WHO IS STAYING? (ANSWER: Green, Richards, Washington, Baker)

[teamchemistry15]

Lots of further mumbling that Reid Travis will be on campus today. I would expect a commitment shortly thereafter.

From there, we've got a roster ten-deep that can PLAY, mixed with experience. One of Cal's most fascinating rosters on paper: this squad will be able to play big, small, fast, slow. Crazy athletic. Deep, deep, deep. Only question is outside shooting, but hopefully we'll have some guys that will be able to hit enough to keep defenses honest.

Green, Washington, Richards, Baker, Travis, Hagans, Quickley, Herro, Montgomery, Johnson. I'll take that.

There hasn't been many times I can remember where a team could play huge or small that I can remember. It's usually either or. We could go Hagan's, IQ, PJ, EJ/Travis, and Richards or Hagan's, Green, Herro, PJ, Travis. Going small we really won't lose rebounding. The question is always shooting with a Cal team, but I think Herro and Baker are good enough to play decent minutes, Green is capable, and IQ (I believe) shot a decent percentage.

[Joneslab]

There hasn't been many times I can remember where a team could play huge or small that I can remember. It's usually either or. We could go Hagan's, IQ, PJ, EJ/Travis, and Richards or Hagan's, Green, Herro, PJ, Travis. Going small we really won't lose rebounding. The question is always shooting with a Cal team, but I think Herro and Baker are good enough to play decent minutes, Green is capable, and IQ (I believe) shot a decent percentage.

Quickley is a very good shooter.

I think Quickley could (stress "could") be another Quade though. I've heard he doesn't have that burner in him (ironic given his name). You can be a really good shooter and then get at this level and just not be able to find your shots.

This is what made Doron Lamb so special. He could score from all different kinds of angles, and that made that perimeter shot more devastating. Freshmen usually don't know how to put in the work to get open at this level and when they start learning, their bodies aren't up to the challenge.

[JFCats22]

Matt Jones kind of railing on Vanderbilt and his people. Said he was a major distraction this year and Cal and the team were very frustrated with him all season. He said Vanderbilt leaving is probably what UK actually wanted to have happen.

[teamchemistry15]

Matt Jones kind of railing on Vanderbilt and his people. Said he was a major distraction this year and Cal and the team were very frustrated with him all season. He said Vanderbilt leaving is probably what UK actually wanted to have happen.

It kind of seems that way. The moment Cal said something along the lines of forgetting who JV was kind of said it all to me. According to the rumors all year he was listening to his "circle" instead of the coaches. Well, that circle probably cost him a top 25 pick next year and I don't see how he finds his way on an NBA roster in the next few years.

[85 Fly]

Now that it's all shaken out, Kentucky could very well have three undrafted players in this draft. That's a weird place to be and really doesn't fit the definition of "succeed and proceed." I chalk it up to last year's bunch being a weird team and you would hope some lessons are learned going forward with these marginal players.

More ironic is the fact that I think UK could have gotten much better even though we lost what we did.

To add to that Will- this is the first time that Cal will have to sit around a minute to hear the two names that will be drafted! You are right this was an odd bunch: I will never understand why is it better to go into the draft knowing you won't be drafted, knowing you didn't have a good season to prove yourself, knowing you still have to make a G league team (and that's some decent competition too) or go overseas! That's better than coming back, putting in the work, get the visibility you need to really have a chance at being a 1st or 2nd round pick in 2019..2019 class is a weaker class, they could have a real crack at it if they put in the work/dedication.

What I would like to see happen- those who came back along with this new group, make it to at least the Final Four (if not win-it-all!) and then those who came back get drafted and those who didn't come back see that...that would be sweet, lesson learned sometimes short-cuts are not the best way.

Herro's 3point shooting is better than you guys may know, but we are talking about HS competition.

[85 Fly]

P.S. Can somebody spill a little bit more regarding what they may have heard about Vanderbilt and his "people in his ear"?

[40bill]

Almost all these kids, especially the four and five star one and done crew have had people most of their lives directing them. Usually family. Sometimes AAU or high school coaches. They are invested...always emotionally, seems like more often than not financially.
always, always, always someone the player has known way longer than Calipari. It's not so much the player doesn't trust Cal.....it's the crew.
If I remember right, Nerlens Noel had some folks around him a lot of schools were really turned off by.
I believe Diallo was at one time questionable because of 'advice' someone was giving.

