2024 Roster (Enter Antonio Reeves & Tre Mitchell)

[DA#23]

EDIT TO ADD: BTW, HEY CAL, HOW ABOUT USING EVERY SINGLE SCHOLARSHIP AVAILABLE TO YOU!?!

That would be nice, but I think it’s hard to do when the entire roster bails every spring. 5 man recruiting classes used to be big, but to fill out the roster we’d need 9-13 recruits/transfers a year.

Too many holes and not enough drain plugs for this ship right now.

[Joneslab]

2. I REALLY dislike a model where you can play here for one season, sort of suck, but have lots of potential, and then be celebrated as "another Kentucky player in the NBA". Even worse when they go on to shine in the NBA... OAD was fine when you got the best of the best who were awesome for one year. OAD isn't fine when you get an ok player that takes more than they give. EVERY OAD I can think of in recent years is the latter.?!

This past team had probably two players who'll play in the NBA: Toppin and Wallace. Both were very good players (Toppin moreso in the last half) and actually, if you could clone those two I think Kentucky would've contended.

I'd be shocked if Livingston ever got a shot unless it's sort of as a journeyman sort who floats around for a few years. But even that would be a surprise.

[Joneslab]

Also, disagree with the "every OAD for the last few years" point.

That's just false. TyTy? Cason Wallace? Tyrese Maxey? Tyler Herro? Keldon Johnson?

The fact is, we need more of those guys. Not enough top-end talent in here the last few years.

[Lighthouse]

[QUOTE=Will Lavender;n317633]. Not enough top-end talent in here the last few years.[/QUOTE]

And the reason, Cal. I still believe players are realizing what an terrible coach he is, and they don't need Kentucky or Cal to make the next level.

I'll sure be glad when this drama is over and we know who will be playing this year.

[justford]

Just another cap on the table for several players.

[Joneslab]

Grant Nelson, whose name was mentioned way back early in this thread, officially pulls his name out of NBA Draft contention and will transfer somewhere.

[Spiritof96]

Also, disagree with the "every OAD for the last few years" point.

That's just false. TyTy? Cason Wallace? Tyrese Maxey? Tyler Herro? Keldon Johnson?

The fact is, we need more of those guys. Not enough top-end talent in here the last few years.

TyTy was good, but he wasn't in the class of player I was describing. I'll give you Herro.

Were Maxey, Wallace, and Johnson's contributions while they were here enough to justify the resulting instability? They were good, but if you told any UK Bball fan in 2010, forget Wall, Cousins, Davis, etc, how about some Keldon Johnson OAD? The answer would have been a resounding no.

Players like that used to come back for year two and then they were great. Not anymore.

It may be that the world has changed and there is no retaining any talent for more than a year, but I still HATE that model.

[Joneslab]

TyTy got hurt, which made his legacy a little different.

But I think you could put any of those players on any contender and they’d fit right in.

And it isn’t just OAD’s. Just talent in general. Heck, there’s Oscar. Toppin could’ve definitely played for UCONN. We just haven’t had enough of that caliber. For instance Chris Livingston will likely always be referred to as a “one and done.” Therein is the issue.

I’m not arguing that it’s *all* about a lack of talent here. It goes deeper than that. But when he stopped stacking those recruiting classes like he was early on there has been a marked difference.

[George]

A healthy TyTy made everything about 50% easier for his team. He wasn’t among the greatest we’ve ever had, but at his best, he was really good.

[Spiritof96]

A healthy TyTy made everything about 50% easier for his team. He wasn’t among the greatest we’ve ever had, but at his best, he was really good.

That's my point. He was really good and was the most important player on that team. I don't think he was good enough to make OAD work. Like I said, it is probably the case that the world has changed and college basketball will never retain anything in the way of stability or cohesion. I think I'm just sick of it.

I don't want to watch a hot mess from Nov - early Feb, finally have the team figure out who they are and become fun for 3 weeks, and then pray for a tourney run only to blow the whole thing up in the spring. (Rinse repeat). Add to that a blowhard coach who seems over it. (or stubborn or dense?)

[Spiritof96]

That would be nice, but I think it’s hard to do when the entire roster bails every spring. 5 man recruiting classes used to be big, but to fill out the roster we’d need 9-13 recruits/transfers a year.

Too many holes and not enough drain plugs for this ship right now.

He is one of the only coaches in America that fails to use all of his scholarships or who spends scholarships on walk-on "manager supplement" players.

[George]

I mean, we say this about someone every year, but I really wish TyTy had returned for a second season. A backcourt of him and Cason? That would’ve been TOUGH.

[DA#23]

^ Yeah, definitely think so as well. Shaedon also would have helped but….

Spirit’s right, Cal does a horrible job of utilizing the available scholarships. It’s a system issue where our target recruit is supposed to be a future pro and there simply aren’t enough minutes available to get those people here in volume like we did in 2014/15, and unfortunately those other vital players that are high level college guys understand that they are fighting uphill for minutes against the stud recruits.

So the system here now is broken and it’s not going to change.

All we can hope for is that the incoming guys pan out and that we get some good news tonight.

[Joneslab]

I don't want to watch a hot mess from Nov - early Feb, finally have the team figure out who they are and become fun for 3 weeks, and then pray for a tourney run only to blow the whole thing up in the spring.

This wasn't happening in the first five-six years (minus 2013 and some of 2014). Those teams were mostly ready to go.

Thus my point above: you stack talent like that then you're good out of the gate. If you don't stack talent and you turn the roster over...well, then, you get what we've gotten recently.

Cason Wallace was really the only player we had last year who was of the caliber Cal was getting early. (Oscar too, but in a different way.) So that's one guard at "Point Guard U" you could really count on to take a game over. That doesn't cut it.

[Joneslab]

Spirit’s right, Cal does a horrible job of utilizing the available scholarships.

In the Portal Era, it's got to be super hard to get guys who are at the ends of their college careers and put them onto a team where they know they're likely going to play behind phenom freshmen.

That's why you've got to have returners. You have to. Another difference between Now and Back Then: we always had a couple of returners. If you return no one and have to really hit the portal then it's a crap shoot. We won it with Oscar but now you have to think the freshmen make it really hard.

Duke had a great offseason for instance but they got key players to return. We haven't (yet) and there's a possibility that it burns us so bad it completely obliterates any legacy Cal's hanging onto at this point.