Wiltjer projected by CBS SPORTS as POY and Pre-season All-American

[pascat]

He is the worst defensive player I've ever seen at Kentucky, with the possible exception of Shagari Alleyne during his freshman year. Kyle Wiltjer will always be a Wildcat in my book, but he should not even sniff AA status. He couldn't guard his shadow. Further, he does not even try on defense. He is all offensive minded.

 

[JonathanW]

Anyone that says he comes close to deserving any POY award literally know nothing about B-ball and are just saying it because either A. he used to play for UK or B. for reasons having to do with his shade of skin as Kyle is a good offensive player , a horrible defensive player which equals a good , not great player. He is perfect for the Zags but he should never be mentioned in the top 20 players in college , like ever . I can name all the UK players better then him - Everyone on the roster on a scholarship minus Hawkins and Willis ( for now) .

Being better is NOT what POY or AA is about. It is about contribution to your team. Ulis was probably one of the 10 most talented PG in college basketball last year (at least top 20), but in no way did he come close to contributing at that level (due to his PT and the talent around him).

 

[Ben101er]

I've never understood why everyone is brutally harse with him. While his criticism about problems on D are valid I think it's a shame we don't have him anymore.

I've always been a believer in playing multiple defensive schemes to throw off oppenents and leave them guessing if you're playing man to man, zone, and what type of zone. Wevehad numerous teams that should've ran zone, esp due to the personal we had, and if we ran zone at times, we could play a 4th year player with a unique set of skills not possesed by anyone else on our team.

Am I really the only fan who agrees with Cal and myself, becauseCal hasstatednumerous times that he should be played zone numerous times after the fact, and talked about how he should Prolly run more zone Just in general, not about particular one particular game. Cal has said that we practice zone defense a fair amount of time to the point that he feels comfertable going to it if we are getting killed man to man, and have used zone defense sparingly, however effectly in the past and it was usually after the few timesweused zone and it worked well were usually when her bring up that we should probably run it more often.

I will agree with you on one point. If you want to throw off the opponents, by playing multiple defenses, Wiltjer would be your guy, because you could never tell if he was playing zone, or man to man. The problem was, we would be in man to man, and he was playing zone, since he couldn't stay with his man. I like Kyle, he does a lot of things well, but he couldn't guard a bank vault. And, I am not sure it is a shame that he didn't stay at UK. If it is, it was because of his own doing.

 

[Ben101er]

I've never understood why everyone is brutally harse with him. While his criticism about problems on D are valid I think it's a shame we don't have him anymore.

I've always been a believer in playing multiple defensive schemes to throw off oppenents and leave them guessing if you're playing man to man, zone, and what type of zone. Wevehad numerous teams that should've ran zone, esp due to the personal we had, and if we ran zone at times, we could play a 4th year player with a unique set of skills not possesed by anyone else on our team.

Am I really the only fan who agrees with Cal and myself, becauseCal hasstatednumerous times that he should be played zone numerous times after the fact, and talked about how he should Prolly run more zone Just in general, not about particular one particular game. Cal has said that we practice zone defense a fair amount of time to the point that he feels comfertable going to it if we are getting killed man to man, and have used zone defense sparingly, however effectly in the past and it was usually after the few timesweused zone and it worked well were usually when her bring up that we should probably run it more often.

I will agree with you on one point. If you want to throw off the opponents, by playing multiple defenses, Wiltjer would be your guy, because you could never tell if he was playing zone, or man to man. The problem was, we would be in man to man, and he was playing zone, since he couldn't stay with his man. I like Kyle, he does a lot of things well, but he couldn't guard a bank vault. And, I am not sure it is a shame that he didn't stay at UK. If it is, it was because of his own doing.

 

[Ben101er]

I've never understood why everyone is brutally harse with him. While his criticism about problems on D are valid I think it's a shame we don't have him anymore.

I've always been a believer in playing multiple defensive schemes to throw off oppenents and leave them guessing if you're playing man to man, zone, and what type of zone. Wevehad numerous teams that should've ran zone, esp due to the personal we had, and if we ran zone at times, we could play a 4th year player with a unique set of skills not possesed by anyone else on our team.

Am I really the only fan who agrees with Cal and myself, becauseCal hasstatednumerous times that he should be played zone numerous times after the fact, and talked about how he should Prolly run more zone Just in general, not about particular one particular game. Cal has said that we practice zone defense a fair amount of time to the point that he feels comfertable going to it if we are getting killed man to man, and have used zone defense sparingly, however effectly in the past and it was usually after the few timesweused zone and it worked well were usually when her bring up that we should probably run it more often.

I will agree with you on one point. If you want to throw off the opponents, by playing multiple defenses, Wiltjer would be your guy, because you could never tell if he was playing zone, or man to man. The problem was, we would be in man to man, and he was playing zone, since he couldn't stay with his man. I like Kyle, he does a lot of things well, but he couldn't guard a bank vault. And, I am not sure it is a shame that he didn't stay at UK. If it is, it was because of his own doing.

 

[Teachable Moe]

Being better is NOT what POY or AA is about. It is about contribution to your team.

I imagine each voter has his own idea of what the award is about. Regardless, the awards are pretty much entirely media driven. There were lists of AAs in times when few voters could have seen more than a tiny fraction of the candidates. Which is probably almost as true today. How man teams are there in DIVISION I?

 

[reddickulis81]

I could see this happening and not have a problem with it. The kid deserves it. He is going to put up some nice stats this year for Gonzaga. Remember this is for having the best stats on winning teams. The all American teams are never about who's the most talented. If talent were a factor, he wouldn't be anywhere near this list. I'll be happy for the kid. He stills loves Kentucky and cheers for our cats. He just wasn't a good fit and we all agreed with him on that. He did what's best for him and that Just so happened to be what was best for us as well. Win. Win. Good luck.

Even when he played for us I thought he just had gonzaga written all over him.

 

[*Bleedingblue*]

I agree that we should run zone D when we can against certain teams. UConn struggled against it when UL beat them 3x. I'm a firm believer we would have a min of 2 more titles if Cal wasn't one dimensional on D. He switches up his O all the time to fit his players but refuses to do so on D or against opponents who struggle against certain looks.

As far as Wiltjer.... Glad to see his lazy butt gone. Was he on any lists last year? He should be better than most others since he is like 4-5 yrs older than a lot of players.

 

[fatguy87]

Picking the POY is different that picking the best player. The POY selection is driven largely by traditional measures of ability and media attention. Wiltjer will likely put up a gaudy PPG total while playing on a decent team which is a pretty good recipe for POY consideration. If he gets that RPG total up to 8, he'll be a very strong contender for the award.

Wiltjer does have a chance at being one of the best offensive players next season, however. The dude shot almost 64 TS% on about 17 shots per 40 last season. Efficient, high volume shooters don't exactly grow on trees.

 

[KopiKat]

I love that, first class kid that never got his opportunity at UK.

I noticed you have 0 likes

 

[UKphotoman]

I like Wiltjer, seems like a good kid who was a bad fit for UK. We just couldn't hide him on defense. But the zags play chumps most of the time so they can hide him on defense. They win a lot and he'll be their leading scorer and rebounder. So I can see him being AA and don't have a problem with it. It's an offense driven award and he definetly provides it. I'll root him on to have a great year.

 

[63in62]

Can't imagine Kyle ever being POY or an AA, but if WCS can be a first team AA then just about any above average player can also.