UK Stock Watch | Briscoe up, Willis down
- Thread starter preacher_tom
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Willis' D needs work but so does Murrays, Mulders, Matthews etc.
Its a joke really and just an excuse to give these other guys minutes.
Its a joke really and just an excuse to give these other guys minutes.
You are trolling at this point. Matthews and Mulder hardly play...Murray is by far the best player on the team. Willis plays as much as any 7th-8th man type should IMO.
There's a very troubling quote in there that most people are ignoring. Cal says Willis' defensive habits are terrible, and that they are working with him on that. Why would it take until mid-way through a guy's junior year to start working on a guy's defensive habits? I would argue strongly that it's a staff's responsibility to coach up guys so that they are ready to go if needed. You have to assume that he either didn't get proper coaching, or he's uncoachable. If it's the former, that's the staff's fault. If it's the later, he shouldn't be on the team to begin with.
I don't think Cal ever had any intentions of playing Willis. If Skal weren't a bust, and Ulis and Briscoe were shooting the ball the way most expected, Willis would likely never see the floor. But that's not the case, so we need another front court guy and a guy who can shoot, so Willis plays. But if you're actually developing a team, instead of just counting on new guys to come in every year and pick up where the last group left off, you have to develop the three- and four-year guys better. Even a guy like Lee - he's playing well, but his offensive game is no more developed today than it was when he arrived on campus.
Cal and this staff are great at developing and showcasing the top guys, but there's not a doubt in my mind that Willis would be a significant contributor as a junior at almost any other program.
I don't think Cal ever had any intentions of playing Willis. If Skal weren't a bust, and Ulis and Briscoe were shooting the ball the way most expected, Willis would likely never see the floor. But that's not the case, so we need another front court guy and a guy who can shoot, so Willis plays. But if you're actually developing a team, instead of just counting on new guys to come in every year and pick up where the last group left off, you have to develop the three- and four-year guys better. Even a guy like Lee - he's playing well, but his offensive game is no more developed today than it was when he arrived on campus.
Cal and this staff are great at developing and showcasing the top guys, but there's not a doubt in my mind that Willis would be a significant contributor as a junior at almost any other program.
Your argument is flawed. Cal played Willis from the get-go this year before we knew Skal wouldn't be a star and Tyler and Jamal would struggle shooting. If I'm not mistaken he led us in scoring in the first game. Once we started playing better teams is when his weaknesses started screwing us over and he had to come out.
This is absurd. His defense is way worse than any guy you named. By a long shot too.
Not to mention, the other little issue.
They're better ball players. Sssshbhhhhhhh
Don't tell anyone Mulder and Matthews get limited minutes.
This is obvious to anyone who knows basketball so thank you for pointing it out to that one poster since he doesn't watch UK games evidently.
Nice Avatar. Looney Tunes!!
On-topic: Willis is another guy like Wiltjer who can score, but does not play D well. Food for thought - Wonder how Willis would do at Gonzaga?
I'm gonna go with this. If you recall, Willis basically quit on the team last year, mailed it in, stopped trying in practice and basically gave up on himself, his coaches and his teammates. He wasted a year of everyone's time. A year where he could have really focused on the things that he needed to do in order to play big minutes this year. He has no one to blame but himself.
All of these posters that claim Cal treats Willis unfairly by not playing him more couldn't be more wrong. I see it as the opposite. Willis is lucky to even still be on the team. He should be thanking Cal for every single, solitary second that he plays after what he did last year. After that type of selfish behavior, most coaches would have encouraged him to transfer or buried him on the bench and forgot all about him.
You have been beating Willis' drum. You must not listen to Calipari. In post game press conferences, Calipari keeps saying he can't give more playing time to a player when his defensive limitations cost Kentucky more points on the other end than the player scores on Kentucky's end. Who the hell do you think Calipari is talking about? LOL! Willis is hitting 47% of his FG attempts. With the exception of Humphries, it's the next lowest FG% of all the bigs on our team. Willis averages 2.1 rebounds a game. Even though Willis ranks #7 on the team in minutes, he is a worse rebounder than our guards. But Willis is getting his chances. Calipari has said Willis is a liability as a rebounder and as a defender. So if you really want to understand why Willis doesn't play more, just watch how he plays the whole game, and not just when he shots a wide open 3.
Man, you are really dishonestly misrepresenting Cal's words here. For the record, here's what Cal actually said in that quote:
"His defensive habits are so bad, like what's the word below so bad?" Calipari said Thursday. "We're working every day for him to create better habits, but they are what they are right now."
Nowhere in that quote does he remotely say or imply that they're just now "starting" to work with Willis' defense, as you misleadingly suggest. Instead, he merely points out that they're continuing to do so "every day."
Don't blame Cal for Willis still not being able to defend (or rebound) after three years playing for a coach that always emphasizes defense. No player who's spent three years in practices with Calipari can ever claim he's not been taught how to play proper man to man defense.
