Class of 2020 C Noah Waterman (NY) Portal to Louisville

[Jasoncuse]

Right now if Westry and Naheem are healthy we have 10 guys who can play. Few coaches are trying an 11 man rotation. To me if you bring a kid like this in you are expecting you won’t have one or maybe even both of those guys this year. Otherwise he is recruiting over someone.

We may not like it but Calipari wasn’t wrong in his comments around roster size as it pertains to retaining guys.

Yeah, but we can't bank on those 2 being healthy, especially McLeod. Big guys with foot injuries are worrisome. If either has a setback, we've got 8 guys. And I'm not sure how much we should expect to get out of Cuffe and maybe Moore, if given bigger minutes.

We simply need a 3rd option at C. Waterman isn't a C, but he's tall and could play some minutes there as a stretch 5. We also need more help at forward and more shooting - Waterman certainly fills that need.

 

[cardiac]

Agreed. It's really difficult to feel confident about the center position right now. I'd rather have Patterson over McLeod I think. Maybe it's just because he's a complete unknown with upside

I think that Patterson was a barely ranked recruit who had to redshirt on a team that desperately needed a center. Its in our nature to be hopeful since we haven't seen him play but im not sold on the "upside"

 

[Niastri]

I've just prematurely convinced myself that McLeod's not going to be healthy, as happens to bigs sometimes.

It's not rational. But I do believe it.

Unfortunately, our recent history with bigs reinforce that bad feeling. I don't know if we've just rolled snake eyes a few times in a row, but Coleman, Sidibe, Hima, McLeod, Chukwu, Edwards and Onuaku are big men who all had severe, season ending or career affecting injuries in the last 14 seasons.

I'd go so far as to say we've had more big men suffer injuries than stayed healthy over that time period. Christmas, Jackson, Keita and Lydon (playing out of position) are the only guys who stayed healthy and productive their whole career. Big men just seem to be fragile, or we've been really unlucky.

And Coleman, Hima and Sidibe never actually recovered.

So, yeah, you might be irrational thinking that McLeod might be toast, but a lot of us share that fear. With good reason.

 

[Orangezoo]

I think Calipari was an idiot in his theory. It tends of either him trying to be the smartest man in the room, or ex ante excuse making. We saw last year how ephemeral depth can be when you have a full roster.

Now imagine you are a top coach choosing to go with no depth? If he actually starts with a roster of 9 guys and walk-ons, he is already 1 injury away from having nobody to fill in if he had foul trouble, he's two injuries from an iron man rotation. If he has what we had last year, he's Gene Hackmann "My team is on the floor!" With only walkons if somebody else gets hurt or fouls out.

Sounds to me like Calipari didn't get who he wanted and he's trying to play it like it's a strength to have insufficient roster depth.

After they're all injured, and his team stinks, he can blame injuries and still have a boatload of NIL money next season. If he actually had a full roster of expensive guys (like at Kentucky) everybody might finally start to realize how much he stinks as a coach. Then the money starts to dry up.

I’m not saying the theory of having only 10 guys is smart but in general if you think you are keeping 13 roster spots happy then that’s living in denial. Figure you lose 3 to 4 over playing time and a couple others based on someone willing to offer them more. Emergency depth completes a roster but it’s pretty much a guarantee you are recruiting rentals even as freshmen if they are the last 3 spots

 

[Vorony]

McCloud will play 15

Who’s McCloud?

 

[Orangezoo]

Yeah, but we can't bank on those 2 being healthy, especially McLeod. Big guys with foot injuries are worrisome. If either has a setback, we've got 8 guys. And I'm not sure how much we should expect to get out of Cuffe and maybe Moore, if given bigger minutes.

We simply need a 3rd option at C. Waterman isn't a C, but he's tall and could play some minutes there as a stretch 5. We also need more help at forward and more shooting - Waterman certainly fills that need.

Oh we have to have another option- but it also can’t be at the expense of losing our starting center.

 

[Niastri]

Oh we have to have another option- but it also can’t be at the expense of losing our starting center.

I don't see why Waterman would affect Lampkin at all. They play different positions.

 

[Cuse2023]

From what I know we haven’t shown any serious interest in Waterman…

I do know he would entertain our offer, but as of this morning, there are others team pushing much harder than us. He also has visit coming up tomorrow.

Playing time is important here and I’m not sure we can offer as much as some other teams.

 

[cardiac]

Anyone know about any guard targets?

