Updated; What the Dookies Are Saying Post-Game

[KYtotheCore]

about the game .

"CDu

Member

Join Date
Feb 2007
My thoughts on the game:

- Jamal Murray is legit. Well, I knew that beforehand, because I've seen him dominate at the Hoops Summit and I've seen him dominate in the Pan Am games. He was easily the best player on the floor. His only ceiling is self-imposed based on decision-making. When he attacked the basket, we had no answer.

- I was, however, unpleasantly surprised by Ulis. He showed a lot more scoring prowess than I remember from last year. He was always a terrific game manager, and was easily the best PG they had last year (again, tallest pigmy, yada yada yada). But he was way more assertive last night. He picked apart our guards/wings religiously.

- The crazy thing is that UK has a THIRD PG who is better than any of our PGs at the moment. Briscoe was third fiddle last night, but his ability to create only added to our struggles. UK has a wealth of talent on the perimeter so long as Calipari keeps playing these three guys heavy minutes. And given that they have NOTHING behind those guys, I can't imagine he won't give them all the minutes they can handle."

 

[NineSec95]

DavidBenAkiva

Member

Join Date
Feb 2007
Early Analysis
To be completely honest, I haven't seen Kentucky play at all this year. That being said, let's take a look at how this matchup of top programs shapes up.

For the first time in a long time, Kentucky is going into a game with a size and maybe even a talent deficiency. The starting lineups, based on the first couple of games should be as follows:

Kentucky:

• G 5'9" So. Tyler Ulis
  G 6'5" Fr. Jamal Murray
  F 6'9" Jr. Derek Willis
  F 6'9" Jr. Marcus Lee
  F 6'11" Fr. Skal Labissiere

Reserves:
G: 6'0" Jr. Dominique Hawkins, 6'3" Fr Isaiah Briscoe, 6'6" Fr. Charles Matthews, 6'8" Sr. Alex Poythress, and 7'0" Fr. Isaac Humphries

I'll refrain from posting Duke's starting lineup as we all should know it. We've got 2 6'5" guards and a frontline of 6'9", 6'9", and 7'0".

That team features 5 McDonald's All-Americans as well as highly talented Canadian Jamal Murray. Murray has featured an all around game with scoring, rebounds, and assists. As a team, Kentucky has not shot the ball well from deep, shooting just 28.9% from 3 point range. The only player that has been on target so far has been the Junior Willis, who is 5 of 9 so far on the young season. While underweight, the frontcourt is athletic and features very different sets of skills. The freshman Labissiere has featured a variety of offensive weapons in the post and touch on his jump shot out to midrange. His defense, from what I've read, has been less than impressive and he has averaged a mediocre 5 rebounds against smaller teams so far this year. The "forgotten" member of the "greatest recruiting class of all time," Marcus Less has shown some ability to translate his exceptional athleticism in to production so far. He's not an offensive threat, but he has averaged a very impressive 6 offensive rebounds and 3 blocks in two games. Frehsman Isaiah Briscoe has not started in his one game played so far, but he did have a very impressive double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds against NJIT on Saturday night. Senior Alex Poythress, recovering from an ACL tear last year, has been the 7th man in the rotation for Coach John Calipari so far and has shown that he may regain his ability to contribute in nearly all facets of the game. He has not shown an improved shooting ability. All in all, the team is going 5 deep with a pair of one-and-done stars in Murray and Labissiere and a potential third with Briscoe. If the team doesn't shoot well from three, Kentucky may be in for a tough challenge against other high quality teams.

Meanwhile, Duke is trotting out a lineup featuring experience and talent with 5 McDonald's All-American starters, each as tall or taller than their counterpart. There's another two All-Americans on the bench in the form of Luke Kennard and Chase Jeter with another player, Derryck Thornton, considered as talented as nearly any other player on the team. While Duke has been knocked for being 'alarmingly unathletic' in the past (looking at Doug Gotlieb), this Duke team features some very quick and fast players such as Grayson Allen, Brandon Ingram, and Thornton. Duke has also featured a variety of shooters, dialing it in at 37.3% accuracy from 3 point range. That's pretty impressive considering a tough 1-9 shooting performance from Ingram in the home opener. Duke doesn't feature a "pure" point guard but has relied instead on dribble penetration and sound passing from guards and forward. Facing a tougher defensive presence will show how much the team can handle pressure on the guards.

On a more existential note, I wonder if this game and this season might serve as an opportunity for Duke to supplant Kentucky as the "it" program in college basketball. There are a few players on the current UK roster that have not lived up the potential hoped for by the Big Blue Nation. Poythress and Lee haven't developed reliable buzz to suggest they might find their way into an NBA rotation. Add those two to a surprisingly growing list of NBA duds out of the program (Aaron and Andrew Harrison, Dakari Johnson, Doron Lamb, DeAndre Liggins, Archie Goodwin, Daniel Orton, Marquis Teague, and James Young have failed to be drafted or make much of an impact in the NBA to date), and the anti-recruiting pitch grows louder. Sure, the program has seen more than its share of stars with Anthony Davis, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and potentially Karl-Anthony Towns and Eric Bledsoe. It's hard to ignore the growing list of guys that don't get to live their dreams as an NBA star. Worse still, they haven't spent anywhere near enough time in college to prepare them for a comfortable future. Duke, on the other hand, has put almost as many guys into the NBA as Kentucky since John Calipari arrived in Lexington and has two NCAA championships and a growing list of solid or even star NBA players to boast, such as Kyrie Irving, Jahlil Okafor, Jabari Parker, Rodney Hood, and Mason Plumlee. There's not as many top-end talent there - yet. Hardly any player that has left Duke has been much of a bust in the NBA for a good long while. Miles Plumlee has had limited success and might yet crack the rotation in Milwaukee this year. Nolan Smith didn't last in the Association after getting drafted in the 2011 first round. That's it, really. Even Austin Rivers has demonstrated his ability to join his father's rotation. And just as many guys - Lance Thomas, Seth Curry, and others - have made it onto NBA rosters after going undrafted. They did so with a degree in hand from Duke, too. Not too shabby.

