@UK Greatest recruiting class my as@

[jordoo]

I would also like to point out contrary to what Fran said about UK is really learning how to score against the zone. That was total b.s. If it wasn't for them hitting 6 3's in the first half the game would have been over a lot sooner. Also, there was a play last night that made me realize Cal was totally clueless against it. Near the end of the game with like 3:00 min to go and with the shot clock winding down you could hear him say " bring it back out". When he said that I knew the game was over. They were totally like a deer in headlights.

Plus that was a junk zone that Baylor was using. Drew had playing an extended 1-3-1 as they brought the ball up but that was really just appearance IMO. It looked like a 1-3-1 but what it really was, was a clog the paint so you could double Randle and 5 names easily in the post zone. It allowed them to make the lane crowded on penetration as well as protect their defensive board. They basically dared UK to shoot 3's waited till they committed to the shot and ran out at them leaving 4 guys in the paint on those shots. The zone slagged off the perimeter so much that it really had no real form during half court sets from what I saw. Although UK shot well from deep in the 1st half Baylor got off to such a good start offensively that they could simply continue on with that strategy and wait for UK to stop making 3's which eventually did happen. Its a risk strategy because the one Harrison and Young can really get into a rhythm out there and started out hot, had Baylor not also started out hot they may not have had the patience to stay with that D.

 

[cusetown1]

Plus that was a junk zone that Baylor was using. Drew had playing an extended 1-3-1 as they brought the ball up but that was really just appearance IMO. It looked like a 1-3-1 but what it really was, was a clog the paint so you could double Randle and 5 names easily in the post zone. It allowed them to make the lane crowded on penetration as well as protect their defensive board. They basically dared UK to shoot 3's waited till they committed to the shot and ran out at them leaving 4 guys in the paint on those shots. The zone slagged off the perimeter so much that it really had no real form during half court sets from what I saw. Although UK shot well from deep in the 1st half Baylor got off to such a good start offensively that they could simply continue on with that strategy and wait for UK to stop making 3's which eventually did happen. Its a risk strategy because the one Harrison and Young can really get into a rhythm out there and started out hot, had Baylor not also started out hot they may not have had the patience to stay with that D.

Baylor's front line gave them fits all game, both on offense and defense. Also, Chery was getting any shot he wanted.

 

[Timonen]

UK's best win is currently a neutral court game against Providence. The rest of their schedule was kind of blaah and they struggled in a few of those. They lost to MSU who honestly doesn't seem to be all that great and they lost to a Baylor team that we handled although we didn't play great defense. They still have @UNC and Lville at home before they hit the week SEC schedule. Baylor has better wins than them and only a loss to us and should be ranked ahead of them after beating them head to head, although I doubt that happens. Still you could easily find 25 teams with a better resume of wins right now that UK. They will lose at least one more before the SEC but of they lose to both Lville and UNC then they basically have no OOC resume going into a crappy conference and will be out of 1 seed contention IMO.

The team itself has Randle who is very good. 5 names who is also pretty good and improving quickly. Young who is a top flight wing scorer and the Harrisons who are decent. The bench is struggling and the PG play isn't there because neither of those Harrisons are pg's don't care what anyone says they are both SG's. They play pretty crappy defense if you can get 5 names away from the basket, imagine if they called them for their hand checking. I'd say Randle, 5 names and Young are the three best pro prospects but they have another 5-6 guys with pro possibilities. It sucks for a guy like Poythress who really won't develop the way that he should there, he will be pushed further back next year if anyone stays. Of course he made his own bed going to UK.

As I watch these freshman PG's around who were ranked higher than Ennis I wonder mostly how they were categorized as PG's. I mean just because the coach puts the ball in your hand a lot doesn't mean you are a PG. Ennis would make UK instantly dangerous in the place of whichever Harrison they are calling their PG and if we had that kid instead of Ennis we would be struggling on offense.

The pg issue is really interesting and seems to be a consistent issue with Cal. tyreke and john wall were the exact type of non-pg point guards. Seems like a no brainier to recruit the best game manager for a team with that much talent.

