We don't need starter level minutes, but we need one of these guys to give us 10 minutes a game. Otherwise we're looking at all of Butler, Oweh, Chandler, and Brea playing 30mpg, or trying to get minutes from Almonor at the 3. We'd be really thin if we have any foul trouble. I'd rest Butler this Wednesday against Colgate and let Perry and Chandler back up Robinson, Oweh, and Brea. Give the freshmen all the minutes we can afford to and get them used to playing extended stretches in real competition.
We need one of Perry/Chandler to step up
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I see him being more effective if he gets after it on defense. He's athletic, has hops. Use him for the hard cuts.
After Camp Pope, this whole team will be at another level for the conference games.
Does Pope's offense need a traditional point guard? I wonder if we shouldn't just play Jaxson and have more shooting on the floor.
If I’m not mistaken last year at BYU his center averaged the most assists. I could be wrong about that but I do know he handled and passed the ball a lot on top of the key, like a point center.
Robinson is no better a shooter than Chandler or Oweh. Worse shooter than Almonor.
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Basically at the 1-3 positions we have Butler, Oweh, Robinson, Brea as our main guys. Can they play 30min each? Sure. But do we want them to every game? I’m not so sure. And that doesn’t even consider foul trouble. So yeah, we do need some contribution from the FR. These last 2-3 cupcakes will be good chance to see if they can
Chandler would be worth developing into those minutes. Much better athlete and player.
Perry’s job is to wear the jersey, tell high school stories and make great money selling cars or insurance, and making good money from HS and UK stories.
Perry’s job is to wear the jersey, tell high school stories and make great money selling cars or insurance, and making good money from HS and UK stories.
Butler
Robinson
Brea
Oweh
Those 4 will log the minutes at the guard positions.
Robinson
Brea
Oweh
Those 4 will log the minutes at the guard positions.
I beg to differ about Chandler. He is not an in game shot maker yet. Especially against top competition. He’s still shell shocked when he’s on the floor and that doesent equate to make shots. Still a year away.
I think both Chandler and Perry can develop into effective point guards. At this point I believe Chandler is farther along than Perry--which makes sense. He's older and more mature. Chandler is also very athletic. He's got enough hops to contribute to rebounding and guarding. He's destined to be an important part of the team in the very near future. I see Perry becoming a very good Travis Ford type point guard. But he needs some time.
Neither are ready for big time college basketball. I tried to tell people when Chandler had a nice game against horrible opponents, he was not ready. And that is OK, give him time to develop, he was away for a while, and is just not ready to compete against top tier talent. Maybe against Colgate, rather than win by 30/40, play them both and let them get some valuable learning minutes under less pressure. They simply are not going to get clock against top SEC teams from here on out, not ready for it.
Perry averaged 29.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 3.9 steals per game his final season in high school. He was rated the #7 PG by Rivals, so there’s that. But after trying to predict who will be drafted first (which is basically what they base the top rankings on), I’m not confident that Rivals puts a whole lot of analysis or scouting into the rankings – plus a lot of other PGs were classified as CGs by Rivals.
In high school, Perry seemed to be the epitome of a CG. The couple of times I watched him he seemed to handle the PG duties as much as the other kid did. But his team preferred getting Perry open on the wings when possible (he moved relentlessly to get space to shoot against defenses all keying specifically on preventing him getting air to breath).
I point these things out about high school because that’s mostly what we’ve got to go on in regard to the PG question, but I freely admit that high school isn’t college – not even close – and what a high school senior does against that competition is not a barometer for what a college freshman could accomplish against mostly grown men. But I think the best use of freshmen is learning in backup roles anyway, and this team needs a backup PG to spell Butler some. So I don’t know, but I’m guessing Perry is the best option UK has for that in limited use.
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I agree with the "not ready for it" take ideally. But the team is in a little bit of a fix here at PG. I believe using a freshman judiciously is almost always the smart play anyway, and when a real need arises for meaningful help from a freshman you have to let the baby bird out of the nest some while closely monitoring the times for subbing him in and out. I think Perry's PG skills are superior to Chandler's (great future 2G though).
I think the Colgate game, followed by Louisville this weekend, sets up perfectly for us to get our plan together and see what the best options are. Gives them some time to work this rather unorthodox lineup without Butler AND Kriisa. I dont think CMP ever thought he'd have to go to plan C with Kriisa AND Butler out at the same time. So maybe that it happens at this time of the year, it sets up well to twink it a bit.
Nobody will know what to expect or try to anticipate.
At least, I sure don't. But we look to have so many options still, there shouldn't be much of a dropoff, and it bodes well to give floor exerience to more of the guys on the team.
I trust in Coach Pope. He put together a hellofa team this year.
Nobody will know what to expect or try to anticipate.
At least, I sure don't. But we look to have so many options still, there shouldn't be much of a dropoff, and it bodes well to give floor exerience to more of the guys on the team.
I trust in Coach Pope. He put together a hellofa team this year.
.... and I'm not entirely buying the not ready for primetime for ANY player on the roster this year.
If any of them are good enough, and they prove it in practice, I know Coach Pope is going to reward that player with minutes on the floor, regardless. So the opportunity for someone, ANYONE, really, to really impress and stand out, there is ample opportunity to show it and get worked into the action.
Go Big Blue !
If any of them are good enough, and they prove it in practice, I know Coach Pope is going to reward that player with minutes on the floor, regardless. So the opportunity for someone, ANYONE, really, to really impress and stand out, there is ample opportunity to show it and get worked into the action.
Go Big Blue !
Williams averaging 9.3 rebounds in only 21.1 minutes per game stands out to me.Kentucky Wildcats 2024-25 Men's College Basketball Stats - ESPN
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Duke (14), Clemson (9) and Gonzaga (3).
I hope he can be counted on to get at least 10, if not several more, against every SEC opponent. We certainly need him to …
I certainly realize that Williams is certainly NOT the rebounder that Tshiebwe was, but for an EARLY comparison of games here at the University of Kentucky:
Tshiebwe: 952 (589/363) rebounds, 66 games, 2157 minutes = 14.42 per game and .4414 per minute
Williams: 84 (65/19) rebounds, 9 games, 190 minutes = 9.33 per game and .4421 per minute
Williams, so far, is definitely not the offensive rebounder that Tshiebwe was:
Tshiebwe 38.1% (363/952), Williams 22.6% (19/84)
Williams, so far, has been better on the defensive end:
Tshiebwe 61.9% (589/952), Williams 77.4% (65/84)
Williams being a strong rebounder will be very important for us in SEC and NCAA tournament competition, imho.
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I agree. I'd like to see Chandler, Perry and Noah in the game long enough to work up a good sweat and take some shots. If they can be adequate on defense I think Pope will give them some run.