Back to the game at hand. This should be an interesting matchup featuring a pair of talented teams with questions about their upcoming season. I am looking forward to Tuesday night in Chicago!Last edited by DavidBenAkiva; 11-15-2015 at 05:11 PM.

 

[Jazzycat]

My dUKie friends think UK will win. They do not believe that dUKe has enough scorers right now to compete with the Cats....dUKe always rises to the challenge when playing UK.

 

[brianpoe]

DavidBenAkiva

Member

Join Date
Feb 2007
Early Analysis
To be completely honest, I haven't seen Kentucky play at all this year. That being said, let's take a look at how this matchup of top programs shapes up.

For the first time in a long time, Kentucky is going into a game with a size and maybe even a talent deficiency. The starting lineups, based on the first couple of games should be as follows:

Kentucky:

• G 5'9" So. Tyler Ulis
  G 6'5" Fr. Jamal Murray
  F 6'9" Jr. Derek Willis
  F 6'9" Jr. Marcus Lee
  F 6'11" Fr. Skal Labissiere

Reserves:
G: 6'0" Jr. Dominique Hawkins, 6'3" Fr Isaiah Briscoe, 6'6" Fr. Charles Matthews, 6'8" Sr. Alex Poythress, and 7'0" Fr. Isaac Humphries

I'll refrain from posting Duke's starting lineup as we all should know it. We've got 2 6'5" guards and a frontline of 6'9", 6'9", and 7'0".

That team features 5 McDonald's All-Americans as well as highly talented Canadian Jamal Murray. Murray has featured an all around game with scoring, rebounds, and assists. As a team, Kentucky has not shot the ball well from deep, shooting just 28.9% from 3 point range. The only player that has been on target so far has been the Junior Willis, who is 5 of 9 so far on the young season. While underweight, the frontcourt is athletic and features very different sets of skills. The freshman Labissiere has featured a variety of offensive weapons in the post and touch on his jump shot out to midrange. His defense, from what I've read, has been less than impressive and he has averaged a mediocre 5 rebounds against smaller teams so far this year. The "forgotten" member of the "greatest recruiting class of all time," Marcus Less has shown some ability to translate his exceptional athleticism in to production so far. He's not an offensive threat, but he has averaged a very impressive 6 offensive rebounds and 3 blocks in two games. Frehsman Isaiah Briscoe has not started in his one game played so far, but he did have a very impressive double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds against NJIT on Saturday night. Senior Alex Poythress, recovering from an ACL tear last year, has been the 7th man in the rotation for Coach John Calipari so far and has shown that he may regain his ability to contribute in nearly all facets of the game. He has not shown an improved shooting ability. All in all, the team is going 5 deep with a pair of one-and-done stars in Murray and Labissiere and a potential third with Briscoe. If the team doesn't shoot well from three, Kentucky may be in for a tough challenge against other high quality teams.

Meanwhile, Duke is trotting out a lineup featuring experience and talent with 5 McDonald's All-American starters, each as tall or taller than their counterpart. There's another two All-Americans on the bench in the form of Luke Kennard and Chase Jeter with another player, Derryck Thornton, considered as talented as nearly any other player on the team. While Duke has been knocked for being 'alarmingly unathletic' in the past (looking at Doug Gotlieb), this Duke team features some very quick and fast players such as Grayson Allen, Brandon Ingram, and Thornton. Duke has also featured a variety of shooters, dialing it in at 37.3% accuracy from 3 point range. That's pretty impressive considering a tough 1-9 shooting performance from Ingram in the home opener. Duke doesn't feature a "pure" point guard but has relied instead on dribble penetration and sound passing from guards and forward. Facing a tougher defensive presence will show how much the team can handle pressure on the guards.

On a more existential note, I wonder if this game and this season might serve as an opportunity for Duke to supplant Kentucky as the "it" program in college basketball. There are a few players on the current UK roster that have not lived up the potential hoped for by the Big Blue Nation. Poythress and Lee haven't developed reliable buzz to suggest they might find their way into an NBA rotation. Add those two to a surprisingly growing list of NBA duds out of the program (Aaron and Andrew Harrison, Dakari Johnson, Doron Lamb, DeAndre Liggins, Archie Goodwin, Daniel Orton, Marquis Teague, and James Young have failed to be drafted or make much of an impact in the NBA to date), and the anti-recruiting pitch grows louder. Sure, the program has seen more than its share of stars with Anthony Davis, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and potentially Karl-Anthony Towns and Eric Bledsoe. It's hard to ignore the growing list of guys that don't get to live their dreams as an NBA star. Worse still, they haven't spent anywhere near enough time in college to prepare them for a comfortable future. Duke, on the other hand, has put almost as many guys into the NBA as Kentucky since John Calipari arrived in Lexington and has two NCAA championships and a growing list of solid or even star NBA players to boast, such as Kyrie Irving, Jahlil Okafor, Jabari Parker, Rodney Hood, and Mason Plumlee. There's not as many top-end talent there - yet. Hardly any player that has left Duke has been much of a bust in the NBA for a good long while. Miles Plumlee has had limited success and might yet crack the rotation in Milwaukee this year. Nolan Smith didn't last in the Association after getting drafted in the 2011 first round. That's it, really. Even Austin Rivers has demonstrated his ability to join his father's rotation. And just as many guys - Lance Thomas, Seth Curry, and others - have made it onto NBA rosters after going undrafted. They did so with a degree in hand from Duke, too. Not too shabby.

