Hamidou Diallo to Test Waters (UPDATE: DIALLO TO RETURN TO UK)

[TrueblueCATfan]

Twitter was hilarious last night ..glad he is coming back now maybe we can see what he can do

[Matt Dillon]

The long national nightmare is over. So Diallo stays. I have nothing else good to say about this so I'll stay quiet.

I agree. I can't believe he had to drag it out until the last minute. It didn't affect me, though, I went to bed at my usual time (between 8:30 and 9:00).

[lilproUK98]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmhMQlM4m3I

Impressive. Most impressive.

[lilproUK98]

Some think Green isnt as talented as some of Cal's previous point guards, possibly a 2 yr player. Dont be surprised if Cal put the ball in Diallo's hands and let him play point and defend on top, hes done it before. ..

Watch this and tell me what you think.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig_vpOMDDW8

Pretty impressive workout video to me....

[Joneslab]

Brandon Knight, depends on how you look at it, he technically played the 2 at Kentucky...

Wha?

[Joneslab]

IMO, this Cal's best haul yet. Everyone is talking Hami and Knox, and for good reason, but Washington is gonna be a beast. Like I said, a ton of options and lineup tinkering at Cal's disposal. This is the most excited I have been about a Cal coached team and that was before we had Hami return. His presence is just icing on the cake. We are gonna be scary good this season. There. I said it.

Interesting post.

I don't know if it's his best haul, but it was darn impressive.

Don't think the class as a whole is as good as some other years. Definitely not as good as this past year.

BUT Cal did go out and land virtually every position on the court, and fill all those spot with five-star players. That's reminiscent of the Harrison twins' class.

We absolutely had to have Diallo back. His length and explosiveness was essential for a team that's going to have to be built around size and defense. I think they'll play him like an MKG sort: let him get out and run and push the basketball toward the rim.

Huge night for the future of UK basketball last night.

[Joneslab]

I hate to be negative, but this makes losing Bamba even more painful.

Same thought I had when it looked like Diallo may stay.

Best-case scenario for Kentucky is that Nick Richards pulls a Jarrett Allen and is way more advanced than he's looked when I've seen him.

I think I said this in another thread, but Allen looked very, very raw on the all-star circuit last summer. No strength, sort of a bumbling awkwardness to his game...just looked behind the other big men. Allen may be one of the first big men taken in the draft this year and had a great season at Texas.

Richards hasn't been playing basketball very long. Sometimes those guys sharply improve under college coaching. At the very least, he gives us the rim protector we were badly missing this past season.

[George]

Hamidou Diallo most likely would have gone late first this year. Kid is betting on himself. Has lotto potential in a weaker 2018 draft.

— Evan Daniels (@EvanDaniels) May 25, 2017

[George]

Same thought I had when it looked like Diallo may stay.

Best-case scenario for Kentucky is that Nick Richards pulls a Jarrett Allen and is way more advanced than he's looked when I've seen him.

I think I said this in another thread, but Allen looked very, very raw on the all-star circuit last summer. No strength, sort of a bumbling awkwardness to his game...just looked behind the other big men. Allen may be one of the first big men taken in the draft this year and had a great season at Texas.

Richards hasn't been playing basketball very long. Sometimes those guys sharply improve under college coaching. At the very least, he gives us the rim protector we were badly missing this past season.

I agree with you and KC. Really wishing Bamba'd joined us. Like AD did in 2012, Bamba could've been the game-altering cleanup man for a team that's going to make lots of youthful mistakes.

I'll hope for more out of Richards, but you've also got to hope there's something else to SKJ's game that'll surprise us.

[KCKUKFan]

I agree with you and KC. Really wishing Bamba'd joined us. Like AD did in 2012, Bamba could've been the game-altering cleanup man for a team that's going to make lots of youthful mistakes.

I'll hope for more out of Richards, but you've also got to hope there's something else to SKJ's game that'll surprise us.

The good thing about Killeya-Jones is that we barely saw him last year, and never down the stretch. So we don't really know what he can do... I've heard reports that he was the best big man we had in practice. Rex Chapman was blown away by him the few times he watched him workout. And he's a McDonald's All-American. So we can hope he takes a Willie Cauley-Stein-esque leap from freshman to sophomore year. From what I've heard and read, he's really been motivated this offseason to hit the weight room and do the necessary work to his game. I think his problem last year was more of the effort variety, which is why Cal benched him.

I know next to nothing about Richards, other than he's a true center and a McDonald's All-American. If he could come in and give us Dakari Johnson stats, that will be fine for what this team needs. If he's a surprise Jarrett Allen, then we'll be a beastly team from day one.

I agree with Blue Heaven: this team will be scary long, scary athletic, scary fast, and should be an absolute beast defensively. The questions: experience, obviously. The development of Killeya-Jones, and Gabriel to a lesser extent. Outside shooting -- will Baker be good enough to sniff the floor or will he be Mychael Mulder redux?

Lots of questions, but lots of potential. Is it November yet?

[Joneslab]

The Diallo gambit may have been the best thing Cal has done recruiting-wise at Kentucky.

I don't think Diallo will be a guy who puts up numbers like some of these other studs. He isn't going to come in and average 20 a game like Monk or Murray, not with his shooting issues.

But he's an essential player because he's been in the system and because he has that mind-boggling athleticism. Cal made a really hard decision by going after a guy he knew was eligible for the draft, having that guy test the waters and reportedly get first-round interest, and then having that guy come back to Kentucky.

That's cray.

[KCKUKFan]

The Diallo gambit may have been the best thing Cal has done recruiting-wise at Kentucky.

I don't think Diallo will be a guy who puts up numbers like some of these other studs. He isn't going to come in and average 20 a game like Monk or Murray, not with his shooting issues.

But he's an essential player because he's been in the system and because he has that mind-boggling athleticism. Cal made a really hard decision by going after a guy he knew was eligible for the draft, having that guy test the waters and reportedly get first-round interest, and then having that guy come back to Kentucky.

That's cray.

Agreed.

But it seems like Cal has had an off-and-on history of being "one guy away." Meeks. Kanter. Teague. Johnson. Etc, etc. When Bamba picked Texas, I betcha he was kicking himself in private. Or whichever assistant had priority on Bamba.

[wildcatdon]

Does anyone here think that is Baker shoots 46% from 3 and 51% from two in preseason practice and plays good enough defense, that Cal would start him over Diallo if Diallo shot 10% points lower from the field and only 32% from the 3 point line? Baker is a really good shooter and can score in many different ways. But he was not as highly rated..Doesnt have that 5th star..thoughts anyone?

[George]

From what I've heard and read, he's really been motivated this offseason to hit the weight room and do the necessary work to his game.

Not to be the sour SOB in the room, but it'd be nice to actually see some positive results from this sort of talk. Not that we've had a ton of guys return who needed a summer like this, but more often than not I feel like mid-season we're all going, "I thought that guy hit the weights last summer?" I'm thinking of Wiltjer, Humphries, Wynyard, Dakari to some extent, and even Skal, who knew before he arrived that he had to get stronger.

I'm not sure what that happy medium between skills and strength training looks like, but Willie, and maybe Jorts, are the only real standouts who made sizable transformations* from season to season.

*I'm talking in body and strength, of course. I realize other guys have improved game-wise from one season to the next.

[J.Jennings]

Wha?

Really??? Cmon now, your memory not that bad,,, We all know that Brandon played off the ball on offense and was more of a two guard, we even talked about it many many many times.....