#TeamDarius

yes he can

Darius could be the best player on the team if he played 110%. I think he can lead too as well but i think a mixture of stats and leadership will be key to the teams development throughout the season.

We've been waiting for the past 3 seasons to see Disapearius step up on a consistent basis and it has not and will not happen. He is a skilled athlete, he just has NO killer instinct or will to win. If he gets hot great, one more weapon. But I am done counting on this guy, Luckily Gillie is here and has shown 100X the natural leadership, tenacity, and grit as we have seen from Miller in his entire time in Lexington. He may be a big brother and provide an example in the lockerroom, but to say he is a leader on the court is ridiculous especially with the other monsters on the team. And all that which Cal was saying about Miller at the beginning of the season was pure propaganda. #TeamGillie. Let Darius be the sixth man, he is more than serviceable but that is it.

Originally Posted by HamiltonBigBlue

We've been waiting for the past 3 seasons to see Disapearius step up on a consistent basis and it has not and will not happen. He is a skilled athlete, he just has NO killer instinct or will to win. If he gets hot great, one more weapon. But I am done counting on this guy, Luckily Gillie is here and has shown 100X the natural leadership, tenacity, and grit as we have seen from Miller in his entire time in Lexington. He may be a big brother and provide an example in the lockerroom, but to say he is a leader on the court is ridiculous especially with the other monsters on the team. And all that which Cal was saying about Miller at the beginning of the season was pure propaganda. #TeamGillie. Let Darius be the sixth man, he is more than serviceable but that is it.

You sir are misinformed. Darius is 10 times the offensive player Gilchrist is. And Miller is probably one of the best defenders on the team as well. He is the glue to this team. If you actually watched games from the past 3 years you would know that Darius does not always score alot but he does have a tendency to have the ball in his hands on big possessions during the game, and he usually comes through. He made a bad decision against Ole Miss last year, but in the SEC tournament he balled. Without him we loose to Princeton in the first round. Even Tuesday he made the big shot that stopped the Kansas run. Gilchrist is great and he should start. Miller should come off the bench but he is the steady force on this team. When we run into conference play and we are having a bad shooting night against an inferior opponent he will be looked too as the leader. Don't count out Darius. Right now he doens't need to score 20, he needs to pass, rebound, play defense and hit the open shot, but we will need him to win a national championship.

I could not agree more tomas. Without Miller's TOTAL game, our chances of number 8 this year will be greatly diminished.

Originally Posted by tomas

You sir are misinformed. Darius is 10 times the offensive player Gilchrist is. And Miller is probably one of the best defenders on the team as well. He is the glue to this team. If you actually watched games from the past 3 years you would know that Darius does not always score alot but he does have a tendency to have the ball in his hands on big possessions during the game, and he usually comes through. He made a bad decision against Ole Miss last year, but in the SEC tournament he balled. Without him we loose to Princeton in the first round. Even Tuesday he made the big shot that stopped the Kansas run. Gilchrist is great and he should start. Miller should come off the bench but he is the steady force on this team. When we run into conference play and we are having a bad shooting night against an inferior opponent he will be looked too as the leader. Don't count out Darius. Right now he doens't need to score 20, he needs to pass, rebound, play defense and hit the open shot, but we will need him to win a national championship.

Actually, Gilchrist has scored 27 pts in 2 games averaging 13.5 and Miller has scored 13 in 2 games averaging 6.5, so Gilchrist is in fact more than twice the offensive player that Miller is. And Gilchrist has 3 blocks, 5 steals and 16 rebounds to Miller's 2 blocks, 2 steals and 7 rebounds. So basically Miller can't carry Gillie's jock. And we aren't even addressing the intangibles. Miller's nick name refers to his propensity for disapearing while Gilchrist had a documentary made about his heart and character. So who is misinformed? How can you call a guy called 'disappearius' a steady force? Lets take the homer factor out of it, would you call Lebron in last years finals a steady force? I don't think so. Why? because he DISAPPEARED in the fourth quarter.

