Who was the most disappointing Wildcat since probation ended in 1991?

[ArtLaibsGhost]

My top 10 admittedly a couple are from the 80s.
10. BJ Boston
9. Marvin Stone
8 Rob Locke
7. Randolph Morris
6.Daniel Orton
5.Richard Madison
4.SkalLibrissiere
3. Jason Parker
2. Oliver Sarr
1 Rashard Carruth
I left Rhodes off because he actually played well for UK at times. If there was a worst basketball IQ team he would have been captain

 

[LowCountryCat]

JODIE.

MEEKS.

 

[westerncat]

BOSTON ! By a country mile.

 

[BigRedMachineBigBlueNation]

Even Chin and OA recruited him for Illinois. Not sure what happened.

Kid was getting really bad advice from his handlers if I am remembering correctly. His attitude and choices made him hard to like.

 

[BigRedMachineBigBlueNation]

My top 10 admittedly a couple are from the 80s.
10. BJ Boston
9. Marvin Stone
8 Rob Locke
7. Randolph Morris
6.Daniel Orton
5.Richard Madison
4.SkalLibrissiere
3. Jason Parker
2. Oliver Sarr
1 Rashard Carruth
I left Rhodes off because he actually played well for UK at times. If there was a worst basketball IQ team he would have been captain

I completely forgot about Sarr and Skal which says a lot.

 

[BlueInBrooklyn]

Great thread.

 

[JPScott]

Randolph Morris maybe?

Randolph Morris was a disappointment in relation to his expectations, but there was a time when he was one of the most productive big men in the country. That's got to count for something IMO.

 

[ULisnotmyman]

Billy Gillispie.

 

[BBBLazing]

JODIE.

MEEKS.

Another all american, second team albeit, that someone says disappointed them. He set our all time 1 game scoring record. What would this kid have to do to please you?

 

[ArtLaibsGhost]

Don’t see how you could put Meeks on the list. Tubby recruited him and left, he was verbally ( at least):abused by Gillespie and still performed remarkably well. He was facing his 3 rd coach in 4 years and chose to go pro, how can anyone blame him.

 

[CB3UK]

Probably Poythress for me personally. Such a good dude and easy to root for, really felt like each year was gonna be the "light bulb" year where it all clicked for him and he became the dominant force we all saw he could be. It wasn't an issue of effort or anything. Just head scratching....we all see what he can do, why doesn't he?

I was 10 when Rhodes was here so all the guys on the team were incredible to me. If I'd been older and known all the hype before he got here he'd probably get my vote.

I never bought the hype with last years team going in, but I certainly didn't expect the disaster we got. Boston and Askew definitely extremely disappointing. That whole team really. Just sweep it under the rug.

 

[yes_takeaside]

How many games into his freshman year, he dropped like 27 or something against G-Tech (who was a pretty legit team at the time)? Was right at the beginning of the season. Looked like a star in the making.

Been mentioned before but he was doing a little in game celebrating during that on fire freshman year start and Pitino took him out and dressed him down on the sidelines. Everyone saw it.

He was never the same almost immediately. I know it’s a joke on here but Rick absolutely took his heart.

 

[bthaunert]

I’ve read through most of them. I’ll throw a couple more out there there I don’t think we’re listed:

Myron Anthony - Parade AA and highly touted coming out of Jacksonville. Scored 75 points at UK before transferring.

Joe Crawford - this one might sound strange because he scored 1,438 points at UK. But, he was the 9th ranked player in American coming out of HS and his only accolades at UK was 2nd team all SEC his senior year.

 

[JonathanW]

Also, Skal and BJ played on bad teams, and were expected to carry the load. Now i'm not saying they weren't disappointing.. but they also played just ONE year. I think Skal and BJ didn't come into the best scenarios.

Poythress was almost right there with them in HS ranking, and he stayed 4 years.. doing virtually nothing. He was complacent, and when we needed a leader, he wasn't there.

I'd gladly trade the 4 years Poythress gave us to have to just ONE more year of either BJ or Skal.. guys I think just needed more time, and who would likely have caught fire as sophomores.

Are you serious?
Skal played on a team with the best backcourt in the nation, the best we’ve had at UK ever, that was one good player away from being a contender. Hmm 🤔, maybe the #1 ranked recruit could be that good player. Nope, he sucked!!!
Ulis 1st team AA
Murray 2nd or 3rd team AA
Briscoe decent role player
Poythress was only 80% but decent role player

 

[BlueWorldOrder74]

Been mentioned before but he was doing a little in game celebrating during that on fire freshman year start and Pitino took him out and dressed him down on the sidelines. Everyone saw it.

He was never the same almost immediately. I know it’s a joke on here but Rick absolutely took his heart.

