Will Riley

[NerlensCat]

Last fall many of us were disappointed not to get him. He has had an up and down season as most Freshmen do.

He had a rough game yesterday as well. So, my question is were he available now, would he be a take or a pass for you?

Why would I mention this you ask? Well, I doubt he has been good enough to get drafted and interestingly Pope stopped and asked if it was ok to talk about him in the post game presser, which I found to be possibly a “Tell” on his part.

Your thoughts?

 

[University-6]

Take for sure. He's a very good player. He just ran into some extremely motivated and impeccably coached seniors. Give him a year with the new best coach in college basketball and he could be a monster. All that said I think he will go pro.

 

[UKSanders_rivals37733]

absolutely would take him... he still has all the tools to be a great SF.

Plus, next year, he won't be a freshman

 

[SpamburgerHamburger_rivals101482]

100% would take him, but he's almost 100% going in the first round of the draft and I don't expect he'll be back in college.

 

[NerlensCat]

100% would take him, but he's almost 100% going in the first round of the draft and I don't expect he'll be back in college.

Admittedly, I have not researched the draft boards, but I just can’t imagine why he would be drafted. I know it is for potential, just have not seen that much from him myself. Good for him if he gets in the first round.

 

[DaDirtyLeb69]

Would take him for sure, but he is draft bound

 

[UK90]

I don’t see this even being a debatable question. Of course I’d take him.

 

[K_TIME]

I guess i am not sure about Riley.....

1. To me, he's more of SF than a PF (which is what we need badly IMO).
2. He was fine as a Fr...but didn't blow it away as many Fr show their warts as much as they do their strengths. 12 pts a fine but 43%FG, 32%3pt....but he was really poor at about all other aspects. 4 Reb (meh), he had 9 steals on the season (which is awful), 10 block for a 6'8 kid is really bad. So, he was probably a defensive liability (and Oweh was eating him up 2nd half of game).
3. To me it boils down to how Will Riley would complement the current roster coming back
- PG: Portal/Acaden Lewis/Perry
- SG: I see Portal/Jasper Johnson fighting for starting spot and backup minutes/Chandler
- SF: Oweh/Chandler/Noah
- PF: ????????? all the way around
- C: Garrison (I hope to replace him with portal) /Moreno

So, if Riley needs to play SF....I'm sort of happy with Oweh/Chandler/Noah to be honest vs. Riley (which would impact those guys coming back to UK). Now if Riley can effectively play PF....(which I don't think he can be a good PF in college).

 

[NerlensCat]

Yeah, I know the NBA bases much of their draft projections on potential, but he doesn’t appear to possess any extraordinary skills. Yet, on the NBA.com site a Bleacher Report has him listed at 21 to Utah. The first 17 are 19 or younger. Broyles from SC at 13, 6-7 PF in the NBA?