GYERO ARCHIVE
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Pretty certain he meant early in the season and not early in the first game.
100% okay with Poythress physically kicking someone's ***. Whatever it takes to get him fired up.
Nice to see 73 tweeting about soccer during the first UK basketball game of the season.
SMDH
SMDH
Murray will be a nice 2nd Round Draft Pick.
It will take us until about Christmas or New Year's, but we will eventually get everything figured out. A few things are certain, we have some guys on the team that don't take any ****, hate to f'n lose, and love to showboat. My favorite kinda team to root for. Killer instinct won't be a problem this year.
It was obvious before now, but Ben Simmons really f*cked up going to LSU.
simmons is just out there dicking around, basically. toying around with everyone. he may fall asleep on the court at some point.
zags-pitt cancelled due to poor court conditions. :cool2:
zags-pitt cancelled due to poor court conditions. :cool2:
Willis looked pretty damn good playing the four in the first half. Thanks for reading GYERO, Cal.
Think it's going to be a much more challenging year than most realize.
Get that we'll be much better as the season progresses but we have some glaring weaknesses. Donut in the middle in terms of physicality in the paint and our defense right now looks very vulnerable in the backcourt. Murray is a badass on offense but his lateral quickness on defense looks very suspect. Ulis can't challenge & get up into a player like he used to without a plethora of trees to back him.
Get that we'll be much better as the season progresses but we have some glaring weaknesses. Donut in the middle in terms of physicality in the paint and our defense right now looks very vulnerable in the backcourt. Murray is a badass on offense but his lateral quickness on defense looks very suspect. Ulis can't challenge & get up into a player like he used to without a plethora of trees to back him.
Meanwhile, there's a ton of folks dressed like seats in Baton Rouge and the lights are dim. Pretty boring game.
Yikes...
So we were out of Paris a few hours before that stuff started. We decided yesterday that we were going to take an earlier flight home this morning and skip out on flying into JFK to stay in New York for the weekend. Our original scheduled flight never left Paris, so who knows what wouldve happened if we had stayed.
I neglected to tell most of my family that we had changed flights so a lot of family and friends thought we were still there. We were in the air when the bulk of that story was breaking so we had a lot of missed calls and texts- and from the GYERO guys checking in, I appreciate the concern.
When we landed, I only saw where there had been a shooting in Paris... had no idea the magnitude of what was going on. I wont throw religion around too often, but i'm thankful for whatever divine intervention got us out of town earlier than we planned.
We spent all of yesterday in the 10th and 11th arrondissement, walking right by some of these places. My wife read about some shops she wanted to see in the area and we had a late lunch there. Its a bit off the tourist path, but seemed like a very safe area.
We had an amazing trip there and the people in Paris were amazing to us. It was probably the best vacation we've ever had. Never once did I feel unsafe. Tough to wrap my head around why people commit this kind of violence.
So we were out of Paris a few hours before that stuff started. We decided yesterday that we were going to take an earlier flight home this morning and skip out on flying into JFK to stay in New York for the weekend. Our original scheduled flight never left Paris, so who knows what wouldve happened if we had stayed.
I neglected to tell most of my family that we had changed flights so a lot of family and friends thought we were still there. We were in the air when the bulk of that story was breaking so we had a lot of missed calls and texts- and from the GYERO guys checking in, I appreciate the concern.
When we landed, I only saw where there had been a shooting in Paris... had no idea the magnitude of what was going on. I wont throw religion around too often, but i'm thankful for whatever divine intervention got us out of town earlier than we planned.
We spent all of yesterday in the 10th and 11th arrondissement, walking right by some of these places. My wife read about some shops she wanted to see in the area and we had a late lunch there. Its a bit off the tourist path, but seemed like a very safe area.
We had an amazing trip there and the people in Paris were amazing to us. It was probably the best vacation we've ever had. Never once did I feel unsafe. Tough to wrap my head around why people commit this kind of violence.
Damn, that was some foreshadowing. Glad you made it home safely.
Not trying to be cute or ironic here, but first we had Wett and his airplane near-misses. Now Clark and the attacks. I get Goosebumps reading about relative strangers (but wildcat pals) go through stuff like this. Small world/ties that bind/atkot.
I guess I could also look at it with a different spin... The recent Chattanooga attacks were a good 10 blocks from where i was at the time so I was never in harms way, although it was a bit unnerving and I had to be more involved in the aftermath bc of some other issues with the assailant- but I wasnt harmed.
The Tuscaloosa tornado... I was safe in low ground, as it went over us- it was just my house that was destroyed in the first one, then my hotel was destroyed in the second one later that week, but both of those I was safe and my GYERO insurance agent hooked up a newly rebuilt house which we have tons of equity in and use as an investment property- and we used some of the insurance money to pay for our wedding-so that was a win in the long run.
Then the most recent one, we missed by a good 6 hours, although of all of the anxious events the last few years, this may be the toughest to wrap my head around. Tornados happen every year, the Chattanooga lone wolf was a single lunatic attacking military personnel- so he seemed to have a targeted demographic. These guys yesterday were just sawing down civilians just to do it. People that had no agenda against their faith or anything- they just blew them up or shot them point blank. Especially coming off of the first guy we met there basically calling the shot that "these people" were doing everything they could to ruin the way of life all over Europe.
