Charles Matthews' Big Games

[akaukswoosh]

Ben Roberts þ@NextCats 14m14 minutes ago

UK signee Charles Matthews scored 31 points in a win over Jayson Tatum's team tonight. Matthews had 32 last night. Dropped 29 on Tuesday.

 

[doneitall]

Originally posted by Smashcat:

Ben Roberts þ@NextCats 14m14 minutes ago


UK signee Charles Matthews scored 31 points in a win over Jayson Tatum's team tonight. Matthews had 32 last night. Dropped 29 on Tuesday.

Thanks for update, I trust Cal on his recruits.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

I keep laughing every time someone leaves Matthews out of next year's rotation.


I'm going to see him on January 20th when St. Rita battles Providence.

 

[chattanoogawildcat]

Originally posted by Son_Of_Saul:

I keep laughing every time someone leaves Matthews out of next year's rotation.


I'm going to see him on January 20th when St. Rita battles Providence.

lol, i thought the same thing the other day. this dude is a flat out stud!

 

[richbrookstomato]

This kid was hurt during most of the evaluation periods for the last year. He's just now gotten back to full strength. He is a freaky athlete with the ability to get to the basket and score as well as shoot well enough that you can't back off of him. On defense he is a lock down defender. He plays hard the whole game also.

Like Devin Booker, he will come in with something to prove. Can't wait to see him in Blue!!

 

[*dezyDECO*]

Originally posted by Smashcat:

Ben Roberts þ@NextCats 14m14 minutes ago


UK signee Charles Matthews scored 31 points in a win over Jayson Tatum's team tonight. Matthews had 32 last night. Dropped 29 on Tuesday.

I like the sound of that. Especially happy to hear that a guy who signed early and wanted to be at UK from the start is doing so well.

 

[caneintally]

Originally posted by Son_Of_Saul:

I keep laughing every time someone leaves Matthews out of next year's rotation.


I'm going to see him on January 20th when St. Rita battles Providence.

It will either be Matthews or Willis as the back up SF so i am torn on who won't play . Matthews is a future pro though. Now if Brown goes to UCLA and not UK then regardless Matthews plays as Booker will be moved to SF .

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Originally posted by caneintally:


It will either be Matthews or Willis as the back up SF so i am torn on who won't play . Matthews is a future pro though. Now if Brown goes to UCLA and not UK then regardless Matthews plays as Booker will be moved to SF .

I love UK's recruiting class so far because all three guys are smart basketball players. Matthews is the type of swing man Calipari loves because he's in the mold of Antonio Anderson/DeAndre Liggins; however, I like Charles' potential as a midrange shooter (despite earlier criticism on his jump shot). He has a nice lift on his shot now, and there are clear indications he's been working on his shooting a great deal these last few months.


If Kentucky gets Newman, I'd almost prefer a three-guard attack next year for offensive fluidity. Put Booker and Matthews at the three and let them rotate the position. Put Newman at the 2 and stack him with the most minutes. Briscoe and Ulis can rotate the point, also dependent on matchups. Poythress can guard the three at times if Cal is facing an ultra athlete on the wing. Skal, Lee, Dakari, and Alex would be enough for the interior.

 

[mjj_2K]

Matthews' ratings drop makes me question whether scouts are as knee-jerk as some of the fans on this board. Or whether there was an element of "oh, Calipari might have made a recruiting mistake, so let's highlight it" to the drop.

Matthews went into last spring rated in the 10-20 range. Maybe that was too high, and I know that a lot of it was based on physical potential- he was never a great offensive player, but he has the size and athletic ability you see in an NBA 2 guard. Matthews did not have a good spring and summer. His AAU team wasn't as good as the year before, because they lost Tyler Ulis and Paul White (Georgetown), and Matthews' shooting hadn't seemed to improve. He was also hurt for at least part of the time. So scouts dropped him 30-40 spots.

That seemed excessive. It seemed excessive then, and it definitely seems excessive now. Worst case, I think he has the type of talent that DeAndre Liggins or Darius Miller had (even if he ends up a different type of player than either). Best case, he can be every bit as good as Archie Goodwin, but with a better basketball IQ.