Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
While Brandon Knight and Terrence Jones still ponder what they’ll be doing next year, the cards continue to fall across the college basketball landscape, further complicating their decision. This morning, Harrison Barnes announced he’ll put a few million aside for another run with Roy Williams’ daggum ties and Tyler Zeller’s peach fuzz. The decision of a possible top overall pick to return, of course, gives Kentucky’s duo a bump in their projections, again making you wonder if the longer they wait is actually a good sign. Draft Express immediately updated their 2011 Mock Draft to have Knight at #5 (just behind Kemba Walker, who I think he’d pass through workouts). Terrence Jones is projected at #10.
However, Barnes’ return to North Carolina also adds a lot of intrigue and sex appeal to the college game and a continued battle with the Cats next season as the premiere teams in the land. The two schools, who are competing in a charity event (top left!), are also set to battle for the preseason #1 spot in the polls and, more directly, on the court next season. The matchup now pits a Final Four team that adds potentially the greatest recruiting class ever against one of the nation’s hottest teams, who return three potential first rounders themselves. Depending on what Knight and Jones do, the Kentucky-North Carolina game could become the biggest regular season games in recent memory.
[powered by WordPress.]
Bill Keightley Report : Never to be forgotten.
9 queries. 0.371 seconds
April 18th, 2011 at 10:39 am
I’m overrated…..
April 18th, 2011 at 10:39 am
I have to admit. I’m all for “what’s best for the player”, but now I’m gonna get pissed if (/when) our two guys declare.
Go Cats !
April 18th, 2011 at 10:40 am
UNC is #1 next year hands down. Only way UK has a shot is if Knight returns. I f’n hate UNC. College Basketball is really begining to piss me off.
April 18th, 2011 at 10:43 am
Knight and Jones–as good as gone.
April 18th, 2011 at 10:44 am
“Greatest recruiting classs ever.” Talk about hyperbole.
Davis is clearly the real deal, but the others are not off the charts.
Mike Gilchrist is a gamer, but not very skilled at all. He’s beyond overrated. He has a questionable handle, and can’t shoot at all.
April 18th, 2011 at 10:46 am
5) He just won an award for “top high schooler in the country” last week. You are and idiot….
April 18th, 2011 at 10:47 am
not very skilled at all….hahaahahhahahah
April 18th, 2011 at 10:48 am
5, mmmmmmmm and just who did UL sign?
April 18th, 2011 at 10:49 am
5.NBA_SCOUT…….you have lost your mind.
April 18th, 2011 at 10:49 am
i don’t know what ole’ boy roy says to these guys to get them to stay. he did it ’05 with may, mccants and felton and again with hansbrough, green, ellington and lawson in ’09. he clearly takes a very different approach than calipari. i remember him saying after the ’10 season that he wouldn’t let wall or cousins come back to uk even if they wanted to. i agree with everyone else…college basketball is absolutely maddening and something needs to be done (2 year rule) to gain some stability across the board.
April 18th, 2011 at 10:50 am
Matt, I done ain’t never read no dang books. Fan Outfitters, here I come!!
April 18th, 2011 at 10:50 am
5, You’ll get to watch them all destroy your Filthy Cards next year in Rupp. Hate on. It sucks to be you. Gilcrest is a lottery pick now, and we stole Teague from you guys. But you sound like you know what you are talking about.
April 18th, 2011 at 10:50 am
5. Just said the dumbest thing I heard all day……he must not have ever watched them. Gilcrest not very skilled? ha ha ha ha ha
April 18th, 2011 at 10:51 am
5- that was said about John Wall and company before they arrived. They also said that about last years class, a lot. Gilchrist, if anything over the last year, has become under-rated. He is 6’8 and comes in as one of the best ball handlers on our team. You don’t have a foot to stand on if you think Gilchrist can’t shoot. He knocks down big shots. Can he shoot like Knight or Lamb, no. Can he shoot very well for someone 6’8, yes. Can he handle as good as Knight or Lamb, no. Can he handle very well for someone 6’8, yes.
April 18th, 2011 at 10:52 am
So if Barnes can turn down a Top 3 pick, why can’t our guys?? This is really going to piss me off if all of our guys bolt. I can understand that they have to make the best decision for them and I respect that but I wish Jones and Knight would just turn down the big bucks for one more year, take out an insurance policy on their bodies and come back and have a hell of a year long rivalry with UNC
April 18th, 2011 at 10:55 am
Twitterverse has already crowned UNC. And to the person who said Gilly is not very skilled either reads to much bs or hasn’t watched him play. Just cause he didn’t score 30 a game in hs is because he didn’t have to. 20 pts 13 reb 8 assists 4 blocks 3 steals and a win is what Gilly did in hs. He plays defense and doesn’t take plays off.
