@BeddieKU23 This looks right. All the Michigan St fans seem pretty down on Goins so I wouldn't be surprised if Tillman started. Bingham Jr. only got 9 minutes against Northern Michigan but had 12 points and 4 rebounds and he can shoot the 3-ball. He worries me a bit. I've also been hearing really good things about Aaron Henry.
KirkIsMyHinrich
6165 posts
Talking to MSU fans, they seem to have absolutely no confidence in their backcourt outside of Cassius Winston. They think their advantage will be in the frontcourt.
Nick Ward vs Doke honestly feels like a wash to me. Their stat-lines from last season are pretty much identical and Doke is 2 or 3 inches taller and 30-40 pounds larger. Nick Ward doesn't shoot 3's. Neither does Xavier Tillman, who is 6'8, 245.
Dedric is going to have a huge matchup advantage over Goins or Tillman (whichever one starts).
The matchup that scares me the most is Winston vs whoever KU throws at him. I feel like it would be worth starting Marcus Garrett at the point in this game just to put some size and experience on Winston.
Six Big 12 players on the Naismith watch list, and two Jayhawks. Dedric Lawson, Quentin Grimes, Dean Wade, Barry Brown, Sagaba Konate, and Lindell Wigginton.
It could be a Duke fan. I've been noticing a lot more of them lately, claiming that Duke could beat the Phoenix Suns by 10, or that they are going to blow out Kentucky on Tuesday.
Agree with Doke being a big part of the offense, especially if he has improved his free throws. Feeding the post and passing out of the post are two things this team really needs to work on.
KU 72 - MSU 63
UK 85 - Duke 75
I'd go Dotson, Grimes, Vick, Dedric, Doke
stoptheflop said:
@KirkIsMyHinrich Joel's swimsuit model girlfriend must have been courtside
He drank a cup of Master Kong Tea before the game.
We need to instill an original rules of basketball policy for our big men during practices... as in no dribbling.
I like Agbaji.
approxinfinity said:
Lonzo and Fox would have been better too, if they wanted a PG
Dennis Smith Jr. or Donovan Mitchell
Embiid with 41 and 13 and 4 blocks. He's okay.
Speaking of cheat codes, Joel Embiid has 36 and 12 with 1:00 minute left to play.
Dedric is a cheat-code.
Doke with the shooter's roll!
Mini-Dirk.
QQQQQQQQQQQQQQ
Dedric is so good.
approxinfinity said:
THERE is is Udoka, dribble with authority out of the double team, find the open man. That calm your nerves a bit about regression?
No. Vick was wide-open before he put the ball on the floor. He should have just passed it without dribbling. He needs to stop dribbling.
I hope we play better than this against Michigan St.
Kcmatt7 said:
@KirkIsMyHinrich You think Reid starts over PJ?
Over Richards. I think it's very likely PJ starts.
Also Hagans had 10 points (3-5) against Transy and played 24 minutes. Quickley had 3 (1-2) and played 23 minutes. Again I don't really read much into these games. My first post about the Kentucky/Duke matchup doesn't change at all whether it's Hagans or Quickley starting.
I think Reid will start that game. Reid is the best combination of size, strength, and agility that Kentucky can throw at Zion.
I looked at the box score. I don't read a lot into those games. Quickley or Hagans it doesn't really matter at this point. I agree I think Green will start most games, but if he starts against Duke then Kentucky is giving up a lot of size against Barrett or Reddish, which is why I threw Herro in the starting lineup.
BeddieKU23 said:
ESPN/Nike has Dedric on 2nd team All American. You'll have a good laugh at their 5.
CBS has Dedric 1st team
ESPN with 3/5 from the ACC. Just standard ACC cheerleading.
I meant to say Kentucky will have Green coming off the bench in that hypothetical lineup, since Hagans is starting. I think there's a good chance Green starts, but maybe not against Duke. My mistake.
I like Kentucky by 10-15 against Duke. They have more size, more depth, more experience.
I think it's fair to say that Duke will have the 3 best pro prospects on the floor (although I'm not entirely sold on Cam Reddish being a better pro prospect than Keldon Johnson at this point), I don't necessarily think they'll have the 3 best players on the court that night. And I like the way UK can match up with Duke. It might look something like:
Hagans (6'3) - Jones (6'2)
Herro (6'5) - Reddish (6'8)
Johnson (6'6) - Barrett (6'7)
Travis (6'8) - Williamson (6'7)
Washington (6'8) - Bolden (6'11)
I don't see any huge matchup advantages that jump out for either team really. I would give Barrett an advantage over Johnson and Reddish an advantage over Herro. Coach K has been selling Marques Bolden this offseason, but given how he's played his first two seasons at Duke, I would give the advantage to Washington or Richards. Zion Williamson is going to be a better professional player than Travis Reid there is no doubt in my mind, but there's no guarantee he outplays Travis Reid in his first real college basketball game. Travis Reid averaged 23 and 10 at Stanford last season and has played more minutes in college than the entire Duke roster combined. If you were asking me who I think is going to have a better game I would lean toward Reid. Hagans and Jones seems like a wash to me. Maybe you give a slight advantage to Jones because he's a bit more highly-rated prospect.