Back to the game at hand. This should be an interesting matchup featuring a pair of talented teams with questions about their upcoming season. I am looking forward to Tuesday night in Chicago!Last edited by DavidBenAkiva; 11-15-2015 at 05:11 PM.

I just threw up in my mouth a little...

Please bust their ass tonight.

 

[jockstrap_mcgee]

"To be completely honest, I have not seen Kentucky play at all this year...let's take a look at how much of an uniformed homer I can be."

 

[Montana81]

I was alright with his analysis of this years UK team but I think he's vastly overrating Duke's team.

His take on the career trajectories of Duke and UK players was(probably unintentionally) entertaining, to say the least.

 

[CatChow]

DavidBenAkiva

Member

Join Date
Feb 2007
Early Analysis
To be completely honest, I haven't seen Kentucky play at all this year. That being said, let's take a look at how this matchup of top programs shapes up.

For the first time in a long time, Kentucky is going into a game with a size and maybe even a talent deficiency. The starting lineups, based on the first couple of games should be as follows:

Kentucky:

• G 5'9" So. Tyler Ulis
  G 6'5" Fr. Jamal Murray
  F 6'9" Jr. Derek Willis
  F 6'9" Jr. Marcus Lee
  F 6'11" Fr. Skal Labissiere

Reserves:
G: 6'0" Jr. Dominique Hawkins, 6'3" Fr Isaiah Briscoe, 6'6" Fr. Charles Matthews, 6'8" Sr. Alex Poythress, and 7'0" Fr. Isaac Humphries

I'll refrain from posting Duke's starting lineup as we all should know it. We've got 2 6'5" guards and a frontline of 6'9", 6'9", and 7'0".

That team features 5 McDonald's All-Americans as well as highly talented Canadian Jamal Murray. Murray has featured an all around game with scoring, rebounds, and assists. As a team, Kentucky has not shot the ball well from deep, shooting just 28.9% from 3 point range. The only player that has been on target so far has been the Junior Willis, who is 5 of 9 so far on the young season. While underweight, the frontcourt is athletic and features very different sets of skills. The freshman Labissiere has featured a variety of offensive weapons in the post and touch on his jump shot out to midrange. His defense, from what I've read, has been less than impressive and he has averaged a mediocre 5 rebounds against smaller teams so far this year. The "forgotten" member of the "greatest recruiting class of all time," Marcus Less has shown some ability to translate his exceptional athleticism in to production so far. He's not an offensive threat, but he has averaged a very impressive 6 offensive rebounds and 3 blocks in two games. Frehsman Isaiah Briscoe has not started in his one game played so far, but he did have a very impressive double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds against NJIT on Saturday night. Senior Alex Poythress, recovering from an ACL tear last year, has been the 7th man in the rotation for Coach John Calipari so far and has shown that he may regain his ability to contribute in nearly all facets of the game. He has not shown an improved shooting ability. All in all, the team is going 5 deep with a pair of one-and-done stars in Murray and Labissiere and a potential third with Briscoe. If the team doesn't shoot well from three, Kentucky may be in for a tough challenge against other high quality teams.

Meanwhile, Duke is trotting out a lineup featuring experience and talent with 5 McDonald's All-American starters, each as tall or taller than their counterpart. There's another two All-Americans on the bench in the form of Luke Kennard and Chase Jeter with another player, Derryck Thornton, considered as talented as nearly any other player on the team. While Duke has been knocked for being 'alarmingly unathletic' in the past (looking at Doug Gotlieb), this Duke team features some very quick and fast players such as Grayson Allen, Brandon Ingram, and Thornton. Duke has also featured a variety of shooters, dialing it in at 37.3% accuracy from 3 point range. That's pretty impressive considering a tough 1-9 shooting performance from Ingram in the home opener. Duke doesn't feature a "pure" point guard but has relied instead on dribble penetration and sound passing from guards and forward. Facing a tougher defensive presence will show how much the team can handle pressure on the guards.

