Like Cal let Tyty play point last season?Wheeler will play over 30 minutes again next season.
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- Thread starter JonathanW
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It'll be the same. When Wheeler wasn't on the floor, TyTy ran point. It'll be the same with Wheeler and Cason.
It's literally the exact same thing KU did last year. Harris played right at 30MPG, Wheeler played right at 31MPG.
So Remy averaged 10MPG at the PG spot, TyTy averaged 9MPG at the point.
It's literally the same situation as Kansas last year.
And Dajuan Harris will play 30+ MPG again this season for Kansas.
Washington should have played more minutes at the PG last year. He should have been the starter with Wheeler off the bench.
Same for Wallace this season. He needs to run the show and Wheeler needs to be a change of pace guy off the bench.
Alas, they will play together most of the time.
This has been a nice thread btw.
I've heard Duke may get one of the '23 guys to re-classify. I do like that Scheyer got Ryan Young to commit to them even thought they have the two best frontcourt recruits in the country. That's a perfect center to pair with whichever one of the superstar freshmen that won't be on the court and it was a position they didn't have filled at all. You are right though, their guards are suspect at the moment.
Most of the mid-major stars from that level of conference have usually dropped about 6-8 PPG coming into a top-6 conference. I expect Reeves to give us something less than that since we are not just any top-6 conference team, but somewhere between Grady and Mintz at 9.5 PPG-ish.
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That’s what I was getting at reeves will get 10 ppg or close to that, if Kentucky is relying on him heavily it will be like mintz team on the Covid year
I really think Dillingham is going to reclass now and that changes everything.
That would for me too, he is a game changer I’m not getting my hopes until it is official
But remember, the jump from Illinois State to the SEC is not even remotely close to the jump from high school to any Div. I college league (or probably most Div. III level college teams). Reeves has played against grown men, who are almost universally tougher to succeed against on a nightly basis than the best player Wallace or Livingston ever had to face.
I agree that Washington should have played more of the PG minutes last season. But I wholly disagree that he should have started at PG and played the majority of the minutes there. He just wasn't good enough at PG to put Wheeler on the bench and Wallace won't be either. What they become in a few years just isn't what they are/were as a freshman at UK.
Good point, but more times than not mid major players see there production cut in half when making the jump to higher d-1 ball, so reeves average 18-19 ppg at Illinois state, so we should expect 8-10 ppg at Kentucky
Wheeler- a low risk/low reward player. Will win you 25 regular season games, but won’t take you very far in the tourney.
Washington/Wallace- both high risk/high reward type players. Lots of growing pains early in the season, but could become the type of PG Cal has been successful with throughout the years- the type that leads us on deep runs in the tourney.
Just my opinion. Hope I am wrong about Wheeler.
And UNC has no PF, not to mention their SF makes Brooks look like Mashburn.
How about we look at our most recent example. Grady went from like 18 to 12. So reasonable to hope Reeves goes from 20 to 10-13 range.
Grady went from 38% at 3 to 42%. So reasonable to hope Reeves can maintain his 39%.
You're certainly right that we shouldn't expect the same scoring numbers at UK for Reeves (although the 3pt. shooting should translate much better than say an incoming freshman). For one thing, you expect UK to have better alternative scoring options so that Reeves wouldn't be needed to score as much, and instead be more efficient. I think that would be the ideal role for Reeves.
But I'm a little concerned, and I'm guessing maybe you are too, that UK might need more scoring from Reeves than maybe should be expected from him AND I'm not confident anyone else can provide the needed level of perimeter scoring threat (shooting and driving) except Reeves. But maybe the whole can be greater than the sum of the parts; and, of course, maybe I'm just way off base. Too much unknown/unseen for me to be foolish enough to be confident in an opinion here.
Nothing wrong with that opinion. In fact, we've seen that scenario play out a decade ago with Teague, right? During a lot of that 2012 season I thought Teague was not only the weak link, but simply not good enough to get UK through 6 games in the Tournament. I was wrong. Teague got much better over the course of the season, especially by the end.
BUT, then again, UK had no other viable option when Teague played. With Wheeler I don't think UK needs to suffer through those growing pains. Wallace can grow in that PG role (slower growth probably than baptism by fire) without UK having to sacrifice for him. If/when he develops into the best option at PG he can take the position.
Wheeler will remain PG. Wallace will be the SG. Cal won’t change his PG mid-season.
My concern is Kentucky relying on reeves to be a number one scoring option some nights that should never be his role for Kentucky. I look at the roster and there are a lot of good pieces but Not a clear number one option
Tshiebwe will be the number one option when it comes to getting a basket.
Wallace will be the second option and top perimeter option.
Wheeler is probably option three with Livingston as option four most of the time.
Reeves will be expected to knock down 2-3 long shots a game to average 7-8 points a game. He gives us any more than that, it’s bonus.