I don't know. Hindsight being 20/20, I think that Vanderbilt's last game and injury was the breaking point for Cal and the coaching staff. Re-reading some of coach's comments, he was done.

Hate to say it, cause I really liked the kids hustle and effort on the court, but I think he was convinced and as Cal may have been sarcastically alluding to : he's shown what he can do.

[Jload]

The deal here is we had 5 kids go pro with only 2 ever making a pro roster . Vanderbilt, ,Gabriel and ,Diallo will not get drafted probably never get to see an NBA floor how can anybody say they shouldn't have come back, Both probably stunted if not ruined there futures in basketball everyone said Gabriel was worried about playing time, that's ludicrous. If the kid can't crack a lineup at U.K. HOW can he possibly think he can make an NBA squad. Vand rbilt played 14 out of 30 or so games Could prove he could play a. College season without injury but hey he's gonna inspire NBA clubs he can play a 90 game season yeah right they will be lining up to draft him. Dialogue can jump after 1 season that's ALL he proved he could do. All three of these kids should have come back and tried to improve. Our NBA now culture played a big part in preventing it, darn shame

[Matt Dillon]

I don't know why Vanderbilt didn't come back. I believe there's more to his situation than we know, or may ever know. As for Gabriel, I don't see how anyone could question his not returning, or fault him for it. It's been discussed, on here, ad nauseam about his financial situation. By all accounts, he and his family are dirt poor. He may not be expecting to get drafted or even make a G League team. He may already have resigned himself to the fact that he'll be playing overseas.

[BobS]

Vanderbilt was a total waste of a scholarship. He used Cal and UK. Good luck in the NBA with your frailty and zero ability to shoot.

I still believe UK will miss Gabriel twice as much.

[Catsrock]

Wouldn't a waste of scholarship imply there was a better player who wanted that scholarship? The other guys said no thanks. I don't like that college sports has come to this but JV didn't do me any harm. Hope his health holds up and he gets rich. And as of right now it looks like we'll be much better next year.

[BobS]

No. By waste I mean we could have gotten a top 60 -70 player that actually wanted to play and develop. Maybe stay 2-3 years. Of course it's hindsight and certainly not the fault of Cal.

JV played 10-12 games. He likely could have played twice that much. His own coach didn't even know when he was playing. The kid's handlers controlled it. Now he leaves. He didn't play much but certainly played Cal and UK to the hilt.

Wasted scholarship, imo. UK got nothing out of it.

Doesn't matter anymore anyway. Ready for next year.

[Joneslab]

I'm a little higher on Vanderbilt's chances of making an NBA team than most.

Have no idea if he used UK or not. Looking at it from the outside it could've just been a really unfortunate injury. There seems to've been things happening with his family, but obviously we can't say that for sure.

I really like him as a player. I think he has huge upside. To me he looks like an NBA player if he can stay healthy. Love his passing ability and his motor.

But here's the thing: Kentucky doesn't need 13 guys who can all contribute. What happened last year is that you had three flawed players all at the same position. This cut into Washington's growth and the Vanderbilt injury made it even hinkier.

You have to run a competitive practice but sometimes players leaving opens the door for one or two guys to step forward. I really hope Washington is that guy.

That said, Kentucky obviously has to have a player like Reid Travis. There's a hole there. But sometimes players leave and it sort of turns out okay for all involved.

[Joneslab]

And Vanderbilt was absolutely a waste of a scholarship.

How much of that was his/his family's fault and how much was due to the injury we'll probably never know.

Reminds me a lot of a guy like Trey Lyles, who also had an injury that cut into his season. I loved Lyles as a player but his situation was really odd and you always wondered if things were going on behind the scenes that we didn't know about.

[Catsrock]

I just see a waste of scholarship to mean someone better could have filled it. Perhaps it was a waste of scholarship but that would mean that we have scholarships to waste without hurting us. JV played more minutes in his 14 game career than a top 60-70 player would have played in his career in Cal's system. He'd have rode the pine for however many years of being recruited over it would have taken before he left to play somewhere. He would not have played over the McDonald's AA's no matter how poorly the AA's were doing.

In that respect the "wasted scholarship" had no effect on the product we had last year or going forward. And in that respect you can fault Cal if you wish. It's the system he's built.