On a more existential note, I wonder if this game and this season might serve as an opportunity for Duke to supplant Kentucky as the "it" program in college basketball. There are a few players on the current UK roster that have not lived up the potential hoped for by the Big Blue Nation. Poythress and Lee haven't developed reliable buzz to suggest they might find their way into an NBA rotation. Add those two to a surprisingly growing list of NBA duds out of the program (Aaron and Andrew Harrison, Dakari Johnson, Doron Lamb, DeAndre Liggins, Archie Goodwin, Daniel Orton, Marquis Teague, and James Young have failed to be drafted or make much of an impact in the NBA to date), and the anti-recruiting pitch grows louder. Sure, the program has seen more than its share of stars with Anthony Davis, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and potentially Karl-Anthony Towns and Eric Bledsoe. It's hard to ignore the growing list of guys that don't get to live their dreams as an NBA star. Worse still, they haven't spent anywhere near enough time in college to prepare them for a comfortable future. Duke, on the other hand, has put almost as many guys into the NBA as Kentucky since John Calipari arrived in Lexington and has two NCAA championships and a growing list of solid or even star NBA players to boast, such as Kyrie Irving, Jahlil Okafor, Jabari Parker, Rodney Hood, and Mason Plumlee. There's not as many top-end talent there - yet. Hardly any player that has left Duke has been much of a bust in the NBA for a good long while. Miles Plumlee has had limited success and might yet crack the rotation in Milwaukee this year. Nolan Smith didn't last in the Association after getting drafted in the 2011 first round. That's it, really. Even Austin Rivers has demonstrated his ability to join his father's rotation. And just as many guys - Lance Thomas, Seth Curry, and others - have made it onto NBA rosters after going undrafted. They did so with a degree in hand from Duke, too. Not too shabby.

Back to the game at hand. This should be an interesting matchup featuring a pair of talented teams with questions about their upcoming season. I am looking forward to Tuesday night in Chicago!Last edited by DavidBenAkiva; 11-15-2015 at 05:11 PM.

>that face when you realize Kyrie, Okafor, Jabari, and Hood only spent a year at dook

 

[TheDude1]

Anyone who downplays the success of KY players in the league is straight silly.

 

[Smashcat]

Nolan Smith didn't last in the Association after getting drafted in the 2011 first round.

 

[KWilt43atbuzz]

The height advantage when Briscoe is in for Ulis is about 1 inch.
Big freakin whoop.

 

[buckkiller]

If they are allowed to flop they will win if they cut out the flopping we will win. Usually Duke gets to flop unfortunately. I like to call it "COWARD BALL"

 

[SosaUK]

DavidBenAkiva

Member

Join Date
Feb 2007
Early Analysis
To be completely honest, I haven't seen Kentucky play at all this year. That being said, let's take a look at how this matchup of top programs shapes up.

For the first time in a long time, Kentucky is going into a game with a size and maybe even a talent deficiency. The starting lineups, based on the first couple of games should be as follows:

Kentucky:

• G 5'9" So. Tyler Ulis
  G 6'5" Fr. Jamal Murray
  F 6'9" Jr. Derek Willis
  F 6'9" Jr. Marcus Lee
  F 6'11" Fr. Skal Labissiere

Reserves:
G: 6'0" Jr. Dominique Hawkins, 6'3" Fr Isaiah Briscoe, 6'6" Fr. Charles Matthews, 6'8" Sr. Alex Poythress, and 7'0" Fr. Isaac Humphries

I'll refrain from posting Duke's starting lineup as we all should know it. We've got 2 6'5" guards and a frontline of 6'9", 6'9", and 7'0".

That team features 5 McDonald's All-Americans as well as highly talented Canadian Jamal Murray. Murray has featured an all around game with scoring, rebounds, and assists. As a team, Kentucky has not shot the ball well from deep, shooting just 28.9% from 3 point range. The only player that has been on target so far has been the Junior Willis, who is 5 of 9 so far on the young season. While underweight, the frontcourt is athletic and features very different sets of skills. The freshman Labissiere has featured a variety of offensive weapons in the post and touch on his jump shot out to midrange. His defense, from what I've read, has been less than impressive and he has averaged a mediocre 5 rebounds against smaller teams so far this year. The "forgotten" member of the "greatest recruiting class of all time," Marcus Less has shown some ability to translate his exceptional athleticism in to production so far. He's not an offensive threat, but he has averaged a very impressive 6 offensive rebounds and 3 blocks in two games. Frehsman Isaiah Briscoe has not started in his one game played so far, but he did have a very impressive double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds against NJIT on Saturday night. Senior Alex Poythress, recovering from an ACL tear last year, has been the 7th man in the rotation for Coach John Calipari so far and has shown that he may regain his ability to contribute in nearly all facets of the game. He has not shown an improved shooting ability. All in all, the team is going 5 deep with a pair of one-and-done stars in Murray and Labissiere and a potential third with Briscoe. If the team doesn't shoot well from three, Kentucky may be in for a tough challenge against other high quality teams.

Meanwhile, Duke is trotting out a lineup featuring experience and talent with 5 McDonald's All-American starters, each as tall or taller than their counterpart. There's another two All-Americans on the bench in the form of Luke Kennard and Chase Jeter with another player, Derryck Thornton, considered as talented as nearly any other player on the team. While Duke has been knocked for being 'alarmingly unathletic' in the past (looking at Doug Gotlieb), this Duke team features some very quick and fast players such as Grayson Allen, Brandon Ingram, and Thornton. Duke has also featured a variety of shooters, dialing it in at 37.3% accuracy from 3 point range. That's pretty impressive considering a tough 1-9 shooting performance from Ingram in the home opener. Duke doesn't feature a "pure" point guard but has relied instead on dribble penetration and sound passing from guards and forward. Facing a tougher defensive presence will show how much the team can handle pressure on the guards.

