point with instant eligibility for first time xfer and NIL.

You can live back in the 80s and 90s and expect differently or realize times have changed and adapt.

What makes you think our freshmen are going to be “big time”? The have to show that on the court, high school rankings don’t matter in college!

 

[Lempface]

What makes you think our freshmen are going to be “big time”? The have to show that on the court, high school rankings don’t matter in college!

I'm not making any statements about specific player.

But if you think players like Banchero, Davis, Anthony Edwards, Brandon Miller and other similarly impactful freshman shouldn't be part of a coaches road map to build a good team I'm not sure what to say.

You don't always get those types of players and sometimes a player becomes that outta no where. But if you're only looking to recruit xfer portal guys then you're writing off the chance for those types of dominant players. In many cases the best freshman outta the class ends up being one of the best players in all of CBB.

 

[bookerfan66]

I'm not making any statements about specific player.

But if you think players like Banchero, Davis, Anthony Edwards, Brandon Miller and other similarly impactful freshman shouldn't be part of a coaches road map to build a good team I'm not sure what to say.

You don't always get those types of players and sometimes a player becomes that outta no where. But if you're only looking to recruit xfer portal guys then you're writing off the chance for those types of dominant players. In many cases the best freshman outta the class ends up being one of the best players in all of CBB.

But what makes you think the freshmen coming in are Anthony Davis types?

 

[Lempface]

But what makes you think the freshmen coming in are Anthony Davis types?

I didn't say that. I said it seemed like a lot of people didn't want to recruit freshman anymore and wanted to focus on proven guys in the xfer portal. My comment is not specific to any class or any season specifically, just that if you don't try to get the top freshman you are not gonna get the AD types at all.

Let's say an AD player is A 10/10 and you've got a portal player who is a 7.5/10 and against non-power 5 competition.


If you've got a recruiting target you think could be a 10/10 do you take the guy who is a 7.5 cuz he's a more known commodity or do you risk it on the guy you think could be a 10? Even if they don't pan out they usually don't drop to a 5/10 or worse but somewhere a 7-8.

If you don't risk it on those types of freshman (which means guaranteeing them a spot in almost all cases, and making your roster less desirable for transfeds) then you're never gonna have the chance to get the transcendent ones.

 

[Runnin'Ramel]

Not enough depth. Can't count on Thiero, Onyenso, or Ware. Need more. Even with Reeves and Dickinson, there's only 6 trustworthy players on the roster.

Cal played 6 guys in 2011. Eloy was 7th and worthless.

 

[BBNWildcat]

So we've got this ultra positive look and several ultra negative looks in this thread lol. The truth is no one has any idea. When you've got top flight freshman they can either come in and play like Davis, Jones, Wall, Cousins, etc. or they can come in and play like Boston, Whitney, Skal, etc... Until we know how this particular group of freshman will turn out, no one really knows.

You can make a semi-educated guess based on high school footage but it's almost a coin flip if they will be highly impactful or not as a freshman.

IMO there is currently no need to be super excited or super disappointed in the roster yet and we really won't know how these freshman will do until probably late December or earlier January at the earliest.

Looking forward to how it shakes out in the end, we always seem to get an impactful transfer late in the game we weren't expecting.

Did anyone have any doubts as to how the Wall, Cousins team would perform?

 

[Lempface]

Did anyone have any doubts as to how the Wall, Cousins team would perform?

That's a bit revisionist. Everyone was excited after BCG but I don't think anyone "knew." And they still lost in the E8 which from what I gather is about the bare minimum expectation most on here have.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

I think the 12 and 20 led northern whatever player is not going to dominate sec competition like he did whatever the hell peewee conference he was n last year.

This guy couldn't win in a cupcake conference yet people "know" he should have been promised a starting job at UK.

 

[W1LDCAT22]

Looks like a championship roster to me if Reeves comes back and they add Dickinson. Four potential first rounders, an all American and a sixth man of the year.

I agree

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Cal played 6 guys in 2011. Eloy was 7th and worthless.

That group was an anomaly. I'd prefer not to be a 4 seed in the overall #1 seed's region - needing a near-buzzer beater in the 1st round, an 8 point deficit 2nd half comeback in the 2nd round, a miracle game-winner in the 3rd round, and some end-of-the-game heroics from multiple players in the 4th round.

That was our journey to the Final Four, and we won the final minutes in all four of those games. Is that how you want to approach the NCAA Tournament next season?

 

[Lempface]

That group was an anomaly. I'd prefer not to be a 4 seed in the overall #1 seed's region - needing a near-buzzer beater in the 1st round, and 8 point deficit 2nd half comeback in the 2nd round, a miracle game-winner in the 3rd round, and some end-of-the-game heroics from multiple players in the 4th round.

That was our journey to the Final Four, and we won the final minutes in all four of those games. Is that how you want to approach the NCAA Tournament next season?

I can't say that's how I'd want it to play out either. While winning by 10+ every game on the way to a championship is the ideal scenario it is an absolute blast and adrenalin rush to win on a buzzer beater or need a comeback to pull it off.

While 2012 was a great run and the Indiana game was epic 2011 and 2014 are my favorite recent runs if you just rate the games on excitement factor.