Matt Norlander rankings
- Thread starter Jamal Mercer
- Start date
Every ranking I've seen has Purdue top 10-15. I just don't see it. They have the 2 guards, who were good supporting players, but I'm not sure they are lead guys. But the past 2 years, 90% of what made them very good was Edey, not just a dominating player, but a player dominating in a way that no one else was. Top 25, maybe, but not top 10.
In comparison, UK has the following 12 guys:
- 4 guys who started (I'm counting JR since he played starter minutes & was leading scorer) for P5 teams
- 1 guy who as a FR last year was a part-time starter for a P5 team
- 1 guy who started for a F4 team 2 years ago
- 1 high-mid-major guy who was the top returning 3pt shooter in the nation
- 1 mid-major guy who was Defensive POY in his conference
- 1 mid-major guy who led his team in scoring
- 1 top 40 recruit from 3 years ago
- 2 top 100 recruits
So our top 8 guys are all comparable to the top 2 Purdue guys, and they don't have 8 guys like that.
But still, this ranking of #15 for UK seems about right.
In comparison, UK has the following 12 guys:
- 4 guys who started (I'm counting JR since he played starter minutes & was leading scorer) for P5 teams
- 1 guy who as a FR last year was a part-time starter for a P5 team
- 1 guy who started for a F4 team 2 years ago
- 1 high-mid-major guy who was the top returning 3pt shooter in the nation
- 1 mid-major guy who was Defensive POY in his conference
- 1 mid-major guy who led his team in scoring
- 1 top 40 recruit from 3 years ago
- 2 top 100 recruits
So our top 8 guys are all comparable to the top 2 Purdue guys, and they don't have 8 guys like that.
But still, this ranking of #15 for UK seems about right.
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I think he is close. I think this team will be top 10 by end of year (and I’ll accept it if they aren’t in his first year), but I think they are. He has Arkansas at 25. I think he did his homework.
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Good summary of personnel.
Do you happen to have star rankings of our roster ?? That would be interesting to see ...
Don't care about Norlander. I'll wait until Trilly Donovan weighs in.
What would worry me if I were an AR fan is Norlander's comment/concern that Wagner and Davis (the presumed starting backcourt) may be too similar. I assumed Davis was a really good 3pt. shooter and scorer. If not, then I think AR has a potential issue there.
Arkansas has the talent to be good but I don’t see the team being anymore prepared for game time than they were the last 5-7 years. Cal’s mentality of play the game to get better vs winning always looses. It was never about talent with Cal.
Finally someone respected puts us above Arkansas. I don’t care much about early rankings but it was frankly getting a little weird, watching people think the guy who couldn’t win two NCAAT games in four years was suddenly going to jettison his last shred of meaningful assistant staff, go down to a smaller program with less talent and a shorter bench, and magically be back on top.
Davis IS a good 3-point shooter and scorer. The bigger problem for Arkansas at guard is that Wagner will play more than Fland, who is a better shooter.
I'm not really seeing a dominant team this season.
Am I missing something here? Feels a lot like the last few seasons, with very few great players, and even fewer great teams.
Am I missing something here? Feels a lot like the last few seasons, with very few great players, and even fewer great teams.
And those guards got SO MUCH because of Edey. I'm not seeing it for this year, either.