On a more existential note, I wonder if this game and this season might serve as an opportunity for Duke to supplant Kentucky as the "it" program in college basketball. There are a few players on the current UK roster that have not lived up the potential hoped for by the Big Blue Nation. Poythress and Lee haven't developed reliable buzz to suggest they might find their way into an NBA rotation. Add those two to a surprisingly growing list of NBA duds out of the program (Aaron and Andrew Harrison, Dakari Johnson, Doron Lamb, DeAndre Liggins, Archie Goodwin, Daniel Orton, Marquis Teague, and James Young have failed to be drafted or make much of an impact in the NBA to date), and the anti-recruiting pitch grows louder. Sure, the program has seen more than its share of stars with Anthony Davis, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and potentially Karl-Anthony Towns and Eric Bledsoe. It's hard to ignore the growing list of guys that don't get to live their dreams as an NBA star. Worse still, they haven't spent anywhere near enough time in college to prepare them for a comfortable future. Duke, on the other hand, has put almost as many guys into the NBA as Kentucky since John Calipari arrived in Lexington and has two NCAA championships and a growing list of solid or even star NBA players to boast, such as Kyrie Irving, Jahlil Okafor, Jabari Parker, Rodney Hood, and Mason Plumlee. There's not as many top-end talent there - yet. Hardly any player that has left Duke has been much of a bust in the NBA for a good long while. Miles Plumlee has had limited success and might yet crack the rotation in Milwaukee this year. Nolan Smith didn't last in the Association after getting drafted in the 2011 first round. That's it, really. Even Austin Rivers has demonstrated his ability to join his father's rotation. And just as many guys - Lance Thomas, Seth Curry, and others - have made it onto NBA rosters after going undrafted. They did so with a degree in hand from Duke, too. Not too shabby.

Back to the game at hand. This should be an interesting matchup featuring a pair of talented teams with questions about their upcoming season. I am looking forward to Tuesday night in Chicago!Last edited by DavidBenAkiva; 11-15-2015 at 05:11 PM.

at that entire post.

Can't wait for us to them the F out.

 

[kybassfan]

Interestingly enough, if Duke beats us this year, it will happen tonight. They play very well early, often reaching their potential in late November/early December. Not unusual for them to decline as the year progresses.

The cats on the other hand will improve to a much greater degree. I'm assuming that's why Puke, err Duke, insisted that the game be played so early in the season.

Regardless what happens tonight, I really want them again in March.

 

[JWat_]

"On a more existential note, "

I begged myself to stop reading right there.

Couldn't do it.

 

[SosaUK]

Interestingly enough, if Duke beats us this year, it will happen tonight. They play very well early, often reaching their potential in late November/early December. Not unusual for them to decline as the year progresses.

The cats on the other hand will improve to a much greater degree. I'm assuming that's why Puke, err Duke, insisted that the game be played so early in the season.

Regardless what happens tonight, I really want them again in March.

I'm all about bashing Duke but at least be factual. The reason it is this early, just like every freaking year is because it's the Champions Classic. Teams don't have a say in it.

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

I'll take our nba guys against Dukes nba guys in a game any day of the week.

 

[SosaUK]

I'll take our nba guys against Dukes nba guys in a game any day of the week.

So would the rest of the World.

 

[1war]

>that face when you realize Kyrie, Okafor, Jabari, and Hood only spent a year at dook

Kyrie only played 11 games at Duke.

 

[SosaUK]

Kyrie only played 11 games at Duke.

Mercenary.

Has he been back to Duke?
Anyone know?

 

[kybassfan]

I'm all about bashing Duke but at least be factual. The reason it is this early, just like every freaking year is because it's the Champions Classic. Teams don't have a say in it.

Hush! Don't bother me with facts. I'm hate'in on Puke.

 

[tarh33ls]

I think UK wins this one, tight. Little more quality depth overall and the best PG in this game is definitely on your side in Murray. I'm Canadian and Murray is legit, I've watched his games over the last few years and I hope he continues to progress and rips it up in the NBA.

Allen will get his but Jefferson probably won't score as easily as he has, even with Skal being a bit of a liability on D early on in this season. K usually has his guys ready early in the season but I think they lose this one. You guys have some experience coming off the bench and the better guard play. Ullis is adept at penetrating, if UK isn't ice cold from the outside I think you win it by 4-6 points.

 

[Bluegrass79]

I HATE the champions classic or also known as the CHANCE TO BEAT UK AND SLOW DOWN RECRUITING game. Playing Kansas, duke, and Michigan state allows those teams a shot at slowing/hurting our recruiting if they beat UK. Kentucky has ZERO to gain by playing these 3 teams in regular season. We get the best players regardless of this game so therefor why play it against these particular teams? Duke was helped by our loss to them couple years ago. Michigan State beat us on couple recruits the following years. Its a damn scheme to hurt UK.

DUKE wants to win this game tonight to push the agenda that DUKE has passed Kentucky in the recruiting one and done game. To push that Kentucky isnt the best place for one and done's anymore. We should get the hell out of this champions classic

 

[SosaUK]

Why is everybody hyping up Allen? Dude had like 2 good games in his career? Where is the Marcus Lee hype?

 

[UK_Johnny24]

DavidBenAkiva

Member

Join Date
Feb 2007
Early Analysis
To be completely honest, I haven't seen Kentucky play at all this year. That being said, let's take a look at how this matchup of top programs shapes up.

