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SIAP. Booker

Blueaz

All-American
Gold Member
Jul 7, 2009
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Phoenix
had 32 points last night. Sports talk in Phoenix is slobbering all over him.
Third youngest player to record 30 points in a game
 
Too bad he didn't do that against Wisconsin. I get the pride in seeing our players have success in the Pros but how about when they are with us too.
 
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I assume Bledsoe's injury is what now has Booker getting a lot more PT. Obviously he's doing very well! I saw he's up to #1 in the depth chart, and has strung together a number of excellent games. Also got his 3 % up to 44! He's getting his chance and making the most of it. The Suns really have no reason not to be playing their younger players a lot, and giving them a chance to show what they got. I sure wish we still had him right now.
 
and think...... Cal kept playing the twins over Ulis and Booker................. If there was one thing that I would ever want to go back in time to smack some sense into Cal for..... it would be not making Ulis and Booker the starters when they were the better players.
We won 38 straight games that way. Booker and Ulis played a lot. We lost to Wisconsin and it wasn't because booker didn't play. He looked bad in the final four against Wisconsin he had better potential than the twins.
 
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Booker is slightly off the pace to be considered for league leaders (he has something like 33 made 3s and he needs 43). However, he would currently be 6th in the NBA in 3pt% right behind Steph Curry, with his increase in playing time over the second half I would expect to see him in the top-10 3pt% by the end of the year.
 
you must have missed the slump that Booker had been in since January. I'm sure he would have magically been better in those last 4 minutes! Cracks me up that fans can't even remember history correctly from less than a year ago.
I was at the game, and while Booker may have not made a difference, Ullis would have. Ullis should have been in since the 10 minute mark and we win by 6.

Andrew Harrison was no slouch, but it was like watching a Tubby team watching him dribble it up the court. He had no sense of urgency and Tyler's decision making was and is much better than Andrew's.
 
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you must have missed the slump that Booker had been in since January. I'm sure he would have magically been better in those last 4 minutes! Cracks me up that fans can't even remember history correctly from less than a year ago.

Booker shot 35/91 from 3pt range from January on... thats 38.5%..... Aaron Harrison shot 31% for the season and Andrew shot 38% on the season from 3pt range.

You want to talk about remembering history again?

aaron harrison shot 41/121 from january on.... thats 34%

Andrew Harrison shot 27/66 from january on... thats 40%

Tyler Ulis shot 21/54 from january on.... thats 39%
 
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Not to mention it was obvious that the twins had played way too many minutes in a row and were wearing down and making bad plays. You may argue thats how Cal got to the final four...... but the counter argument UK got there by having the twins and Booker / Ulis equally splitting time to keep all 4 fresh.
 
If we had to do it all over again we would have gone with the twins 100 out of 100 times. They more than proved themselves and no coach was going to take them out late in the game. FYI, despite internet rumors Booker did play, 19 min's in fact and finished with 6 points and a single rebound.

I don't blame the roster for the loss at all, I'm still sore that Cal kicked into stall ball mode like he has done all to many times and another team finally made the ball bounce their way to end it. Questioning the roster of a team that went 38-1 is a losing proposition no matter how you spin it.
 
You guys know Booker went 3-6 and didnt attempt a 3 against Wisconsin. He wasn't playing bad.

I'm just saying there is a reason why Booker was a lottery pick....... and a reason why Aaron was undrafted
 
Too bad he didn't do that against Wisconsin. I get the pride in seeing our players have success in the Pros but how about when they are with us too.
You've got to be kidding. What do you think has allowed us to win all of these games and play in 4 of the last 5 FFs, You don't get that without players having success while they're here. Grow up.
 
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Booker shot 35/91 from 3pt range from January on... thats 38.5%..... Aaron Harrison shot 31% for the season and Andrew shot 38% on the season from 3pt range.

You want to talk about remembering history again?

aaron harrison shot 41/121 from january on.... thats 34%

Andrew Harrison shot 27/66 from january on... thats 40%

Tyler Ulis shot 21/54 from january on.... thats 39%
Including Booker's historic January shooting skews your numbers quite a bit.

From February to the end of the regular season Booker shot 15/52 for 28.8% from 3. In the SEC tournament he shot 3/9 for 33.3%. In the NCAA tournament he shot 26.6%. Altogether he was 22/76 or 28.9% from 3 from February on.

Booker was of absolutely no use in the Wisconsin game because he could not guard anyone on Wisconsin. So his 3/6 might look nice, but he gave up too much on the other end. Also if you are just looking at the Wisconsin game numbers the Harrisons acquit themselves nicely there. Hindsight is 20/20, but nobody on the planet would have taken Aaron Harrison out of the game after what he did against UofL, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Notre Dame. That would be absurd.
 
You guys know Booker went 3-6 and didnt attempt a 3 against Wisconsin. He wasn't playing bad.

I'm just saying there is a reason why Booker was a lottery pick....... and a reason why Aaron was undrafted
That reason is because Booker had a historic month in January and because he is measurably and style-wise similar to Klay Thompson who was having a phenomenal year in the NBA.
 
Including Booker's historic January shooting skews your numbers quite a bit.

From February to the end of the regular season Booker shot 15/52 for 28.8% from 3. In the SEC tournament he shot 3/9 for 33.3%. In the NCAA tournament he shot 26.6%. Altogether he was 22/76 or 28.9% from 3 from February on.

