2021 Class

[NUgradCUfan]

Appreciate what you get and stop slamming Reef every chance you get.

I haven't seen anyone on this board going out of their way to slam Reef, but I have seen many stating the obvious in regards to him running the point long term.

[whtblu]

Reef is the man. Love his energy and his quickness. Having to be compared to an All-American (at least BE PoY) level player makes it harder to see what he gives us. Is he Marcus? No. We've just gotten so used to absolutely ELITE PG play that we've gotten spoiled.

Jones is the one I am surprised everyone is counting on. Nothing I have seen from him this year makes me think he will even sniff a starting role next season. I was so excited to see him play this season after watching him at Memphis his freshman year and knowing he had a year to prepare with the redshirt, but he has been disappointing. He plays hard and I appreciate that, but he seems more lost out there than anyone and that is particularly surprising given the redshirt year he had to get acclimated.

I would also agree with the earlier post about Epp. I don't see him playing any significant minutes as a Bluejay anymore (if at all). I feel just awful for that kid. Worst luck of any Jay in recent memory.

[Chicagojayfan]

My opinion is that even with Sallis (longshot), CU would be nowhere near national champion contenders. Stranger things have happened, but as mentioned, Kentucky’s 2020-2021 recruiting class was better than the Jays incoming 2021-2022 class. They are struggling and that program is used to the one-and-done culture. Next year’s Bluejay squad would be wildly reliant on first year players, not a recipe for a deep tournament run.

If this all plays out as we are hypothesizing, I would be so happy to be wrong about this.

I agree and may I add the best thing about freshmen is they are Sophomores the next year.

This is a pretty unique year for everyone. I think Kentucky's problem is in large part due to the lack of practice time and game minutes for the kids to learn to gel together. Cal's been able to do that pretty much every other year, and the quality of this talent is always exceptional, but they need minutes to grow quickly and didn't get them this year.... it was a bad year to be depending on Freshman to play a big part this year.

We've had better fortunes with Freshman playing the past few years.

Kalkbrenner's great this year (even more impressive because big men have a tough time adjusting)
Two years ago, Marcus played 28 minutes a game and started the second half after Jefferson got hurt
Three years ago, Ballock got 21 minutes and Alexander got 17 a game

Mitchell will be in the mix at PG, but he'll need work to hold onto the starting job. Some examples:

his overall TS%/eFG% for the year is .528/.472 - - but in conference it is just: .440/.372
overall, his Assist % is 17.8% overall / Turnover% is 21.4% -- Marcus is at 24.7% / 14% for that

How good can Mitchell be with another year? We don't know yet, but his shooting and assist/TOV numbers aren't what we want to be a starting PG right now and that isn't a slam on him, it's just pointing out reality. He's a really good player for us with his ability to add pressure defense to the court, but to go beyond that role, he needs to improve shooting and assist/TOVs, IMO

[Trifecta]

My opinion is that even with Sallis (longshot), CU would be nowhere near national champion contenders. Stranger things have happened, but as mentioned, Kentucky’s 2020-2021 recruiting class was better than the Jays incoming 2021-2022 class. They are struggling and that program is used to the one-and-done culture. Next year’s Bluejay squad would be wildly reliant on first year players, not a recipe for a deep tournament run.

If this all plays out as we are hypothesizing, I would be so happy to be wrong about this.

I agree and may I add the best thing about freshmen is they are Sophomores the next year.

This is a pretty unique year for everyone. I think Kentucky's problem is in large part due to the lack of practice time and game minutes for the kids to learn to gel together. Cal's been able to do that pretty much every other year, and the quality of this talent is always exceptional, but they need minutes to grow quickly and didn't get them this year.... it was a bad year to be depending on Freshman to play a big part this year.

We've had better fortunes with Freshman playing the past few years.

Kalkbrenner's great this year (even more impressive because big men have a tough time adjusting)
Two years ago, Marcus played 28 minutes a game and started the second half after Jefferson got hurt
Three years ago, Ballock got 21 minutes and Alexander got 17 a game

Mitchell will be in the mix at PG, but he'll need work to hold onto the starting job. Some examples:

his overall TS%/eFG% for the year is .528/.472 - - but in conference it is just: .440/.372
overall, his Assist % is 17.8% overall / Turnover% is 21.4% -- Marcus is at 24.7% / 14% for that

How good can Mitchell be with another year? We don't know yet, but his shooting and assist/TOV numbers aren't what we want to be a starting PG right now and that isn't a slam on him, it's just pointing out reality. He's a really good player for us with his ability to add pressure defense to the court, but to go beyond that role, he needs to improve shooting and assist/TOVs, IMO

Thank you

[NUgradCUfan]