I watched UK v Arky in Rupp 1994. Rhodes had a great stretch in the first half and began celebrating a bit at a time out call by Nolan. Rhodes had just buried a couple of threes, had a couple of amazing one on one moves to the basket, and played some really good D. We were up big on them (we were both ranked in top 5). Rick yanked him, and just completely laid into him on the sideline. Dude was nothing after that in the game. They came back and beat us at home. That was one of the loudest I’ve ever heard Rupp.

 

[Montana81]

I’ve read through most of them. I’ll throw a couple more out there there I don’t think we’re listed:

Myron Anthony - Parade AA and highly touted coming out of Jacksonville. Scored 75 points at UK before transferring.

Joe Crawford - this one might sound strange because he scored 1,438 points at UK. But, he was the 9th ranked player in American coming out of HS and his only accolades at UK was 2nd team all SEC his senior year.

Crawford was surpremely talented. He just played for UK at the wrong time. Tubby’s desire and motivation was clearly waning. And he went from that to gillispie.

My last memory of crawford in a UK jersey is him playing himself to near exhaustion in a season ending loss to marquette. Crawford was outstanding that game but sadly he didn’t have much help and he was visibly spent when the buzzer sounded. He and bradley played a ton of minutes that season.

 

[JST390-2]

Are you serious?
Skal played on a team with the best backcourt in the nation, the best we’ve had at UK ever, that was one good player away from being a contender. Hmm 🤔, maybe the #1 ranked recruit could be that good player. Nope, he sucked!!!
Ulis 1st team AA
Murray 2nd or 3rd team AA
Briscoe decent role player
Poythress was only 80% but decent role player

Thanks for the personnel reminder …yeah that backcourt was nasty good

 

[Montana81]

Dakari Johnson makes that team a title contender. The sad truth is Cal probably pushed him out so he could feature skal.

 

[Diggers_Matching_Highlighter]

Jason Parker went from a High School All-American, to blowing his knee out celebrating BEFORE midnight madness, to smoking his way out of Lexington.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

Rhodes also came in on the heels of Mashburn, showed out very early on his freshman year and we all instantly thought “okay, here’s our next guy. Our next Mashburn.” He just never fully put it together. Didn’t have it between the ears.

Yep. Then Pitino pulled him from a game and told Rhodes to basically quit showing up Mash and that it was Mash’s show. Literally ripped his ass for playing so well. This story has been told on here before too. Rhodes was never the same player from that point onward.

 

[trueblujr2]

WCS for me. Never developed into a basketball player. Always played four on five when we had the ball. Bricked or air balled the most FG attempts within three feet in UK history. Thank God for Dakari Johnson in 2014.

Of all the players on the list, WCS doesn't register. He was a 1st team All-American in 2014-15 and SEC defensive player of the year. So I have to think we managed to get some value out of him that wouldn't qualify him for this list.

 

[YardCat]

D. Allen

 

[VA/UK]

I’ve read through most of them. I’ll throw a couple more out there there I don’t think we’re listed:

Myron Anthony - Parade AA and highly touted coming out of Jacksonville. Scored 75 points at UK before transferring.

Joe Crawford - this one might sound strange because he scored 1,438 points at UK. But, he was the 9th ranked player in American coming out of HS and his only accolades at UK was 2nd team all SEC his senior year.

Crawford for sure.

 

[Padsfs07]

Poythress was a beast, and he would have been a beast throughout his career at U.K. if Calipari hadn't tried to make a "3" out of him, instead of letting him play as a "4" like he was born to be. Calipari can't think in any terms other than stereotypical NBA terms. Poythress would have been a two-inches-taller Chuck Hayes and would have had a fabulous college career if he'd been playing for anyone other than Calipari.

I don't necessarily agree with you on this as Poythress spent the entirety of his senior season as the 4 with the 3-guard lineup of Ulis, Murray, and Briscoe playing the 1-3 spots.

It does seem like Calipari has learned his lesson some, as the hybrid guys that have come after Poythress have all mostly played the 4. Derek Willis, PJ Washington, and Keion Brooks all played the 4 primarily. The other guys, like Gabriel, Vanderbilt, and Whitney, never could break into the rotation, especially not over Briscoe or Knox, or Quickley.

I'm curious to see what he does with Chris Livingston mixing in with Toppin, Hopkins, and maybe even Brooks next year. Without Sharpe, we probably don't have the elite guard play to force 3 guards in the lineup on a scale like Grady, Quickley, and Briscoe have in recent years.

 

[Padsfs07]

Rashaad Carruth is my pick for this topic.

 

[phyrekat]

Rashaad Carruth deserves mention here.

