The Official We're Definitely Not Going to Panic About a Big Man Thread

[George]

Nick's going pro, E.J.'s heading to Kazakhstan, Haarms likes Mormon girls, and Brown doesn't like us, but someone still has to play the five at Kentucky next season.

The possible good news? Word is the immediate transfer rule is happening now, which means Cal can poach some real talent (and experience!) from some unlucky sucker.

Let's speculate, dream, and definitely not panic to our hearts' content. Be it a reclass or a transfer, we'll land someone.

[George]

The new rule means young Toppin can play right away, but A.) it's hard to see him as the solution to our problems, and B.) I could've sworn pretty much everyone involved said that no matter how this thing went, he was going to sit out a year.

Then, T.J. Walker just suggested (maybe jokingly) that Iowa's Luka Garza could be a possibility for us. That'd be interesting...

[JFCats22]

Garza surely couldn’t be a serious option. Had to have been a joke.

I’m not even sure how a coach goes about doing this. They can’t reach out to players (as far as I am aware) so a player has to make contact or enter the transfer portal. I assume there are “back channels” that coaches will use to make contact though.

I have no idea what players could potentially be available.

[Joneslab]

With the way they immediately went after Haarms and then reached out to that other kid it appears the staff really doesn't have a plan.

I'd like to think they have a plan, some rising senior they're sure is going to reclassify. But it's becoming obvious that they're grasping.

That doesn't mean they won't get someone, especially now with this rule change. But this thing is really up in the air right now, IMO.

[George]

With the way they immediately went after Haarms and then reached out to that other kid it appears the staff really doesn't have a plan.

I'd like to think they have a plan, some rising senior they're sure is going to reclassify. But it's becoming obvious that they're grasping.

It does seem that way, which is why I agree with Colvin about our need for a staff shake-up. We should jettison one of Barbee and Justus, then do whatever it takes to bring Orlando back. A lot of this instability coincided with his departure.

(And I don't really care if he was kinda sorta shady down in Florida.)

[KCKUKFan]

It does seem that way, which is why I agree with Colvin about our need for a staff shake-up. We should jettison one of Barbee and Justus, then do whatever it takes to bring Orlando back. A lot of this instability coincided with his departure.

(And I don't really care if he was kinda sorta shady down in Florida.)

By all accounts, Justus has been absolutely killing it for 21 and 22 and has been the point man for all the biggest guys from the last couple classes.

[justford]

Just tossing this out here for discussion. Is Coach Payne not connecting with potential big men recruits or is it a Cal issue or the whole coaching staff or none of these?

[JFCats22]

Just tossing this out here for discussion. Is Coach Payne not connecting with potential big men recruits or is it a Cal issue or the whole coaching staff or none of these?

Cal likes to use a big man like it traditionally has been done. Back to the basket, stay in the paint on offense.

the NBA doesn’t do that anymore and I don’t think big man recruits think Cal’s way of doing it showcases them or gets them ready for the NBA anymore.

[Joneslab]

I agree with that but Anthony Davis played outside quite a bit. Often you'd see him dribbling the ball up the court. But that's Anthony Davis.

I've long wondered if Karl Towns might have something to do with it. The way Cal used Towns and the kind of player he has been in the NBA is interesting to see, and you can sort of throw Bam in there as well. Maybe there's something there that younger big men--and more importantly, opposing coaches--have been able to sort of use against Kentucky.

In this particular case I would imagine it just came down to Mark Pope being a similar player to Matt Haarms. I also think Kentucky's in a less than ideal situation to try and lure older guys because that older guy is going to have to play with a bunch of 18-year-olds. Tough sell. So in a lot of ways BYU makes sense once you get over the "OMG it's BYU!" thing.

The problem for Kentucky isn't Haarms obviously but it's this series of big men that we keep whiffing on, the most glaring of course being Wiseman. I contend more than style of play and coaching staff James Wiseman screwed a lot of things up for Kentucky. I believe we tried to basically sell completely out to get him, and then when he jilted us it was nigh impossible to get anyone else because we had sold our souls for one player.

[DA#23]

Zion, too, with regard to recruiting. That class was to Cal as Brand, Maggette, Avery, etc. were going to be to Rick.

KAT was a difficult situation in a few different ways, one being team needs. At the end of the day, this still is a team sport and it would have been detrimental to that team to have KAT playing like a SF. Additionally, and this applies to multiple guys here, players improve and with many of these guys I think you see a lack of ball handling skills while at UK which keeps them from playing outside.

How many times have we gotten a PF that we thought would be able to play outside more than they did? Terrence Jones, Poythress, Randle (I thought were getting baby Lebron at the time), Adebayo, Washington, etc. Patterson was to have led the charge in this movement.

Calipari came to UK and basically advertised a 4 out-1 in offense, but as we have seen his rosters benefitted more from having that 4 play more inside.

Guys like Mashburn and Walker could have played this way. Zion? Oh heck yes.

[Joneslab]

Julius Randle did one thing at a super-elite level. Honestly almost as elite as anybody who's ever played at UK has don it.

And that's rebound. You wouldn't take a guy like that outside much because you remove him from the one super-elite skill he has.

Also: couldn't shoot. But having said that, I do remember Randle starting at the elbow a lot and being kind of a battering ram going toward the basket. Somebody showed a clip of that Wichita St. game the other day and Randle's highlights were .

I think he's a seriously underrated player for Kentucky during the Cal era. I put Terrence Jones in that same boat and Jones ironically started out like more of a guard but really became a good player when he bought into being a shot-blocking, rebounding traditional power forward.

[DA#23]

The point being that even those guys, all of whom were top shelf recruits, lacked the requisite skills to play outside while they were at UK. You have to be able to dribble and also create shots for yourself (and of course make shots).

Randle also had a bit of penchant for being a black hole. Had he learned to keep his head up and occasionally pass out of the paint he could have really helped Harrison and Young score a bit more at times.

[JFCats22]

It's pretty amazing to look at when you write it down.

2009-2015 UK has had these bigs:

Cousins
Jones
Davis
Noel
Randle
Cauley-Stein
Towns
Lee
Johnson
Harrelson
Orton
Kanter

Since 2015 UK has gotten these bigs

Washington
Skal
Montgomery
Adebayo
Richards
Humphries
Travis
Sestina

[Joneslab]

The ironic thing about UK's big men is that in terms of progression and coaching and overall sticktoitiveness, Nick Richards is as interesting a story as anybody on that list.

He should be a model for how college players stay and progress and get better. Unfortunately the way UK has run its program in this NBA farm team manner has allowed people to use Richards' story as a negative, simply because he started as a five-star and then took two years to become that sort of player.

[teamchemistry15]

Football question: If the transfer eligibility rules is granted would Gatewood be eligible this year?

I know Cal can't reach out, but is it against the rules for one of our players to reach out?