Givony is a Cal and UK hater so I take everything he says with a grain of salt. He has a long track record of rating UK players lower than all other ranking services and devaluing them.
What J Givony has to say about our recruits
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It won't matter, if he's not on the NBA's radar, he’s not going to get minutes over guys that are, not with Cal coaching.
I don’t understand why you’re mad lol
He’s just not on the NBA radar and the guy who is doing this…that’s what he does.
That doesn’t mean he’s a bad player or won’t ever be on the NBA’s radar I was just pointing the reason (because ya know someone asked?) why Reed Sheppard wasn’t talked about.
Yes. Great question. Every player has strengths and weaknesses. How coaches/recruiters prioritize them and try to project them into a well-constructed team would be very interesting. Recruiting is more an art than a science for some programs, it seems.
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Yeah, but I'd hope that a 5 star player near the top of his class also showcased their defensive ability better. It just rubs me the wrong way slightly.
Cal refuses to look for a 6’9 230 lb enforcer PF who had offensive skills. Lately these kinds of kids seem to be 3 or 4 star guys and Cal avoids them like the plague. We had a 6’6 strong guy last year but Cal ran him off and now he is flourishing with Providence. Aside from Oscar our little skinny forwards and centers get pushed around like beans. I just wish Cal would take his act elsewhere.
Agree totally. Him playing favorites is what is causing all of the problems. Very tiring.
I agree with you 100% that 25.3% is pitiful and it's a concern, for sure. Hopefully, that can be improved or he will be another player that smart opponents sag on, daring him to shoot.
Just for general interest, it is amazing to know that Maxey, as great as he was, only shot 29.2% from three here, especially after the ultra-impressive, long-range, bright lights debut against Michigan State.
Dillingham seems like a good shooter, but Wagner has always had questions about his shot. I don’t know how you can be a guard today and not be able to shoot, that’s like a QB only being able to throw the ball 20 yards downfield.
He'd rather watch Collins jog up and down the court accomplishing absolutely nothing.
The damage a polished pf can do in the college game, is massive.
Ian Jackson didn’t come here because he was scared of the 1% chance that he’d have to get dunked on in practice everyday by a sophomore Justin Edwards.
That (playing the FR no matter what) was his story early on at UK (although those FR were the shit). But it's been less over time.
Travis played over Montgomery
Whitney was playing so little he left midseason.
Collins nor Hopkins played much.
We were probably a dozen games in before Livingston made the starting lineup, and he's still at only 16mpg.
But you may be right.
Well we got guys like Bryce Hopkins and Cam Fletcher, Cal refuses to view them as 4s though.
If he is good he will get minutes. He won't start next year but that's ok. His dad didn't really do a ton until later in his career and certainly his senior year. He wouldn't be starting next year if Oats or muss are the coach either IMO. They would bring in experienced transfers to start.
Calipari probably won't be coaching after his freshmen year anyways.
Yes you have, v I've seen it more than once.
Kahlil Whitney started the first few games until Cal realized he wasn't any good, then he quit the second he lost that starting spot.
Hopkins was a 4 star iirc.
He has tried to jam Collins down our throat this year and that is one of the main reasons for the Michigan State loss. He lost Joey Hauser at least a dozen times, because he doesn't play hard. Cal played Brooks and Toppin over him last year, that was too ibvious for Cal.
Yes, 5th year senior Reed Travis played over Montgomery, Cal isn't THAT ridiculous.
However, all the guys you mentioned were on teams that were Junior and Senior dominant. Next years team is going to be dominated by Freshmen. Big difference.
Play the best players.
What Adou's dad did back in the day has no bearing on what Adou can do now. They are different players and the game has changed.
I'm not sure why you brought Oats up, makes no sense, but I'll say this, Oats plays his best players for the purpose of winning college games.
Cal just LOVES kids that struggle shooting but are great athletes. It blows my mind how highly ranked the services place kids that shoot 25% from 3 in this day and age of basketball.
Reed may not be as highly ranked, but he CAN shoot the basketball from ANYWHERE on the floor.
Edwards sounds like he has the potential to be a really good college player even if he’s considered more of a “high floor” NBA prospect.
The rest of this report is honestly not all that encouraging since it seems likely that these are the guys we’ll be expecting to carry the team next year. I’m especially getting a little worried about Wagner because this isn’t the first place I’ve read about him not improving as much as expected after generating the initial hype in his first couple of years of high school. I hope I end up being wrong about him, but a guard who loves to attack out of iso situations, but doesn’t shoot, pass, or defend particularly well doesn’t sound like a recipe for any kind of success in the SEC, much less the program savior he’s occasionally been cast as on here due to his high ranking.