If you wanna crown their ass then crown em! But they are who we thought they were. And we wint gonna let em off the hook. Come get ya sum UNC!
April 18th, 2011 at 10:56 am
Funny how UNC players never seem to need millions.
April 18th, 2011 at 10:58 am
Can’t wait until the final schedule comes out. We’ll find out the exact date for UK vs. UNC. I’ll have to be the first to request a day off for the date. It will be #1 vs. #2 reguardless of who is #1 and who is #2. And it’s in Rupp this year!!!!
April 18th, 2011 at 10:58 am
Barnes is coming back because he wants to read a few more books. After all, that’s what life is all about.
April 18th, 2011 at 11:00 am
#5 – Gilchrist is exactly the type of player that feeds off of hater’s comments like yours. There is not a college team in America that wouldn’t take the “beyond overrated” Gilchrist. I guess double-doubles are just way too overrated. HAHA, only if you are NBA SCOUT and try to play a post player like Gilchrist as a guard.
April 18th, 2011 at 11:01 am
Let’s all get some things absolutely clear:
1. Having great players come back does not automatically give you an NCAA title. It does help, no doubt, but it has been shown time and time again that it is nearly impossible for great teams to stay great for 6 games through the NCAA tourney. So, even if Knight and Jones do the right thing for themselves or their families and declare for the draft, we still have…
2. Relying on super-talented young players to give us the CHANCE to run to another championship. Calipari is doing something that coaches can only dream about…getting the #1 recruiting class year after year after year. Then, when we all start to gel as a team come March, those interchangeable parts (Teague for Knight, Gilchrist for Jones, Davis for Harrellson) will give us an incredible chance to hopefully win another championship. It doesn’t guarantee anything, but this is basketball and nothing is guaranteed.
Try to really enjoy what Kentucky is doing lately and even if Knight and Jones leave (which they absolutely should), just understand that come next March, we will still be in contention for having another team that can cut down the nets.
April 18th, 2011 at 11:01 am
Sheriff, I want them to stay but it won’t piss me off if they go. They should go…take the $$$ while it is there. The NBA is about to change so $$$ is about to be $$. And, next year’s class in the draft will be better than this year’s class. No reason to stay unless they just really love school and college life.
April 18th, 2011 at 11:01 am
I hate unc more than ul (5 you are seriously an idiot) just because they are actually relevant. I understand that players have to do what’s best for their futures and families…. but I would like to see Knight and Jones take this as a challenge. UNC’s best players, and Sullinger all coming back, why not prove that you can do it too?
April 18th, 2011 at 11:02 am
Regardless of whether Jones/Knight leave, I am already looking forward to the Gilchrist/Barnes matchup. Those guys match up very well, as well as the rest of our team. Teague v. Marshall, Davis v. Zeller, Wiltjer vs. Henson. I know we have all freshman so comparisons are tough but on paper this is going to be incredible. Going to be an epic game!
April 18th, 2011 at 11:03 am
It would be great to see Knight and Jones come back. That UNC game will be off the charts. But this only tilts things more in the direction of them leaving. Those UNC players are having a blast down there. I saw where the decided to play pickup outside on campus a few times with the non bball playing students. each time they had about 500+students show up to watch. I work at UK and rarely see UK players, hell they dont have to leave the dorm to eat. Not much to do in Lex. Keeneland is cool, but thats about it.
April 18th, 2011 at 11:05 am
Haiku:
Barnes is returning.
But with Knight we would have more
talent than the Cavs.
April 18th, 2011 at 11:05 am
To whom did ol’Roy sell his soul to pull off that trickery?
Better yet he may soon become known as the guy who kills prospects NBA hopes is Barnes has a bad year.
April 18th, 2011 at 11:07 am
5- You are a complete idiot. Most teams got 1-2 great players for next year if they were fortunate and UK got 4. Put that in your cardinal pipe and smoke it.
April 18th, 2011 at 11:07 am
Congrats, preseason #1 and deservingly so. PG – Marshall; SG
Strictland; SF Barnes; PF Henson; C Zeller —- BENCH McAdoo, Bullock,
Hairston, McDonald. All that and will still get beat in Lexington in
early December!
April 18th, 2011 at 11:09 am
Sorry, guys. I am an idiot. Never mind.
April 18th, 2011 at 11:13 am
I suspect that ol’ Roy isn’t working his magic as much as Michael Jordan is working his.
April 18th, 2011 at 11:16 am
I HATE NORTH CAROLINA!!!!!…With that being said , I am jealous that they have players who care about THEIR university and you can ship the NC trophy to Chapel Hill next year…They will be awesome..We may beat them in Rupp, but I still think they win it all….Thought this would be Cal’s best year……
April 18th, 2011 at 11:19 am
#10 maybe he talks about dead presidents
. I never got the feeling that McCants or May cared about anything other than themselves. When they stayed it was because someone convinced them it was to their advantage.
