Monmouth @ UK game thread

[justford]

Is this the fewest posts for a game thread?

[Lighthouse]

^ It's close for sure.

[Blue Heaven]

Couldn't watch or listen to the game due to work. It sounds like we played our best game to date but it's hard for me to get excited just yet. Keep it up and my tune will change.

[KevinHall]

You guys might not agree, but I'm somewhat disappointed in Reid Travis. When he gets the ball down low, he never squares up when he is guarded. He shoots the ball sideways. He doesn't play very tall for a 5. I know his experience is great for the team, but I don't see what I thought I was going to see when he decided to come to Kentucky.

I agree with you. I mentioned in another thread I could see why he had never gone pro. He's slow footed,doesn't have much leap in his jump and not much of a touch around the rim. He knows how to use his body for positioning and his experience are his best aspects. I'm sure too he has had a big adjustment from a school that doesn't care all that much to super hype university. We will probably see better from him as the season goes along.

When I had to go get ready for bed the score was 22-18. So they must really blew the doors open soon after that. They did what they had to beat a bad team. I will take that as a positive sign. The schedule picks up now. UNC-G is a good team. They won the Southern Conference last season and played Gonzaga to the wire in the NCAA's. They have lost only once so far this season. They have a player from Spain that is a great three point shooter and a big guy who is good down low. We will see for sure if this UK team has improved much over the last month. They should win this one but it will be a test.

[TrueblueCATfan]

CATS looked a lot better on defense last night.....even though the team we played was awful....

[KCKUKFan]

It was definitely a step in the right direction defensively, although it's hard to tell much because Monmouth was awful.

[J.Jennings]

I watched the first 15 minutes and decided to spend time with the family instead, box score says Kentucky took care of business.

[J.Jennings]

You guys might not agree, but I'm somewhat disappointed in Reid Travis. When he gets the ball down low, he never squares up when he is guarded. He shoots the ball sideways. He doesn't play very tall for a 5. I know his experience is great for the team, but I don't see what I thought I was going to see when he decided to come to Kentucky.

Same here. Body wise he kind of reminds me of Chuck Hayes but he aint no Chuck Hayes at all. I am starting to think that PJ and EJ are the go to bigs when it counts.

[Joneslab]

Hayes had a lot of trouble scoring at the rim.

What Hayes could do is guard. Guarded every position. Almost no drop-off with him when you put him on the other team's point guard or when you put him on the center.

Travis isn't in that universe obviously. Nobody we have is in that universe.

You do however need muscle when the grind of the NCAA Tournament comes. All teams who make runs in March have big strong guys who can rebound. I think that's one reason Josh Harrelson had such a good March: the tournament rewards ugly, plodding basketball. Travis can do that.

[J.Jennings]

Where can i find stats for individual (PER) for this group 7 games in? Curious to see who's in the plus and who's in the minus while on the floor...

[Joneslab]

Where can i find stats for individual (PER) for this group 7 games in? Curious to see who's in the plus and who's in the minus while on the floor...

Here.

For some context, Zion Williamson is second in the nation in PER at 44.93.

Kentucky's best is Reid Travis at 26.1, which would put him just outside of the top 50 in the nation. PJ Washington is also respectable. Herro, Quade, and Johnson all over 20.

[Joneslab]

Also, looking at last year's PER the only player we had over 20 was Jarred Vanderbilt. But he didn't have enough of a sample size.

Monk, Bam, and Fox were all over 20.

Ulis, Murray, and Derek Willis all over 20.

Only had two on the great 2015 team, but Karl Towns was +30 () with Willie +20.

Julius Randle +20 on the team that went to the title game.

Nerlens Noel was +25 on the NIT team.

Anthony Davis was at a hilarious 40 PER while Terrence Jones was at 30. (That's how you win a national title folks.)

Terrence Jones as a freshmen was +25.

That stat wasn't kept in 2009-2010, but one would assume Wall was probably +25 and DeMarcus Cousins was up around 30 or maybe 35.

So this team having five players over 20 is pretty good...but the competition we've played has been abysmal for the most part. What you would hope, and the way you can tell if a team is really efficient, is if you've got at least two who are around 25 and you don't have anybody who's lower than say 15. Right now we've got three or four guys who are hovering around by the single digits. That's how you get an inconsistent team.

[J.Jennings]

Also, looking at last year's PER the only player we had over 20 was Jarred Vanderbilt. But he didn't have enough of a sample size.

Monk, Bam, and Fox were all over 20.

Ulis, Murray, and Derek Willis all over 20.

Only had two on the great 2015 team, but Karl Towns was +30 () with Willie +20.

Julius Randle +20 on the team that went to the title game.

Nerlens Noel was +25 on the NIT team.

Anthony Davis was at a hilarious 40 PER while Terrence Jones was at 30. (That's how you win a national title folks.)

Terrence Jones as a freshmen was +25.

That stat wasn't kept in 2009-2010, but one would assume Wall was probably +25 and DeMarcus Cousins was up around 30 or maybe 35.

So this team having five players over 20 is pretty good...but the competition we've played has been abysmal for the most part. What you would hope, and the way you can tell if a team is really efficient, is if you've got at least two who are around 25 and you don't have anybody who's lower than say 15. Right now we've got three or four guys who are hovering around by the single digits. That's how you get an inconsistent team.

Thanks for the link, i was wondering where to find it. Honestly the reason i even thought about this was for PJ Washington in particular, he's alot higher than i would have guessed...

[J.Jennings]

And on another subject in regards to recruiting,what changed since Lebron visited Kentucky and held up the Y? James wants his son to play for Coach K


“Big FACTS!” James wrote. “Love Coach K!! The absolute BEST! Hope he’s still at the helm when my boy comes up.”


Somewhere along the lines Cal got exploited on something over the past few years, not sure what it is. Is it coaching, ego, something changed as well as the word on the street in regards to playing for Coach Cal at Kentucky, players just not buying into what he's selling now a days. We are getting the 2nd tier guys after the top tier guys make there picks elsewhere mostly Duke. I almost feel as if the old saying "Kentucky isn't for everyone" isn't the way to go anymore, not sure i ever heard anyone say "Duke isn't for everyone"

[Joneslab]

We are getting the 2nd tier guys after the top tier guys make there picks elsewhere mostly Duke.

Not just Duke.

Memphis. Oregon. UNLV. Mississippi State. Kansas. California. Indiana. LSU. Florida.

Duke is just part of it, and I think if you look at what Duke has done in this recruiting season--missed on some of their targets--then I think a case can be made that Duke is also going to go through some of what Kentucky has been.

The problem is that the recruiting world has flattened out. They're all after one-and-dones now. Cal will either have to adjust his thinking or he'll have to bow out of the college game, because it's very hard to just target five or six players now and battle two or three programs for them. You're battling ten to fifteen programs for every one of these guys, and that's significantly harder to pull off.