Dawg

 

[LineSkiCat14]

Are you serious?
Skal played on a team with the best backcourt in the nation, the best we’ve had at UK ever, that was one good player away from being a contender. Hmm 🤔, maybe the #1 ranked recruit could be that good player. Nope, he sucked!!!
Ulis 1st team AA
Murray 2nd or 3rd team AA
Briscoe decent role player
Poythress was only 80% but decent role player

I shouldnt have put the Skal team in the same category as the Boston team. But I still wasn't high on the 2016 squad. We had good guards but were weak in the front court.

Either way, he was here for ONE year. Poythress sucked for 4x as long. And if we want to talk about players being out of their natural position.. Skal might be the biggest example.

 

[phyrekat]

Of all the players on the list, WCS doesn't register. He was a 1st team All-American in 2014-15 and SEC defensive player of the year. So I have to think we managed to get some value out of him that wouldn't qualify him for this list.

I think RS just posts deliberately horrendous takes to try to get a reaction from people, because no one is really that stupid. Right? Right?

 

[nickhorvathsuxazz]

BJ Boston...no close 2nd

 

[Runnin'Ramel]

Bravo. Boston 1 and EJ 2. Whitney IMO was just a bust right out of the gate, so the expectations were tempered.

Not having Rod Rhodes in the top 2 would suggest a heavy recency bias.

 

[thebluestreak]

Matt Pilgrim. Was supposed to be a beast. ☹️
Skal also, #1 player in the country. Bust.

 

[fatguy87]

How is Morris being consider? He was here for 2.6 seasons and was quite productive. Was he supposed to be AD or Oscar? There's a reason we've had only a few guys that level in the last 10 years. We've got many folks salivating at the thought of having a player of Morris' caliber playing multiple season nowadays.

There are plenty of players who were bad, had a career hampered by poor decisions, and/or curtailed by drug use that should be included.

For me, the biggest is Marvin Stone. He was a top 5 recruit, played 2 full seasons, sucked, and then transferred to Louisville. He should be in everybody's top 3.

 

[LiveBlueK14]

Rashaad Carruth deserves mention here

Except that one time Carruth was on fiya

 

[pauled]

Kelenna Azubuike dude had it all except a killer instinct. I expected him to be the next Michael or Kobe. The talent was there

Looked like Tarzan played like Jane!

 

[pauled]

Are you actually kidding?

He has to be! Darius was huge in our Championship run!

 

[WildcatFan1982]

How is Morris being consider? He was here for 2.6 seasons and was quite productive. Was he supposed to be AD or Oscar? There's a reason we've had only a few guys that level in the last 10 years. We've got many folks salivating at the thought of having a player of Morris' caliber playing multiple season nowadays.

A lot of people thought that Morris was never trying and didn't really care.

 

[Fox2monk]

Who ya got?

My list:




#10. Jarred Vanderbilt - Ah, what could have been? Vanderbilt went from being one of the most intriguing players in the country (when healthy) to disappearing into injury oblivion.

#9. Jules Camara - a big man with all the physical tools to become a absolute matchup nightmare, but never took that ultimate step into All-SEC territory.

#8. Kahlil Whitney - from top 10 McDonald's All-American, to team quitter, the mystery of Kahlil Whitney continues to leave a bizarre residue in Lexington.

#7. Hamidou Diallo - Diallo was the most athletic player in the nation during his lone year at UK, but inconsistency blemished his freshmen campaign and ultimately hurt Kentucky's title chances.

#6. Jared Prickett - from starter on a Final Four team as a freshmen, to an 8th or 9th man as a senior. When did Prickett improve? .

#5. Marvin Stone - Stone came to UK as one of the premier talents in his high school class, but never become much more than a role player for Tubby Smith's Wildcats.

#4. Ryan Harrow - absolute head case who was the main reason for the NIT season in 2013.

#3. Skal Labissiere - one of the most overrated high school prospects in the modern era.

#2. BJ Boston - Was expected to lead UK to a solid season but only ended up leading UK to a 9-16 record.

#1. Rodrick Rhodes - Along with Jason Kidd, was considered one of the top 2 prospects in the nation coming out of high school. Ended up as a 5 year college player who barely made a cameo in the NBA. Was absolutely dreadful in season-ending games for UK where he went a collective 2/20 from the field in three games and scored a total of 8 points.

Good list by I’d put Whitney at 1 ahead of Boston. Just so so so bad at basketball.

 

[Fox2monk]

Even Chin and OA recruited him for Illinois. Not sure what happened.

He’s a headcase that thinks he’s better than he is.

 

[Fox2monk]

Randolph Morris maybe?

Morris had a good team and actually produced, he just had little help while here outside 2005.

 

[LowCountryCat]

Another all american, second team albeit, that someone says disappointed them. He set our all time 1 game scoring record. What would this kid have to do to please you?

Stay and play for 2010. We would have hung #8.