 

[GFTakedown]

What will be interesting is if UK loses to UNC and Louisville plus has a couple of losses in league and are SEC tourney champs. Their OOC strength of schedule would be high (no top wins though) but their conference is weak especially if UF loses their marquee OOC games. Would the SEC be like the PAC12 last year with the top seeds only getting a 6?

The conference shifting might cause more of the top end conferences(SEC, PAC12) to rely more on OOC games than IC games.

 

[pearl31]

Two things here,

1) Kentucky never won a title using the freshman approach. The title they won only happened because the NBA went on strike and their best freshmen from the previous class stayed and mixed with their new and best ever freshman class (and they cut the leftovers). Without an NBA work stoppage Kentucky never wins anything.

2) I was always mystified by this UK class being called the greatest ever. I dont even think its the best class this year. Kansas has a fewer number of recruits, but those recruits are of higher quality, I'd rather have their guys than Kentucky's and I'm not even sure its that close.

Yes, correct.
And Anthony Davis.

 

[pearl31]

The twins looked pedestrian, at best. Poythress and Lee looked lost. Young has a nice stroke but not much else. Randle and Cauly-Stein looked good and that's about it.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Cooney and Ennis over the Harrison twins all day.

I have to laugh at the posts people made on the recruiting board concerned that we aren't getting high level talent and will have trouble competing against the top teams in the future. Year after year the so called recruiting "experts" continue to miss on their top lists. Ennis was ranked around 20 on all the recruiting lists. If there's 19 freshmen better than him I'd like to see a guy like Dave telep explain to me who they are and why. I'm pretty sure our coaches know recruiting a lot more than the so called experts.

 

[Jack Hall]

Cooney and Ennis over the Harrison twins all day.

I have to laugh at the posts people made on the recruiting board concerned that we aren't getting high level talent and will have trouble competing against the top teams in the future. Year after year the so called recruiting "experts" continue to miss on their top lists. Ennis was ranked around 20 on all the recruiting lists. If there's 19 freshmen better than him I'd like to see a guy like Dave telep explain to me who they are and why. I'm pretty sure our coaches know recruiting a lot more than the so called experts.

Yep. As already pointed out who would you take , that second Harrison or Ennis ? Ennis all day long! Who was higher rated? Let me go one further. Who would you take poythress or Grant? Grant all day long! JB is doing far better recruiting than most of the mindless board watchers give him credit for...

 

[Jack Hall]

Cooney and Ennis over the Harrison twins all day.

I have to laugh at the posts people made on the recruiting board concerned that we aren't getting high level talent and will have trouble competing against the top teams in the future. Year after year the so called recruiting "experts" continue to miss on their top lists. Ennis was ranked around 20 on all the recruiting lists. If there's 19 freshmen better than him I'd like to see a guy like Dave telep explain to me who they are and why. I'm pretty sure our coaches know recruiting a lot more than the so called experts.

Poythress was supposedly light yrs better than grant last yr. how's this t working out this yr?

 

[jordoo]

Poythress was supposedly light yrs better than grant last yr. how's this t working out this yr?

He has talent but unlike Grant he will not be allowed to develop. He got recruited over and then gets yanked all the time this year.

 

[Cusefan0307]

IMO the Calipari model just doesn't allow teams to develop.

 

[jordoo]

IMO the Calipari model just doesn't allow teams to develop.

It does so long as you develop in that first 2 months. LOL after that forgetta bout it!

 

[Jack Hall]

He has talent but unlike Grant he will not be allowed to develop. He got recruited over and then gets yanked all the time this year.

I feel sorry for him. You can see what cal is doing. He is showcasing randle so randle gets drafted as high as possible so he keeps getting the top one n doners. Meanwhile poythress is either buried in bench or out on court watching randle do his thing just being a spectator. If he doesn't change things and make this a team of equals cal is doomed to keep losing to teams like msu and Baylor this season IMO...

 

[Cheriehoop]

Interesting topic line on the UK board: Would you try to run a Wall Street firm with the best 20 MBA grads?

Correction: Would you try to run a Wall Street firm from current college grads with the highest GMAT'S ?

