Would you prefer an NBA roster full of Duke or UK guys ? (Rich Eisen)
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It's not even a question. It's Kentucky.
There's no way the bald guy was serious. He was just playing the contrarian. He mentioned the Plumlee brothers and Austin Rivers and you could tell he was about the start dying laughing.
And they were comparing all of Duke's NBA guys (including the injured guys like Zion) to only the Kentucky guys that are left in the playoffs. That didn't include Fox, Monk, Towns, SGA, Keldon, etc.
So their discussion didn't even include a three-time All-Star (Towns), a 3rd team All-NBA guy (Fox) and some dude name Shai who just earned All-NBA First Team honors.
This would be a 4 game sweep and would play out like that scene in Apocalypse Now with BBN playing the role of Robert Duvall's character in the post-game presser.
And they were comparing all of Duke's NBA guys (including the injured guys like Zion) to only the Kentucky guys that are left in the playoffs. That didn't include Fox, Monk, Towns, SGA, Keldon, etc.
So their discussion didn't even include a three-time All-Star (Towns), a 3rd team All-NBA guy (Fox) and some dude name Shai who just earned All-NBA First Team honors.
This would be a 4 game sweep and would play out like that scene in Apocalypse Now with BBN playing the role of Robert Duvall's character in the post-game presser.
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More proof of who does less with more.
Cats by 90! Well 72 because Cal would take his foot off the gas and grind out the last 10 minutes.
I was trying to think of a starting lineup and I believe Randle may have supplanted Towns. I’d go Fox SGA Booker Davis Randle now. But you still have another full team of 20 PPGers on the bench like Towns Adebayo Herro Murray and Johnson.
Duke really only has Irving Tatum Ingram Banchero and Williamson…
Duke really only has Irving Tatum Ingram Banchero and Williamson…
I start KAT and Bam over Randle.
There's no way the bald guy was serious. He was just playing the contrarian. He mentioned the Plumlee brothers and Austin Rivers and you could tell he was about the start dying laughing.
And they were comparing all of Duke's NBA guys (including the injured guys like Zion) to only the Kentucky guys that are left in the playoffs. That didn't include Fox, Monk, Towns, SGA, Keldon, etc.
So their discussion didn't even include a three-time All-Star (Towns), a 3rd team All-NBA guy (Fox) and some dude name Shai who just earned All-NBA First Team honors.
This would be a 4 game sweep and would play out like that scene in Apocalypse Now with BBN playing the role of Robert Duvall's character in the post-game presser.
Plus this is kind of the perfect time to make this comparison.. as Kentucky just lost Wall and Cousins, mainly to injury, who were all-star type talents... along with some of Kentuckys early 1AD guys who couldnt stay in the league, now that its 8 to 10 years in.. and Duke STILL can't hold a candle to Kentucky.
In three years Duke won't have Irving or Zion (and likely a few others), and this will be right back to the blowout it was.
And we might just have another future All-Star on the roster in Edwards. He could go down to become Cal's best small forward ever. Wagner and Bradshaw have a shot at stardom, too. We'll see how it all unfolds.
The one thing I'll always be grateful to Calipari for is supplying so many NBA stars for us. UK hardly had any quality NBA stars in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. Mashburn made one All-Star game, as did Magloire. Walker was a three-time All-Star. Rondo made 4 appearances. Prince and Mercer and a few others like Anderson were solid, but none of them were stars.
Calipari has given UK our first real professional-level stars since maybe Mashburn (circa '94-96, and early 2000s-version Mashburn).
If Calipari continues to land us guys like Edwards, I'd be okay with him remaining in Lexington until he's done here. That's a big if though.
What difference does it make if cal keeps pumping nba all stars into the league that played here if it doesn’t parlay into any level of success here?
He went to four Final Fours when he was landing the best players in the nation. He's the most successful coach when it comes to getting guys like Davis and Wall to play at a high level, but he's absolutely marginal when it comes to transcribing that to guys like Gabriel and Ty Ty on a winning level.
I don’t disagree but we are now 8 years removed from a final 4. Landing one player like Edwards on occasion is not going to change that. The list of players since 2015 that have played here without going to a final 4 who have seen at least some level of success in the league is quite lengthy. Only 2 elite 8’s also in that same time span. Cal just cannot get it done any longer despite what his rosters look like. The Wall/cousins/Bledsoe days are over and he failed with that team as well.
This is one area where the 2 programs are not even close. This past season UK had 11 different of their ex players average over 20.0 ppg in the same NBA season. UK had 4 NBA All-Stars this past season & if AD, Booker & KAT had not been injured who knows how many ex UK players would have been in last season's All-Star game. The talent that UCLA turned from 1965-75 & the talent that UNC turned out from 1975-85 might be comparable to what UK currently has in the NBA. But Duke isn't even close.
Tatum is the real deal, outside of that UK dudes would run this one.
Yeah, that 'I'm going to out-talent you' approach doesn't work anymore. There weren't that many schools that cared about college basketball until recently. Now, most of D1 is heavily invested in their basketball programs and there are 20-30 programs each year that have damn good talent AND combine it with a heavy dose of experience.
This isn't going to work in today's game and while it's nice to see the NBA filled with UK guys, it isn't helping UK much and if I'm Cal, I'm embarrassed that I haven't accomished more with the guys that played at UK. Their NBA success, is exposing Cal for what he is to people that didn't already know.
tatum is the real deal, but he has had some big no shows in the past and duke will get cooper flag who may turn into a stud... but other than that uk guys by 50
Maybe the starters are close (assuming all guys healthy & playing) in a Duke vs UK all-star game, but the benches are no where remotely close (UK easily better). Where UK's 2nd 5 would be close to as good as Duke and UK's first 5, and UK's 3rd 5 is comparable to Duke's 2nd 5. 58 players averaged 20ppg in the NBA this year, and 11 of them (19%) came from UK. Duke was 2nd with 6 (10%).
