Thoughts on tonight
- Thread starter Cawood86
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I do agree with this, but I will say, this team needs rebounding and RIM PROTECTION....BADLY!
We absolutely need it- this team can be ELITE defensively, I saw the bones of it tonight, but it needs to funnel to a rim protector for 40 minutes.
We have 3 of them, but none of them can play.
Need that to change- badly.
Wagner and Edwards will figure it out.
Those aren't excuses dude, come on.
If you want to judge an entire season off an exhibition game where 3 key pieces didn't play, then fair enough, but that post you called out was NOT an excuse, they were just facts.
The 2019 team beat this same Georgetown College by 27 (4 more than tonight), and that version of Georgetown wasn't nearly as good as this one tonight.
And that team did pretty well for itself with Maxey, Quickly, Richards, etc.
And yes, that same year, Duke won a home exhibition game against a D-3 opponent by 6 points (69-63).
The Bam/Fox/Monk team beat a D3 team (worse than Georgetown for sure) by 25.
This team was missing 3 guys, played 1 big the whole game, was clearly nervous/rusty, but put it together in the end to win by 23.
I am not going to judge an entire team off one exhibition game.
Give this team a bit of time and some rim protection, and I like the kind of season we can have.
I will judge individual players though. The fact that Wagner and Edwards were unable to dominate is alarming. Wagner doesn’t have elite speed or quickness and cannot get to where he wants against GC. Not good. Edwards is soft, weak, and I’d guess he’s losing confidence even in practice (being outplayed by Thiero and potentially others day in and day out).
I’ll be happy to eat crow at the end of the year if these guys look different. I suspect Edwards will pull it together. But Wagner just doesn’t have the physical tools.
I wasn't even talking to you. If you think tonight was a positive and that we looked anything like the team that played Canada, you need your eyes checked. Same thing happened last year. We looked like the 1987 Lakers against the Bahamas, and then we crashed down to earth.
Biggest, glaring take away from tonight is our defense. I get it...more population equals more good basketball players spread amongst all colleges and levels of play. Georgetown is an expected finalist in NAIA. They have some better athletes than they had 15 or 20 years ago. However, our team defense was pretty lousy and had an unsettlingly similar look to the porous Kentucky defenses seen since the 2020 decade began. To use Calipari's words, I saw no "dogs" tonight. This year, let's try to remember exactly what championship defense looks like before we go ordaining this team as the top young guns of America.
Conversely, and thankfully, it's October.
Positives, we have a leader in Mitchell, saw him teaching , encouraging and leading by example. Dillingham looks stronger and more confident than he did last summer. Burke's is a dog, plays hard and has more skills than I anticipated.Sheppard passed well and spaced floor well, missed at least 3 wide open 3s, needs to hit more of those. Negatives Wagner played poorly, once again Edwards shot poorly. If he is a number 1 pick in draft I will eat your shorts.Reeves scored well but didn't shoot very well, not sure he scores as much against better competition if outside shot is not falling. Rebounding, need a couple of bigs healthy to judge however. Overall this team has a long way to go, didn't look like a top 20 team tonight, a definitive work in progress.
Mitchell can do it all with his size and even shoot the 3, but over all this Ky team looks like all Cal teams of course this is one game but they have no set plays shoot everything from outside, Georgetown got tired in the second half.
You use to be a decent poster but now you inject negativity at any and all angles possible. It’s annoying considering no one can even discuss the game without you claiming the excuses are already coming.
If you are truly judging the season off of 1 Exhibition game against Georgetown College, idk what to tell ya. Lol
If you are expecting us to playing like we did in Canada every game this year, do yourself a favor and don’t watch another game. Turn it off and switch over to gymnastics. Now, that’s more your speed. 😎
My recommendation is to not engage with the pure haters. Just laugh at them, best option.
Anybody notice the new structured offense we're supposed to be running this year? Maybe we don't want to show our hand to Kansas...?
Hey CC … put that moron on ignore and move on . He’s gonna poke you if you don’t .
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I watched some with a guy that’s played and coached for 40 years — his comment about our vanilla ass offense that looks the same as the past few years “ why do we have such useless motion 30-40 feet out front making 2-4 passes before we really get into something that might get us a good shot “ ? We rewound a few sets .. there was very few serious screens sets - must were slip screens or just two guys going from high to low with no screen - that barely worked against Gtown and it most certainly won’t work against top twenty type teams who seriously want to shut you down .. it will lead to more end of shot clock “ go beat your man “ type offensive sets from us .. I didn’t watch it all but l saw the same offense we trot out every year , run around with little purpose , then go make a play .
Lastly how does a team with the -#1 recruiting class in all of college hoops not get ranked in the top ten ? Why is that ? I see FAU at like #9 or 10 — not that rankings matter too much but it’s always good to be in that top ten . Maybe shows how vastly over valued the star system is ?
Lastly how does a team with the -#1 recruiting class in all of college hoops not get ranked in the top ten ? Why is that ? I see FAU at like #9 or 10 — not that rankings matter too much but it’s always good to be in that top ten . Maybe shows how vastly over valued the star system is ?