For the first time in a long time, Kentucky is going into a game with a size and maybe even a talent deficiency. The starting lineups, based on the first couple of games should be as follows:

Kentucky:

• G 5'9" So. Tyler Ulis
  G 6'5" Fr. Jamal Murray
  F 6'9" Jr. Derek Willis
  F 6'9" Jr. Marcus Lee
  F 6'11" Fr. Skal Labissiere

Reserves:
G: 6'0" Jr. Dominique Hawkins, 6'3" Fr Isaiah Briscoe, 6'6" Fr. Charles Matthews, 6'8" Sr. Alex Poythress, and 7'0" Fr. Isaac Humphries

I'll refrain from posting Duke's starting lineup as we all should know it. We've got 2 6'5" guards and a frontline of 6'9", 6'9", and 7'0".

That team features 5 McDonald's All-Americans as well as highly talented Canadian Jamal Murray. Murray has featured an all around game with scoring, rebounds, and assists. As a team, Kentucky has not shot the ball well from deep, shooting just 28.9% from 3 point range. The only player that has been on target so far has been the Junior Willis, who is 5 of 9 so far on the young season. While underweight, the frontcourt is athletic and features very different sets of skills. The freshman Labissiere has featured a variety of offensive weapons in the post and touch on his jump shot out to midrange. His defense, from what I've read, has been less than impressive and he has averaged a mediocre 5 rebounds against smaller teams so far this year. The "forgotten" member of the "greatest recruiting class of all time," Marcus Less has shown some ability to translate his exceptional athleticism in to production so far. He's not an offensive threat, but he has averaged a very impressive 6 offensive rebounds and 3 blocks in two games. Frehsman Isaiah Briscoe has not started in his one game played so far, but he did have a very impressive double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds against NJIT on Saturday night. Senior Alex Poythress, recovering from an ACL tear last year, has been the 7th man in the rotation for Coach John Calipari so far and has shown that he may regain his ability to contribute in nearly all facets of the game. He has not shown an improved shooting ability. All in all, the team is going 5 deep with a pair of one-and-done stars in Murray and Labissiere and a potential third with Briscoe. If the team doesn't shoot well from three, Kentucky may be in for a tough challenge against other high quality teams.

Meanwhile, Duke is trotting out a lineup featuring experience and talent with 5 McDonald's All-American starters, each as tall or taller than their counterpart. There's another two All-Americans on the bench in the form of Luke Kennard and Chase Jeter with another player, Derryck Thornton, considered as talented as nearly any other player on the team. While Duke has been knocked for being 'alarmingly unathletic' in the past (looking at Doug Gotlieb), this Duke team features some very quick and fast players such as Grayson Allen, Brandon Ingram, and Thornton. Duke has also featured a variety of shooters, dialing it in at 37.3% accuracy from 3 point range. That's pretty impressive considering a tough 1-9 shooting performance from Ingram in the home opener. Duke doesn't feature a "pure" point guard but has relied instead on dribble penetration and sound passing from guards and forward. Facing a tougher defensive presence will show how much the team can handle pressure on the guards.

On a more existential note, I wonder if this game and this season might serve as an opportunity for Duke to supplant Kentucky as the "it" program in college basketball. There are a few players on the current UK roster that have not lived up the potential hoped for by the Big Blue Nation. Poythress and Lee haven't developed reliable buzz to suggest they might find their way into an NBA rotation. Add those two to a surprisingly growing list of NBA duds out of the program (Aaron and Andrew Harrison, Dakari Johnson, Doron Lamb, DeAndre Liggins, Archie Goodwin, Daniel Orton, Marquis Teague, and James Young have failed to be drafted or make much of an impact in the NBA to date), and the anti-recruiting pitch grows louder. Sure, the program has seen more than its share of stars with Anthony Davis, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and potentially Karl-Anthony Towns and Eric Bledsoe. It's hard to ignore the growing list of guys that don't get to live their dreams as an NBA star. Worse still, they haven't spent anywhere near enough time in college to prepare them for a comfortable future. Duke, on the other hand, has put almost as many guys into the NBA as Kentucky since John Calipari arrived in Lexington and has two NCAA championships and a growing list of solid or even star NBA players to boast, such as Kyrie Irving, Jahlil Okafor, Jabari Parker, Rodney Hood, and Mason Plumlee. There's not as many top-end talent there - yet. Hardly any player that has left Duke has been much of a bust in the NBA for a good long while. Miles Plumlee has had limited success and might yet crack the rotation in Milwaukee this year. Nolan Smith didn't last in the Association after getting drafted in the 2011 first round. That's it, really. Even Austin Rivers has demonstrated his ability to join his father's rotation. And just as many guys - Lance Thomas, Seth Curry, and others - have made it onto NBA rosters after going undrafted. They did so with a degree in hand from Duke, too. Not too shabby.

Back to the game at hand. This should be an interesting matchup featuring a pair of talented teams with questions about their upcoming season. I am looking forward to Tuesday night in Chicago!Last edited by DavidBenAkiva; 11-15-2015 at 05:11 PM.

LMAO. What???? I'm assuming you're a Dook fan right? Yeah we're clearly the more talented team my man. I mean its really not that close. Tell me how it feels after we break it off in ya tonight bro.

