4 fouls 0-2 from 3 vs Texas
Aaron Bradshaw 2 pts 1 reb
- Thread starter Possum
- Start date
Until he gets a lot of muscle he will continue to struggle. I really love the kid, but it’s obvious he was very over rated. He’s 7’1” and he’s still listed at 215. That is so small for a dude his size.
I liked the kids effort but I can't think of any upper class men we have I would trade for him
Seemed like a good dude. If his camp didn’t put him ion a 5000+ cal diet all offseason with minimal cardio and a good weight lifting (not just plyo and bands)…then they are costing that kid millions. He could have upped his cardio and got back in shape 2 months before the season, same as Chandler had to….but Bradshaw needs to be 230 minimum and he’d be a force
Cal had a weird penchant for getting guys who looked athletic, and some were, but just couldn't play worth a lick. Best example was Whitney. I don't know what he sees in those players. I know he recognizes talent though (AD, KAT, etc), but then he stopped getting those guys. He did put a few guys in the first round though that nobody thought would be, so I don't know what it is.
Pretty sure my 5 year old niece could have figured out that AD and KAT were talented. Don't see any huge recognition there. And honest question, who did he ever put in the first round that wasn't expected?
Herro, Booker, SGA, Jackson, Bledsoe. All guys that didn’t have a lot of draft buzz when they got to campus.
Though I thought people were crazy for writing off Booker so quick. 6’6 2 guard that was a prolific scorer in high school. Seemed obvious to me but he wasn’t on draft boards when he signed with us.
I think we eventually ended up with more guys that slid. Though i think some of those were less Cal’s fault and more they were just overrated. But he still recruited and signed them.
He’s not athletic. He runs like a dog when you put shoes on it.
BJ Boston
Skal
That’s about the time I stopped believing the rankings
Skal
That’s about the time I stopped believing the rankings
Me too. I stopped getting excited over 5 star Freshmen around that point. I only got excited to get back the rare 5 star Sophomore.
That was a big win over Texas though.
Texas, Texas A&M, Missouri, and South Carolina all lost last night.
Texas, Texas A&M, Missouri, and South Carolina all lost last night.
I want my post players to have a little bit of *** to get position down there.
I forgot Texas was in the SEC until this post
It was a very bad recruiting class and he was 7 foot and moved well on high profile AAU and HS teams. He’s a little skilled and a little athletic(for being 7 foot). But neither are at levels that translate to college basketball yet. Feel bad for all the highly ranked kids that seem to be nice kids(was nice to me at least) and fail hard.
I honestly think it mostly had to do with 2 things. His strength and his handle. He’s very limited in his move set and doesn’t have a great handle to make those move. Add in no strength and he can’t even get to positions on the court to try and make the moves he needs to score. He’s all lob and put backs right now.
Bradshaw always seemed like a good guy, but I’m not sure he’s built for this level of play. When I saw him in person last year, I was kind of shocked how skinny he was- try to imagine him guarding Williams this year.
Being athletic isn’t that much of an advantage if you can’t dribble or aren’t really strong. Raw athleticism would translate more to volleyball than to basketball. At some point, you have to be able to put yourself in position to make baskets…you either have to be able to get by someone or establish and hold your position.
He will be fine in the future. Needs to gain some weight and keep grinding. Hope the best for him unless he plays UK.
Convince me Cal got them there and not the fact that they were gym rats with exceptional measureables.
Bradshaw is a poor-man's Skal, and that's saying something.
Wasn't there just a huge thread about AD's recruitment because of something a Lakers announcer said? He wasn't really seen as a big time recruit until well into his senior year, at which point we were already quite involved.
And it's not just about getting guys into the first round. It's about keeping them in the NBA. If you look at the history of lottery picks from Cal vs. someone like K, Cal still has a lot more guys get that second giant contract. There's probably a reason for that. Remember the debates between who should be taken first, KAT or Okafor? Seems like kind of a silly debate now. I do really think Cal took talent and prepared them for the NBA better than any coach was doing at the time.
Not gonna bash him in any way, he left but didn't follow Cal which makes me like him 1000x more than the defectors.
I don't want to say Cal isn't a smart guy but I feel like sometimes he doesn't realize these athletic guys are playing high school ball against blue or white collar workers.
It's easy to look good and show potential when they are dunking the ball at will. Likely pretty easy to have a vision and talk yourself into thinking they can do the same at the next level.
It's easy to look good and show potential when they are dunking the ball at will. Likely pretty easy to have a vision and talk yourself into thinking they can do the same at the next level.
And Skal got drafted, Bradshaw is too tall to be drafted in the military so his only option will be overseas.
Booker, Murray, Cauley Stein, SGA, Sheppard. There are are a few others. All of these guys were high recruits but not thought of as one and done candidates when they started at UK.
I wish Bradshaw well. I liked the kid's hustle. But, he simply isn't Kentucky good. I'd bet we even see AB transfer down again.
Preseason Shae-Gilgeous Alexander and Tyler Herro were not projected first rounders after one season. Not even sure Booker was.
Ok, but by the same logic, you can't blame him for busts either. Coaches have an impact, sometimes it is substantial, sometimes it isn't, but it's hard for us to know which.
Sure but if the first time you saw Herro you didn’t think he was OAD dunno what to tell you. Same with Bledsoe. Booker and SGA maybe he gets credit but he did try to start Green over SGA so feels a bit more on the in spite of Cal than because of Cal to me.
I mean you can’t really. Booker, SGA, Herro, and Shepherd were all really underrated.
Hell i knew Booker was underrated before he ever played a game for us. And you could tell SGA was too. I watched him in the Derby classic and told my buddy there’s no way he wouldn’t be starting before the end of the season.
I do think he helped Jackson by playing him in a way that showed off his strengths. Because Jackson really wasn’t all that good IMO. He was just a freaky athlete with a great motor and good defensive IQ. But offensively he didn’t have much and even in his 4th year in the league he still hadn’t gotten much better. So yeah I think Cal did a good job selling the nba on him with how he played him.
Other than that i’m not sure how much credit you give Cal for just playing guys. Eric Bledsoe probably. Not sure how many people were going to feature him the way Cal did as a true freshman without the hype of the higher ranked guys. That was back when the idea of winning big with freshman was still scoffed at. But his only other legit option was Memphis because of his eligibility questions. And Pastner is probably one of the other guys that would have played him a lot.
On the flip side i don’t think Cal did Devin Booker any favors by sticking him in the corner every night. Booker got to workouts and showed GM’s he was more than that.
Cal did do Herro and SGA a favor by pulling them away from coaches that weren’t known to play freshman a ton. But as long as they got ample playing time they were going to show out.
I think theres an argument he ruined Skal’s career. As well as BJ Bostons.
phew. that was too long but i’m bored.