Has the 2011-12 scheduled been finalized?
April 18th, 2011 at 11:22 am
But there is a reason to stay in college. Everyone thinks there will be a lockout. If you declare for the draft, you end up in Europe playing basketball with no hype/exposure in the US, you play with guys who don’t wear deodorant, and you catch VD in a Turkish bathhouse.
April 18th, 2011 at 11:24 am
What’s the call in number? I would recommend placing it in the show thread post. Thanks!
April 18th, 2011 at 11:26 am
Good idea. I’ll start doing that. It’s 502-571-1080.
April 18th, 2011 at 11:28 am
I think we can loose BK and TJ and still challenge for the NC if Liggins returns. I think we match up well with UNC their main two offensive threats are Marshall and Barnes and believe Liggins can neutralize Marshall and Mike Gilly can contain Barnes. Strictland vs Lamb advantage Lamb; Henson vs Miller advantage Henson; AD vs Zeller advantage even. Bench I think may slightly go to them because of McAdoo but you can only put 5 on the floor at time. I think it will come down to coaching.
April 18th, 2011 at 11:29 am
25.) There’s more to do in Lexington than in chapel hill.
April 18th, 2011 at 11:41 am
Ole Roy and Donavan are a lot alike as coaches. Their teams tend to be very talented, but soft. When the toughness factor enters they will get beat.
April 18th, 2011 at 11:43 am
check
April 18th, 2011 at 11:44 am
The NBA is always gonna b there…hopefully Knight an Jones come
Back!
April 18th, 2011 at 11:49 am
#32) I agree. How in the heck does Roy get their players to return? It really pisses me off too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 18th, 2011 at 11:50 am
I’m going to be super pissed if Knight and Jones head for the draft. If they care about Kentucky then they’ll be back. Look at Sullinger, Barnes, and Henson. They want to take care of unfinished business. If Jones and Knight come back then Kentucky has a serious chance at a National Championship.
April 18th, 2011 at 11:51 am
Oh, and Harrison Barnes will end up being a 4 year player for UNC, because Roy BEGS his players to come back.
April 18th, 2011 at 11:58 am
i wish Knight and Jones the best no matter what they decide …
April 18th, 2011 at 12:04 pm
HB is over-rated and his draft stock fell, thats why he is returning. Knnight and Jones are higher in the draft than he was. I am glad he is staying. I hope he tries to talk smack to Liggins again.
April 18th, 2011 at 12:04 pm
They only goes to prove how UK fresh are looked at differently or some reason. By continue to label them as “one and dones” they accept the label and just expect to leave. Why the hell cant our guys stay? This is really going ti piss me off. Hey cal- your job is to win championships, not get players into the nba as fast as u can
April 18th, 2011 at 12:05 pm
I believe uncertainty over the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement is pushing these guys back to college more than any concern or loyalty to their college. There are only 3 logical reasons to stay in college – 1) concern over a lockout; 2) not being ready to tackle basketball as a full-time professional career; and 3) no desire to make money. Very few of these guys are self-aware and humble enough to admit that they’re not ready to be professionals, so it would seem (at least to the uninitiated) that a grave concern about a pending lockout. OR they just simply don’t care about money. Which I doubt.
April 18th, 2011 at 12:07 pm
If players returning means ours arr more likely to leave, what does that say about their attitude to UK? It should mean the opposite.
April 18th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
Unc will be stacked from top to bottom. UK will not be preseason #1 now. I woukd love to see Knight and Jones return, but I don’t see it happening. Cal sale the quickest route possible to the nba life…. And we the fans are the ones that suffer. Some kids want to win a national championship and some want a quick paycheck. Sux huh
April 18th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
Cal’s job is to coach kids…and part of coaching kids is to coach them on life decisions too…the benefit of having quality players play for your program is that they are probably talented enough to play professionally at some point (some more quickly than others)…Coach’s job is to prepare them for life…which he does (sometimes to the detriment of his own career) which is commendable…do you think Roy Williams wants a title or Harrison Barnes to become a millionaire…my guess is he thinks he can get both done…but really, it’s the NBA lockout that has caused Sullinger and Barnes to come back to school…not some loyalty to their school…if Brandon and Terrence come back, it’s because they are concerned about the lockout (and perhaps BK for his education and TJ to work on his game and his draft stock)…who knows…I’m guessing that the lockout will cause them to return…the UNC UK game at Rupp this year will be a preview of the title game (unless the NCAA screws that up too by placing them in the same semi-bracket like 96 UMass and UK)…go Cats…and come on back BK and TJ
April 18th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
46) Barnes would have been a NO DOUBT top 5 pick, likely top 3. I can’t believe he is staying.
