Patterson and Miller were the leaders of those squads. Who will step up this year? It has to be a freshman. Not going to happen with WCS or Poythress or the senior mop-up timers.

I do think Randle has been a little overhyped as far as what I thought he would be doing at this point in the year.

 

 

 

I think it's a case of not being bigger, stronger, faster, and more athletic than everyone any more. Being left handed is a huge advantage, but he's pretty one handed with the ball, especially when he tries to spin (which he uses the same spin move too often).

 

With all of that said, maybe my expectations for Randle coming into the year were far too high.

 

Teams have simply learned how to defend him. They've studied all his possible offensive moves down to the last detail. And being totally left handed has hindered him too.

Patterson and Miller were the leaders of those squads. Who will step up this year? It has to be a freshman. Not going to happen with WCS or Poythress or the senior mop-up timers.

Miller was not the leader. He was a senior, that does not mean he was a leader.

The "Leaders" since Cal has arrived:

 

1. Wall

2. Patterson, but more of a gel guy from the coaching transition. He knew he was the third or fourth best on the roster.

 

1. Knight

2. Liggins

 

1. MKG

2. Davis

 

1. Noel (season ending injury)

 

1. ???

It's still early. Calm down, and let's hope they finally figure it out down the road.

Some of the comments on this thread are absolutely laughable! First off, anyone who REALLY bought into the 40-0 talk needs to turn in their college basketball analyst card--40-0 in today's environment with mostly freshmen???? I'll go back to Al McQuire's famous statement--"The best thing about a freshman, is next year he'll be a sophomore"(or to update for the times "In the NBA").

 

I realize things have changed since Al's day, but to seriously believe a team with 6-7 frosh in their rotation would run the table, you'd have to be really drinking the blue kool-ade! This team may yet be special, but fans need to remember that a year ago these guys were pushing around HS kids who were mostly vastly "out-atheleted" by them. Now they're being challenged by seasoned men, and are taking some time to adjust; especially given a decent schedule with several games against top teams in special venues (Not your Ricky P "10 wins by Christmas" type slate).

 

Give them some time to adjust! Biggest disappointment to me so far is Poythress's lack of contribution--I thought he'd gotten the message, and would step up big time? Someone needs to tell Randle that he's not LeBron, and can't start his O outside the 3-point line--Get inside and bang a little--You're huge! The Harrisons, especially Aaron are starting to come around, but need to pick it up on the defensive end. I'd like to see Young slash a little more, instead of relying so much on the 3; and he should be a better defender with his quickness & length. WCS is much improved on D, but needs to offer more on the other end. Hawkins effort is refreshing, but he's a liability on offense. Johnson looks lost, and is Lee still on the roster--I thought he could give some quality minutes, but must have found his way into the doghouse for some reason?? I'd like to see Cal give Willis some minutes against these packed in zones, and see if he could shoot them out of it??

 

All in all, I'm not ready to jump ship but never believed they'd be as dominent as many thought. You don't dominate in college hoops, especially early on (ask Kansas) on talent & potential alone. Hopefully this bunch figures it out sooner than later, and goes on a run that ends in April!!

Was it a fluke?

 

The 2010 team was a bad shooting night from being in the Final Four.

 

The 2011 squad overcame a very slow start and caught fire in February and March.

 

2012 wins it all.

 

I think three out of four years is hardly a fluke. And I think the real leader who wanted the ball in crunch time in 2010 was John Wall (Frosh), 2011: Brandon Knight (Frosh) and MKG & Davis were phenoms as freshmen.

 

I think it's just a question of buying in and getting better each month. We are only in mid December. I say, let's wait and see how it plays out further before questioning what has given us a better four years stretch than anytime since the 90's. :thumb:

 

You make good points but no matter what the circumstances a Cal headed Cats team nauseates me with this type of one and done team that doesn't stick around long enough for me to care enough to get behind. It's just not my cup of tea and doesn't give me the good old fashioned feeling of loving a team like I had great memories of while growing up being an excited Kentucky fan. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Some of the comments on this thread are absolutely laughable! First off, anyone who REALLY bought into the 40-0 talk needs to turn in their college basketball analyst card--40-0 in today's environment with mostly freshmen???? I'll go back to Al McQuire's famous statement--"The best thing about a freshman, is next year he'll be a sophomore"(or to update for the times "In the NBA").

 

I realize things have changed since Al's day, but to seriously believe a team with 6-7 frosh in their rotation would run the table, you'd have to be really drinking the blue kool-ade! This team may yet be special, but fans need to remember that a year ago these guys were pushing around HS kids who were mostly vastly "out-atheleted" by them. Now they're being challenged by seasoned men, and are taking some time to adjust; especially given a decent schedule with several games against top teams in special venues (Not your Ricky P "10 wins by Christmas" type slate).