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You're from Mt. Washington, too? Great Willis fanbase out there. Hopefully Cal stops offering scholarships to some of these KY kids, and then the rest of us won't have to hear about how many minutes said scholarship KY kid is getting per game. Not to mention, people like you won't lose their mind over it. Win-win situation.
just half a season left to deal with this stuff. next year we wont have too because he is either going to transfer or he simply will never play. problem solved
Other than that, how did you like the play Mrs. Lincoln?......
Your exception is so encompassing it swallows the point you're trying to make. His defense is so bad....like someone else said, it misses the point to say others are bad at defense, too. Willis' D is in a class by itself, at least among players getting minutes. But here's the main point, your premise is wrong. He doesn't do everything well but guard, he only does 1 thing well....
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This is nonsense. Besides being a horrible defensive player, he's also a piss poor rebounder for someone who plays the 4 spot. Hell, we have little guards who rebound better than Willis (especially Briscoe, who's a fantastic rebounder for a guy only 6'2"). And I might note he also has the worst overall shooting percentage of any of our four bigs this year.
The only thing Willis gives us of distinguishing value is some three point shooting (although he's still only a 36 percent career 3 point shooter) on a team otherwise full of bad outside shooters. But at almost everything else he's generally a net minus for us when he's on the court.
willis misses boxouts, gets beat on basket cuts, and is consistently awful on closeouts
he's not just poor on defense; he habitually has inexcusable lapses
if he wants to have a professional career he's going to have to make the improvements cal is demanding from him
he's not just poor on defense; he habitually has inexcusable lapses
if he wants to have a professional career he's going to have to make the improvements cal is demanding from him
i don't think murray is the best player either; i think he might be the third best guard
but there is certainly a premium on making 3s in the college game
but there is certainly a premium on making 3s in the college game
Score some give up a lot.Nice Avatar. Looney Tunes!!
On-topic: Willis is another guy like Wiltjer who can score, but does not play D well. Food for thought - Wonder how Willis would do at Gonzaga?
WOW...smh... There could be a debate between Ulis and Murray, but third best
I can't believe that there's so much dislike for a KY player among many of you. All of you have bought in to Cal's dribble about Willis' defense. A smart coach would tailor his team to play to their strengths instead of finding reasons NOT to play one of the better shooters on the team. Willis has been loyal to UK when he could have gone about anywhere and played major minutes. He should be lauded not ridiculed for his (supposedly) lack of defense.
You're not going to change your style of play so a guy who is nothing but a role player can get more time. Right now he's a situational player, and based on what we've seen for three years now, that's all he should be.
He averages two rebounds a game in 12 minutes. So he'd average 4 or 5 given starter's minutes, assuming he maintains that rate. Hardly what I'd call good. Maybe if he was a guard.
You are stoned if you truly believe this. In terms of what's expected of someone who plays the power forward position at Kentucky he's a very poor rebounder.
And, unfortunately, Skal can't board either, and Lee/Poy are really only about average at it for their position. Which is why we've had to rely so much on little guards like Briscoe (and Mulder) to rebound for us this year, our bigs this year aren't up to the task.
Basically what you did was:
"<STUPID STATEMENT>, and if you disagree with me, you are just a hater."
No its not. Why are people convinced there's some conspiracy and Cal would not play someone for some absurd reason. Try this, pretend Willis is black and from Ohio or any other state. Your frustration will ease. The funny thing is if it's an excuse, why is it going to be Hawkins that's taking people's time when he gets healthy? Because it's not an excuse. Willis is the worst defender in the SEC. And it's more than on ball defense. He's lost completely. Loses sight if the ball, doesn't rotate to help, doesn't know how to properly gaurd screens, etc. Stop making excuses for him. It would be really nice to have him on the floor more to shoot...but if he cant contribute defensively it does no one any good.
willis gets a rebound every 6 minutes. it's not disgraceful given he's half a wing but it's not good for a 6'9 guy
briscoe is in my view the best defender, an excellent rebounding guard, able to play on the baseline and at the high post against the inevitable chickenshit 2-3s, and he never looks lost. tremendous feel for the game. beats em off the dribble like a drum. he just can't make a free throw or a jumpshot off the catch
i accept that murray is more valuable but it's hard for me to say he's better at basketball than briscoe. way too casual and weak with the ball, fires passes into the cheerleaders
he looked like d angelo russell in the pan am games but in a kentucky uniform he has not been great with the ball in his hands
briscoe is in my view the best defender, an excellent rebounding guard, able to play on the baseline and at the high post against the inevitable chickenshit 2-3s, and he never looks lost. tremendous feel for the game. beats em off the dribble like a drum. he just can't make a free throw or a jumpshot off the catch
i accept that murray is more valuable but it's hard for me to say he's better at basketball than briscoe. way too casual and weak with the ball, fires passes into the cheerleaders
he looked like d angelo russell in the pan am games but in a kentucky uniform he has not been great with the ball in his hands
