Wenyen - Breakout year coming up?
- Thread starter Cat Ballou
- Start date
Hope so. Not holding my breath with how out of place he looked at the end of last year.
It's a pretty safe bet that he will be the best returning player.
We need both of them to really step up. Love to see them earn the starting spots at the 4 and 5.
I really liked how confident Wenyen was playing at one time in the season.
SKJ hasn't shown much but one time early he showed he can make shots.
Hopefully they are really working towards making it to NBA and going extremely hard.
I hope so too, both for Wenyen and UK. But, you know we can't put much confidence in Summer practice reports. We've heard great things about many others in the past only to not see it carry over into the season.
You mean great reports like we got on
Wall
Bledsoe
Cousins
Knight
Lamb
Jones
Davis
MKG
Noel
Poythress
Randle
The Twins
KAT
Ulis
Booker
Murray
Monk
Adebayo
Fox
Name the Cal players that looked great in practice that did not produce during the season (besides Harrow and Skal)
I sure hope so. I like Gabriel and think he has all the tools to be awesome.
But that being said... summer workouts
Carrier can't miss
Mulder can't miss
Pilgrim is a "beast"
lol...
But that being said... summer workouts
Carrier can't miss
Mulder can't miss
Pilgrim is a "beast"
lol...
I hope so, Gabriel will have the fight of his life trying to get playing time over Washington, Vanderbilt, Jones and the other inside players. Cal loaded this team on the perimeter..
We get spoiled with the freak talents like AD, Wall, Cuz, Fox, Monk, etc. But if you go back to the pre-Cal era, freshman (not even top 10, 5 star) weren't expected to instantly dominate and go pro.
He's not a failure or lost cause just bc he struggled last year, he's a 19yr old kid finding himself on/off the court. No reason to bet against WG having a great year, and we will definitely count his experience to guide the new guys
He's not a failure or lost cause just bc he struggled last year, he's a 19yr old kid finding himself on/off the court. No reason to bet against WG having a great year, and we will definitely count his experience to guide the new guys
He was a freshman dude, you really gonna give up on him that quick? Microwave society I reckon.
Gotta go with Wildmoon. History says, Matt Pilgrim, Josh Carrier, etcWenyen at one point was really good this season and all of sudden lost confidence and then starting position.
If he works his ass off he should be able to be really good.
However. I don't trust summer reports.
I agree with your take,however in the UK /Cal system we have a pretty good idea what any frosh can or can't do by the end of the year.In the case of Gabriel and Jones we don't have all that much to go on,we see Vanderbilt,Washington,Knox and Richards moving in and likely pushing for time at the same positions as Gabriel and Jones .Diallo will play somewhere(maybe the 2 but maybe the 3)
We always seem to be in some kind of uncharted territory to start the season,this year is no exception.There will be more players than usual trying to find their place on this team
Summer warrior hype is unavoidable at UK. How often do you hear about a player struggling in the summer workouts? But I do like Wenyens game when he plays confident. Add a little weight and muscle and he will be a handful with his high energy. Just need him to play consistently, the Auburn game was a big outlier last year but it showed he is capable of playing tremendous basketball. He was a 3 bombing, rebounding machine in that game.
Ideally, Gabriel improves on his Freshmen year. That is what players normally do when they return to school. We seem to forget that he was a part time starter as a Freshman. We seem to forget he was a top 15 player in an extremely strong and deep class.
SKJ, to a lesser extent, should also be much better. This is a top 20 player we are talking about.
We have already handed the starting spots to Freshmen, that are rated about the same out of HS. If a year under Cal means anything, WG and SKJ should be ahead of those guys.
I really want to see them start along with Green, Diallo, and Knox. With Vanderbilt, Washington, and Richards off the bench. That gives us some experience inside to help the young guys on the perimeter.
SKJ, to a lesser extent, should also be much better. This is a top 20 player we are talking about.
We have already handed the starting spots to Freshmen, that are rated about the same out of HS. If a year under Cal means anything, WG and SKJ should be ahead of those guys.
I really want to see them start along with Green, Diallo, and Knox. With Vanderbilt, Washington, and Richards off the bench. That gives us some experience inside to help the young guys on the perimeter.
Right. We hear this about someone different every offseason and it turns out to be empty hype.
I'm guessing we'll go as guys like Knox, Diallo, Washington and Vanderbilt go.
Gabriel better have made a huge leap to get minutes over our other 3's and 4's. Knox. Washington and Vanderbilt are all the real deal.
I'm guessing we'll go as guys like Knox, Diallo, Washington and Vanderbilt go.
Gabriel better have made a huge leap to get minutes over our other 3's and 4's. Knox. Washington and Vanderbilt are all the real deal.
rothstein is a tool. just template it. Player X from Team Y has looked great this summer. Palpable buzz.
We are basing this on All-Star game hype, though.
Those guys rank roughly the same as Gabriel and Gabriel was in a stronger, deeper class. Gabriel has a year of experience. Gabriel has big game experience. Gabriel was a starter. Don't forget that. On a team with three lottery picks. He was beaten out at the 4 by a guy who started the previous year and is now signed by the Pistons.
I don't think he will be the scrub a lot of people think he will be.
I have faith in Wenyen, and the fact that Cal is letting this be put out there tells me he has faith in him as well.
If him and SKJ wants to start they better improve cause we have reloaded! I see SKJ starting at 5 and Gab at 4 until players get comfortable. I can See a run/gun/fun style with in you face D.. Speed all over court and speed kills! I look at this team and see #9 being cutdown. March its going to get ugly
![[winking]](http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/img/emoticons/classic/wink.r191677.gif "Winking [winking]")
Isaac Humphries was tearing it up this time last summer so...
I get why people are skeptical about summer reports, but we're talking about a 6'10", 7'1" wingspan, 5-star McDonalds All-American who was considered one of the most intriguing combinations of size and skill in his class, and who averaged 5 and 5 in just 18 minutes per game and shot 32% from 3 in his "disappointing" freshman season in which he was the MVP of at least two games.
I would be a lot more surprised if Wenyen didn't have a breakout year.
I would be a lot more surprised if Wenyen didn't have a breakout year.
Any other fan base would be talking about a returning starter and how promising his play was as a Freshman. They would be expecting improvement.
Instead, we move on to the next batch of phenomenal Freshmen.
It is what it is.
I expect Gabriel to be a "normal" Sophomore and show improvement from his Freshmen year.
Instead, we move on to the next batch of phenomenal Freshmen.
It is what it is.
I expect Gabriel to be a "normal" Sophomore and show improvement from his Freshmen year.
So... what? There are far more examples of guys living up to the summer hype rather than failing. People like you only choose the negative outliers to reaffirm some unfounded negative attitue. You must be new as a UK fan. Before Cal, we didn't give up on kids after their Freshman years.
Wow, take it easy, my friend. I said nothing outlandish in my post. The OP said nothing about limiting the topic to just Cal players so not sure why you attacked me on that. Have you not been a UK fan long enough to remember the history of summer reports and how one player or another looked great but that never transferred to the real season? That's all I was referring to. Maybe I've just been around UK basketball longer than you to remember summer reports before Cal got here. We're talking about summer basketball, not the potential of great players you have on your list, please keep that in mind.
Show me where I said I was giving up on him? Was Josh Carrier before Cal, was Antoine Barber before Cal, was Matt pilgrim before Cal. They tore it up in the summer also. I hope he does have a break out year but please forgive me if I don't base it on "summer reports"
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