Just my opinion, though.
Oscar is awesome but he shouldn’t be your number one option offensively consistently he can do it some games but he shouldn’t be number one all the time, Wallace looks to be a really good facilitator and can get to the rim, I guess we will just have to wait and see I like a lot of the pieces the team has it’s just clear they lack that go to bucket getter
Cal will want to feed the post as much as possible. He loves to establish a big man and try to pound opponents into submission. It’s the Western Pennsylvania/Pittsburgh Steelers mentality. That’s why Tshiebwe is option number one.
That can work for a while but with college basketball know he knows what he has to do to stay competitive
Good grief. His sample size was like 2 games and one of them he broke the all time single game assist record? Not good enough to put an inconsistent undersized guy on the bench?????
We need Wallace to be what healthy Tyty was.
We need Reeves to be a more versatile Grady.
We need Fredrick to contribute as much as Mintz, but more consistently.
We need Collins or Toppin to take step forward and be better than Brooks was.
And Wheeler to be in control of his out of control play.
We need Reeves to be a more versatile Grady.
We need Fredrick to contribute as much as Mintz, but more consistently.
We need Collins or Toppin to take step forward and be better than Brooks was.
And Wheeler to be in control of his out of control play.
That's what I said, because that's what I saw. Wheeler had flaws at PG, and so did Washington. And yes, Washington had a nice game at PG along with Mintz when needed, and so did Grady. But, to my eye, Wheeler the majority of the time, and certainly when operating at his best, made the team better overall. I thought Wheeler played too many minutes at the Point, and this caused some of his efficiency issues.
A Washington (healthy), Mintz, and Grady (healthy) combo for 30+ minutes a game would have easily been the best three guard lineup we could have mustered. All three could shoot, which would have stretched the defense. This would have helped Tshiebwe immensely.
Having Wheeler and Brooks together on the floor hurt our spacing. Neither one could pull their man away from the basket, leaving three defenders around the basket most games. Teams were fine with giving Brooks those 15 footers all game long and knew Wheeler wasn’t making many jumpers so they sagged way off him. Also knew Brooks couldn’t drive by a statue, which made us even more predictable and guardable.
Some fans (like our coach) underestimate the value of shooters.
I’ve always been a big proponent of having very good shooting – especially from the 2G and SF spots, and sacrificing better athleticism to get it. It’s a major reason why I’m very skeptical of freshmen starting in those positions. Of course, any fan would love to see good shooting from every position. But I would prioritize it with those two positions because of the responsibilities for other facets of the game that generally fall harder on other positions.
So, naturally I would love for UK to have a great shooting PG… BUT sometimes the other things a PG brings to the game (besides shooting) are so good that it makes the team better, i.e., more likely to win, despite the lesser shooting stroke. Wayne Turner, John Wall, Fox, etc. are examples. You can say Wheeler is not as good as any of those guys, and you would be right in my opinion; but my point is the same: Wheeler is in that vein. He plays at a speed and puts pressure on the opponent that Washington could not; and until Washington develops more as a PG (and maybe he was getting there before the injury) I think Wheeler playing 25 minutes at PG made a better UK team.
Also, I believe Washington, Mintz and Grady did play about 30 minutes a game (maybe Mintz was about 25 minutes a game). So, I take it you would have played Wheeler 10 minutes a game and Allen 20-25 minutes a game?
Agree to disagree on this one, brother.
I said this last season, before and during the season, we won’t go very deep with Wheeler as our team primary PG.
I’m saying it again this season and hoping he proves me wrong.
It amazes me that so many fans on here ignore what Cal says about his roster. Wheeler will be the point guard next year playing major minutes, that's straight from Cals mouth, all these other scenarios I have heard floated about the point are not happening. What I would like to see explained in a thread called " transfer portal" is why we haven't even sniffed at an extra 4 player, as it is starting to look more and more possible that Toppin doesn't return.
No doubt Wheeler is the PG. I don’t like it, but it is what it is.
As for a 4 man, I just don’t see many options out there if Toppin doesn’t come back.
The best option might be to get another wing shooter/scorer and making Livingston a small ball 4 with Collins as his backup.
A guy like Grandison (6’6, 200) from Illinois could come in and compete with Fredrick and Reeves for the spot opposite Wallace on the wing.
I feel like Wheeler, Wallace, and Tshiebwe are locks to start. I am inclined to believe Livingston will start (maybe not to start the season, but by March). The fifth starter is the big question mark for me. If Toppin comes back, I think he’s the guy, but without him is it Collins or a shooter? I would play a shooter, but Cal probably goes with the long athletic jumping jack/shot blocker Collins.
Well, if Wallace ends up playing the Point for 30+ minutes a game and it works out better for UK then I’m happy. I understand my limitations. I’m just a fan with an opinion that might be way off. Good to discuss some basketball with you.
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