That being said, I think its a dumb move for all these guys. I think if you’re in the top 15, you should goto the NBA. There is no reason to come back to school, the only thing it can do is risk injury or hurt your draft stock (can’t get much higher than top 5!)
April 18th, 2011 at 1:00 pm
48) You don’t appreciate the value of education, do you?
April 18th, 2011 at 1:04 pm
The coach at UNC clearly has more loyalty to his great program than does Calipari to UK.
The loyalty and respect that the Carolina kids have for UNC is without question above what the UK players have for Kentucky.
It appears that UNC will now win its third championship since UK won its last.
I really am ashamed at the difference(s)in team loyalty and dedication between UNC & UK.
I must at least take to bow to UNC.
April 18th, 2011 at 1:10 pm
Can i see the comments?
April 18th, 2011 at 1:16 pm
Bow to these nuts Steve.
We beat UNC last year and we will beat them next year.
April 18th, 2011 at 1:26 pm
Steve if you’re so ashamed I’m sure they need a new fan. It appeared Ohio State or Kansas were headed for NC’s last year how did that work out? It probably has more to do with Cal being honest with kids and them actually being good enough to leave after one year. Zeller or Henson neither one was ready to go until this year, so that loyalty crap is just that.
April 18th, 2011 at 1:50 pm
If cal wants to be at UK, then he’s really playing with fire here. He’s turned uk into a science project of his. I love having this talent as much as anyone, it sure beats the way things were, however this is going to piss a lot of people off if our guys leave and all these other kids stay. Watching an experienced, talented team who had top players return beat our brand new team next year is going to bother a lot of people. Even jones at Baylor is returning, TO BAYLOR, and he has to serve a suspension, the guy is a top 5 prospect and chose to return to BAYLOR. If our players leave uk and next years team comes up short for whatever reason, cal will be feeling some heat..
April 18th, 2011 at 2:13 pm
38. For a college student the individual towns of Lexington and Chapel Hill dont offer much. I’d go as far as to say that at least CH has Franklin Street.But if you’ve been to that area, you’d know that the Triangle area(Raleigh, Durham, and CH) has tons more to offer than central Ky. And the fact that there are about 15 universities in the triangle, means that any and all music tours and other entertainment acts, make it a must stop. Sure Lexington is an hour or son away from Louisville or Cincy, but CH is 20 mins from Raliegh and Raliegh draws more than Cincy or the ville. I’m not saying that Lexington is bad or anything, but you have to look at the area from the recruits perspective. Say you’re A.Davis, M. Gilchrist, or even M. Teague, coming from (Chicago, Philly, or Indianapolis). When you come to Lexington its somewhat of a culture shock, and there is absolutely nothing to do here outside of hoops, shopping at fayette mall, and girls(not a bad option). Down there there is always something entertaining nearby. Raliegh is much more city like and it is right next door. Don’t get me wrong, because I believe that some players love Lex(Jorts), and the fan support is undeniable and great. But do you honestly think that going to Keeneland can compete with going to a Lil Wayne Concert or going to the Jordan allstar game.
April 18th, 2011 at 2:37 pm
#54 – What the hell are you talking about? Just because a bunch of national media types are predicting UNC to be #1 doesn’t mean they are going to win it all. First off, none of our guys have declared for the NBA yet and may not declare this year. I think you can contribute guys returning less to the schools they attend and more towards uncertainty regarding the potential NBA lockout. Second off, we beat UNC in the tourney fair and square. If Knight comes back, we are going to be stacked at guard; UNC does not have the guards that compare to ours. They might have more big men, but you can’t play 5 big men at once.
April 18th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
Beat UNC in March, and all is okay.
April 18th, 2011 at 4:01 pm
It will be sad if most fans get angry if our guys go. It is their goal to play in the NBA and Cal has said he wants to help the kids reach their goal. I think it’s scummy for Roy Williams to talk a guy into staying if he could be the #1 pick. If Knight it top 5 he should go and we should be happy for him.
April 18th, 2011 at 4:30 pm
NBA money will always be there. A chance at a national championship and the legacy that goes with it will not.
April 18th, 2011 at 4:42 pm
And what’s wrong w/ actually sticking around to accomplish what you set out to accomplish? Whats wrong w/ building the reputation of the school your name will forever be associated with? These guys will get to the NBA and make millions whether they stay one year, two years or four years. Like Hansborough, Sullinger, Barnes, Henson, Zeller and Jones know this and are coming back to school.
Why do kids from other schools pass up the “obvious” choice? Its because they care about their school, their fans and their legacy and not just themselves.
With the lockout looming, if Cal can’t get kids to stick around for a second year this year he never will. And if he never does, he never gets #8.
April 18th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
oh my god. this has the making to be an amazing game. i hope knight and jones look at it the same way!!!
April 18th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
54 – completely agree.