Alvaro
- Thread starter chasingwildcat
- Start date
Make that two more guards in my opinion. We really need a shooting/scoring guard and preferably another PG.
Probably a shooter (Wilkerson) and development piece at any position
Posting an account with 45 followers is diabolical. Anyone can read this post and immediately know that this is bull. No coach would come out and say such things about any player.
Early on there were rumors of us and UT. I think coaches probably saw he wasn't ready for the SEC
Garrison isn't the ideal 4 you would like on the floor playing major minutes, and I don't believe Diaboute is either. Sorry but I don't see it, and think we could do so much better at the position. Now Garrison at the 5 is another story, but that ship has seemed to sail since he's been recruited over with JQ and MM. Garrison is a nice insurance policy as long as JQ is sidelined coming back from his ACL injury, but when both JQ and MM are healthy, I would much rather have another option at the 4 for next year.
I may be in the minority, but I was never super impressed with Alvaro. I saw another unathletic guy who could shoot but would probably get bullied in the SEC and struggle on the glass at this level.
When it comes to bigs, give me a strong athlete who can rebound and defend well and be able to shoot a little over a non-athletic guy who can't rebound or defend but is a great shooter.
When it comes to bigs, give me a strong athlete who can rebound and defend well and be able to shoot a little over a non-athletic guy who can't rebound or defend but is a great shooter.
Garrison doesn't fit that as a starting 4 either...
Calm down with the perpetual hand wringing, man. It's still really early in this process. The portal doesn't close for another 12 days, which means all entrants aren't even in it yet. You can take commits all the way until fall semester begins.
I agree that Garrison is probably a step slow laterally and not a good enough rebounder at this moment to be a starting 4. But, I also don't think he's some kind of terrible option to split time at the 4/5 for 20-25 minutes a game. I remember when we used to be excited to see how a player developed over time. Some of y'all are acting like he can't/won't improve.
Some of y'all are panicking and acting as if the roster is completely set. There's still plenty of time to add 2-3 quality pieces.
This.
Last year if felt like Lanier was the missing piece. We just needed one more guy who could get a bucket. Ironically, his Vols team took us down at the end of the season.
Wilkerson feels the same. Just like Chaz, Lamar has great efficiency numbers, which speaks volumes considering he was targeted by opposing defenses all season.
Get Wilkerson and I feel like we have our final piece. UK would have three stellar high-end players in Wilkerson, Oweh, and Quaintance. You need three studs to win it all.
Last edited:
Agreed.
Lowe is probably a slight "day-one" downgrade on Lamont Butler (but with more potential than Butler) . -1
Wilkerson is a push with Kobe Brea. even
Johnson is a push with Jaxson Robinson. even
Quaintance is an upgrade on Williams. +1
Mo D is an upgrade on Carr. +1
Moreno is a push on freshman Garrison. even
Kam Williams is a slight upgrade on Almonor. +1
Second-year Noah, Garrison, Chandler, and Perry all better. +1
It's no wonder this team will be ranked top 5 when it's all said and done, assuming we land Wilkerson.
That's a big assumption though. Lamar is visiting 4 schools so it's no sure thing.
I see a lot of potential in Garrison and Chandler. Will they be super stars? No. Will they be the 2nd Tier guys who can improve greatly and do phenomenal stuff? Absolutely.
To me the 2 big issues with BG are.
1. Terrible decision making.
- Bad passing
- Shooting the 3
- Being lazy
- A little selfish
2. Lack of wanting to be Physical
- He doesn't get physical all the time and has shied away from it.
- He has shown he CAN be physical and play well. That's what gives me hope.
BG's attitude and everything reminds me of a discount Cousins lmao.
But I hope BG can improve his mental and can improved his physical needs and in the other things like Terrance Jones did in his 2nd year.
This is probably right. With the backups for the 1, 2, 3 all being able to slide down 1 spot and fill the tertiary backup spot for the 2,3,4 if there’s foul trouble at that position….with garrison being a 3rd 5 man option and the portal SG being the tertiary PG.
Basically makes you a shuffle away from 3 deep at each spot when fully healthy (before you go to Perry or Noah)
I agree with everything you said. I don’t see him becoming TJ but I agree with the point
Im weary of relying on Garrison as our starting PF.. but, he will now have a lot of talent around him. And he might see a lot of growth in his game. I'll never forget the type of turn around Nick Richards had. No reason BG can't do it.
However, if he's sort of a bust again this year, then we absolutely need to find his replacement and if BG leaves cause of that, so be it. Were doing him a real solid if we give him the keys to the starting PF. Not sure he really deserves it yet.
However, if he's sort of a bust again this year, then we absolutely need to find his replacement and if BG leaves cause of that, so be it. Were doing him a real solid if we give him the keys to the starting PF. Not sure he really deserves it yet.
Does nobody on this board think Travis Perry can get stronger and improve defensively ?
Have 10x the confidence of chandler and noah contributing meaningful minutes vs Perry.
