The Good, The Bad, Kentucky Isn't Good at Basketball Right Now: Utah Valley Edition

[J.Jennings]

Food for thought, if you can't land the top 5 players in the land, land the top shot blocker, the top rebounder, the top passer, the top shooter.the top defender, land the top role player that will stick around a few years. Most importantly, land the shooters......

[Catatonic]

Food for thought, if you can't land the top 5 players in the land, land the top shot blocker, the top rebounder, the top passer, the top shooter.the top defender, land the top role player that will stick around a few years. Most importantly, land the shooters......

This is what I was getting at. Everyone misses on recruits, but the philosophy seems to be All or Nothing. A very average 3-star PF would help this team, even if just for practices.

[Joneslab]

This is what I was getting at. Everyone misses on recruits, but the philosophy seems to be All or Nothing. A very average 3-star PF would help this team, even if just for practices.

Hard to get those guys unless they're in-state. They know they're going to be recruited over at Kentucky and he won't play them.

Even three-star guys have high hopes. That's still "elite" if you look at the number of high school players there are. I would almost guarantee that almost every 3-star player out there has NBA aspirations. If you come to Kentucky, you know you're going to be used only behind whatever phenom he's got at your position.

I think the best-case scenario for Cal is simply to land all the top 5/top 10 recruits he's after and don't miss on those players the staff really covets. When things go haywire at UK is when we miss on players we've been recruiting for years. That's happened with regularity the last three, four recruiting seasons.

In my mind there is no other way to succeed. They just have to land the best of the best. They've done a much better job with the 2020 class.

[Dwight Schrute]

Regarding shooting one thing I would really like to see at Kentucky is a shooting point guard. We've had two in Cal's tenure here: Brandon Knight and Tyler Ulis.

It's obvious why this is: he likes guys who can drive downhill off those high screens. Generally the more devastating drivers are poorer shooters (though this isn't always true). But were I building a team, I'd always try to go with a point guard who can shoot, because I just think it's easier to get those clean threes off ball screens at the top of college defenses.

Driving relentlessly through traffic is an NBA skill no question. But it seems like in the national title game every year you see point guards who can kill you coming off ball screens if you don't hedge like crazy. I'd love for Kentucky to have that sort of players but it's been rare in the Cal era.

I'd love to have more shooters period.

[Joneslab]

Food for thought, if you can't land the top 5 players in the land, land the top shot blocker, the top rebounder, the top passer, the top shooter.the top defender, land the top role player that will stick around a few years. Most importantly, land the shooters......

It's hard to figure out who these players are.

When guys like Tyler Herro are drafted in the first round it's an indication that Kentucky has been victimized by its own success.

It's good to say we need multi-year players, but when those guys turn out to not be multi-year players they end up hamstringing you once they leave.

This is why I say the only roadmap to success in Cal's system is to land the players they're after. You just have to get them. Cal was getting them early on--thus, Final Fours. Has had a much harder time recently--thus, Elite Eights and then whatever this current season is.

[Dwight Schrute]

Food for thought, if you can't land the top 5 players in the land, land the top shot blocker, the top rebounder, the top passer, the top shooter.the top defender, land the top role player that will stick around a few years. Most importantly, land the shooters......

This is well and good and understandable, it's just not how Cal operates. He's been like this for 11 years now and he has recruited a bunch of guys who he thought would be around for 2-3-4 years and it hasn't worked out for one reason or another. Either they show themselves to be better than advertised (Devin Booker, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tyler Herro) or they struggle and transfer out (Charles Matthews, Marcus Lee, Sasha Killeya Jones).

Just very few Dom Hawkins or Derek Willis' available. I'm not sure Darius Miller would've happened had he started out here under Cal.

[Catatonic]

Hard to get those guys unless they're in-state. They know they're going to be recruited over at Kentucky and he won't play them.

Even three-star guys have high hopes. That's still "elite" if you look at the number of high school players there are. I would almost guarantee that almost every 3-star player out there has NBA aspirations. If you come to Kentucky, you know you're going to be used only behind whatever phenom he's got at your position.

