Kevin Knox

[Joneslab]

If we add Bamba it might leave SKJ as the odd man out unless he has changed his work ethic and practice habits.

Yep.

Gabriel too is going to have to pick it up. If he's as mentally weak as he showed last year then guys like Washington (a coach's son) and Vanderbilt (maybe the best all-around player Kentucky will bring in next year) are going to play over him.

[lilproUK98]

The difference is that at least three of those guys are going to be significantly better than their back-ups.

Quade Green is going to play most of the time. Alexander might play back-up point guard, but he isn't a true point guard. If Diallo returns he's going to play most of the time at the 2. Bamba is another guy that's going to be hard to take out.

Much different situation than last time. Last time you returned much of a team and added a new team. This time you're just adding a new team plus a few guys. If there's a platoon that's not a good thing because it means the top guys weren't as good as their billing.

This is what I suspect will happen if Diallo returns....

Green, Diallo, Knox, Washington, Vanderbilt, and Bamba will be the big 6....

Alexander will back up at the 1 & 2 and Gabriel, SKJ, and Richards fighting for time at the 3,4,5

Not sure Baker will be ready to play significant mins, so that's why there is still daylight in there for Cam Johnson, but not as much as he would want IMO...

[Friendsofcoal]

I think we land Bamba and we'll have either Diallo or Johnson. I think Johnson comes if Diallo stays in the draft. And I predict (Diallo goes first round, which I sort of called months ago) my starting 5 will be...

Green
Johnson
Knox
Vanderbilt
Bamba

[Joneslab]

At this point way more hinges on Bamba than Diallo.

I think we can survive Diallo going. This team is going to be a major work-in-progress if we don't land Bamba. And I think there will be some pretty major bumps in the road even if we do land Bamba. So, so young.

If Bamba doesn't come then the door is open at the 5 for maybe Killeya-Jones to win that position. I don't think there's as much room for him at the 4. Relying on a sophomore who couldn't play over Tai Wynyard and a freshman who has virtually no offensive game at your center position isn't really where I want to be when you've got a team chock full of newcomers.

In short: we need Bamba in the worst way. Knox softened the Diallo thing somewhat.

[justford]

Remember we are a positionless team.

[Joneslab]

Remember we are a positionless team.

Cal does use his centers like centers, however.

A case can be made that maybe he shouldn't. You watch Towns now and he's basically like a big guard. Maybe pounding it down to a center needs to be ditched and it would open things up a little for UK's offense. (Actually the last two years, offense hasn't been a problem for UK very much at all.)

Next year though is going to be a bit different in that I don't think we'll see the "pound it into the paint" thing nearly as much as we saw with Bam. Both Bamba and Knox are much more in line with the rim-running, Cauley-Stein type centers whose biggest attribute is the ability to rim-run.