 

[two3zone]

They were vacated so he was cheating and had an unfair advantage. None of the other teams were able to get hookers for their players in between games of the NCAA tourney. LOL. I see your point but you can't count those and talent is not equal, winning the NC with the team he did was much more of a not mess it up kind of coaching thing than coaching team up to win the NC. I don't think he's horrible and he is very good at certain things but he's not a great all time coach or anything.

If you think every program is squeaky clean you're crazy.

 

[RF2044]

If you think every program is squeaky clean you're crazy.

Likewise, for those who are naive enough to believe that Calipari is squeaky clean.

 

[RF2044]

If you think every program is squeaky clean you're crazy.

And for the record, who cares? The NCAA has revealed themselves to be nothing more than a toothless bureaucracy given their recent enforcement snafus.

Cheaters cheat indiscriminately and are advantaged, and flagrantly do so due to no fear of the enforcement consequences.

But heaven forbid that badminton player who used the university hose to wash her car last spring...

 

[Eagles20]

It always makes me laugh when Kentucky gets brought up. It seems like either you are a fan of them or you hate them. As a syracuse fan I don't see why they even really matter to us. We don't play them and they are not in the ACC. I don't dislike them and I don't dislike Calipari. I think what he does is interesting to watch and makes for decent challenge for a coach. I could really care less how high these kids are all ranked, the transition for HS to college still takes an adjustment. Having so many young kids on a roster and trying to get them to gel together while playing a lot of tough non conference games is difficult. The people who have to root against them because of the way calipari recruits makes no sense to me.

 

[cusetown1]

It always makes me laugh when Kentucky gets brought up. It seems like either you are a fan of them or you hate them. As a syracuse fan I don't see why they even really matter to us. We don't play them and they are not in the ACC. I don't dislike them and I don't dislike Calipari. I think what he does is interesting to watch and makes for decent challenge for a coach. I could really care less how high these kids are all ranked, the transition for HS to college still takes an adjustment. Having so many young kids on a roster and trying to get them to gel together while playing a lot of tough non conference games is difficult. The people who have to root against them because of the way calipari recruits makes no sense to me.

Kind of does matter. Like stealing Noel and Davis from us unethically.

 

[cusetown1]

If you think every program is squeaky clean you're crazy.

The stuff you don't know lol! You wouldn't be saying this if you knew the crap that Kentucky gets away with.

 

[two3zone]

Kind of does matter. Like stealing Noel and Davis from us unethically.

Nobody knows this, and Noel said that Gtown was his #2. Not defending them but hating them for winning a recruiting battle is petty.

 

[NineOneSeven]

It always makes me laugh when Kentucky gets brought up. It seems like either you are a fan of them or you hate them. As a syracuse fan I don't see why they even really matter to us. We don't play them and they are not in the ACC. I don't dislike them and I don't dislike Calipari. I think what he does is interesting to watch and makes for decent challenge for a coach. I could really care less how high these kids are all ranked, the transition for HS to college still takes an adjustment. Having so many young kids on a roster and trying to get them to gel together while playing a lot of tough non conference games is difficult. The people who have to root against them because of the way calipari recruits makes no sense to me.

Because...rutgers football

 

[two3zone]

The stuff you don't know lol! You wouldn't be saying this if you knew the crap that Kentucky gets away with.

Examples? I've seen some shady things with some of our guys the past 15 years which I would never mention, I'm not saying we're bad offenders or at anybody else's level but we to have had trouble with the NCAA.

 

[NineOneSeven]

The stuff you don't know lol! You wouldn't be saying this if you knew the crap that Kentucky gets away with.

Fill me in.

No seriously. I'm curious.

 

[Eagles20]

Kind of does matter. Like stealing Noel and Davis from us unethically.

No I don't think it does...he's not the only coach to get recruits over syracuse. Why would you want kids like that in your program as a fan?? If those kids want to take the pay day than that is on them and they aren't ethically sound people who I would want playing on a team I root for. I also know many stories about Memphis and Kentucky players knowing people who played as walk ons for calipari. He's actually a pretty chill dude from my experience. I also know that if you think he's the only coach who bends the rules and cheats then you are very naive to what goes on in athletic departments.