2024 Roster (Enter Antonio Reeves & Tre Mitchell)

[Joneslab]

Saw that UK nemesis Jordan Wright is entering the portal.

Cal is probably gunshy about taking him because he fears Wright will get a look at the UK jerseys out there and start killing us.

[KCKUKFan]

Between Disu and Wright, Stackhouse has lost a couple of really solid guys to transfer the last couple years.

[KCKUKFan]

Reed's lineage has more to do with fan ire than skin color, I would imagine.

His dad might be the most beloved Cat of the last thirty years, so his kid will never do wrong in the eyes of some idiots in our fan base.

[Joneslab]

As I said somewhere else, if next year's team wins nobody will care if Reed Sheppard is playing or not except for a tiny sliver of the fanbase.

But if he loses and the team is a mess *and* Sheppard isn't playing...well, that won't be good.

[KCKUKFan]

Should we even be expecting much from him?

He looks skilled, but physically behind.

[Joneslab]

Should we even be expecting much from him?

He looks skilled, but physically behind.

Depends on what people are expecting.

If they expect him to play a lot of minutes they're probably going to be disappointed. As an end-of-the-rotation guy? Yeah, I think he could be that.

Were I a betting man I'd say there will be games next year where Sheppard doesn't play and a few games where he really helps. Sort of an Adou Thiero type of role.

[KentuckyWild2020]

If Reed were black would it make a difference as far as this goes?

Maybe just because some people are who they are but with Darius Miller, many was calling for PT even though he wasn't as highly heralded as Reed. I think Darius was ranked 33 with Reed at 22, not a huge difference but still a lot of hype, some just want to see the hometown hero's succeed on the big stage at Kentucky. Sometimes i works but sometimes you get the CJ effect, to much pressure to play loose and succeed, he just didn't all of a sudden forget how to shoot the basketball...

Maybe the whole hype towards Reed from the Kentucky fanbase is that many desperately want to see UK back on top. WIth Jeff Sheppard winning a title at Kentucky, perhaps some want to re live this moment through Reed again because it's familiar and it has worked in the past, some people just going to see it that way. Probably unfair to the youngest Sheppard to have to walk in his father's shoes and with added expectations but hey, it's Kentucky, what else would you expect??

I will agree that when a player like Willis came to Kentucky, folks was hoping for the next Scott Padgett, maybe expecting Reed to be Jeff, who knows?. Still i think it goes much deeper than that, specifically back to the early 90's with Pitino. Let's be honest, Rick had a few not so athletic white boys on the team from the state of Kentucky who proved everyone wrong. What they lacked in athleticism they made up for it by good coaching and a good system, not just the white boys on the teams but the whole team really regardless of skin tone, people really loved the fact that a hometown team would run through a brick wall and compete with anyone proudly playing for that name on the front of the jersey, at least that was the perception and fans will never forget that, will hold on to that to this day...

Regardless, biggest question will be Dillingham? If he plays and is eligible, that is bad for Reed in regards to minutes in my opinion. I don't see Cal going with three 6'3 and under guys at the same time but i may be wrong, who knows with Cal...

[Joneslab]

Derek Willis had a really good, underrated career at Kentucky. It just took him awhile.

You don't see many players like that in the Cal era but maybe Sheppard will be one. He's farther ahead than Willis was at this age--I saw Willis in high school and had no idea what Cal was doing. Three years later he was a completely different player.

[KCKUKFan]

So he's more Derek Willis than Tyler Herro, if we're comparing white guys.

[Matt Dillon]

If Reed were black would it make a difference as far as this goes?

It doesn't matter to me. I'm just wondering because, before Reed committed, it was noised about that Jeff and Cal aren't the best of friends.

[Joneslab]

So he's more Derek Willis than Tyler Herro, if we're comparing white guys.

Probably somewhere in between the two.

There was a lot of attitude with Herro that really helped him. He had tons of game but he's also one of the saltiest guys we've had here. You can offset a lot of stuff if you believe you're the best player in every gym you step in.

[Matt Dillon]

How much pt Reed gets as a freshman will depend on how they fill out the rest of the roster. But have no fear that he was an obligatory signee. The kid is a player. He’s not afraid of the stage. If he had gone elsewhere he would have gone Lofton on our butts.

I know he's not afraid of the stage. North Laurel is just about 14 mi. north of where I live.

[KentuckyWild2020]

Question about Reed Sheppard because honestly I don't know, can he jump out of the gym like his Daddy?

I assume he can shoot and score but is he a above the rim type of athlete or at least a playerwho can rise up and get his shot off?

[Lighthouse]

As I've posted before, I saw Reed Shepherd play 3 HS games when he was a Junior. His mid-range jumper is solid. He has hops. He's not deadly at the 3, but is adequate. He finishes strong at the rim. He's a player, and will get minutes next year, but probably not start. And he's faster than a lot of people think. He plays defense but at 6'2" might have trouble with bigger guards.

[Joneslab]

Don't think he's quite the athlete his dad was. That's a tall order.

I'm not sure if he's a great three point shooter yet but then again, his dad wasn't either when he was that age. Only made 7 threes as a freshman.