 

[SosaUK]

I HATE the champions classic or also known as the CHANCE TO BEAT UK AND SLOW DOWN RECRUITING game. Playing Kansas, duke, and Michigan state allows those teams a shot at slowing/hurting our recruiting if they beat UK. Kentucky has ZERO to gain by playing these 3 teams in regular season. We get the best players regardless of this game so therefor why play it against these particular teams? Duke was helped by our loss to them couple years ago. Michigan State beat us on couple recruits the following years. Its a damn scheme to hurt UK.

DUKE wants to win this game tonight to push the agenda that DUKE has passed Kentucky in the recruiting one and done game. To push that Kentucky isnt the best place for one and done's anymore. We should get the hell out of this champions classic

Duke is gonna go home disappointed. We invented, perfected, etc this OAD shit.

 

[UK_Johnny24]

DavidBenAkiva

Member

Join Date
Feb 2007
Early Analysis
To be completely honest, I haven't seen Kentucky play at all this year. That being said, let's take a look at how this matchup of top programs shapes up.

For the first time in a long time, Kentucky is going into a game with a size and maybe even a talent deficiency. The starting lineups, based on the first couple of games should be as follows:

Kentucky:

• G 5'9" So. Tyler Ulis
  G 6'5" Fr. Jamal Murray
  F 6'9" Jr. Derek Willis
  F 6'9" Jr. Marcus Lee
  F 6'11" Fr. Skal Labissiere

Reserves:
G: 6'0" Jr. Dominique Hawkins, 6'3" Fr Isaiah Briscoe, 6'6" Fr. Charles Matthews, 6'8" Sr. Alex Poythress, and 7'0" Fr. Isaac Humphries

I'll refrain from posting Duke's starting lineup as we all should know it. We've got 2 6'5" guards and a frontline of 6'9", 6'9", and 7'0".

That team features 5 McDonald's All-Americans as well as highly talented Canadian Jamal Murray. Murray has featured an all around game with scoring, rebounds, and assists. As a team, Kentucky has not shot the ball well from deep, shooting just 28.9% from 3 point range. The only player that has been on target so far has been the Junior Willis, who is 5 of 9 so far on the young season. While underweight, the frontcourt is athletic and features very different sets of skills. The freshman Labissiere has featured a variety of offensive weapons in the post and touch on his jump shot out to midrange. His defense, from what I've read, has been less than impressive and he has averaged a mediocre 5 rebounds against smaller teams so far this year. The "forgotten" member of the "greatest recruiting class of all time," Marcus Less has shown some ability to translate his exceptional athleticism in to production so far. He's not an offensive threat, but he has averaged a very impressive 6 offensive rebounds and 3 blocks in two games. Frehsman Isaiah Briscoe has not started in his one game played so far, but he did have a very impressive double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds against NJIT on Saturday night. Senior Alex Poythress, recovering from an ACL tear last year, has been the 7th man in the rotation for Coach John Calipari so far and has shown that he may regain his ability to contribute in nearly all facets of the game. He has not shown an improved shooting ability. All in all, the team is going 5 deep with a pair of one-and-done stars in Murray and Labissiere and a potential third with Briscoe. If the team doesn't shoot well from three, Kentucky may be in for a tough challenge against other high quality teams.

Meanwhile, Duke is trotting out a lineup featuring experience and talent with 5 McDonald's All-American starters, each as tall or taller than their counterpart. There's another two All-Americans on the bench in the form of Luke Kennard and Chase Jeter with another player, Derryck Thornton, considered as talented as nearly any other player on the team. While Duke has been knocked for being 'alarmingly unathletic' in the past (looking at Doug Gotlieb), this Duke team features some very quick and fast players such as Grayson Allen, Brandon Ingram, and Thornton. Duke has also featured a variety of shooters, dialing it in at 37.3% accuracy from 3 point range. That's pretty impressive considering a tough 1-9 shooting performance from Ingram in the home opener. Duke doesn't feature a "pure" point guard but has relied instead on dribble penetration and sound passing from guards and forward. Facing a tougher defensive presence will show how much the team can handle pressure on the guards.

On a more existential note, I wonder if this game and this season might serve as an opportunity for Duke to supplant Kentucky as the "it" program in college basketball. There are a few players on the current UK roster that have not lived up the potential hoped for by the Big Blue Nation. Poythress and Lee haven't developed reliable buzz to suggest they might find their way into an NBA rotation. Add those two to a surprisingly growing list of NBA duds out of the program (Aaron and Andrew Harrison, Dakari Johnson, Doron Lamb, DeAndre Liggins, Archie Goodwin, Daniel Orton, Marquis Teague, and James Young have failed to be drafted or make much of an impact in the NBA to date), and the anti-recruiting pitch grows louder. Sure, the program has seen more than its share of stars with Anthony Davis, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and potentially Karl-Anthony Towns and Eric Bledsoe. It's hard to ignore the growing list of guys that don't get to live their dreams as an NBA star. Worse still, they haven't spent anywhere near enough time in college to prepare them for a comfortable future. Duke, on the other hand, has put almost as many guys into the NBA as Kentucky since John Calipari arrived in Lexington and has two NCAA championships and a growing list of solid or even star NBA players to boast, such as Kyrie Irving, Jahlil Okafor, Jabari Parker, Rodney Hood, and Mason Plumlee. There's not as many top-end talent there - yet. Hardly any player that has left Duke has been much of a bust in the NBA for a good long while. Miles Plumlee has had limited success and might yet crack the rotation in Milwaukee this year. Nolan Smith didn't last in the Association after getting drafted in the 2011 first round. That's it, really. Even Austin Rivers has demonstrated his ability to join his father's rotation. And just as many guys - Lance Thomas, Seth Curry, and others - have made it onto NBA rosters after going undrafted. They did so with a degree in hand from Duke, too. Not too shabby.

