Welp off to Big Monday.
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If we were due for a letdown, glad it was tonight. Really pretty meaningless.
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Kentucky played one of the best games of their season. A few guys had their best games of the year.

Kansas had easily their worst game of the season.

It happens. Self should be very disappointed in what his team did tonight, but no coaching decision would’ve changed this by much.
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They could have rolled your ass out there at the 5 and still wiped the floor with KU.
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Yeah, that was probably UK’s second best game from tip-off to buzzer this season.

Eviscerating Tennessee a few weeks ago was was probably their best performance this season.
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That wasn’t a good showing. Burrito can’t be happy.
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So, I had this question...

How do things look next year?

I feel like the team will potentially get better athletically, but who is going to score the ball?

Gain Gradey, Udeh, Zuby and MJ. Lose Ochai, Remy, Mitch and potentially Braun and McCormack (please God, don't come back).

Feel like next year's squad is going to really struggle scoring the ball, unless one of those freshman can make an instant impact. Assuming they'll get minutes. :-)
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It could very easily be worse next year I suppose, but I'm getting pretty tired of this particular core group of players as it is. Maybe I'll regret saying that in a month or so but I really doubt it.
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Kinda where I’m at. This team is fine, but the ceiling just doesn’t feel very high. But it also feels like the floor can be pretty low. We don’t have many great athletes (pretty much just Ochai and Adams), besides Agbaji our outside shooting is inconsistent, no dominant bigs, etc.

I was talking with my buddy about next year’s team. We agreed that the team will probably look like this to start the season:

1. Harris
2. Pettiford
3. Braun
4. Wilson
5. Adams

Bench:

Clemence
Cuffe
Dick
Rice
Udeh
Ejiofor

This doesn’t take any incoming transfers into consideration. I’m assuming Yesufu transfers.

Not a terrible lineup. I’ll like it more if Dick, Rice, and Udeh can force their way into the starting lineup. That might make it feel kinda like 2006.
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IF that winds up being the starting lineup to begin next season, and if it lasts into the season, yeeeeeesh. That's ugly.
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A program like KU should have high expectations every year with the new transfer rules. Need a PG? Go poach an experienced one.

Bill should definitely be looking for a starting PG in the portal. Harris isn't going to cut it if he wants to compete for a national title. Might need to find an experienced center too.

With a couple solid transfers, they could end up with a great roster. They definitely have their best freshmen class in years.
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Harris, Braun, and Wilson are obvious starters for next season. Assuming they come back, which I think they will. Maybe Wilson goes to the draft, since he almost went last year. I’ve seen Braun as a late first round pick in a few mocks, but I have to think that will change.

Self trusts Adams this year with decent minutes, so I would pencil him in to start.

Pettiford is the one I feel least confident in. I think either Rice or Dick should start over him, but Self loves having 2 point guards on the floor. Pettiford started to see some decent minutes before the injury.

I wouldn’t expect that lineup to last too long though.
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I’d really love to have a high level rim protector again. That’s the piece that’s been missing from a lot of our recent teams. Doke was so key when healthy. Before him, Embiid, Withey, Aldrich. Having one of those dudes at center instead of guys like McCormack or Landen Lucas makes a world of difference.

Of course, every team wants a guy like that. They don’t grow on trees unfortunately.
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I know it won’t happen, but I’d really like to see a youth movement next year. Similar to 2006. We have a good looking freshman class coming in. We have a few exciting freshmen this year. 3 of the last 4 years have felt like we’ve just patched the team together with no real end goal.

Part of what made 2006-2018 so great is that we were strong but you could constantly see the next core ready to go.

In 2006, it was obvious that Mario, Wright, and Rush were cornerstones.
In 2007, we add Sherron and Arthur.
2008 was perfect, but we still added Aldrich.
Our rebuilding 2009, we added Tyshawn, Releford, and the Morris Twins.
2010, we added T Rob and Elijah Johnson
Etc.

I’d love to see our lineup be:

Pettiford
Dick or Rice
Braun
Wilson
Udeh

IMO, that’s the highest upside lineup.

First guys off the bench:
Dick or Rice
Harris
Clemence
Adams
Cuffe
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Why would Mccormack leave? Who's drafting him?
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