 

Give them some time to adjust! Biggest disappointment to me so far is Poythress's lack of contribution--I thought he'd gotten the message, and would step up big time? Someone needs to tell Randle that he's not LeBron, and can't start his O outside the 3-point line--Get inside and bang a little--You're huge! The Harrisons, especially Aaron are starting to come around, but need to pick it up on the defensive end. I'd like to see Young slash a little more, instead of relying so much on the 3; and he should be a better defender with his quickness & length. WCS is much improved on D, but needs to offer more on the other end. Hawkins effort is refreshing, but he's a liability on offense. Johnson looks lost, and is Lee still on the roster--I thought he could give some quality minutes, but must have found his way into the doghouse for some reason?? I'd like to see Cal give Willis some minutes against these packed in zones, and see if he could shoot them out of it??

 

All in all, I'm not ready to jump ship but never believed they'd be as dominent as many thought. You don't dominate in college hoops, especially early on (ask Kansas) on talent & potential alone. Hopefully this bunch figures it out sooner than later, and goes on a run that ends in April!!

 

I posted before that I have heard the reason Lee isn't seeing more PT is that he doesn't know where to go on certain plays. Other players are telling him where to go.

I posted before that I have heard the reason Lee isn't seeing more PT is that he doesn't know where to go on certain plays. Other players are telling him where to go.

 

If that's true, he needs some company on the bench then. Lots of "lost" souls yesterday??

My favorite team is Cinderella University who can't recruit top players, but trains adequate players to become seasoned ones who stick together to develop into exciting teams with chemistry that come out of nowhere to bite so called top programs in the butt. There might not be many of them, but that's become my form of anticipated excitement during B-Ball season in today's College Basketball environment.

UK could have really used the pg for Arizona, the one who transferred from Duquesne. If I'm not mistaken the Cats were one of his final choices before deciding on Arizona. He has saved Arizona's butt in several games, including the one at Michigan yesterday. He plays like a point guard is suppose to play and makes everyone around him better.

But I believe our freshmen will get it ironed out. The season is still young.

Teams have simply learned how to defend him. They've studied all his possible offensive moves down to the last detail. And being totally left handed has hindered him too.

 

Teams being able to defend you after so little scouting isn't a good sign. I'm sure people have scouted Parker and Wiggins just as throughly. It's one thing to scout someone. It's another to be able to actually stop them. Everyone gets scouted. You can scout the top 10 players in the NBA draft all you want in college, but you shouldn't have the personnel to be able to do what teams do to take away Randle on a team so loaded with talent.

 

I think he'll figure it out. I was just meaning the #1 overall pick hype was way overblown.

Was it a fluke?

 

The 2010 team was a bad shooting night from being in the Final Four.

 

The 2011 squad overcame a very slow start and caught fire in February and March.

 

2012 wins it all.

 

I think three out of four years is hardly a fluke. And I think the real leader who wanted the ball in crunch time in 2010 was John Wall (Frosh), 2011: Brandon Knight (Frosh) and MKG & Davis were phenoms as freshmen.

 

I think it's just a question of buying in and getting better each month. We are only in mid December. I say, let's wait and see how it plays out further before questioning what has given us a better four years stretch than anytime since the 90's. :thumb:

 

Excellent post

I'm not sure what the uproar is about from some fans.

 

They're playing like a team that starts 4 freshman and a sophomore because they start 4 freshman and a sophomore....

It's mid December and people are starting to jump ship. This team has a ton of talent, they just haven't put it all together yet. We're 11 games into the season and UK has lost to 3 ranked teams, 2 at neutral sites and 1 away game by an average of 4.6 points per loss. Step away from the ledge...

 

The 2012 team was special. It wasn't special because it had a Senior on the roster. It was special because they played for each other and they played as a team. They refused to lose, they thrived on getting a big defensive stop or a loose ball. They were just as happy to grab 10 boards as they were to score 30 points. What was most impressive about that team was that they understood and bought into the team concept from day 1. That team had no individuals and when this team figures out that it takes more than individuals to win big games, things will get better.

I'm not sure what the uproar is about from some fans.

 

They're playing like a team that starts 4 freshman and a sophomore because they start 4 freshman and a sophomore....

It's mid December and people are starting to jump ship. This team has a ton of talent, they just haven't put it all together yet. We're 11 games into the season and UK has lost to 3 ranked teams, 2 at neutral sites and 1 away game by an average of 4.6 points per loss. Step away from the ledge...

 

The 2012 team was special. It wasn't special because it had a Senior on the roster. It was special because they played for each other and they played as a team. They refused to lose, they thrived on getting a big defensive stop or a loose ball. They were just as happy to grab 10 boards as they were to score 30 points. What was most impressive about that team was that they understood and bought into the team concept from day 1. That team had no individuals and when this team figures out that it takes more than individuals to win big games, things will get better.

 

That team was also special because it had arguably the top two players in the country mixed with unselfish upperclassmen. Gotta have leadership. Who will step up? If no one, they are in trouble.