We have a 5* in Willis

[sosoblue]

I'm hoping Willis starts at the 3 on this year's team. If you take his current talents he would easily be a 5* on the high school level this year. The kid can shoot, good passer, long arms and can get to the rim. Willis needs to add muscle and could add around 15lbs to his thin frame. I'm hoping Cal spends the time developing him like he did with Jorts. I'm going to be disappointed if Willis is not in the rotation this year.

 

[bkingUK]

,,,,,

 

[stuway]

Prepare to be disappointed I'm afraid. I would love to see Willis blossom as well. Just not a lot of faith from Cal and Willis hasn't killed it in his limited chances either. He doesn't look bad necessarily, just doesn't get the extened looks to honestly evaluate him at this level to this point.

This post was edited on 4/16 9:54 PM by stuway

 

[Waterview Catfan]

Originally posted by sosoblue:
I'm hoping Willis starts at the 3 on this year's team. If you take his current talents he would easily be a 5* on the high school level this year. The kid can shoot, good passer, long arms and can get to the rim. Willis needs to add muscle and could add around 15lbs to his thin frame. I'm hoping Cal spends the time developing him like he did with Jorts. I'm going to be disappointed if Willis is not in the rotation this year.

Other than starting, agree with most of your points. Get ready to be called some bad stuff though.

 

[Poetax]

I wish the young man all the luck in the world. Its not easy coming to a team with such elite athletes every year. He won't be a starter, but if he is ever going to make a move its this year to be that 6th or 7th man off the bench. And the more he plays in real time, the better he will get. I thought in the Bahamas he showed that spark of talent ever so often but he has to work at it every day and make that sacrifice to try for improvement.

 

[wcc31]

It's not like we haven't seen players make The Leap before. People were ready to run Liggins off the team and Harrelson is an afterthought. I think Willis can be a good ballplayer for us. Hawkins, too.

Fans sometimes get into this mentality where if a kid isn't good right away, he sucks. We just got beat by a team of players who gradually got better until they were upperclassmen. Cal's did that at UMass, Memphis and here in 2011.

 

[js40484]

Seems like the KY kids on here are usually overly defended to a fault or overly criticized to a fault. As far as Willis is concerned, not sure he deserved the PT some expressed that he deserved on last years team..I mean, good grief, there were 7 draft picks in front of him! This year's a different story especially if the team is relying on jucos and grads. He'll have his shot, it will be up to him to what he does with it.

 

[spotter34]

From what I've read on different sites Willis hasn't heped himself much with his work habits. He's clearly talented enough to be very productive but he apparently doesn't put in the work required to excel at this level. If that changes then I think he could definitely help us.

 

[highlysuspicious]

part of me wants cal to only get thorne. its been awhile since we've seen a uk team rely more on skill and team work than pure athleticism/talent.

its going to be a bridge year no matter what, why not do it with hawkins/willis in the rotation?

 

[caneintally]

Now this is a post i can get behind and there have alot of jackass posts the past 48 hours . Willis is so damn talented i want to see him play and this is his chance as even when we add one of ZImmerman / Maker we will still have time at the 3 and 4 and i hope Willis works hard enough to see it . He can shoot lights out and is damn respectable athlete .

 

[Catfan2226]

Willis has no excuse not to get plenty of playing time this coming season.It's there for the taking.He even said back in December that only hard work in the gym will get him the playing time he wants.Here ya go Derek,that opportunity is staring at you so show what you have.Trust me,BBN wants you to succeed.

 

[Waterview Catfan]

Originally posted by caneintally:
Now this is a post i can get behind and there have alot of jackass posts the past 48 hours . Willis is so damn talented i want to see him play and this is his chance as even when we add one of ZImmerman / Maker we will still have time at the 3 and 4 and i hope Willis works hard enough to see it . He can shoot lights out and is damn respectable athlete .

I agree, and really, if what has been said about Willis this year with his devotion to basketball, who really could blame him? He is a smart kid from all my observations, and no matter what he wasn't seeing the floor much this year, but next year is his chance, hope he makes the best of it.

 

[wcc31]

I like what I saw from him in the Bahamas. Same with Hawkins. Sometimes, opportunity is all a kid needs to flourish.

Stuff like this- losing 7 players to the NBA- is why Cal changed his recruiting a bit after '12. He took multi-year guys for just this reason.

