Wynyard

[KentuckyWildcat4Life]

Does he play Saturday vs loserville or not?

What do you guys think factoring everything that has happened with our big men in the post?

I personally think he will play and contribute which will leap Kentucky back into the top 10.

 

[Smashcat]

I'd say if he is impressing in practice he plays. If he does play, I hope he helps.

 

[KWilt43atbuzz]

Prob is the guys are out of town for Chrstmas until Wed. Right?

 

[docholiday51]

I don't really think he can give us valuable minutes in a game like this. Humphries has been here forever compared to Wynyard and he can't seem to find his way off the bench. I don't expect Wynyard to change things on a big scale.

Cal has not seen him play, the kid himself said he may redshirt it just doesn't seem likely that he will be ready to be thrown into pressure cooker of a game like UK/UL.He is probably not Dan Issel 2.0 just yet.

 

[KyFaninNC]

If Humphries can't get on the floor, not sure how he can.

 

[ORCAT]

I would be very surprised, almost shocked, to see him get on the floor during the game. Very little practice time with the team so far and is way behind in understanding offensive and defensive principles of the team. Just can't see him anywhere close to being ready to get in such a big game.

 

[westerncat]

I would be very surprised, almost shocked, to see him get on the floor during the game. Very little practice time with the team so far and is way behind in understanding offensive and defensive principles of the team. Just can't see him anywhere close to being ready to get in such a big game.

I agree.... just don't see him playing Saturday.

 

[kyboy1998]

What's there to teach for his position?

On defense we play man. He should already be equipped to try to block every shot and fall for countless head and ball fakes while finding himself out of position for rebounds.

On offense our 4 and 5s generally are relegated to watching Guards drive and jack up shots. He should be ready to troll the baseline for the occasional lob and curl behind one of the countless drives and bricks at the rim for trailing baskets now.

 

[whhs22]

guys he is not the answer. way to much high expectations being put on this young man. he is not in shape and probably won't be until next year. we may not see this kid for 2 years contributing any mins.

we put all our eggs in Skal and Alex being our force down low basket this year. we are gonna have to let it play out. hopefully those two come around.

 

[KWilt43atbuzz]

How much time could a wood chopper get, if a wood chopper should get time?

 

[OHIO COLONEL]

What is he 6'10"? I'd say put him in the game if we're up 1 in overtime...UL has the ball under the basket...has to throw it about 75 feet to say a UL shooting forward...who has to turn around and shoot the ball and make about a 17 footer with no time left to win the game. Then, I'd put him in to guard the in-bounds pass. Then Cal would be an even greater coach.

 

[whhs22]

Lol ohio thanks for the flash back. Man that shot will never go away . Hell even when Richie Farmer had a press conf before getting locked up , his lawyer makes a comment about covering the inbound passer. Ughhhh every highlights showing great finishes i gotta watch that shot.

 

[KentuckyWildcat4Life]

This kid is a big boy with size in hight and weight. Even if he scores 2-8 points that's more than skal has produced the past few weeks.
I honestly believe he will play and become the X factor we expected Skal and Poythress to be. Jmo

 

[UKBrassowTipIN]

In typical fashion, uk fans think the unknown is always the better option

 

[CELTICAT]

What's there to teach for his position?

On defense we play man. He should already be equipped to try to block every shot and fall for countless head and ball fakes while finding himself out of position for rebounds.

I had the thought that, if anything, maybe he stays on the floor and rebounds instead of flailing wildly at shots while the backside defender also flails wildly, thereby giving up the put back.

Maybe that doesn't get fixed this year, though.

 

[dckala2]

is not playing against ul. no way in hell do you throw a kid who has only been in the country for four days into this game. please no more talk of Tai in the louisville game.

but if you think he will/should, try to convince me.

 

[hoodro]

https://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/threads/wynyard.143303/#post-3061088

 

[CELTICAT]

outside of a madlibs where the interplay of Wood and Anas is the punchline, I don't see Tai playing a large role in the game

 

[armchairpg]

One thought I had was that at least he has been playing against men as opposed to skal who spent a year playing rec league or whatever. Surely that helps him somewhat.

Other than that, I don't understand what in the world is stopping a guy that is 260 from grabbing a few boards and a putback or two, especially againsts UL thin front line. If he does that he is exceeding skal. No judgement. I keep saying skal will get it but while he is coming around maybe another big can get in the box score too. I am too optimistic but that is all we have at this point.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

So some of you guys feel better about Tai than you would about Isaac, Skal, or Alex if they were the ones coming in 2nd semester instead of Tai?

 

[Poetax]

guys he is not the answer. way to much high expectations being put on this young man. he is not in shape and probably won't be until next year. we may not see this kid for 2 years contributing any mins.

we put all our eggs in Skal and Alex being our force down low basket this year. we are gonna have to let it play out. hopefully those two come around.

Is he ready to make a difference, I don't know but he was playing with a team all the way up until he left to come here so I wouldn't think he would be too out of shape.