If Perry stays his entire tenure he will eventually become a smart backup pg that we can rely on for 12 minutes. Not next year though.
We need a guy who can get us a basket when we need one, a #1 or #2 scoring option. No not over 1 summer do be I think anyone go from barely playable to a #1-2 option.
I do. I trust the long term Travis Perry plan
Well I think Pope knows what he’s capable of. If he’s back that tells me all I need to know. I’m certainly not rooting against him.
If he would just rebound and play solid fundamental interior defense I would be happy, but thus far he doesn’t. And if he’s got a low post move , I haven’t seen it. Hopefully he can improve in those 3 areas .
This is what I am talking about.
We are never going to be injury proof.
You can’t expect Pope to stockpile talent and be three deep with UK level talent at every position.
What you can do is get versatile players that can play different spots and fill in the blanks when injuries occur.
Losing your top 3 options at PG (first Kriisa, then Butler, then Robinson) all in the same season is something that rarely happens and something you absolutely cannot plan for and safeguard against.
Just no way you can plan for that. Not with limited roster spots and with so many other options out there.
A kid isn’t coming to UK to sit behind other players at their position just because they think they may get a shot if someone gets hurt. Not when they can go to another P5 school and start from day one.
So you get guys that can play multiple positions to create some depth.
And you hope you don’t get decimated by injuries at the same position like we did this past season.
No one could have predicted that. And even if Pope knew it, how do you safeguard against it with roster limitations?
Just no way to prepare for that.
Yeah we ave about the worst injury luck one team can have honestly last year. Especially at one crucial position.
Those are a serious 1 and 2. Pretty much covers everything!
I think the frontcourt combination is pretty solid. We got a good collection of forwards that all bring different things to the table.
Some are very critical of a Sophomore Garrison, who has a lot of potential. We have seen a lot of guys make big jumps from Sophomore to Junior year.
Same thing can be said for Dioubate. I feel pretty good having both of those guys going into their Junior years.
And if Quaintance is healthy, he is a freak athlete with the potential to be special.
Finally, Moreno is a McD’s AA. There were many years when we were relying on a guy like this as a starter as a Freshman, but this guy is a backup. Probably our third option at the 5, once JQ is healthy. Think about that.
I am looking forward to seeing these guys grow this season.
Some are very critical of a Sophomore Garrison, who has a lot of potential. We have seen a lot of guys make big jumps from Sophomore to Junior year.
Same thing can be said for Dioubate. I feel pretty good having both of those guys going into their Junior years.
And if Quaintance is healthy, he is a freak athlete with the potential to be special.
Finally, Moreno is a McD’s AA. There were many years when we were relying on a guy like this as a starter as a Freshman, but this guy is a backup. Probably our third option at the 5, once JQ is healthy. Think about that.
I am looking forward to seeing these guys grow this season.
If we get a backup pg and a little more shooting we will be ready
1.9 assists/1.2 TOs last season. Very respectable, especially for a Big asked to initiate the offense as much as he was.
He was second on the team to Amari in defensive box +/- and tied for 3rd in defensive win shares. Maybe a little more under the hood there than you’ve noticed.
On the subject of Lowe being a downgrade to Butler - not sure that’s true. Maybe. Think we will need to play a little differently on defense.
I don’t believe anyone would mistake Lowe for Butler defensively, but I can see a world where we apply much more perimeter pressure in an effort to be more disruptive. We can probably get away with that more having JQ and MD as a back line of defense.
Think of Lowe/JJ/OO pushing up on the perimeter in an effort to generate steals and transition opportunities. Rim is now better covered. Just need to maintain some integrity to mitigate open threes.
Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t see how BG is being handed the keys to anything. Seems like we currently have 4 bigs to split time, with Noah and Kam both with potential to slide in at the 4.
My guess would be that MD and a healthy JQ would be the most likely 4/5 starters, with BG first frontcourt sub.
Not exactly true. We did really well with a PG and a combo guard. Never really had 2 true PG's. Maxey with IQ, Maxey was more of a 2G. It worked because he had PG skills, but was better at the 2G, which is why having a COMBO guard is important, you do not really have to have a 2nd PG on the floor. I do agree we need a back up PG for this team. There are a couple guys still out there, Malachai Smith the Dayton PG is available all though he has a scheduled meeting with UCONN. Barrington Hargress fron UC Riverside is a very solid PG, same for Nate Calmese the PG for Washington State.
Malachai Smith - Dayton - 10.4 ppg / 3 rpg / 5.3 apg. Career 39% 3FG shooter on low volume (2.1 attempts per game) TRUE PG.
Nate Calmese - Washington State - 15.2 ppg / 3 rpg / 4.4 apg. Also averaged 1.6 steals per game and is one of the best on ball defenders in CBB.
Barrington Hargress - UC Riverside - 20.2 ppg / 4 apg. 33% 3FG shooter on high volume, (6.4 attempts per game). Will be a JR.
Yeah I also think he’s an underrated passer on here. He had plenty of games where he was the best big man for us as well.