1 hour ago, Randy Parker said:

Whatever happened to Robic?

No one ever said, they parted ways and at the time his family seemed to be shocked and angry on Twitter. 

2 hours ago, Jumper_Dad said:

If Cal returns, my #1 suggestion would be to bring back John Robic. Apologize to him, do whatever it takes to bond that bridge so to speak and get Robic back.

 

If not him, then some kind of defensive focus guy like he did with the offense this past year. Robic not being here definitely hurt more than he probably ever thought. 
 

Keep Orlando, keep the new offensive minded guy, keep Ullis, and move on from Bruiser and Chin. Then possibly bring back both Payne and Robic and let’s see how it goes. 

On 3/24/2024 at 4:12 PM, 16thBBall Fan said:

Can’t pull your offer to recruits, that would be used against you by other schools and kill you in future recruiting 

I think Sheppard comes back, I don’t think he or his parents want his last game at UK to be a performance like that

I agree Dillingham goes, I think Wagner goes too

I would like to see Edwards and AB go somewhere else, watching them all year I just don’t think they have the competitive personality that you have to have to win at this level and that’s just not something you can put in a kid

If Wagner gets drafted that just cements my opinion of how bad pro basketball really is. He was a real disappointment to me.

On 3/24/2024 at 5:15 PM, Jumper_Dad said:

This is my off season wish list for each players game.

Wagner- Work lateral quickness and becoming a lock down defender. Go to your right all summer.

Sheppard- Work on lateral quickness and 1 on 1 defense. Get a killer instinct to bury the opponent.

Z- Handling passes into the post cleanly, finishing stong at the basket, defensive rotations and not to reach on defense. 

Bradshaw- (See Z) plus work on verticle and getting off of the floor.

Theiro- Work on man to man to lock down opponents best 3/4 get confidence in Jumper.

Ugo- Model interior game after Edy become a bucket or free throw every time you touch the ball inside of 8 feet.

Burks- Jumper and defense. 

Hart- Become knock down shooter that can stretch the defense. Shoot 500, 800, 1000 jumpers a day.

Edwards- Taking man off of the dribble and becoming so confident in his shot that nothing can shake him. This guy can be a killer, if he finally believes that he can be.

Travis Perry- Be ready to shoot, Work on quick consistent release all summer.

Cal- Get back to demanding defense. Next years team will not be a great shooting team, so defense will mean the difference between winning and losing in the big games.

Biggest issue on this team is they still don't have the guy that can get a bucket or get fouled when we have to have points. That was supposed to be Wagner and Edwards, so hopefully they can develop into that.

If Sheppard, Bradshaw, Z, Edwards and Wagner all leave, then get two shooters, one bucket getter and a great defender.

You have a much better grasp of player development than the current coaching staff.You actually have a PLAN!!

19 hours ago, MJAlltheWay24 said:

It's like they didn't win the last 8/9 SEC games, including big ones on the road.

Sure they sucked in the SEC tournament and obviously Thursday. But don't get the constant, "they didn't get any better all year."

They absolutely got better. Several individuals got quite a bit better even (e.g. Sheppard, Edwards, Theiro) and they got better as a team. They just completely fell flat when it mattered most, which is largely on Calirpari.

Nope...... it's largely on the guys playing the game. I still believe something happened in that locker room at halftime of the A&M game. Sheppard looked "joyless" the last 3 halves he played and Dillingham looked a little baffled. If these guys are as good as you all want to believe they should be able to adapt and come up big in big situations. Lexington AAU just kind of tanked.

On 3/24/2024 at 4:29 PM, futurecoach said:

At this point I know it would hurt pulling the offers.  However, you do what it takes to win next year. If they get back to winning next year that will help in itself, and wouldn’t then hurt the recruiting. 
 

As for Bradshaw and Edwards. I think both are very talented and showed glimpses, and would be very good if they came back. Theiro didn’t look like much his freshman season, and much better this year. Nick Richards didn’t look like he had much of anything especially his freshman year. Then became one of the best big men in the country. Then even someone like Hopkins didn’t look like much. Then his sophomore year after a year of experience, looked much better. IMO it just takes some of these talented guys a year to get use to the college level after having it come easy in high school. 
 

Wagner may go, but I even think he may want to have a better year after having a disappointing freshman year overall considering his expectations. 

IMO Wagner was giving a lot of freedom this season to show what he could do and he did have a few good games but overall I think his season was disappointing. He is not ready for the next level, although he will probably enter the draft. I believe he will be disappointed in draft position when it is held. 

