sorry dude....on this board, if you don't think Cal is the best coach in the country, you are not a fan.
Sources Say (Potential Returnees)
- Thread starter mcwildcats04
- Start date
Why shouldn't we judge Cal? He judges the basketball bennies.
Interesting. That does suck for him. It's tough to have a lingering injury.
***Official Pilgrim Prediction***: UK adds 1 star Guard (not in portal yet) and 1 star Center (Omoruyi) from the portal and DJ, Z, and Burks return.
The problem is finding a quality player with those guys back and what we have coming in. A quality big isn’t going to come here and compete for minutes with all the talent there, especially knowing that Cal has a history of playing 5-star Freshmen over veterans.
If you are a quality big in the portal right now you have tons of schools calling and promising you starting spots and all the PT you want, why would you come here and risk sitting the bench behind Quaintance, Ivisic, and Thiero?
I was thinking about that as well. It’s like how every election these days is “the most important election of our lifetime.” At some point the enthusiasm wanes.
My solution is upgrading from Thiero. But you can find kids that have experience to be depth pieces. No they won’t be the names thrown around in threads here.
So that’s 11 players, and ultimately only 8-9 will get minutes they’re happy with. Who are the odd men out? My guesses:
Burks
Somto
Perry, maybe, except he, Fland, and the mystery star guard may be the only shooters on the roster.
And speaking of guards, assuming we only start two, who comes off the bench? Cal’s pal DJ, his latest prized freshman Fland, or the mystery star transfer? My guess is the transfer, which is also why I don’t believe we really get a star at that position, more likely someone like year-one Reeves (which is fine if Cal still plays him, and we get a second year from him).
Nope. He left him out in this video just posted last night.
I do think if he returns, we will see a different DJ. Will he be an AA? No. But I could see him putting up 14 & 4 per game, shooting 45/35/80% and being a better than average defender.
Yeah I could care less what the Cal boys think. I'm a fan of the program and always will be.
Calipari should have been fired but all Barnfart did was avoid something that is inevitable and after the shitshow we will see for the 2024-25 season, Mitch may have terminated himself as well.
We can only hope.
His original post before the video he said Wagner, Thiero, Ivisic, and Burks were the likely returnees.
So now it’s down to three.
Sounds like the dude is just guessing like the rest of us.
Majority of the board wants cal fired yesterday.
Based on Pilgrim’s latest (no Thiero), we are looking at:
G Wagner/Perry
G Fland
G Knox/Richmond
F Quaintance/Burks
F Ivisic/Cyril
Need to add a wing or two from the portal and a PF.
G Wagner/Perry
G Fland
G Knox/Richmond
F Quaintance/Burks
F Ivisic/Cyril
Need to add a wing or two from the portal and a PF.
Not getting 2 shooters(guard and a wing) would be coaching malpractice from cal
Why at least can’t the guys coming back just say so. What’s the point in dragging it out?
They have to make sure the NBA doesn’t want them.
The sources say made me less confident Kentucky adds what they need to in the portal
yes i understand... I should have said according to about 10 guys, we are not fans if we think Cal has underperformed. Poorly worded..
I really kind of expect that we probably add a role player like Freeman on the wing and roll with what we have.
Cal will say that he got Wagner, Ivisic, and Burks back and added one from the portal and that’s enough to make us older. He will say this batch of Freshmen are tougher and will be more physical and we will be fine in SEC play. He will say his mission remains to help these young guys reach their NBA dreams as soon as possible. And when the season starts and we start losing games he will once again lament that we are young.
You are basing that on him being the same player he was last season. Which was a lot better than you are leading on. If the kid had shot 40% from three all of you would be begging him to come back. There's a lot more to the game than being a shooter. He's great at driving and his shit got a lot better after his injury. You don't pass on that kind of talent
I wanted to personally congratulate you on making the single dumbest post I've ever read on here. That's quite the accomplishment.
Especially with the BS attached to them regarding $ demands and the length of time it took to return to the team. Once a season starts, nobody feels 100% but having to wait until you feel 150%--Give me a break.
All season long, pre injury, post injury, literally ALL SEASON LONG he was the worst statistical guard on the team. Analytics say he was basically THE worst player on the team that played meaningful minutes. Sure, if he shot 40% from 3 we'd all want him back. That would mean he was actually good. But he didn't. That's sorta like if my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle. I mean, she doesn't, so she's not.
Wheeler was a good driver too, just for reference.
He was worse than guys who had 3 of the best 5 3pt shooting %'s over the past 30 years at UK. The only 2 other's in that top 5 were the same person (Lamb). That does not mean he wasn't good. In comparison to them, you are correct, but in general no. In comparison to those 3, Booker was not good.
And you can't convince me that his ankle injury was not a factor in how he performed when he was on the court. Does that mean I think when healthy he will shoot 3's as good as any of the 3 R's? No, not close!!! But it does mean I think he will shoot it better (I think respectable 35% 3pt), he will be able to drive better, and defend better. Not to mention most players improve their 2nd year, often that is when the biggest improvement takes place.
And comparing him (a FR) to Wheeler (a JR & SR) is a joke. When Wheeler had the ball at the 3pt line teams wouldn't even pretend to guard him, they would be 10' away daring him begging him to shoot it. At his size Wheeler was a liability on defense. And Wheeler turned it over much more (1 every 12.2min, compared to 1 every 17.4min).
It was said that he may have sat out longer than necessary due to concerns around NIL $ I think (may have been more Adou's father than Adou himself allegedly but not certain on that).
Cal wants to implement a system where you have two guards protecting the arc, and three bigs threatening with long two's.
I don’t know what it is about DJ but so many think he can’t improve. It’s weird. He had some great games last year.
I like those returnees but honestly how many programs wouldn’t get a guy like Edwards and Bradshaw back. Just insane to me. Not that I wouldn’t rather have Cliff but Edwards and DJ can still be good players. It just seems like we are the only program where guys like that never return.
I hear you man. Edwards especially would make total sense to return. He could very realistically be a lotto pick after next year. We saw glimpses of his improvement down the stretch though he regressed a bit at the end. Think he could put it all together consistently if he came back next year and significantly boost his draft stock.
I think both can become great players, even if they don’t become pros. Many five stars have taken 2-3 years and eventually became great college players.
That's the point and it's also the wacky fun world of dealing with parents/camps of these guys.
It may be true that it causes the enthusiasm to wane, but it can certainly be true every year in perpetuity for both basketball off-season's and elections. For basketball I would say every single year you get further from your last title and therefore is more important that the previous, you hope to reset that timing as quickly and as many times as possible.
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