The rest of this report is honestly not all that encouraging since it seems likely that these are the guys we’ll be expecting to carry the team next year. I’m especially getting a little worried about Wagner because this isn’t the first place I’ve read about him not improving as much as expected after generating the initial hype in his first couple of years of high school. I hope I end up being wrong about him, but a guard who loves to attack out of iso situations, but doesn’t shoot, pass, or defend particularly well doesn’t sound like a recipe for any kind of success in the SEC, much less the program savior he’s occasionally been cast as on here due to his high ranking.
Whitney only averaged 12mpg over the 18 games he was with the team. So I think he did not play many (probably just the first 4-5) games over 20min.
Onyenso WILL PLAY OVER Bradshaw!
Can you give some examples of this? That's what was said here about Brooks playing over Toppin last year. Simply wasn't true. Brooks was better than Toppin.
Cal wants to win. He's going to play who he thinks will help us win. There's no conspiracy.
There's also the playing guys because of their NBA future. Well, what NBA future does Wheeler have?
Another example of us not going after shooters, but Payne has already offered maybe the best shooter in the 24 class, Knuepple from WI, but we have not even been mentioned with him. Just think you have to have the energy to find out who the very best shooters are, regardless of star rating, and go after them.
Yeah, dillingham will be a test for cal. You have to let him be him and accept he will turn it over soemtimes, cal can’t try to micro-manage him, it will never work that way. You gotta let rob be rob and soemtimes that will a great play and other times a turnover
I said before the season that this years team will be better than next years team. I still believe that. Scary huh ?
Whitney played 22mpg and 20mpg the first 2 games, played 23 minutes in game 3 (Evansville), 26 minutes in game 4, then, finally in game 5, he was cut down to 14.
Yeah, if you average out his time over 18 games, you're going to see a lower number, but by doing that, you're hiding the fact that he averaged 23mpg.
It took Cal 5 games to realize KW was not ready to play at this level and one of those games was a home loss to Evansville.
It also took Cal 14 games to finally play the most obvious lineup this year, but that's after 6 losses and another embarrassing home loss.
Cal plays favorites, nobody can deny that, but in situations like he will be in next year, he knows he has to play those one-and-dones, because he only has them for 1 year and if he doesn't do it, it hurts recruiting for the next year. It’s a really dumb situation to put ones self into.
If Wagner and Reed played a game of horse, Reed would win in 5-10 minutes. Cal and his 5 star non shooters. So tired of it.
Yup, I've been saying the same things. This 2023 team is the one that has the better chance to win it all. Next years team isn't going to do squat.
I don't understand how anybody could watch modern college basketball, see how tough the competition is and think that a bunch of non transcendent high school kids are going to win at this level.
The game is so physical now and there is too much parity that it's crazy to think this is going to work.
From what I’ve seen of both Dillingham and Wagner , Cal CANNOT run an offense that has the middle “clogged up “ . That will require Reeves or CJ (preferably both ) on the floor . Who’s going to sit ? Maybe he can figure it out before the season is half over and we are in danger of missing the tournament next year . I’m not confident in that though.
Dillingham is gonna be a really electric player that will be very flashy and even though I suspect his shooting will not be great, NBA scouts will love his potential. I'm just not sure about Wagner, surely his three point shooting will improve.
LOL,
Brooks, Ware, Collins, Wheeler, Whitney, Boston, sideshow Bob to name a few.
I mean, Adou gets no time until Cal needs someone that will fight, but in other games, Collins, Wheeler and Ware play big minutes.
Hopkins got crapped on last year. Juzang got crapped on.
He played Kahlil over Maxey and Juzang, he played Greene over Quickly and he played Boston over Allen.
Are you blind?
Problem is, letting Rob be Rob, is going to create the domino effect that will cause a lot of losses.
Basketball is more than a game of horse.
I can already tell what players are going to be the whipping boys for rafters next season and which player is going to be given favoritism, even if he isn't one of the best players next year.
True, but that’s the risk you take when you get rob, if you try to force him into a offense especially CALs it will never work, let him be him and put spacing around him and it will work
Yeah, but why do we care that NBA scouts like his potential? What good does that do for UK basketball?
Both those write ups are hyped up examples of what we’ve watched for years. “Athletic, explosive, etc….needs to improve shooting, perimeter shooting hasn’t developed as hoped”
They can both be really good players but hopefully CJ is back to pair with Reeves and that balances out the floor with some shooting ability…Dillingham also has range even though he’s a volume shooter
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If Cal is all in on winning the championship next year it looks like he needs to go out and get experienced portal guys at most positions that can shoot, defend and play hard all the time and let the youngsters play behind them and have to prove they can shoot, defend and play hard all the time to get minutes. UK should not be a training facility for the pro's as the top priority. Should be about winning championships and if anything else comes along to add to it so be it.
A good example of this and going inside the rankings and looking for fit and skill is that, at least on 24/7, Livingston was rated higher than Dick or Miller. Both contribute so much more to winning basketball by being able to shoot and dribble better.
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