Jon Rothstein after watching UK practice
- Thread starter akaukswoosh
- Start date
Surprising, I’ve long thought Oweh would start but maybe he’ll be the 6th man?
Yeah, figured it would be between Oweh and Brea for that last starting spot. Just assumed it would be Oweh as we really haven't heard much at all about Brea since he's been limited.
My guess is that Butler and Oweh become our starting backcourt. Kentucky could have the best bench in college basketball.
Pilgrim follows up pointing out Rothstein had previously picked UK to finish 9th in the SEC.
“Kentucky looks like an NCAA tournament team in 2025…” Sounds like he was blown away by what he saw.
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Definitely think we will have one of the best bunches of quality depth.
Thats good. Im really high on Carr myself i mean man 6-11 230 PF who is a great shooter. Chandler is getting the rust off so that means were gonna be at least 10 deep. I still think Oweh starts by 9 games in so it will look like this.
PG- Butler/Kriisa/Perry
SG- Oweh/Chandler
W- Robinson/Brea/Noah
F- Carr/Almoror
C- Williams/Garrison
Im sure SG will have lineups with Brea, Kriisa even Perry in there. Lots of different combos coach can put at the 1 thru 3 like Roth said. Gonna be fun. Im gonna say Carr and Robinson lead the team in minutes played/minutes per game pretty easily.
PG- Butler/Kriisa/Perry
SG- Oweh/Chandler
W- Robinson/Brea/Noah
F- Carr/Almoror
C- Williams/Garrison
Im sure SG will have lineups with Brea, Kriisa even Perry in there. Lots of different combos coach can put at the 1 thru 3 like Roth said. Gonna be fun. Im gonna say Carr and Robinson lead the team in minutes played/minutes per game pretty easily.
With realignment, 9th in SEC and an NCAA tournament team are not mutually exclusive predictions
“Kentucky looks like an NCAA tournament team in 2025".....not the report i was hoping for.
I though he was as optimistic as he could be ,since these guys have never played a competitive game together. There is definite risk factor with 12 guys playing together for first time
I am intrigued by what I heard from Rothstein and by those tweets after he had the opportunity to see them practice in-person. Especially the Carr comparison to Grant Nelson.
I mean, that's pretty generous considering nobody has seen this team play.
What are you hoping for? I mean I know we all want titles, but I think that's a bit unrealistic for the first year here. Only Tubby did that, and that's partially due to not having a lot of player turnover for a previous national runner up. Chemistry is important.
This is a brand new team with a brand new coach. Anything could happen.
The i think KY looks like a NCAA T team in 25 really just means that were gonna be a legit team. 36 at large bids and hes saying were def gonna be a top 36 team after watching us practice. You know as well as i do the ncaa t is a crapshoot anybody can and will beat anybody on any given game. Besides probably the 1 and 2 seeds we should be just as good as any other team with a at large bid.
Put in layman’s terms Rothstein said:
“Though I dont like it, UK is absolutely loaded and is headed for #9.”
“Though I dont like it, UK is absolutely loaded and is headed for #9.”
Yeah he isn't just going to come out and say we look really good but kinda reading through what he says you can tell he was impressed with our depth at guard and the fact lots of them could be potential starters.
Definitely need to make the second weekend though. We haven't done that since 2019! Not acceptable here. We're Kentucky we should be able to win two games in the tourney without blinking minus a true last second shot or something. We've lost games we should've won there (St. Peter's and Oakland). Now, if Pope up and loses badly in the first weekend that's gonna be concerning.
Sounds optimistic. But after picking us 9th, then seeing us play and being impressed, this just sounds like he's hedging his bet. Glad he had a positive reaction from seeing them.
That starting five creates two really balanced and competitive units, IMHO.
Assuming, based on Rothstein’s comments, that Chandler is in the rotation, you’ve got a 10 man rotation.
Both units look pretty good. The starters are obviously stronger, especially at the 3 and 4 spots. But two really good units.
G Butler
G Brea
G Robinson
F Carr
F Williams
G Kriisa
G Oweh
G Chandler
F Almonor
F Garrison
Each unit has a PG, a defensive minded guard (Butler/Oweh) with a shooter at the other guard spot (Brea/Kriisa), a stretch 4, and a good passing big man in the middle.
This gives Pope the option to do a wholesale substitution pattern if he wants and allows scrimmages to be fairly balanced, competition wise. The starters are the stronger grouping, but the reserves look good on paper.
Assuming, based on Rothstein’s comments, that Chandler is in the rotation, you’ve got a 10 man rotation.
Both units look pretty good. The starters are obviously stronger, especially at the 3 and 4 spots. But two really good units.
G Butler
G Brea
G Robinson
F Carr
F Williams
G Kriisa
G Oweh
G Chandler
F Almonor
F Garrison
Each unit has a PG, a defensive minded guard (Butler/Oweh) with a shooter at the other guard spot (Brea/Kriisa), a stretch 4, and a good passing big man in the middle.
This gives Pope the option to do a wholesale substitution pattern if he wants and allows scrimmages to be fairly balanced, competition wise. The starters are the stronger grouping, but the reserves look good on paper.
It's going to be fun being a surprise in the SEC and NCAAs. Surprise to the talking heads that still think Cal is the best thing for UK since Rupp. And a surprise to some of our fans still obsessed with NBA draftability.
Coming from him, a guy who does not like UK, I think that is a glowing report.
How are your Razorbacks looking. You are all in since you love Cal, right?
I saw your attempt at a Joke. Glad to hear you we won't have to hear you gush about Cal this year like last year.
I will say this. For too many years the local guys would over hype the teams. I will take a more even keel take.
A refreshing thing to note is that all five projected starters are not only Seniors, but Super Seniors.
Nice to see a lineup with that much experience. These guys have played in a lot of games. Many of them have played in some pretty big games. Most of them have not only played in a lot of games, but have started and played significant minutes in those games.
Like I said, a very refreshing change from what we saw most of the time from the previous regime.
Nice to see a lineup with that much experience. These guys have played in a lot of games. Many of them have played in some pretty big games. Most of them have not only played in a lot of games, but have started and played significant minutes in those games.
Like I said, a very refreshing change from what we saw most of the time from the previous regime.
I think his comment is that of a seasoned sports writer who has only seen practice and hasn’t watched this team play anyone yet. I actually appreciate that he isn’t going too far off the deep end and claiming we are world beaters.
Look on the bright side. If we win 1 game it will be better than our average over the last 5 years !
This UK team has size, tons of experience, 3-point shooters all up & down the roster and a head coach that will let his players play loose & free. Got a feeling that this UK team is going to be a lot better than most people expect.
Always hate that and hate hate hate foreign movies where they add in English over the foreign language (think the old Japanese fighting movies).
The second five should really challenge the starters in practice. This should help come game time and the team exponentially improve throughout the year. This is much like Pitino's teams did here. Also, the previous coach rarely filled out the scholarship allotment so the starters probably weren't challenged much in practice, resulting in a lack of team improvement throughout the year.
