I am just getting caught up. I think it's clear that Green is the better PG as of now. Shai seems a bit slow on defense. Knox is silky smooth. Richards has a soft touch. The biggest shock is SKJ. He's seemed lost. He's given little effort for rebounds and if a 6'10 kid hasn't learned by now not to leave his feet on defense he never will. We have some talent but will be lacking a post presence if Richards gets in foul trouble.
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Agree about Green. I have thought he was being really undervalued by a lot of people. I think he will be the starter and will have a very good year.
Knox is 2nd team SEC? There will be a lot of coaches change their mind after playing against him.
Diallo is a freakish athlete. Would like to see him make something other than dunks and layups.
Gabriel has been very impressive. Hope he can maintain it through the entire year
Richards showed more offensive game than expected. Had a couple of really nice moves.
I missed the first couple minutes. Was anything mentioned about Wynyard not playing?
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I didn't watch the whole game but saw enough to say, we have an enormous amount of talent that is very raw. Right now an experienced team would score and be back on defense before we figured out what happened. But this team will get better very fast and be a factor by tournament time. Should be another adventurous season.John 3:3
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Someone on this board had said Green was limited. He looked like he squashed those SGA pg rumors. He looked at home in running the team and pitched in three 3's as well. I had read that he wasnt quite Ulis but had a better jumpshot. Time will tell, but this kid definitely isn't "limited".Isaiah 5:20Comment
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I did.
Still haven’t changed my mind. The only thing I’ll walk back is my “Green might not start†comment, but only because SGA didn’t look as good as the hype suggests.
Green’s going to be a legit drop-off from what we’re accustomed to seeing at that position.Comment
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Until Kentucky plays a "very solid" D1 team, how can the team or any of the players be truly judged on how great they are? This is the youngest team that Cal has coached. From what I have seen, early on and not really being challenged, are a bunch of very tall players that are fluid and athletic. I have seen tall players, on past teams, that couldn't dribble the ball and chew gum or they would fall down. I am very far from being an expert, but I think Kentucky will be special, by tourney time.
If they don't lose too many games at the start and Vanderbilt comes back by January and is as good as advertised, they could be a dominant team, not just a good team. As for Green, until we see him against other top PGs, we won't know how he measures up. Of all of the freshmen PGs that Calipari has brought to Kentucky, John Wall is the only on that I thought looked like a world beater right out of the gate. The rest had to toughen up under fire as the season progressed.Comment
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Some thoughts:
* All in all this team is a little ahead of where I thought they would be. Have a couple of guys who play harder than your usual young guys, and they shoot the ball a bit better. Haven't changed my feeling that they'll take some L's and that they're starting a little lower than every Cal team but the one, but I've been pleasantly surprised so far.
* Length. So much length. Really hard to operate against some of these guys, and you could see the fear in Thomas More last night a little.
* On the downside, 17 turnovers. Against a DIII team. Most of those were in the first half, but the offensive fouls were a little crazy. Thought Richards was going to foul out in the first five minutes. All stuff Cal will have ironed out I'm sure.
* Was pretty impressed by Green but this is a different deal. We aren't going to see him take the ball and drive it from 30 feet and score the way some of these other point guards have. He just needs to manage the game. On the upside, he looks totally comfortable shooting the ball. Fox was never comfortable. That definitely counts for something.
* Shai on defense. Goodness. Very hard to operate against that guy.
* Knox is still a star. When he makes a decision that he wants to get to the basket it's hard to stop him.
* PJ Washington's strength is going to be a problem for teams. He's a good illustration of how when people say "We just have freshmen!" they're off the mark. That guy has the body of a 22-year-old back in the day.
* 22-30 from the foul line. Pretty solid for a team without a lot of pure shooters.
* Diallo does some jaw-dropping things, but as the other poster says he needs more in the toolbox. You would love him to have a floater, but his proclivity is just to drive it all the way to the basket. He's going to be in some foul trouble from charging over guys this year, but he's going to bring the house down a few times.Comment
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Not sure what you watched. I thought Green looked pretty darn good in both the Blue/White game and last night's game.
Certainly not John Wall or Tyler Ulis or DeAaron Fox, but certainly not a Ryan Harrow situation, either. If the kid can contribute like Andrew Harrison did (or even Ulis in his freshman year), he will be doing all this team needs.Comment
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I really liked Kevin Knox last nightComment
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I just watched this off my DVR yesterday. Some good things to see. I think Green and SGA will compliment each other very well. Different types of pg's and that could give a good mix up to opponents. Green seems like a good shooter while SGA seems like he is more comfortable driving and dishing.
Knox is stud and he is going to be the one to take this team as far as it can. He should be able to put the team on his back in many games and lead them.
Richards could be a beast down low. But still hard to tell until he plays teams with equal size.
Obviously a long way to go for this team to be a national contender. They will take some lumps but could be OK by March.Kentucky fan since 1971.Comment
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