 

[lwbb]

I am like all the posters on this tread i want Willis to get it together and show all these fans that he can play here.I do believe if he was a transfer from a small school fans would be drooling about this kid

 

[BigBlueManSouthCentralKY]

If he has the lateral quickness to guard the 3 Cal will play him.

 

[UKWildcats#8]

Originally posted by highlysuspicious:
part of me wants cal to only get thorne. its been awhile since we've seen a uk team rely more on skill and team work than pure athleticism/talent.

its going to be a bridge year no matter what, why not do it with hawkins/willis in the rotation?

Cause most of us care more about the team and winning as many games as possible this coming season than playing the Kentucky boys just to play them. Just IMO.

 

[UKDC80]

He has the tools and IQ to be the next Sam Dekker type player in college. Body types are comparable. He just needs to get his head on straight and want it.

 

[ZaytovenCat]

Willis a 5 star lmao. You should stopped with that sentence and deleted what you wrote. He will never play here. He's a slightly better John Hood. But you people keep making him out to be more than he is. He was a 3 star for a reason.

 

[Waterview Catfan]

Originally posted by ZaytovenCat:
Willis a 5 star lmao. You should stopped with that sentence and deleted what you wrote. He will never play here. He's a slightly better John Hood. But you people keep making him out to be more than he is. He was a 3 star for a reason.

And they have awakened.

 

[TheDude73]

If he just puts in 75% effort he'll be twice as effective as Wiltjer ever was for the Cats.

I don't think many of us have seen him in a game long enough to really observe how he moves without the ball, or his defensive potential. Hawkins got a ton of time last year (or was it the year before?), and to be honest the only reason we didn't see more of him this year was likely because we had a literal logjam at all guard positions. Even then he did see the floor for some decent minutes in a few games - more than Willis.

 

[yoshukai]

Looks like we will need someone to step up next year. It could be a GREAT opportunity for him . I'm hoping he seizes it . He has paid his dues.

 

[Wall2Boogie]

Especially white guys from kentucky. Willis is no way a 5 star player, but that doesn't mean he won't contrbute. I think he will show flashes this year when he's in there. Another guy that was a kentucky legend 5 star was Dakota euton, that was one guy I'm glad we didn't end up getting. Not only was he from ky and a once 5star, had he got here and played it would of gotten ugly really quick. Speaking of bcg recruits, the only guy I really felt bad for that didn't end up here was gj vilarino. I know how bad he wanted to play here and even though he may not of been a great player I do think he could of contributed as a role player.

 

[Blueblood22]

If he wasn't from Kentucky, everyone would be saying he's a waste of a scholarship.

Yet there's a middle ground between those two, and that's where the truth lies.

 

[Poetax]

Originally posted by Waterview Catfan:

Originally posted by ZaytovenCat:
Willis a 5 star lmao. You should stopped with that sentence and deleted what you wrote. He will never play here. He's a slightly better John Hood. But you people keep making him out to be more than he is. He was a 3 star for a reason.

And they have awakened.

But remember before you and the others start bashing the kid again, HE IS NOT MAKING THESE STATEMENTS, the fans are, so shoot the messengers not the kid.

 

[Graves51]

Willis should get the chance! He has a lot of talent! I knew the knuckleheads would finally come out and start running him down! I wonder how much talent these type of posters have.

 

[UK90]

Originally posted by caneintally:

He can shoot lights out and is damn respectable athlete .

Really? Then why does he have such piss poor shooting percentages? The guy's a career 28 percent three point shooter--which, in case you're unaware, is considered quite crappy everywhere outside the land of delusion. You know how I define a "lights out" shooter? Someone who actually makes a high percentage of his outside shots, NOT someone who whiffs on over 70 percent of them like Willis has at UK.

Sorry for the negative tone, but the level of delusion on threads like this never ceases to amaze. I wish Willis luck, and hope he does well, but he's never shown anything to remotely suggest he's a "5 star" player. Indeed, he hasn't even shown enough yet in actual games to back up that 3 star ranking he got in the real world.

 

[BigBlueManSouthCentralKY]

Hope he gets to contribute this year, not just because he is from Kentucky but because he has a lot of skills and has stuck with us.

 

[KopiKat]

We will never win a title without meaningful minutes from at least one in-state player. We've won 8 national championships, and never have we won any of those without solid contribution from at least one in-state player. I'm not saying it can't be done. I'm saying it won't be done.

