McDonald's All American Week Events



  • Grimes in the Dunk contest right now on ESPN2.

    Scrimmage is tomorrow.

    Game is Wednesday.



  • Should be fun to see Grimes an Dotson go though. Dotson about to dunk.



  • DOTSON HAS HOPS. HEAD AT THE RIM!!



  • Grimes represented us well though. Freak athlete. Going to catch a lot of lobs next year



  • Dotson might too though! HOPS! Both of them! I’d love to get Langford and just completely out-athlete people next season.



  • Zion may be the heaviest player here, and still getting more vert than anyone else. I don’t know that anyone will be able to guard him in college.



  • Kcmatt7 said:

    DOTSON HAS HOPS. HEAD AT THE RIM!!

    Yeah he is a very good athlete.



  • @BShark Better than I thought for sure.



  • Kcmatt7 said:

    Zion may be the heaviest player here, and still getting more vert than anyone else. I don’t know that anyone will be able to guard him in college.

    He’s unreal. Will be interesting to see what position he settles in for K. You have to think the small ball 4 and even the 5 at some points. Will he shoot it well enough for defenses to sag off him? He probably can lose 15-20 pounds without even making a difference but it will help his quickness tremendously



  • Kcmatt7 said:

    Dotson might too though! HOPS! Both of them! I’d love to get Langford and just completely out-athlete people next season.

    On paper we need Langford to compete with Duke’s All-Star lineup next season. Jones, Barrett, Reddish, Zion… Whoever trots out at the 5



  • BeddieKU23 said:

    Kcmatt7 said:

    Dotson might too though! HOPS! Both of them! I’d love to get Langford and just completely out-athlete people next season.

    On paper we need Langford to compete with Duke’s All-Star lineup next season. Jones, Barrett, Reddish, Zion… Whoever trots out at the 5

    We’ll be good. They’re going to put a soft 5 on Doke. Have fun with that. Our frontline is going to me miles ahead of theirs.



  • @BeddieKU23 I actually think their team may only go as far as Tre Jones takes them. But if he is anything like his brother, he will do just enough to get the ball to the guys who can score and let them do the damage.

    I do not forsee next season as a “down” year for CBB at least. I think Duke, UK, Nova and KU should be the best 4 teams and it shouldn’t be close. Virginia should be the 5th team, but a tier below the first 4.

    That Nova game in Lawrence next year is going to be epic.



  • FarmerJayhawk said:

    BeddieKU23 said:

    Kcmatt7 said:

    Dotson might too though! HOPS! Both of them! I’d love to get Langford and just completely out-athlete people next season.

    On paper we need Langford to compete with Duke’s All-Star lineup next season. Jones, Barrett, Reddish, Zion… Whoever trots out at the 5

    We’ll be good. They’re going to put a soft 5 on Doke. Have fun with that. Our frontline is going to me miles ahead of theirs.

    Could be Montgomery but I get the sense he’s drinking the Vandy milkshake from comments…



  • @BeddieKU23 Good lord let it never be said the Drews are not great salesmen.



  • Kcmatt7 said:

    @BShark Better than I thought for sure.

    Just needs to work on his jump shot tbh. Really good at everything else.



  • @BShark This one still has hair. That is terrifying



  • Kcmatt7 said:

    @BeddieKU23 I actually think their team may only go as far as Tre Jones takes them. But if he is anything like his brother, he will do just enough to get the ball to the guys who can score and let them do the damage.

    I do not forsee next season as a “down” year for CBB at least. I think Duke, UK, Nova and KU should be the best 4 teams and it shouldn’t be close. Virginia should be the 5th team, but a tier below the first 4.

    That Nova game in Lawrence next year is going to be epic.

    Absolutely Jones will be the key to their team. I don’t think Tre is as good as his brother but I don’t think he needs to be. I have long thought Dotson is better honestly.

    It’s just unreal thinking 3 players who could be stars anywhere are teaming together (Barrett, Reddish, Zion). Barrett is by far the best player IMO.

    Duke looks like a team that will have a great starting 5 but no bench especially if Trent leaves…

    Next years UK teams looks weaker to me then this years version. That’s obviously depending on what returns, if PJ Washington & Vanderbilt return that’s big for them. They should have better perimeter shooting with Herro, Baker, Johnson so that would be different from some of Cal’s other teams. Not seeing it with them on paper.

    Nova is losing two huge pieces in Brunson and Bridges. Still a lot of talent will return, expect Divincenzo to be a star next season. That game in Lawrence will be big time as you said



  • @BeddieKU23 You think Brunson is going pro?



  • Kcmatt7 said:

    @BeddieKU23 You think Brunson is going pro?

