Thread: State of next year's team.

I feel better about next year's team because of 3 things that happened in the last few days.
1. The news that Darnell Dotson is returning. This makes us a better 3 point shooting team than we would be without him. Dotson leads all returning players with 50 made 3s last season.
2. Eloy Vargas and Terrance Jones signed. This doubles the number of inside people on next year's squad. Jones is also a good 3 point shooter. He can help onen things up for Kanter inside.
3. We keep getting good reports from China on the play of Josh Harrellson and Jon Hood. I have already gone on record stating I think Jon Hood will be the most improved returning player on next season's squad. As for Josh Harrellson, I feel it is critical that he step up and provide senior leadership if the Cats are to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament next spring. It is not impossible for him to be a leader and get only the kind of minutes he got last year, but it would be a lot easier for him to lead if he plays more.

Some are saying next years team could be the best recruiting class of all time. I'm not sure about that, but I'm loving our chances.

I've heard speculation that this year is in the top 10 of all time, and could go up depending on what Cal's got up his sleeve.

Originally Posted by Tom Blevins

I feel better about next year's team because of 3 things that happened in the last few days.
1. The news that Darnell Dotson is returning. This makes us a better 3 point shooting team than we would be without him. Dotson leads all returning players with 50 made 3s last season.
2. Eloy Vargas and Terrance Jones signed. This doubles the number of inside people on next year's squad. Jones is also a good 3 point shooter. He can help onen things up for Kanter inside.
3. We keep getting good reports from China on the play of Josh Harrellson and Jon Hood. I have already gone on record stating I think Jon Hood will be the most improved returning player on next season's squad. As for Josh Harrellson, I feel it is critical that he step up and provide senior leadership if the Cats are to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament next spring. It is not impossible for him to be a leader and get only the kind of minutes he got last year, but it would be a lot easier for him to lead if he plays more.

I agree 100%.

I'd really like to see Josh and Jon get some good quality minutes in each game.

We MAY get some insights to next year's team when they play the 3 exhibition games in Canada in a couple of months. Keep in mind though, the team's success depends so much on the freshmen coming through and they won't know Coach Calipari's offence by then. Don't be surprised, and please don't be upset, if we lose one or more of the three exhibition games. In fact, it might help motivate the team to work harder for the games that count. What you might want to look for from the freshmen is good individual play, play that shows good character, the willingingness to play physical, and not be intimidated if the other team gets physical.