Who's Wiltjer? You mean Willis...

Cal's teams at UK have had a severe lack of upper level leadership, they will miss his leadership in the first half of the season. It's been nailed head on that after mid season he would only see mop up minutes but for the first half he could have helped the team develop and mature a lot.

 

Being older doesn't make you a leader. It just makes you older...

 

He was the leader of the White Boy Academy!

Is he sitting the entire year, or will he be eligible in January?

The WBA videos are all that I'll miss....those are hilarious.

Being older doesn't make you a leader. It just makes you older...

 

True, but Wiltjer played hard and I'm sure he practiced hard, plus he doesn't seem the type to get out and do something stupid. That's leadership for Freshman that are wide eyed with all the praise they've received.

True, but Wiltjer played hard and I'm sure he practiced hard, plus he doesn't seem the type to get out and do something stupid. That's leadership for Freshman that are wide eyed with all the praise they've received.

By all indications he didn't. At least during the off season.

By all indications he didn't. At least during the off season.

 

Well never mind then.

Well never mind then.

 

Apparently last off season he dropped the ball with his conditioning and improving his game. Many felt he should have improved a lot more than he did (physically) from the season before.

Apparently last off season he dropped the ball with his conditioning and improving his game. Many felt he should have improved a lot more than he did (physically) from the season before.

 

Looking at Wiltjer and knowing about his medical history (he sat out some AAU events with migraines, and those effected his diet, as he couldn't eat processed meats for example), I never really saw a guy who was going to be a physical specimen. I think we can all agree on that. Sure, he could improve, but his game was going to be his ability to stretch the floor and have the old man YMCA post game where he could reach into a bag of tricks and find a way to score.

 

I don't really know how much bulking up would have helped him. Defensively, yes, he would have been better, but I wonder if it would have cannibalized into his only redeeming qualities on offense. He could have definitely used lots of plyometrics and the like to develop his foot speed, but I think that putting him in the weight room and wanting him to be anything but more wiry and able to absorb a little more contact was going to be counterproductive.

 

At the end of the day, I think his best bet to contribute enough defensively that he wasn't an absolute liability would have been taking Cal's advice and "playing like Bird" on that end. No way to sugar coat it, Bird was very slow and unathletic. He was also as dirty a defender as they come. If Kyle had that type of dog in him, I think it'd be just as well, if not better, than him getting in the weight room and bulking up. That just didn't seem to be his nature though.

 

Watching Bird highlights, you can see how scrappy he was. It was nothing to him if he completely took someone out on a breakaway and stepped over them after he'd put them on their back. Not so much with Wiltjer.

Does the Baylor game have anyone changing their minds, or at least feeling differently about this?

Does the Baylor game have anyone changing their minds, or at least feeling differently about this?

 

Wiltjer would not have been able to get off a shot versus Baylor.

Does the Baylor game have anyone changing their minds, or at least feeling differently about this?

 

Would he have helped with pick n roll D? No chance.

Yeah offense wasn't really the problem last night.

What time is the Gonzaga game tomorrow? Just kidding Wiltjer fans. Wishing him the best in Spokane. Maybe it works out as well for him as it has for UK.

What time is the Gonzaga game tomorrow? Just kidding Wiltjer fans. Wishing him the best in Spokane. Maybe it works out as well for him as it has for UK.

 

Here is the think I do think UK missed him more than fans first wanted to admit especially during the season. This team really could have used a shooter like him because during the season we really had none, Aaron Harrison struggled shooting from the outside during the season and Young was always hot and cold. I don't think its a coincidence that UK has now played great once our outside shooting got better. Its the same reason why 2011 and 2012 went on great runs because they could shoot too, and why the 2010 team fell short of the final four.

 

So the end result has worked out well because the guys we thought would be good shooters finally have become good shooters (knock on wood) however he could have made a difference during the season.