    Yes he graduates this spring in 3 years, been the plan from the start. That’s why they got Quinerly. Kid is a winner and his father has really pushed him to become what he is.



  • @BeddieKU23 I think Washington comes back. So they should have 4 solid post players who are multiple years into the system for a change. Add in these new guards, who I think will be much more talented than this years group, and you have a very good team.

    Keldon Johnson looks like a bonafide stud.



  • @BeddieKU23 I guess I just figured he would be back. But now that you say that, makes sense. Guess a lot of Nova’s season will depend on Quinerley.



  • @Kcmatt7

    You could be right about Kentucky. Anyone with experience would be a step up from this season. Year 2 from Washington would be big time for them. Gabriel had flashes late, Green was solid. Vanderbilt was hurt all year but it certainly felt like he had his bags packed anyway. Richards was lost most of the year. The perimeter shooting additions could be the difference.



  • @Kcmatt7

    Quinerly will be important. They do have a freshman PG who’s done pretty well for them in Gillispie and I think Booth has another year to go which will seem like his 17th year there. One guy that should see a big step forward is Samuels who’s been hurt a ton and was stuck behind others. Guy turned down Duke.



  • KU really wanted Brunson.



  • @BeddieKU23 I think Vanderbilt thought he could come in and dominate. Wasn’t the case… Seems like he is the type of guy who would rather be in the G league than at school though. So I don’t expect him back at all.

    But yea, I expect Richards to be a big surprise next season. Once he figures out the game, and puts on some more muscle, he should be tough to handle.

    If they have another mass exodus though, they may suck. And Cal may legitimately be on the hot seat if they turn out an NIT year next year because of the exodus. UK fans are so tired of it.



  • @BShark

    Great player. Hope we can shut him down Saturday



  • @Kcmatt7

    It’s funny I remember KU after Vanderbilt for a long time but I’d watch him in AAU and I couldn’t figure out why he was ranked so high. He got a ton of publicity for doing well in the events in the spring and he really had a diverse skill set for his size but I just didn’t think he was that good especially since he can’t shoot outside the paint. I think his injury was a distraction for the team.



  • Kcmatt7 said:

    @BeddieKU23 I think Washington comes back. So they should have 4 solid post players who are multiple years into the system for a change. Add in these new guards, who I think will be much more talented than this years group, and you have a very good team.

    Keldon Johnson looks like a bonafide stud.

    He is.

    Cal will convince some number of post players to return. At this point EJ Montgomery is the only possible addition that would be “Kentucky level”. He has 6 bigs on the roster right now if you count Gabriel. So my guess is he has at least 3-4 5* post players in the 2nd/3rd year next year. Poor Cal…



  • @BeddieKU23 He was a KU lean I’ll leave it to you to figure out what happened. cough248tn3gn35Nike29524coughcoughcough.



  • @BeddieKU23 Agreed. Cal literally just threw him out there and said go play lol. I mean I think Vanderbilt is a freak of nature athletically. But Cal must have thought that was enough. Vanderbilt looked like he was still trying to play AAU ball the few games he did play in.



  • BShark said:

    @BeddieKU23 He was a KU lean I’ll leave it to you to figure out what happened. cough248tn3gn35Nike29524coughcoughcough.

    I’m okay with how things played out. I voiced my opinion on Vanderbilt several times during the recruiting process with him. Bad attitude on the court, didn’t play hard. KU has signed the opposite of that outside of Preston since the 17 class.



  • @Kcmatt7

    He is a gifted athlete, just like Diallo. But neither of them have the intangibles you need going forward. They relied so much on overpowering HS kids that they never had to learn to play tough or give effort 100% of the time. Knox, Washington, Green those guys bought in.



  • BeddieKU23 said:

    BShark said:

    @BeddieKU23 He was a KU lean I’ll leave it to you to figure out what happened. cough248tn3gn35Nike29524coughcoughcough.

    I’m okay with how things played out. I voiced my opinion on Vanderbilt several times during the recruiting process with him. Bad attitude on the court, didn’t play hard. KU has signed the opposite of that outside of Preston since the 17 class.

    Agree it worked out for KU. Vanderbilt feels like the kind of player Self used to favor in recruiting. Ie just get freak athletes and try to teach them how to shoot/play basketball.

    It’s very hard to try and find as many oad players as Cal likes to sign per class that will buy in 100%. He signed himself up for that. Allegedly he “passes” on guys that he thinks won’t buy in. In this class alone I saw that mentioned with Romeo, Simi, Moses Brown and Bol Bol. I think it’s mostly crap.



  • Sounds like Dotson dominated Quinerly day one at MCDAA. I mean it’s just practice but that’s pretty exciting.