UK 1st 5: Fox, SGA, Booker, Randle, Davis
Duke 1st 5: Irving, Tatum, Zion, Ingram, Banchero (1 guard, 4 forwards)
UK 2nd 5: Murray, Maxey, K.Johnson, Bam, KAT
UK 3rd 5: Quickley, Herro, Monk, Vanderbilt, Washington
Duke 2nd 5: T.Jones, Trent, Barrett, Bagley, Carter
UK 4th 5: Wall, Diallo, Boston, Knox, Gabriel, Lyles
Duke 3rd 5: T.Jones, Kennard, Allen, Reddish, M.Plumlee
Duke 4th 5: S.Curry, Winslow
Honestly, I think you have to combine Duke players with 1 other school (who would #3 be) to come close to matching UK players.
UK 1st 5: Fox, SGA, Booker, Randle, Davis
Duke 1st 5: Irving, Tatum, Zion, Ingram, Banchero (1 guard, 4 forwards)
UK 2nd 5: Murray, Maxey, K.Johnson, Bam, KAT
UK 3rd 5: Quickley, Herro, Monk, Vanderbilt, Washington
Duke 2nd 5: T.Jones, Trent, Barrett, Bagley, Carter
UK 4th 5: Wall, Diallo, Boston, Knox, Gabriel, Lyles
Duke 3rd 5: T.Jones, Kennard, Allen, Reddish, M.Plumlee
Duke 4th 5: S.Curry, Winslow
Honestly, I think you have to combine Duke players with 1 other school (who would #3 be) to come close to matching UK players.
Or maybe there's a reason the UK guys (several who were rated lower in HS than Duke guys) perform better in the NBA than most of the Duke guys. That's something that often gets overlooked in this discussion.
Not only that, since Cal's time at UK, coach k won 1 championship with OAD players. No one off the 2010 Duke championship team is in the NBA. OAD started in 2015 for Duke. Cal has 1 as well 2012.
I think we can all agree that Cals guys perform better once they actually leave. That doesn’t do us as UK fans a damn bit of good. I will never Celebrate a Former UK player winning an nba title as I don’t give a rats behind about the league. Good for them yes, but for UK it does nothing.
In college not so much. They’ve beat us head to head more than I care to admit.
I was wondering what school could put together the 3rd best current NBA roster?
So I looked at the top NBA scorers (I know there is more to being the best than scoring, but this was a simple list to find).
Wow!!!
I had to get to the 41st player (Rozier) before I found a school (UL) not named UK or Duke with more than 1 player represented. By then UK already had 6 guys, and Duke had 4.
I didn't get to a school represented by 3 players until #75 (Wiggins - KU). By then UK had 11 players, and Duke had 7.
So in the top 75 guys:
UK - 11
no school - 10 (6 foreign)
Duke - 7
KU - 3
UL, UCLA, USC, Mich St, Mich, Ariz, Texas, Missouri - 2
mid majors - 9 (yet some on this board think mid-major players are leftover trash)
non-UK SEC - 5 (so 16 total by SEC)
non-Duke ACC - 4 (so 11 total by ACC)
PAC 10 - 13 (3 schools with 2, and 7 other schools with 1)
Big 12 - 8
Big 10 - 5
So the PAC 10 is the only conference with more than UK
So I looked at the top NBA scorers (I know there is more to being the best than scoring, but this was a simple list to find).
Wow!!!
I had to get to the 41st player (Rozier) before I found a school (UL) not named UK or Duke with more than 1 player represented. By then UK already had 6 guys, and Duke had 4.
I didn't get to a school represented by 3 players until #75 (Wiggins - KU). By then UK had 11 players, and Duke had 7.
So in the top 75 guys:
UK - 11
no school - 10 (6 foreign)
Duke - 7
KU - 3
UL, UCLA, USC, Mich St, Mich, Ariz, Texas, Missouri - 2
mid majors - 9 (yet some on this board think mid-major players are leftover trash)
non-UK SEC - 5 (so 16 total by SEC)
non-Duke ACC - 4 (so 11 total by ACC)
PAC 10 - 13 (3 schools with 2, and 7 other schools with 1)
Big 12 - 8
Big 10 - 5
So the PAC 10 is the only conference with more than UK
Yes you need talent, but you also need experience. Most 18yo can't handle the pressure that a 21yo can. And you can't simulate being in a F4 environment.
I think the difficulty both have had, especially UK, is that by bringing in so many OAD types every year, they have made it much more difficult for non-OAD players to see that they will have an opportunity to develop and be impactful leaders as JRs & SRs. Sure a few have, but not that many. And this is at a time/era when young people have less patience, a bigger desire for instant gratification, than ever before.
I've thought for many years, the ideal annual class would be 2 "elite (top 5 or 10)" recruits (Wall/KAT/Edwards) who are likely OAD, 1-2 4* guys (20-50 range, SGA/Juzang/Hopkins) who will need at least 2-3 years, and 1 "project", and 1-2 transfers (JR-SR) to fill in any gaps (where guys don't develop, or transfer out, or develop faster than expected)
Not even close. Eishen had to know this would stir something up. Probably be a sweep if they played.
Duke Sucks!
Duke Sucks!
There is no way a group of UK NBA guys loses to the Duke NBA guys...
...unless Calipari coaches the UK team.
...unless Calipari coaches the UK team.
Ky has a 12-11 edge all-time, although the last 35 years has been pretty lopsided in Duke's favor. Basically even over all though.