Booker was of absolutely no use in the Wisconsin game because he could not guard anyone on Wisconsin. So his 3/6 might look nice, but he gave up too much on the other end. Also if you are just looking at the Wisconsin game numbers the Harrisons acquit themselves nicely there. Hindsight is 20/20, but nobody on the planet would have taken Aaron Harrison out of the game after what he did against UofL, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Notre Dame. That would be absurd.

I started in January because the poster above said "slump since January"
 
I started in January because the poster above said "slump since January"
Well he got his months wrong. Booker's slump started in February. I don't know what messed his shot up, but he was really bad, almost unplayable in some games. But in January he was arguably our best weapon on offense.
 
and think...... Cal kept playing the twins over Ulis and Booker................. If there was one thing that I would ever want to go back in time to smack some sense into Cal for..... it would be not making Ulis and Booker the starters when they were the better players.

Why do people keep saying this, the twins were better in the Wisconsin game, Ulis and Booker were getting abused on defense, that's why Cal stayed with them...
 
Awesome for Booker. I think he'll have a good long career.

But did anyone who said he should have been in instead of Aaron watch any of the 14 tournament at all?
 
We won 38 straight games that way. Booker and Ulis played a lot. We lost to Wisconsin and it wasn't because booker didn't play. He looked bad in the final four against Wisconsin he had better potential than the twins.

Don't bother. The dude doesn't know what the hell he's talking about which becomes more and more evident every post he makes.
 
So ........hmmm I'm just going to leave this here

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...rrison-twins-semifinal-loss-to-wisconsin-more

From the article

"Now you may say, ‘Why didn’t you have Tyler and Devin in at the end of the Wisconsin game? You probably would have won.’ [...] Because I was being loyal to those other two who led us to a championship game a year ago and they deserve to be on that court. That’s why I did it. I knew who was playing well and who was struggling. You think I wasn’t sitting there watching?

But I owed it to those two (the Harrison twins) to do it."

Clearly stating that the twins were struggling down the stretch and he played them out of loyalty.

The twins needed a break to regroup at least...... They had a history since their first game of playing awful after a 5-6 minutes straight of game play.
 
I'm content with how things have worked out. If he comes back we probably don't get Murray.
 
Booker was drafted high because of his potential and Klay Thompson's success not because of how good he was at the time
 
I'd rather have a Sophomore Booker and a Freshman Murray........ I'm pretty sure Cal could still have talked Murray into joining ... Murray came knowing he'd be part of a 3 guard line up and it was obvious he'd start .... Ulis, Murray, and Booker all 30 mpg with Briscoe getting the other 30 minutes as a back up. ... what was the other option... Oregon??? haha lol....
 
I'd rather have a Sophomore Booker and a Freshman Murray........ I'm pretty sure Cal could still have talked Murray into joining ... Murray came knowing he'd be part of a 3 guard line up and it was obvious he'd start .... Ulis, Murray, and Booker all 30 mpg with Briscoe getting the other 30 minutes as a back up. ... what was the other option... Oregon??? haha lol....

Who...the...hell...writes...like...this...???...lol...
 
We won 38 straight games that way. Booker and Ulis played a lot. We lost to Wisconsin and it wasn't because booker didn't play. He looked bad in the final four against Wisconsin he had better potential than the twins.

Booker played 19 minutes in the game and was 3-6 from the field for 6 points. That is not playing bad, maybe not lights out but definitely not bad. Booker did not attempt one single three in the game and as a team we only attempted 5 which in this day of college basketball is almost unheard of. Cal made the team one dimensional and thus an easier team to defend. Arguably our best three point shooter, booker, did not get one single look from three which is a coaching tragedy. Cal, like he does many times on the big stage outcoaches himself and gets conservative. If Cal had Sabans sack we would have at least two more titles during his tenure, he plays not to lose instead of playing to win. It is a double edged sword, he is the reason we are there to begin with but also a big reason why we have fallen short every time but once.
 
I'll say it again: Devin Booker has the best looking shot of any UK player in my memory, which dates to mid 70s. Now, you say, who cares what it looks like, tell me his percentage. But I say that form is important, and how a shot looks isn't worthless, it is predictive. Over a limited time period the two may not match up, but over the long haul they will - the kid who has a really good looking shot will end up shooting a high percentage.

I think if he'd stayed 4 years, everyone would have agreed, and the statistics would have confirmed, that Devin Booker was the best shooter in UK history. Better than Louie and Rex and Kevin and Doron and all the rest.

(Which has nothing to do with whether he should have played more or less in the Wisconsin game, by the way)....
 
I would disagree. If you were to replace Murray with Booker I don't think we are much better off than we currently are.
So you don't think a second year Booker would help us more than a talented but still 1st year player in Murray. Interesting but highly doubtful. Booker would have the extra year of experience in the system, another year of summer training (which Murray got none of) and familiarity with Ulis and the other returnees. Murray is a great player and I think his upside is very high but it takes time and he's not going to be here after this year so we're comparing him as a frosh to Booker as a soph. Advantage Booker. Murray and Booker as sophs I probably go with Murray. Love them both.
 
you must have missed the slump that Booker had been in since January. I'm sure he would have magically been better in those last 4 minutes! Cracks me up that fans can't even remember history correctly from less than a year ago.
He would not have been exhausted like the twins were. They were dead give out at the end of that game! Platooning was fine . I wish we had done it the whole year!
 
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