Willis and Hawkins are interesting. I remember the ENORMOUS improvements made by some in-state players their junior years: Anthony Epps, Cameron Mills, and effectively the same thing can be said for Scott Padgett who, although a soph, also made his big improvement 3 years after first joining the program. We win no national titles in the 90s without these guys. We do not win in 2012 without Darius Miller. Don't even think about going back to Jack Givens or earlier than that.

So while some of the posters in this thread have already chosen to stomp on Willis before his junior year arrives, just let these historical standards speak for themselves. Not to mention Willis' frame and length. Honestly, Cameron Mills didn't play hardly ANY before his junior year. Tremendous competitor before his time was done. Hawkins isn't going anywhere.

 

[cal=8]

Willis was a 4 star player when he signed with Ky. He dropped to a 3 star after he signed.. He's fairly athletic ( way more than Hood and Wiltjer) He can pass and shoot the 3. He's not overly quick but could develop into a crafty player in the paint. We should be glad to have a player of his caliber to practice against. Willis must really love Ky because he could be one of those pesky role players that come off the bench for 20 or even start for a lot of quality D1 teams..

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

Willis has the intangeables to be a good player for us. In his 30 sec flashes on the court he is always gettig an assist rebound or a bucket. At least he is doing something when he goes in. He is really all over the court and a little out if control many times. What he does when he is playing is screaming to me he is super nervous and needs to calm down a bit. Only thing that improves this is playing time. Of course with playing time you become a better shooter as well. I think as well he has the ability to become another Dekker, that's just up to him on the work ethic and Cal if he is forced to play him like he was forced to do Harrellson.
Willis was recruited by a ton of programs including UL, he is not a bad player at all. He needs to get a little stronger of course and I think a red shirt would do him a lot of good. Just don't go to Wiltjer's trainer. Lol.
I'd love to work with him, I could turn him into a beast within a year if he will put the effort in. I used to be a personal trainer. I could easily put on 40 lbs on him in a year. With him being a guy who is 6'9 it's much he easier to get on a scale and see it increase a lb of 2 in a week. If your a small guy like 5'6" it would be more like .5lb-1lb on a good week.

 

[Cats192]

Willis isn't a 5 star. He might be good. But, he's really never shown us anything to make us believe he deserves better than his ranking.

Wasn't Hood ranked higher?

 

[anon_hvdd36eg5u05l]

The amount of delusion exhibited in this thread alone.....goosebumps

 

[jte123]

This is like a post that says UK football will be great when we still never get top talent and always win 1-2 SEC ga,es a year

 

[O C-A-T-S 06]

Wow.

 

[Aike]

Originally posted by UK90:

Originally posted by caneintally:

He can shoot lights out and is damn respectable athlete .

Really? Then why does he have such piss poor shooting percentages? The guy's a career 28 percent three point shooter--which, in case you're unaware, is considered quite crappy everywhere outside the land of delusion. You know how I define a "lights out" shooter? Someone who actually makes a high percentage of his outside shots, NOT someone who whiffs on over 70 percent of them like Willis has at UK.

Sorry for the negative tone, but the level of delusion on threads like this never ceases to amaze. I wish Willis luck, and hope he does well, but he's never shown anything to remotely suggest he's a "5 star" player. Indeed, he hasn't even shown enough yet in actual games to back up that 3 star ranking he got in the real world.

I don't expect Willis to start, but you're the second person who has used his 28% three point percentage against him.

Pretty weak, considering he's only attempted 21 threes total in 2 years, and very clearly hasn't played enough to ever get into a rhythm.

He's 6 for 21. Which means if one more shot had gone in, he would jump from 28% to 33%. Then all the sudden he would be respectable.

In fact, he was 5 for 15 last year. In other words, 33.3%. Had he hit one more last season, he would have been a 40% shooter from three. Which would still be crap for judging him, because the sample size still wouldn't be large enough.

Let's give him a chance to get up 40-50 threes in a season and see what his numbers look like.

 

[MegaBlue05]

I hope Willis is able to be a solid 7th or 8th man for us this year. He's shown little flashes here and there, but he also plays like he's scared to death of making a mistake when he does get minutes. He needs to be stronger with the ball, but hopefully that comes with another year of experience.

