Kentucky Wildcats... starting lineup

[Hu_Fan]

I was wondering how Kentucky is so good... beating #7 Florida 78-58 tonight. Thought they might have an upper class team this season and help my argument about the Horns always have to play freshmen as much as they do. Thought this year Kentucky might have a more experienced team for a change.

So I looked up their roster. Surprise... 3 freshmen started in the game tonight against Florida. No upper classmen.

Terrence Jones. Soph. 6-9 Forward, from Portland, OR
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Fr. 6-7 Forward, from Somerdale, NJ
Doron Lamb. Soph. 6-4 Guard, from Queens
Anthony Davis. Fr. 6-10 Center, from Chicago
MarquisTeague. Fr. 6-2 Guard, from Indianapolis

There goes my complaint about the Horns always losing players and having to start all over every year. Appears it can be done.

Here's Kentucky's roster.... in the order they are listed. The Link
Sr, Soph, Soph, Fr, Fr, Fr, Fr, Jr, Soph, Soph, Sr, Soph, Soph, Fr, Fr

6 Freshmen
6 Soph
1 Jr
2 Sr

 

[Third Coast]

Anthony Davis is already a great player and only going to get better. Some are speculating he will be the first pick in the draft and I can certainly see why.

 

[Horns11]

If UK, Duke, UNC, KU, and a few other programs all "joined" Texas in the one-and-done fads, we'd still be finishing behind all of them. That's the difference between "our" one-and-done seasons and teams like UK.

It's also tough to compare our last year to UK, because they literally got the cream of the crop, not just "bubble" NBA backup guys like Cory Joseph.

We just don't have the staff in place to create a viable system which would embrace the one-and-done kids. Faster tempo on offense. Use the big men in multiple sets. Better shooters. We'd need a whole ****-ton of all of this in order to compete at a top-ten level with freshmen, but ours have a tougher learning curve.

 

[Hornin' In]

Those teams generally have better talent, but let's be honest. Barnes is no Calipari. Rick is a good coach and a great recruiter. But he is not a great coach. He can coach only one way, so players have to mold to his approach rather than him coaching to the strengths of the roster he has at any given time. Barnes' lack of coaching flexibility REQUIRES kids to be here 3-4 years to really thrive.

 

[Statalyzer]

In reply to:

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[tholly]

Texas could win big with Calipari. I do not want to win with Calipari. Everywhere he goes, he leaves with the NCAA digging deep into his shadiness. Difficult to compete with a coach and program that will get 3 or 4 of the top 15 players in the country every year. The UConn women from a few yrs back are the only comparison I can think of that dominated recruiting the way Calipari does. In football, it would be like USC getting 13 of the top 50 players nationally yr after yr. Pretty soon most every player that hits the field is a future NFL stater... Kinda like their 2005 team

 

[bierce]

That starting lineup for Kentucky has according to Scout

#1 overall 2011 recruit (Davis)
#6 overall 2011 recruit, top SF recruit (Gilchrist)
#8 overall 2011 recruit, top PG recruit (Teague)
#8 overall 2010 recruit, #2 PF recruit (Jones)
#28 2010 recruit, #6 SG recruit (Lamb)

An equivalent team comprised of Texas recruits would be something like:

Durant (#2 overall)
Aldridge (top ten? was 16 for Rivals)
Tristan (#10 overall)
Ford (top ten?)
Gibson (top 40? was 29 for Rivals)

I think they'd win a lot.

 

[rtw21]

I grew up in Lexington, so I follow UK closely, although I haven't rooted for them since Tubby left, because Gillispie was an idiot and Calipari is too shady for me, but one thing that's contributed to the Wildcats' success in the last few years is the return of a few elite players to combine with the outstanding freshmen. Patrick Patterson was a junior in Calipari's first year, which led to an Elite 8 loss to West Virginia, then Darius Miller was a junior on last year's final four team, and now Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb are sophomores (and Darius Miller is a senior) on this year's team, which might be the best of Calipari's three teams.