 

[armchairpg]

I don't feel any way about Tai. Just looking for reasons to be optimistic. He probably won't see the floor much for a while and when he does will probably get yanked quickly. Nothing wrong with dreaming, right?

 

[Poetax]

So some of you guys feel better about Tai than you would about Isaac, Skal, or Alex if they were the ones coming in 2nd semester instead of Tai?

The unknown is always better, remember the backup QB.

 

[DUNNSTILLFREENALIVE]

is not playing against ul. no way in hell do you throw a kid who has only been in the country for four days into this game. please no more talk of Tai in the louisville game.

but if you think he will/should, try to convince me.

Well making mistakes like the mistake of not playing Derrick Anderson in the 97 championship game can come back to haunt you. You need to have the intuition to know what the perfect thing to do is in every situation, there has been imperfect coaching, the only way to justify it would be that making those decisions will lead to bigger prizes.

 

[MrHotDice]

He hates Red Birds. He will break someone's head because kids from New Zealand are raised much harder than American kids. The quicker he plays the faster UK will become the team to beat.

Chop that wood.

 

[jameslee32]

Hope he plays a couple minutes. His odds may have improved with Mathiang out. I could see Tai or Humphries matching up very well bulk-wise with Stockman.

 

[JerseyCat84]

He hates Red Birds. He will break someone's head because kids from New Zealand are raised much harder than American kids. The quicker he plays the faster UK will become the team to beat.

Chop that wood.

Love how some posters have become New Zealand culture experts all of a sudden lol.

 

[Federal Cat]

I don't know if he can help but I hope Cal let's him try, if he can't do it, then pull him out and we all will know what he can and can't do

 

[Wall2Boogie]

If he can progress as fast as Matt pilgrim did he will start against louisville. His best bet is to start playing this yr because as it stands he won't play next yr at all with the talent coming in and those returning

 

[blubo]

this could be a game for humphries to play some valuable minutes. his bulk should really help offset tard's size inside. it will be interesting to see if refs are going to abide by the freedom of movement rule or let 'em "hack-n-whack" like the osu game. i can see this game becoming very physical.

 

[denhunter]

So some of you guys feel better about Tai than you would about Isaac, Skal, or Alex if they were the ones coming in 2nd semester instead of Tai?

Absolutely. Because if he stands with his arms raised close to the hoop, a couple of misses will bounce into his hands, making him twice the rebounder Skal will ever be. The Kiwi Kid has been working out with big boys all year. Skal played with a church league of his own makeup before he came to UK. TW is in much better shape, and he is bigger and stronger than Skal. Why not 'just throw him in', like Cal suggested. Let him get his fouls, and bring Skal off the bench, if necessary.

 

[bigbluedon]

What's there to teach for his position?

On defense we play man. He should already be equipped to try to block every shot and fall for countless head and ball fakes while finding himself out of position for rebounds.

On offense our 4 and 5s generally are relegated to watching Guards drive and jack up shots. He should be ready to troll the baseline for the occasional lob and curl behind one of the countless drives and bricks at the rim for trailing baskets now.

While many think this is negative nancy stuff, you are right on with the points made here. Cal's stubborness shows big time when the team struggles for quite a while.

 

[denhunter]

If he can progress as fast as Matt pilgrim did he will start against louisville. His best bet is to start playing this yr because as it stands he won't play next yr at all with the talent coming in and those returning

I remember reading that Pilgrim was a beast in practice...

 

[UKDUNK]

Kinda funny how people get so hyped over the unknown. Tai was ranked in the low to mid 50's in the class. Doesn't mean he won't play but it's HIGHLY unlikely. He and Isaac will battle it out for second big off the bench status, but we are not platooning so that spot won't play much anyway.

 

[CloverforkCat]

If Humphries can't get on the floor, not sure how he can.

The only one keeping Humphries off the floor is Cal, he has already proven he can be effective against real good competition ie. Duke !

 

[Ben101er]

In typical fashion, uk fans think the unknown is always the better option

I do not know if it is a better option, but against UCLA, when we were out of bigs, I do know it would have been an option. I don't think the kid is a savior for the season, but until I see him play, I am not ruling out that he may be able to at least help this team, come March. So, don't be so pessimistic and think that the unknown is always a worse option . Let's all wait and see him play, and then decide.

 

[jockstrap_mcgee]

If he can get 5 rebounds a game, that is worth at least 2 wins we probably weren't going to get without him.

 

[ymmot31]

In typical fashion, uk fans think the unknown is always the better option

"The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" was a saying before there was a UK. It's a common sentiment and not specific to UK fans. Now apologize.

 

[BLUEHILLS]

I think both Wynyard and Humphries play.....

10 Fouls
Full Hearts

 

[catsfan3523]

I think this would be a good game for both of them to play with louisville having some size.

There are only certain types of games humphries can play in at this point because he's not quick enough yet to play against players that use finesse over strength.