After that? Kentucky has another top ten team coming off the bench in Quickley, Green, Baker, Montgomery, and Richards. Duke probably won't go much deeper than Jack White, Alex O'Connell, Javin DeLaurier, and Joey Baker. Their 2nd-unit is a huge drop-off from the first. Can Williamson play a full game at the 4 or 5 without getting into foul trouble? Can he play a full game without getting tired? He's 285 pounds. Can Marques Bolden be better than mediocre? We'll see.
I think it's a close game in the first half and Kentucky pulls away in the 2nd.
What if they win this season?
Who would you replace MSU with? Kentucky, Duke, and Kansas already in the field means no SEC, ACC, or Big12 can be added. That leaves the Big East (so pretty much Villanova), Big Ten (Michigan St, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio St, Wisconsin), and PAC12 (UCLA, Arizona, Oregon). Nova seems like the obvious choice but they have a home-and-home set up with KU the next few seasons so that makes it hard. Of the remaining teams, I'd probably still take Michigan St. They are ranked 10th preseason, which is higher than any other team I mentioned besides Nova.
Maybe Gonzaga?
I was bored and decided to do a minutes breakdown of each of the teams in the champions classic starting the season. This is what I got:
Kansas:
Lagerald Vick = 2258
Dedric Lawson = 2172
KJ Lawson = 1275
Udoka Azubuike = 990
Charlie Moore = 980
Marcus Garrett = 749
Mitch Lightfoot = 633
Silvio De Sousa = 175
Chris Teahan = 25
Team Total = 9256
Kentucky:
Travis Reid = 2911
PJ Washington = 1012
Quade Green = 869
Nick Richards = 543
Brad Calipari = 73
Jonny David = 26
Team Total = 5434
Duke:
Marques Bolden = 530
Javin DeLaurier = 505
Alex O'Connell = 373
Justin Robinson = 326
Jack White = 220
Antonio Vrankovic = 181
Jordan Goldwire = 169
Mike Buckmire = 5
Brennan Besser = 3
Team Total = 2312
Michigan St:
Matt McQuaid = 1986
Cassius Winston = 1709
Joshua Langford = 1680
Nick Ward = 1356
Kenny Goins = 1336
Braden Burke = 487
Kyle Ahrens = 365
Xavier Tillman = 305
Conner George = 66
Team Total = 9290
I was just reading through college basketball articles and I found this image. I feel like it's a good visual representation of why a lot of people don't like Duke...
Shorter and worse-shooting Dirk Nowitzki. They both have the old-man game. They both can't jump over a phone book. They both fill the heck out of the stat sheet.
Thanks chief.
BShark said:
Self saying Dotson, Grimes and Garrett have separated themselves from the other guards and that Garrett has made a case to start.
I want to like this comment more than one time. Post it again.
15 of the 22 turnovers were from Dedric, Doke, Dave, and Mitch. Need to be stronger in the post and better passing out of it. Especially Doke.
@BShark Thanks for posting this.
I am surprised Dotson only had 3 assists. I am also surprised we shot 40% from 3. That's encouraging.
@Kcmatt7 I like him too. I thought he had a good game-plan doubling the post and the defensive rotations were good. They made some tough shots. They were just out-classed in terms of personnel. I agree, good coach.
Is there a box score anywhere? @BShark You were logging stats, right?
I'm digging the pre-game and post-game from ESPN+.
@wissox 93-55 final.
31 points (11-16) and 15 boards for Dr. Lawson. What a beast.
Alright so the only thing I was really disappointed in tonight was Doke. He looked bad. He needs to be better.
The turnovers and the slow 2nd-half are typical things with young/new teams.
Agbaji looks good to me.
Hey we broke 80.
Why stop at Mr.?
I'm going to start calling him Dr. Lawson.
There you go, Grimes.
@approxinfinity No he's fine. Just looks kind of dumb.
I can't wait to not watch the new Rocky movie.
I think you were right about Grimes playing down to or up to the level of competition though.
Anybody know what the 3P% is right now?
The good news is that most of the turnovers are self-inflicted and KU can clean that up. I was expecting some sloppiness with so many new players playing together.