How good can Mitchell be with another year? We don't know yet, but his shooting and assist/TOV numbers aren't what we want to be a starting PG right now and that isn't a slam on him, it's just pointing out reality. He's a really good player for us with his ability to add pressure defense to the court, but to go beyond that role, he needs to improve shooting and assist/TOVs, IMO

+1 well said

[vivid_dude]

Some random observations and comments about the ongoing dialogue in this thread, which has been fun to read and engage in:

- Shereef Mitchell is still a sophomore. 10 or 15 years ago, no player who has shown what Shereef Mitchell has shown would ever be so easily discarded (that is overstating what people are saying, but I'll exaggerate to make my point) as a sophomore. Conversely, fans would be EXCITED about what they see and his potential. The new culture of college basketball and fans (myself included sometimes) is so impatient. Shereef will get better. He's still developing. He's an absolute beast of on-the-ball defender, who has some offensive game, but not enough...yet. I'm hopeful it'll change.

Anthony Tolliver would have been run out of town with pitchforks in today's climate if we just relied on what we saw early in his college career. He's earned over $33 million in the NBA. I didn't much care for Damien Jefferson's game early on. That changed. And even if Shereef never becomes anything more than a 12- to 15-minute per game specialist who pesters opposing PGs into bad games and decisions, is that so bad? There's room for a player like that on most teams.

- My favorite thing about our newcomers is how well, on paper, they complement each other and our returning players. Nembhard is that "prototypical" PG. TyTy is that combo guard who can break you down off the dribble and score at all levels. Mason is an athletic stretch-4. Christofilis is "Let it Fly" personified. Rati seems like a glue guy you could put on any roster, doing a little bit of everything. I'm still mad at the first "hype tape" of Modestas, so I don't know what he is. Those skillsets all align nicely with what we have returning in Kalk, CB, Shereef, AOC, Antwann, etc.

- Everything changes and our ceiling ascends if something unexpected happens. Sallis stays home. Marcus returns. A senior or two takes advantage of the COVID rule. Attrition leads to an unexpected incoming transfer, which solidifies or strengthens the roster.

- Finally, back to Shereef, can someone confirm or deny this? Did he really turn 24 years old on Jan. 1? That's what I saw online, but if cashing out my 401K to support a Nigerian prince taught me anything, you can't always trust the Internet. But I could only find Jan. 1, 1997 as his birthday. He's really 1.5 years older than Mitch and 3+ years older than Christian Bishop? As a sophomore? That doesn't seem right.

[whtblu]

- Finally, back to Shereef, can someone confirm or deny this? Did he really turn 24 years old on Jan. 1? That's what I saw online, but if cashing out my 401K to support a Nigerian prince taught me anything, you can't always trust the Internet. But I could only find Jan. 1, 1997 as his birthday. He's really 1.5 years older than Mitch and 3+ years older than Christian Bishop? As a sophomore? That doesn't seem right.

No. He was a senior at Burke 3 years ago. NSAA won't allow kids over 19 to play HS sports. So unless he magically gained 2 years somewhere that math doesn't add up. He was young for his grade when he was in HS which is part of the reason a prep school year made sense. I believe he was 17 when he graduated from Burke and headed to Sunrise.

[Wizard of Westroads]

- Shereef Mitchell is still a sophomore. 10 or 15 years ago, no player who has shown what Shereef Mitchell has shown would ever be so easily discarded (that is overstating what people are saying, but I'll exaggerate to make my point) as a sophomore. Conversely, fans would be EXCITED about what they see and his potential. The new culture of college basketball and fans (myself included sometimes) is so impatient. Shereef will get better. He's still developing. He's an absolute beast of on-the-ball defender, who has some offensive game, but not enough...yet. I'm hopeful it'll change.

+1 and the only point I was trying to make was that Shereef sets the bar for the starting point guard next year. The freshmen have to beat him out to start at PG, and you can't say that they should based on recruiting ratings and highlight tapes.

[vivid_dude]

- Finally, back to Shereef, can someone confirm or deny this? Did he really turn 24 years old on Jan. 1? That's what I saw online, but if cashing out my 401K to support a Nigerian prince taught me anything, you can't always trust the Internet. But I could only find Jan. 1, 1997 as his birthday. He's really 1.5 years older than Mitch and 3+ years older than Christian Bishop? As a sophomore? That doesn't seem right.

No. He was a senior at Burke 3 years ago. NSAA won't allow kids over 19 to play HS sports. So unless he magically gained 2 years somewhere that math doesn't add up. He was young for his grade when he was in HS which is part of the reason a prep school year made sense. I believe he was 17 when he graduated from Burke and headed to Sunrise.

Okay, thanks. I didn't think that was possible. I hate the internet.

[RxJay]

Is anyone else concerned if we do have some unexpected players decide to stay in school and play next year that we might lose some of our unsigned recruits. Most of the the recruits expect to play a fair amount next year. Also if (I don’t expect) Hunter decides on CU does TyTy change his mind?