I understand everything you’re saying……but, for this team to reach its potential Wagner and Edwards have to get the most minutes to adjust to the college game. Those 2 carry us to a title or there is no title.
You do realize that #9 is not through your “best” guards??? If UK has a shot at a title it’s going through Wagner and Edwards, or it’s not going at all.
I will agree that Edwards and Wagner shot poorly.. but it ends there.... Give the guys 3 games then judge? lol
Dillingham was the best player on the court period. And it’s becoming more evident (to me) that he’s the best player on this team. He’s an NBA Pg. He makes the easy pass, which is key, and he’s looking to take his man often to score and get guys open.
Edwards looks overrated so far, but I know it’s very very early. Wagner has D and will be fine, but Rob needs the ball more. Shep is also very very good. The depth is a nice problem to have.
Theiro is a nice college player and we need that and have for a while.
Edwards looks overrated so far, but I know it’s very very early. Wagner has D and will be fine, but Rob needs the ball more. Shep is also very very good. The depth is a nice problem to have.
Theiro is a nice college player and we need that and have for a while.
Probably confused as hell by 5-on-5 since they have been practicing 4-on-4.
I saw the same old offensive scheme - none.
Agree Wagner seems behind the others but ...... I was incredibly impressed with him mentally being ok wit that and not pressing. There will be plenty games where he gets his. For such a heralded player, that mentality is extraordinarily rare.
Dilly is explosive and amazing around the rim. Going to make lots of mistakes though.
Shepherd is so much better at this point than even I, a huge fan, thought he'd be. I really thought he'd be at this level by next year. Incredible team defense and iq. I saw one play he pushed one of our guys into the right position in defense. Guys like that are the difference and can turn a deep run into a title
Dilly is explosive and amazing around the rim. Going to make lots of mistakes though.
Shepherd is so much better at this point than even I, a huge fan, thought he'd be. I really thought he'd be at this level by next year. Incredible team defense and iq. I saw one play he pushed one of our guys into the right position in defense. Guys like that are the difference and can turn a deep run into a title
Burks continues to impress me with his hustle and heart. Not a star, but very athletic and is gonna be a big positive for the next couple years for us.
Yeah, all three guards could be labeled combo guards. Reed is probably the best passer but I don’t see him as a pure point. I think it will be similiar to the Maxey-Quickley-Hagans trio in terms of style. Hagans was probably more of a pure point guard in the classic sense. But I believe all three of our current group can make an open shot. I never trusted Hagans shooting the ball.
Seemed like to me we ran 4 out for majority of the game....I did have a couple of bourbons last night though🤣
I think we're fine after, Canada, blue and white, georgetown. Positives: I've never been more confidant in a 4 stepping out for a three than Mitchell. If DJ ever goes 2 for 12 against top SEC or March Madness teams, Cal can play Dilly and Shep. I've said before that Edwards doesn't even have to play like a lottery pick and we'll still do okay. Not many teams can say that about their top recruit. (edwards needs some of those 24 pounds like Dilly got going)
What a passive aggressive response. As if I have to be a hater to realize that this team needs a lot of work. "Hating" by definition is irrational. There is nothing irrational in seeing the flaws inherent in this team. I will say that Dillingham and Thiero were bright spots, as was Mitchell. But our defense is terrible and we allowed way too many putbacks. We struggled against a NAIA team. This is not a good sign.
Just don’t think Wagner is a PG. I think he’s much better off ball.
I can agree with ya on that for sure. We’re on the same team here. Have a great Saturday.
It was the first preseason exhibition game guys , way to early to judge this team yet. We are going to be fine.
I could be wrong, but I think once things click for Wagner and Edwards, they will be great. Sometimes it takes a while for Freshmen regardless of talent. There’s usually that moment when the lights finally come on and boom they start playing to their potential. Not always, but most of the time.
On the flip side, sometimes Freshmen come out and look like world beaters, then fall off later in the season. I always think of Rodrick Rhodes as a Freshman putting up almost 30 on a good Georgia Tech team in 92-93 and then losing his starting job to Jared Prickett because the wheels just came off. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen with Dillingham.
On the flip side, sometimes Freshmen come out and look like world beaters, then fall off later in the season. I always think of Rodrick Rhodes as a Freshman putting up almost 30 on a good Georgia Tech team in 92-93 and then losing his starting job to Jared Prickett because the wheels just came off. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen with Dillingham.
Indeed
Dillingham may make mistakes, but he makes things happen
With that starting 5 and no big men, will be long year. No rebounding or blocked shots
I don’t think that at all. Wagner is a stud and will be just fine.
That’s why Rob should be the PG and DJ should play off the ball. Both would be better that way. Dilly is a way more pure PG that makes things happen. DJ is a scorer and that’s what he needs to do. Freshman need time to find out the speed of the game and what places on the court they can score at this level. I’m not concerned about him at all. May take some time but when it clicks he will be good:
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