Booker now looking like the best pick out of that draft, with some argument for KAT.
Devin Booker
- Thread starter usinfantrycat85
- Start date
I didn't say it was his fault... I made that statement to explain why he shouldn't have been in the game. The truth is Booker was pitiful that game. He was abused and brought nothing to the offensive side.
Why would anyone would want to change and put him in over experience that had been in that spotlight before, and kept us in the game....
Hindsight pushers are the worst kind of fans
Booker would have benifited being on a dif UK team. If you put him on a uk team where he could have been the focal point he would have shined. Alot like IQ did his 2nd season. If he had been out of the 2015 class our 2016 team would have been unbelievable
I just revisited the box score in '15. There are some amazing numbers there.
We shot 5 3s the entire game? We were 3-5 and Aaron missed his only attempt at the end.
Wisky wa 7-17!
Booker shot NONE and played 19 min?
We shot 4-8 3s vs Notre Dame and almost lost that one. Man, talk about Cal tightening up!
Wow, Cal was stubborn that night! What a nightmare!
Kahlil Whitney was #11 recruit, got benched.
EJ Montgomery was #9 recruit, played limited reserve minutes.
Wenyen Gabriel was #15 recruit, Willis took his starting spot and his minutes after they split time first half of season.
SKJ was #23 recruit, hardly saw the court, played behind Willis/Gabriel and fewer minutes than Humphries.
Skal was the #2 recruit, got benched and played fewer minutes than Lee/Poythress/Willis.
Dakari was #10 recruit, played fewer minutes than sophomore WCS (then Dakari earned starting job by end of year)
Brother, my angst over Booker not being in that game at crunch time was real time........not hindsight.
My pain watching Cal stay in the switching on all pick and roll man to man defense when it was obvious Bo Ryan was going to abuse us with it, without making a single adjustment in the game was just unreal.
That was in real time, not hindsight.
Watching two guards try to DD through the heart of a packed in defense with multiple shot clock violations in the final minutes of a game without running an offensive set was mind blowing. That was in real time, also. Not hindsight.
Cal was severely outcoached that game and even though you and the whole basketball knowledgeable world know it also, Cal fans like you refuse to accept the fact that Cal's failure with that team and all that talent, was a watershed moment in time for Cal and the program.
Now that part is hindsight. Who knew at that moment in time, the loss to Wisconsin would severely and negatively impact the program and recruiting top talent since that inexcusable loss?
Now, we all know, just some still refuse to admit it or accept the reality of that failure and the subsequent consequences that resulted from that loss.
THAT is the worst kind of fans.
Hell, I'm on the progressive left. Most people on this board would probably call me a woke socialist. Clint Eastwood spoke at the 2012 Republican convention just before Romney - I didn't gaf, I laughed at his weird routine, went to see his movie that came out a month later, and continued being a huge fan. Arnold held elected office as a Republican, called Democrats girly men - literally can't get more political - was still a huge fan, gonna watch anything he does. Tom Brady was a Trump supporter who displayed a MAGA hat in his locker in 2016 - he's a guy I don't even like and literally never, once, have I brought up his politics just because I heard his name or was talking about the Patriots. Too many people are just absolutely ate up over politics, dominates every moment of their thoughts and everything in their life.
DBook FG% last night was better than the majority of my college papers!
I should have attended UNC if I cared about my GPA. Hindsight, eh.
I should have attended UNC if I cared about my GPA. Hindsight, eh.
And in real time I watched Ulis and Booker 100% out of their depth on defense in that game and just get abused, both of them. Neither had a great game in the minutes they played on offense, either, to indicate that just putting them in fixes us. The problem isn't that you think Cal blew it, that he should have adjusted, that a "pound it in to Towns no matter what" game plan that we wouldn't go away from was a mistake, that abandoning the three point shot was a mistake. The problem is thinking the solution is as simple as "Cal played his guys over better guys."
The way Cal coached that game, it would not have mattered who was on the floor.
I thought I made that clear in my post. If not, let me clear it up. That loss was a total systems failure by Cal, on both the offensive and defensive end of the floor.
Yet, you are saying it WAS the players fault since Tyler and Booker was getting abused on the defensive end and "we" couldn't get the ball inside, because "we" couldn't make (or take) any outside shots.
Do you think the coach could have done ANYTHING to affect the outcome of that game IF he would have made adjustments to both scheme and personnel? Just curious.
Because you absolutely know Wisconsin had far less talent than we had.
You're only seeing what you want to see if you read my post and concluded I'm blaming players and not blaming the coach. I listed a number a number of valid criticisms of how Cal coached that game.
Dude your schtick is so old.
Dude your schtick is so old. You respond to anything you disagree with with such a pompous way. I read your comments in many threads, disagree with most of your posts but rather play shooter like you think you are , I move on and ignore. You want an argument in almost every post. The ignore option is gold
And you sir, was only reading what you wanted to see if you read my post and concluded that I was blaming the loss on Cal playing his favorite players over more talented options.
That was a contributing factor and just a piece of that poorly coached, poorly prepared loss to Wisconsin.
Pick and choose. Bring back talented underclassmen. Not that difficult to understand. We’re not splitting the atom here.
I'm just commenting, generally, on how a lot of our fans have zeroed in on "he played the Harrisons over Ulis and Booker" as the primary storyline around that loss. I just don't think that personnel decision is even one of top things to point to in that game as to why we lost.
You never said anything about the switching in your first post. Anyway.
I agree he should have done alot dif in that game but shitting on who got you there isn't one of them. Booker and Ulis were out of place freshmen that night.