5 minutes ago, The Professor said:

IMO Wagner was giving a lot of freedom this season to show what he could do and he did have a few good games but overall I think his season was disappointing. He is not ready for the next level, although he will probably enter the draft. I believe he will be disappointed in draft position when it is held. 

Wagener reminds me of a poor mans Isiaha Briscoe.  He is quick but not elite, he jumps decent he is strong but not ultra athletic and his shot is inconsistent at best.  He isn't quite as big as Briscoe, however you can see where he dominated HS kids his age and why folks thought he was as good as he was advertised.  

I am just not sure the overal skill set is truly there.

1 hour ago, The Professor said:

IMO Wagner was giving a lot of freedom this season to show what he could do and he did have a few good games but overall I think his season was disappointing. He is not ready for the next level, although he will probably enter the draft. I believe he will be disappointed in draft position when it is held. 

I really think I like the idea of Reed Sheppard and a stronger, more physical, heathier and more smarter version of DJ Wagner as sophomores, I like where that team is heading.

1 hour ago, okie1 said:

Wagener reminds me of a poor mans Isiaha Briscoe.  He is quick but not elite, he jumps decent he is strong but not ultra athletic and his shot is inconsistent at best.  He isn't quite as big as Briscoe, however you can see where he dominated HS kids his age and why folks thought he was as good as he was advertised.  

I might be misremembering but I feel much more confident with DJ Wagner's potential to knock down a three ball than Briscoe. But man, Briscoe was a bulldog at attacking the basket and finishing.

IMO one of the most important guys to make sure doesn’t transfer is Theiro. He is a player that I believe is just going to keep getting better. He is the type of player Kansas usually has that is skilled, become star type players their junior and senior years. Theiro reminds me of a Gerald Fitch, Erick Daniels type player because they were key role players early on, and then became the best players once they were upper classman. 

1 minute ago, futurecoach said:

IMO one of the most important guys to make sure doesn’t transfer is Theiro. He is a player that I believe is just going to keep getting better. He is the type of player Kansas usually has that is skilled, become star type players their junior and senior years. Theiro reminds me of a Gerald Fitch, Erick Daniels type player because they were key role players early on, and then became the best players once they were upper classman. 

I keep thinking that I want a strong wing that attacks hard and gives ultimate effort to transfer in. Assuming he keeps getting better and can be healthy next year, we have that in Theiro. I'm with you and I think he's still here if Cal is. I'd be real surprised if he's not.

4 minutes ago, MJAlltheWay24 said:

I keep thinking that I want a strong wing that attacks hard and gives ultimate effort to transfer in. Assuming he keeps getting better and can be healthy next year, we have that in Theiro. I'm with you and I think he's still here if Cal is. I'd be real surprised if he's not.

And... Cal has to play him!!

1 minute ago, ChuckT said:

And... Cal has to play him!!

I personally didn't think that was an issue this year, he just couldn't stay healthy. I actually think Theiro toughed out an injury quite a bit this year.

1 hour ago, MJAlltheWay24 said:

I might be misremembering but I feel much more confident with DJ Wagner's potential to knock down a three ball than Briscoe. But man, Briscoe was a bulldog at attacking the basket and finishing.

I agree with the potential...but right now he is a Briscoe player that doesn't finish quite as strong!

 

I will say that I think Waggener suffered from some confidence issues along with Edwards...this is where Cal's saying "UK isn't for everyone comes into play".  I think we UK fans with all our passion can "Eat our Own".  I think we saw that pressure in the tourny with Sheppard who in theory could go down as one of if not the most popular native son!

Social media has made these 18-19 year olds susceptible to constant critism, praise, etc...I can only imagine how many notifications and messages these kids get in a days time.

1 minute ago, okie1 said:

I agree with the potential...but right now he is a Briscoe player that doesn't finish quite as strong!

 

I will say that I think Waggener suffered from some confidence issues along with Edwards...this is where Cal's saying "UK isn't for everyone comes into play".  I think we UK fans with all our passion can "Eat our Own".  I think we saw that pressure in the tourny with Sheppard who in theory could go down as one of if not the most popular native son!

Social media has made these 18-19 year olds susceptible to constant critism, praise, etc...I can only imagine how many notifications and messages these kids get in a days time.

I feel like Wagner had a solid year until the injury he dealt with toward the end.  He took a step down from that point on.