The day before we left, my wife was in full fantasy mode about moving to Paris (like she does after every NYC trip, and all trips to see family in Boston, and every other swanky destination we hit). Caught her on zillow.fr or whatever looking at 700 sq apartments. Fairly sure that pipe dream has already gone out the window.
The Tuscaloosa tornado... I was safe in low ground, as it went over us- it was just my house that was destroyed in the first one, then my hotel was destroyed in the second one later that week, but both of those I was safe and my GYERO insurance agent hooked up a newly rebuilt house which we have tons of equity in and use as an investment property- and we used some of the insurance money to pay for our wedding-so that was a win in the long run.
Then the most recent one, we missed by a good 6 hours, although of all of the anxious events the last few years, this may be the toughest to wrap my head around. Tornados happen every year, the Chattanooga lone wolf was a single lunatic attacking military personnel- so he seemed to have a targeted demographic. These guys yesterday were just sawing down civilians just to do it. People that had no agenda against their faith or anything- they just blew them up or shot them point blank. Especially coming off of the first guy we met there basically calling the shot that "these people" were doing everything they could to ruin the way of life all over Europe.
The day before we left, my wife was in full fantasy mode about moving to Paris (like she does after every NYC trip, and all trips to see family in Boston, and every other swanky destination we hit). Caught her on zillow.fr or whatever looking at 700 sq apartments. Fairly sure that pipe dream has already gone out the window.
-Skal was fighting a quick double every time he touched the ball. He'sgoing to adjust. He made a few nice passes out that are encouraging. I'd assume most teams won't do that.
-Weird that Murray is eligible after playing in a YMCA league for the past 28 years.
-Weird that Murray is eligible after playing in a YMCA league for the past 28 years.
Skal was out of position defensively or late to help all night. That's where a lot of Albany's easy baskets came from. He has ridiculous defensive potential but a lot to learn. That's the sort of thing that should improve very quickly, and when it does the defense will be vastly improved. Still think rebounding is gonna be a major issue.
Can't say enough about Derek Willis out there. He didn't fall ***-backwards into a good shooting night or just wind up in the right place at the right time, he got his points in the flow of the offense. Really though, what was more impressive was his demeanor. Never seemed over-anxious to make things happen, only took one bad shot all night by my count (the contested three that Murray dunked back in wasn't great.) and did a ton of small things that don't show up in box scores. Used his length to cause problems on defense and get deflections, timely rebounds. He looked fantastic. I don't know why he doesn't show more emotion out there, you'd think with the game he had you'd have seen a smile or a chest thump or something, but maybe that's just the way he is. What a great night, couldn't be happier for him, and hoping it's just the start.
Can't say enough about Derek Willis out there. He didn't fall ***-backwards into a good shooting night or just wind up in the right place at the right time, he got his points in the flow of the offense. Really though, what was more impressive was his demeanor. Never seemed over-anxious to make things happen, only took one bad shot all night by my count (the contested three that Murray dunked back in wasn't great.) and did a ton of small things that don't show up in box scores. Used his length to cause problems on defense and get deflections, timely rebounds. He looked fantastic. I don't know why he doesn't show more emotion out there, you'd think with the game he had you'd have seen a smile or a chest thump or something, but maybe that's just the way he is. What a great night, couldn't be happier for him, and hoping it's just the start.
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I was fairly shocked to see Willis play 28 minutes to Matthews' 15. With Briscoe out and Calipari going with a traditional small forward last night, Willis and Matthews played basically equal minutes at the 3.
Especially in the second half, Willis played a whole lot of 3 and looked great doing it.
Albany is a team that Willis matches up with well (chalk!), but I was really impressed too.
Right now, Ulis and Murray are the only shooters that I have full confidence in that are sure to be in the rotation. If Willis takes Matthews' spot, his shooting will help us play more position-less basketball ATKOT.
* Skal may have that long and lean look that Ant Davis had when he first came to UK, but that's about all the comparison there is now. The young Haitian better get better in a damn hurry for this team to get to where we want to be. He's more raw than expected but the talent is apparent. He is just more physically undeveloped than hoped.
* The return to the peak ability of Alex Poythress may be the most important variable for this team. We know that Ulis and Murray are going to be awesome and that Briscoe will be a bulldog. Lee is a high energy garbage guy who is useless on offense other than lobs. Skal is likely going to develop like a normal elite freshman big man (i.e. not effing Anthony Davis who was awesome almost from the get go and became the best college player I have ever seen by the Final Four).
But Poythress is the great unknown. He has all the physical ability and skill to be a dominant college power forward. (JUST DON'T DRIBBLE!) But with his recovery and history of playing below his talent, there is no telling what we will get.
If he can play 30 mpg, provide elite defense, and be a physical bully then we can use Lee to spell Skal, use Willis to a much better effect, and keep Humphries limited to spot minutes. If Poythress can't get to that level, we are probably going to have to use a scattershot rotation.
* Wall and Bledsoe is almost certainly going to be the most athletic backcourt that anyone of us will ever see at UK. Likewise, Ulis and Murray may be the best ballhandling duo we will see. Those guys just have the ball on the string. Love it.
I'm not usually the guy that reads into small stuff, but if Poythress wants to toss dudes on the floor after tie-ups and get in their personal space and basically be a B.M.F. all season I'd definitely be okay with it. This is the kind of team that would feed off of that.
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