That game had nothing to do with recruiting. Believe what you want. The whole landscape of college basketball recruiting changed that off-season with Nike and Adidas. Jeff capel went back to being an assistant at Duke and www was no longer helping us. Those are the reasons the top recruits went elsewhere. Money and only money.
Some of our fans act like that Wisconsin team was a joke and a terrible loss. That Wisconsin team was dang good. Made back to back final fours and had revenge on their mind. It was a game we should have won but inexcusable loss is not correct
That’s a joke right? The kids we recruit are talented enough to have options that pay. They want and get paid. More leagues than the NBA pay.
Like you say, it’s not that difficult to understand. No split atoms.
I'll make a counter point to this, just so both sides are represented. Before I make that point, I also want to say that I personally don't actively boycott many things or people. In the grand scheme of things, what is more important to your life and your kids and grandkids lives, politics or entertainment? I would argue politics. The direction of politics can profoundly affect our lives and the lives of all people who come after us. Those decisions are far more important than a basketball player, actor, or eating establishment. If you believe that someone is using their fame to actively promote ideas you think are harmful to the country, why would you continue to put money in their pockets so they can continue to promote ideas you disagree with? Like I said, I don't really go out of my way to boycott anything, but I think if we realistically prioritized what is most important it would politics over entertainment.
I'll go a step further. Boycotting certain celebrities who use that fame to promote political ideas doesn't mean you boycott all sporting events or all entertainment because not all celebrities politicize their fame. Sometimes I think it would benefit sports and the arts if more people ignored anyone who wants to use their fame for political purposes. I'm not sure why those people think that because they are famous we care what they think about politics. I think sports and entertainment would be much better if we didn't know the political views of celebrities. They don't know my views. I don't need to know theirs's.
The further we get away from the Wisconsin lost the better Devin and Tyler get and the Twins end up being viewed as 2 Brandon Stocktons.
Re-watch the game. It's available on YouTube.
Devin Booker is a great player now. He was not this good as a Freshman.
The team was 38-0.
The team was great because of their defense and switchability on defense.
Trey Lyles was a part of that defense.
The Twins led the team to the Title game the year before.
The team as a whole had a bad game. They lost as a team.
The only thing I wished happened differently, was Alex never getting injured.
Re-watch the game. It's available on YouTube.
Devin Booker is a great player now. He was not this good as a Freshman.
The team was 38-0.
The team was great because of their defense and switchability on defense.
Trey Lyles was a part of that defense.
The Twins led the team to the Title game the year before.
The team as a whole had a bad game. They lost as a team.
The only thing I wished happened differently, was Alex never getting injured.
You know who did know he was a NBA superstar in the making?...... All the jersey chasing girls on campus that were licking his car door handle and posting it to social media [laughing]
The very first post was about Devin Booker. These posts are about the loss to Wisconsin. See the difference? Booker was just one piece of the puzzle that was the Wisconsin game, but he was a piece that affected the outcome.
Cal benched Book & Ulis in semi final game against Badgers & Harrison’s cost us #9!
My son lives in Scottsdale and has season tickets to the Suns games. I never saw it, but he told me Devin has a nasty Ferrari
That Booker was the same player (prolific scorer) that he is now.
He had moments, but had had some moments also.
One of my all-time favorites, I have a picture with him at a Suns event. Great guy, and all-star player... I wouldn’t think about going to Suns if was traded.
but he wasn’t misused at UK
Of course, jmho
Booker couldn’t guard his shadow and was not playing anything like “himself”
If you gave me a Ferrari, I'd put a for sale sign on it. I'm not a fan of European supercars. Yesterday he was driving a mid-80's Buick Grand National.
Lyles was a very good player, but we never really saw what he could do here. In part because there was so obscenely much other talent on that team that he had to defer, but also because he was never allowed to play his true position here.
Lyles is plainly not a 3 (as evidenced by his NBA career, where he’s played only at the 4 and 5 spots). But Cal played him there anyways because that was the way to get his projected NBA lottery picks on the floor at the same time.
Lyles is a guy who I think could’ve really exploded with a mega-season if he’d stayed another year to be the main man starting at the 4 spot, his natural position. But, hey, you can’t blame him for taking that lottery pick money instead.
Last edited:
Trey Lyles was in no way, shape or form a SF, Cal should have always had one of the twins or Booker as the SF. Maybe if Lyles was buried on the bench or one of the other guys were they would have come back the next year.
This is another argument against platooning. Platooning forced us to put square pegs in round holes to create two teams of 5. If you pare down the rotation to Harrison, Harrison, Booker, Ulis, Poythress, Lyles, WCS, Towns and let those 8 get used to playing together in various permutations (with Lee basically not playing and Dakari only getting minutes when we need a bigger body than Willie in the middle to sub for Towns) you can play guys more at their natural position and have better rotations for the offense. I always thought it hurt us that when we blended the platoons late in the season, you have guys who just weren't used to playing with each other.
Yep, if he would have played his cards right I think he could have won the title and got Dakari and Lyles back the next year and won another one. When Poythress got hurt he should have tightened everything up and gone with the three guard lineup.
No have not unfortunately if someone disagrees with Cal your in usually to hammer Im on record not a fan of Cal as bench coach hopefully he proves me wrong this year. Im guessing not but we shall see. By the way tough guy it would be real quick thats a guarantee
Booker be breaking the Kardishian curse. Holla, city of squalla!
This has seemed obvious to me since the middle of the 2015 season. It is nothing short of stunning that Booker never started a single college game !