 

[kingtidge]

Who’s McCloud?

The main character in the movie, Highlander.

There can be only one...

 

[Jzsshuttles]

From what I know we haven’t shown any serious interest in Waterman…

I do know he would entertain our offer, but as of this morning, there are others team pushing much harder than us. He also has visit coming up tomorrow.

Playing time is important here and I’m not sure we can offer as much as some other teams.

that's the vibe I got also.. was told he wants to start.. I don't think he'd start here but he would get 25-30 mins a game. He's more of a 4 to me. I think we can all forget about this one unless something happens with Lampkin.

 

[Cusefan0307]

From what I know we haven’t shown any serious interest in Waterman…

I do know he would entertain our offer, but as of this morning, there are others team pushing much harder than us. He also has visit coming up tomorrow.

Playing time is important here and I’m not sure we can offer as much as some other teams.

I get it, but stinks for us. He's exactly the kind of kid that probably will torch Lampkin at the 5 spot.

 

[Cuse2023]

I get it, but stinks for us. He's exactly the kind of kid that probably will torch Lampkin at the 5 spot.

He doesn't want to play the 5.

 

[Jzsshuttles]

I get it, but stinks for us. He's exactly the kind of kid that probably will torch Lampkin at the 5 spot.

This kid is a 4.. He can play the 5 obviously but he's the definition of a stretch 4. Silly handle for a 6-10 guy and loves the 3 ball. I'm super impressed with his game..it's just a timing and numbers game unfortunately. He'd instantly make us better but what do I know

 

[JustPherU]

Who’s McCloud?

Dennis Weaver

 

[obliterata]

start him at guard with Starling and use him as a sub at the forward positions

 

[Cusefan0307]

This kid is a 4.. He can play the 5 obviously but he's the definition of a stretch 4. Silly handle for a 6-10 guy and loves the 3 ball. I'm super impressed with his game..it's just a timing and numbers game unfortunately. He'd instantly make us better but what do I know

I get it from his perspective. It still feels like we are a piece or two short.

 

[CardiacCuse]

Delicate situation I would think. Might want to wait until after Lampkin is enrolled.

disagree...dont care about lampkin here personally

 

[Cusefan0307]

Sounds like that visit tomorrow may be Louisville based on twitter chatter. I'd really hate that.

 

[CardiacCuse]

Right now if Westry and Naheem are healthy we have 10 guys who can play. Few coaches are trying an 11 man rotation. To me if you bring a kid like this in you are expecting you won’t have one or maybe even both of those guys this year. Otherwise he is recruiting over someone.

We may not like it but Calipari wasn’t wrong in his comments around roster size as it pertains to retaining guys.

roster ? or rotation???

calipari is wrong about going with a roster that only has the rotation players...not sure why anyone would think that is a good idea

 

[CardiacCuse]

I’m not saying the theory of having only 10 guys is smart but in general if you think you are keeping 13 roster spots happy then that’s living in denial. Figure you lose 3 to 4 over playing time and a couple others based on someone willing to offer them more. Emergency depth completes a roster but it’s pretty much a guarantee you are recruiting rentals even as freshmen if they are the last 3 spots

who cares about keeping every roster spot happy????

in this era...its impossible no matter roster size anyway

why is that even the priority??

 

[Cusefan0307]

who cares about keeping every roster spot happy????

in this era...its impossible no matter roster size anyway

why is that even the priority??

The concern is if the transfers coming in aren't happy with the situation they technically could bail.

 

[two3zone]

Sounds like that visit tomorrow may be Louisville based on twitter chatter. I'd really hate that.

Didnt they just sign a center?

 

[Cusefan0307]

Didnt they just sign a center?

They did, but it looks like they are in the market for a PF.

 

[Niastri]

start him at guard with Starling and use him as a sub at the forward positions

Hypothetically, a lineup of Lampkin, Freeman, Bell, Waterman and Starling is possible... Nobody else has been promised a starting spot.

If he starts at guard, I would be curious how opponents defend us. Technically, Starling would be our point guard, and Waterman would be taller than both our forwards from the guard position.

Somebody from our opponents would be trying to guard somebody way taller than them.

Would they be able to punish us enough on the other end to make us come out of it? It might be interesting for 4 minutes at the start of the game, and then we can move into a more traditional rotation after that. It would be similar to when JB clearly had token starters in order to honor recruiting commitments back in the day.

But Waterman wouldn't get Boeheimed after getting pulled.