I think the best-case scenario for Cal is simply to land all the top 5/top 10 recruits he's after and don't miss on those players the staff really covets. When things go haywire at UK is when we miss on players we've been recruiting for years. That's happened with regularity the last three, four recruiting seasons.

In my mind there is no other way to succeed. They just have to land the best of the best. They've done a much better job with the 2020 class.

I'd think Josh Harrellson's development would make for a pretty good recruiting pitch. But I take your point.

Again I think a staff shakeup might be in order, as you say recruiting the last few years has gotten a bit unreliable. Part of that is now everyone's getting in on the One and Done train, but we still have the guy who invented this thing.

[J.Jennings]

You want to know what's really scary, i look at a team like Louisville and how they are building a TEAM and i am like dang, i want that. Cal really hasn't felt a lot of heat while at Kentucky mainly because he has beat Louisville year in and year out. If that starts to change and we start losing to Louisville, it will energize and fire up a BBN fanbase he has never saw before, that's a fact......

[Dwight Schrute]

You want to know what's really scary, i look at a team like Louisville and how they are building a TEAM and i am like dang, i want that. Cal really hasn't felt a lot of heat while at Kentucky mainly because he has beat Louisville year in and year out. If that starts to change and we start losing to Louisville, it will energize and fire up a BBN fanbase he has never saw before, that's a fact......

I agree - not about the envying Louisville fans but I like what Chris Mack is doing at Louisville. He's a darn good coach and if things had been different I would've taken him here in a heartbeat. I liked the guy at Xavier and he became a better coach every year.

Remains to be seen if he can keep it up, but so far he's doing really well at Louisville.

[J.Jennings]

Meanwhile, that same Michigan State team we somehow managed to beat just destroyed that team they played last night, kind of what i was expecting out of us the last two games. Blows my mind year in and year out we just seem to struggle really bad. Yes we have freshman but it's JUNK basketball 101, man i hate it...

[Catatonic]

You want to know what's really scary, i look at a team like Louisville and how they are building a TEAM and i am like dang, i want that. Cal really hasn't felt a lot of heat while at Kentucky mainly because he has beat Louisville year in and year out. If that starts to change and we start losing to Louisville, it will energize and fire up a BBN fanbase he has never saw before, that's a fact......

Yep, we don't have Pitino to kick around anymore. Even our horrid Archie Goodwin team nearly beat their vacated championship team. It's a lot easier to deal with a down year for UK as long as Louisville is worse.

[85 Fly]

Once again I taped the game but didn't watch it and I saw the highlights/score.

Sestina- #1 thing on the opponents scouting report is dribble-drive penetration, he can't stay in front/defend anyone.

I haven't hit the panic button yet but I am concerned about: G-Tech, Utah, Ohio and Loui on the horizon...
Hoping we can get it together!

[Joneslab]

Sestina- #1 thing on the opponents scouting report is dribble-drive penetration, he can't stay in front/defend anyone.

True.

But Kentucky's help defense is just awful. Couple times last night the help was supposed to be there and wasn't.

Still think Sestina is playing too many minutes and in a perfect world Montgomery comes back and gets the lions share of the PT at the 4 with Sestina as a kind of off-the-bench energy guy who rebounds and takes three or four pick-and-pop threes. But if Montgomery can't hit easy turnarounds in he paint then he obviously won't get those minutes.

[J.Jennings]

True.

But Kentucky's help defense is just awful. Couple times last night the help was supposed to be there and wasn't.

Still think Sestina is playing too many minutes and in a perfect world Montgomery comes back and gets the lions share of the PT at the 4 with Sestina as a kind of off-the-bench energy guy who rebounds and takes three or four pick-and-pop threes. But if Montgomery can't hit easy turnarounds in he paint then he obviously won't get those minutes.

Yes it is, we refuse to challenge the 3 point shot. If we keep playing like this, any high school team who can shoot 3's can beat us at any given time,it's horrible...

[J.Jennings]

The only think keeping me hopeful right now is the fact we have guys injured and are short on players. Perhaps if we had depth we could have tired out both Evansville and Utah St which leads to missed shots and missed rebounds...