  • Scrimmage is on at 3pm today. I’m home sick from work so at least there is that to look forward to.



  • Is it streaming?



  • @Buster-1926

    KU is well represented with 3 players, only Duke with 4 has more. Below is the official roster although several of the players listed as undecided have selected teams, Zion to Duke, Quinerly to Nova, Moses Brown to UCLA; Jordan Brown and Montogomery still undecided.

    0_1522174863471_6FD04E9D-AD4D-442F-A3CE-A3F9E3698652.png



  • Our lineup next year is going to be very solid. We have Dotson, Grimes, Lawson, Lawson and Azubuike, De Sousa, or McCormack. That matches up just fine with anybody. If Langford joins, he would push KJ to the bench, but that just makes the team even deeper. KU won’t be hurting to match up against anyone.



  • Still wondering where our perimeter shooting will come from. Grimes is good. Dotson needs work. Garrett needs lots of work. Moore is average but could become reliable. KJ needed work coming in. Ogbaji had a great senior year shooting. Dedric wasn’t efficient either.

    If Newman and Vick leave you really need someone like Langford…



  • @justanotherfan I feel KJ is mixed in at the 3 and 4, mostly 4. Doubly true if Doke leaves. I think Doke is up in the air at this point. Front court is still extremely good w/o him. The Lawsons have that Morrii type synergy thing going on, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they are mostly on the court together, at the 4/5 when the situation calls for it.

    @BeddieKU23 Yeah, it’s going to be somewhat of an issue, compared to the insane clip the last two teams have shot the ball at. Grimes is a good shooter though, about Romeo’s level imo. Next year is going to be difference. Going to out athlete and defend people to death.



  • Langford is a nice piece to add for the shooting reason that @BeddieKU23 points out. Grimes is the only true knock down shooter in next season’s group, although both Lawson’s, Dotson and Moore could all be roughly average.

    The difference is that next year’s group will be able to get more easy shots in the paint, so we won’t have to stretch the defense as much to create lanes for people. Those lanes will create organically as people drive off the closeout. Plus, we will see a lot more guys that demand double teams. Dedric will command double teams wherever he goes. Grimes will as well. Depending on his progress, KJ could. Dotson will command help when he puts the ball on the floor.

    Next year’s team will be able to run other teams’ off the floor with depth and athleticism, an option we haven’t had for a few years because we just didn’t have the additional personnel. De Sousa and KJ will see a lot of transition lobs when they beat their guys down the court.

    Next year’s squad will be about getting easy baskets and being able to lock in defensively in a way we haven’t seen from KU since probably 2012.



  • I don’t think 3pt shooting is as bad of an issue as we think. This team doesn’t look like UK did this year, at least as I’m picturing it. Dotson will shoot better than SGA, Grimes will shoot better than Diallo, Newman/Vick/Langford shoot better than Knox. So, I feel pretty good about our shooting being good, just not good enough to carry you for an entire game probably. But if we have the post play we expect, we should make up for a lower 3pt% with better defense and rebounding.



  • If anybody thinks Marcus Garrett doesn’t start on a Bill Self team for the rest of his career then you haven’t been paying attention to what gains Coach’s trust. Marcus’ shooting will come around and add to his phenomenal intangibles.



  • @BigBad I have Garrett starting if Vick leaves and Langford ends up at IU or Vandy.



  • My two biggest basketball friends are Duke and Indiana fans. If we get Langford then I have bragging rights for a while!



  • Kcmatt7 said:

    I don’t think 3pt shooting is as bad of an issue as we think. This team doesn’t look like UK did this year, at least as I’m picturing it. Dotson will shoot better than SGA, Grimes will shoot better than Diallo, Newman/Vick/Langford shoot better than Knox. So, I feel pretty good about our shooting being good, just not good enough to carry you for an entire game probably. But if we have the post play we expect, we should make up for a lower 3pt% with better defense and rebounding.

    Dunno about that. SGA is at 40%. The others I can see though. Diallo is at 34% and I’d hope Grimes would be better than that. Someone should be comparable to Knox at 35%. Green and Gabriel were both high 30s. And this was a relatively bad shooting team of course.

    We could have 0 of Newman/Langford/Vick so I’m not willing to pencil any of them in yet.



  • @BShark SGA shot less than 2 per game though. And in conference play, 1.4 per game. So he is taking only the widest of open 3s to shoot 40%. Not that great. There is a reason nobody really guarded him past the 3 point line.



  • @Kcmatt7 I think Dotson will be similar, from what I’ve heard and watched.



  • Dotson will be a very good player for us though of course.



  • @BShark I would hope he has the capability to shoot 2.5 3s per game at a 35% clip. That’s about my expectations.