Back to the game at hand. This should be an interesting matchup featuring a pair of talented teams with questions about their upcoming season. I am looking forward to Tuesday night in Chicago!Last edited by DavidBenAkiva; 11-15-2015 at 05:11 PM.

LMAO. What???? I'm assuming you're a Dook fan right? Yeah we're clearly the more talented team my man. I mean its really not that close. Tell me how it feels after we break it off in ya tonight bro.

 

[SosaUK]

LMAO. What???? I'm assuming you're a Dook fan right? Yeah we're clearly the more talented team my man. I mean its really not that close. Tell me how it feels after we break it off in ya tonight bro.

He posted that from a Duke forum.

You might want to edit that post, chief.

 

[NineSec95]

LMAO. What???? I'm assuming you're a Dook fan right? Yeah we're clearly the more talented team my man. I mean its really not that close. Tell me how it feels after we break it off in ya tonight bro.

No I'm not a puke fan. I clicked the link and read down until I seen that post and had to post it because of how funny I thought it was.

 

[SosaUK]

No I'm not a puke fan. I clicked the link and read down until I seen that post and had to post it because of how funny I thought it was.

I corrected him. I thought it was obvious.

Also can't hate on him for getting hype on some Duke fans, whether that was right or not. Ha

 

[Bluegrass79]

Damn reading the dukie preview freaking pissed me off. I'd punch a dukie if one was nearby.

 

[NineSec95]

I corrected him. I thought it was obvious.

Also can't hate on him for getting hype on some Duke fans, whether that was right or not. Ha

I love his passion.

 

[SosaUK]

I love his passion.

For sure. Even if it was directed wrong. Haha

 

[UK_Johnny24]

Ok compare our bigs to Dook's first up. Jefferson's good but Lee is IMO the better player NOW. Skal vs Plumlee. yeah that's not close. Plumlee is a joke. Just a big goofy prototypical Dook white boy. Ingram's good yeah. But we got a guy that's probably a little better in Murray. Allen is better than Briscoe, but not by as much as you'd think AND Briscoe will be the better pro player. Then Ulis compared to any PG they have isn't even close. Bottom line is this. Ulis, Briscoe, Murray, Lee, Skal, Poythress, Willis, Mathews, and Humphries is so much more talented than Allen, Jones, Ingram, Jefferson, Plumlee, Thornton, Kennard, and Jeter that its ridiculous. WE ARE THE BETTER AND MORE TALENTED TEAM BETWEEN THE 2. Skal and Murray are two of the best 5 players in the country. Ulis is a top 2 or 3 PG in the nation if not THE best. And he probably will end up being the best. Briscoe is a really, really good guard who'll go in the 1st round. Willis is a different player this year and MAY very well be the x factor tonight. Other than Ingram Duke doesn't have a guy on their team that's even close to Skal and Murray talent wise. Oh My God I cant wait to break it off in the Dookies tonight. Get yo popcorn ready Dook fans. And go ahead and bend over.

 

[SosaUK]

Ok compare our bigs to Dook's first up. Jefferson's good but Lee is IMO the better player NOW. Skal vs Plumlee. yeah that's not close. Plumlee is a joke. Just a big goofy prototypical Dook white boy. Ingram's good yeah. But we got a guy that's probably a little better in Murray. Allen is better than Briscoe, but not by as much as you'd think AND Briscoe will be the better pro player. Then Ulis compared to any PG they have isn't even close. Bottom line is this. Ulis, Briscoe, Murray, Lee, Skal, Poythress, Willis, Mathews, and Humphries is so much more talented than Allen, Jones, Ingram, Jefferson, Plumlee, Thornton, Kennard, and Jeter that its ridiculous. WE ARE THE BETTER AND MORE TALENTED TEAM BETWEEN THE 2. Skal and Murray are two of the best 5 players in the country. Ulis is a top 2 or 3 PG in the nation if not THE best. And he probably will end up being the best. Briscoe is a really, really good guard who'll go in the 1st round. Willis is a different player this year and MAY very well be the x factor tonight. Other than Ingram Duke doesn't have a guy on their team that's even close to Skal and Murray talent wise. Oh My God I cant wait to break it off in the Dookies tonight. Get yo popcorn ready Dook fans. And go ahead and bend over.

I'm confused now.

 

[screwduke]

My thoughts on Duke are:

Screw Duke.

 

[SosaUK]

My thoughts on Duke are:

Screw Duke.

Pretty sure with you're username, you can just post NM and I'd like It.

 

[UK_Johnny24]

Lets project the 1st rounders from both schools after the year's over.

UK
Ulis (If he leaves will go late 1st round)
Briscoe
Murray
Skal
Lee (Different player this season)

Poythress will go in the 2nd unless he starts playing like the beast he is.

Duke
Ingram

....................

 

[screwduke]

NM

 

[SosaUK]

NM

You testing me?

 

[UK_Johnny24]

No I'm not a puke fan. I clicked the link and read down until I seen that post and had to post it because of how funny I thought it was.

Oh shit. Dude my bad bro. LOL. I didn't read your whole post. Very sorry I mistaken you for a Dook fan.