This thread is kind of sad. You have some people pumping up the kid to being something he isn't, and even more are tearing the guy to shreds. I also think using the stats of someone with such a limited sample size is kind of silly. When a player plays 1 minute a game at the end of blowouts, it's hard to deduce anything conclusive.

 

[UK90]

Originally posted by Aike:

Originally posted by UK90:

Originally posted by caneintally:

He can shoot lights out and is damn respectable athlete .

Really? Then why does he have such piss poor shooting percentages? The guy's a career 28 percent three point shooter--which, in case you're unaware, is considered quite crappy everywhere outside the land of delusion. You know how I define a "lights out" shooter? Someone who actually makes a high percentage of his outside shots, NOT someone who whiffs on over 70 percent of them like Willis has at UK.

Sorry for the negative tone, but the level of delusion on threads like this never ceases to amaze. I wish Willis luck, and hope he does well, but he's never shown anything to remotely suggest he's a "5 star" player. Indeed, he hasn't even shown enough yet in actual games to back up that 3 star ranking he got in the real world.

I don't expect Willis to start, but you're the second person who has used his 28% three point percentage against him.

Pretty weak, considering he's only attempted 21 threes total in 2 years, and very clearly hasn't played enough to ever get into a rhythm.

He's 6 for 21. Which means if one more shot had gone in, he would jump from 28% to 33%. Then all the sudden he would be respectable.

In fact, he was 5 for 15 last year. In other words, 33.3%. Had he hit one more last season, he would have been a 40% shooter from three. Which would still be crap for judging him, because the sample size still wouldn't be large enough.

Let's give him a chance to get up 40-50 threes in a season and see what his numbers look like.

You know, all that's fine, all I ask is that people be honest and base their posts on the actual facts. Don't come on here and claim the guy's a "lights out" outside shooter, as more than a few posters have over the last year, when he's only hit 6 for 21 on his threes in his UK career.

As for me, I never affirmatively declared that the guy was a bad or good shooter, I've only pointed out that his actual shooting percentages are actually crappy--which is, in fact, correct. Perhaps a wider sample would show a better or worse result, I don't know, and neither does anybody else. But I DO know what the actual evidence before us right now seem to suggest, and it sure is hell does NOT depict a "lights out" shooter.

 

[Cats192]

Originally posted by Aike:

Originally posted by UK90:

Originally posted by caneintally:

He can shoot lights out and is damn respectable athlete .

Really? Then why does he have such piss poor shooting percentages? The guy's a career 28 percent three point shooter--which, in case you're unaware, is considered quite crappy everywhere outside the land of delusion. You know how I define a "lights out" shooter? Someone who actually makes a high percentage of his outside shots, NOT someone who whiffs on over 70 percent of them like Willis has at UK.

Sorry for the negative tone, but the level of delusion on threads like this never ceases to amaze. I wish Willis luck, and hope he does well, but he's never shown anything to remotely suggest he's a "5 star" player. Indeed, he hasn't even shown enough yet in actual games to back up that 3 star ranking he got in the real world.

I don't expect Willis to start, but you're the second person who has used his 28% three point percentage against him.

Pretty weak, considering he's only attempted 21 threes total in 2 years, and very clearly hasn't played enough to ever get into a rhythm.

He's 6 for 21. Which means if one more shot had gone in, he would jump from 28% to 33%. Then all the sudden he would be respectable.

In fact, he was 5 for 15 last year. In other words, 33.3%. Had he hit one more last season, he would have been a 40% shooter from three. Which would still be crap for judging him, because the sample size still wouldn't be large enough.

Let's give him a chance to get up 40-50 threes in a season and see what his numbers look like.

To, me the point is---people KEEP saying he's such a great shooter, and he's never shown it in game. He might be. He may get the chance and light it up. I hope he does.

But right now, he hasn't done it.

Maybe he's better than 28%.
But you can't sit here and tell me he's a 50% shooter either.

 

[dezyDeco]

Apparently, DW's shooting percentage isn't going to be the make-or-break factor... though I certainly hope he does well in that department. Like Kyle W's case, it'll be if he can play good enough defense for Cal to keep him in the game. IMO, from what I saw during the Bahamas trip, I think Derek can pull it off. Looks like he'll get the chance at several minutes, the way things (recruiting) are going at the moment,

 

[Thompkins4uk]

He had 28 in the Blue/White game his freshman year...just saying