I'm sure I'll forget some, but off the top of my head, maybe Harrelson. Who else?
Who had the biggest 1 year improvement in history as a Wildcat?
- Thread starter JonathanW
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Year three Nick Richards was WORLDS AHEAD of year one and year two Nick Richards. People forget how good Richards was in his third year.
Nick Richards needs love. I know his improvement really happened over the course of a few years, but he was pretty bad his first couple years. His junior year he was a legitimate force.
Tony Delk went from a benchwarmer to a 16ppg scorer between his freshman and sophomore season. Although that was probably due to his opportunity opening up more than actual improvement.
100%. In today's game TD would have been heavily replied upon from day 1.
It has to be Nazr Mohammed. From a 5 min a game average as an over-weight Freshman to playing many years in the NBA...
A few recent ones stand out off the top of my head….
PJ Washington
Nick Richards
Immanuel Quickley
Also Jodie Meeks went from being a 6th man as a freshman/limited playing time due to injury as a sophomore to exploding into one of the best scorers in college basketball his junior year in 2008-09. Big time improvement there.
PJ Washington
Nick Richards
Immanuel Quickley
Also Jodie Meeks went from being a 6th man as a freshman/limited playing time due to injury as a sophomore to exploding into one of the best scorers in college basketball his junior year in 2008-09. Big time improvement there.
Josh Harrellson- thought this guy sucked before 2011. He was a major reason we went to the Final Four in 2011.
Also, Tayshaun from 1999 to 2000.
Also, Tayshaun from 1999 to 2000.
Tyler Ulis. From a bench role player to the best in the league.
Quickly went from like 2 points a game to SEC player of the year
Little bit further back, but Scott Padgett should be considered. 2.0/PPG average as a freshman, missed half his sophomore year due to academics, then made the All-NCAA Final Four team as a junior.
Nazr Mohammed and Scott Padgett are great call outs as well from that mid-late 90s era.
I was a big Richards supporter those first 2 years predicting he would have that break-out, and he really wasn't bad, he showed potential. He just needed better strength.
Yep, his biggest problem was his hands. The guy just could not catch a ball thrown his way his first couple years.
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Yeah not sure I’m with the TJones choice. Dude was a stud as a freshman.
Good 2. Both right there with Harrellson.
I'd put Richards, after those 3.
Next tier Pelphrey, Quickley, Delk, Meeks, Daniels, Crawford.
Yeah, I kept saying he needed to spend his summer doing indoor rock climbing.
WCS going from being absolute trash as a freshman to being a consensus first team All-American and top 10 draft pick is pretty amazing.
Nazr really stands out from the 90's golden era, Harrellson and Richards from the Cal era.
He was definitely the biggest improvement I've seen in any Wildcat. He was not a good player before the Louisville game in 2010-11 and eventually became an important factor to our unexpected Final Four run.
On that note, I don't know if we win it all in 2012 without the improvement in both play and the leadership levels of Darius Miller. I remember when he was called Disappearius Miller around these parts during his first three years here, and was a fan favorite during his sudden emergence his senior year. I remember some players like Anthony Davis mentioning that if it weren't for him, they would've been a much different team.
Deron Feldhaus (if were going one year improvement) should probably be in this conversation. 3.7 to 14.4 PPG. 3.3 to 6.7 RPG. 56 2PT Field goal percentage in year two and 50% overall. What a critical piece to a team that kept us afloat during recovery. But I'm a little biased.
Quickley. Barely played at all his freshmen year to SEC POY as a Sophomore.
Nick Richards. Went from another forgettable Wildcat, to the poster-child for what hard work, development and sticking through it with the same school can do for you.
End of discussion!
Big Naz went from an EXTREMELY overweight, soft, out of shape big kid to an absolute FORCE for UK. I felt so bad for him after the 1997 championship game when he missed all of those FT’s. Then he and our Cats got redemption the next season!!
My favorite story from the 98 championship run was when we played UCLA they had a Center named Jeloni McCoy who was decent and he bragged about how he was MUCH better than Nazr and he was going to show everyone. Big Nazr didn’t say anything, he just went out and DOMINATED McCoy and the Bruins. He was the leading scorer and blocked about 7-8 shots!!
Also Big Nazr played 20 seasons in the NBA!! His son Is a decent HS player and I would LOVE to see him get a UK offer.
Not really.
WCS was decent as a FR, far from "trash".
His per30min stats (pt,reb,blk) were:
FR: 10.6, 7.9, 2.6
SOPH: 8.6, 7.7, 3.6
JR: 10.3, 7.4, 2.0
He played 18.5mpg as a FR, scoring 5.2pts as our 6th man. Far from "barely played at all".
But he would be in my top 10.
Of the names not mentioned, Darius Miller's production doubled from his sophomore season to his Junior year. Then of course his senior year leaving as a National Champion! Jeff Sheppard before sitting out in 96-97, jumped from 188 points, 65 assists, 70 rebounds, 16 steals & 22 3's up to 521 points scored, 71 made 3's, 151 rebounds, 104 assists & 47 steals in '98.
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