To further address your points, I HAVE seen every game for more than the past 3 years. In fact I was at MSG tuesday night and will be at the game on Sunday, can you say that? What I can say is that when Miller has the ball in his hands he looks scared like he's trying not to screw up where as Gillie looks like he has his weapon in his hand and is ready to take someones head off. So hold your breath for another year if you will. I am glad to finally be able to exhale and maybe if Miller can do that and take off some of the pressure he seems to feel he can actually play more of his game, that of a role player, not someone who needs to carry the team and win games like B.Knight did last year...against Princeton.

Originally Posted by HamiltonBigBlue

Actually, Gilchrist has scored 27 pts in 2 games averaging 13.5 and Miller has scored 13 in 2 games averaging 6.5, so Gilchrist is in fact more than twice the offensive player that Miller is. And Gilchrist has 3 blocks, 5 steals and 16 rebounds to Miller's 2 blocks, 2 steals and 7 rebounds. So basically Miller can't carry Gillie's jock. And we aren't even addressing the intangibles. Miller's nick name refers to his propensity for disapearing while Gilchrist had a documentary made about his heart and character. So who is misinformed? How can you call a guy called 'disappearius' a steady force? Lets take the homer factor out of it, would you call Lebron in last years finals a steady force? I don't think so. Why? because he DISAPPEARED in the fourth quarter.

To further address your points, I HAVE seen every game for more than the past 3 years. In fact I was at MSG tuesday night and will be at the game on Sunday, can you say that? What I can say is that when Miller has the ball in his hands he looks scared like he's trying not to screw up where as Gillie looks like he has his weapon in his hand and is ready to take someones head off. So hold your breath for another year if you will. I am glad to finally be able to exhale and maybe if Miller can do that and take off some of the pressure he seems to feel he can actually play more of his game, that of a role player, not someone who needs to carry the team and win games like B.Knight did last year...against Princeton.

Oh my goodness.....for someone with as much passiion about uk as you seem to have you are completely insane. Its like you really dont watch the games at all. Gilchrist is a BEAST! flat out best all around stat-stuffer/winner you can have on a team. But he makes horrible decisions offensively. He forced 2 of the 3 threes he took against KU and missed both, badly. He keeps trying to prove he has something he just doesnt have, a consistent outside shot. and of course he would have more steals, rebounds, and blocks. he constantly goes for the ball. thats good but his man scores almost every time that gilchrist doesnt block or steal the ball. Miller plays solid lockdown defense to prevent his man from scoring which is the overall goal of defense, not steals and blocks (incase you were unaware). On top of all of that, miller is clutch, when the team seems stagnant he gets buckets. flat out. and he doesnt make poor decisions. u can count the number of turnaround floaters hes missed his in career on one hand and he knows that when we need to score he has that move in his arsenal. He also gets open and knocks down shots for us in key moments. of course hes had bad shooting nights but it isnt because he isnt creating good shots for himself. I love gilchrist and i will agree that he has earned a starting position. but theres no way u can say he is a clear favorite over miller or that miller doesnt effect this team as much on the court as any other player, especially when u take into consideration the number of times his number is called. Im sure if u asked Cal who the most efficient player is when he asks them to do something he would say either miller or lamb simply because they get the job done when we need them to.

Originally Posted by trUKfan

Oh my goodness.....for someone with as much passiion about uk as you seem to have you are completely insane. Its like you really dont watch the games at all. Gilchrist is a BEAST! flat out best all around stat-stuffer/winner you can have on a team. But he makes horrible decisions offensively. He forced 2 of the 3 threes he took against KU and missed both, badly. He keeps trying to prove he has something he just doesnt have, a consistent outside shot. and of course he would have more steals, rebounds, and blocks. he constantly goes for the ball. thats good but his man scores almost every time that gilchrist doesnt block or steal the ball. Miller plays solid lockdown defense to prevent his man from scoring which is the overall goal of defense, not steals and blocks (incase you were unaware). On top of all of that, miller is clutch, when the team seems stagnant he gets buckets. flat out. and he doesnt make poor decisions. u can count the number of turnaround floaters hes missed his in career on one hand and he knows that when we need to score he has that move in his arsenal. He also gets open and knocks down shots for us in key moments. of course hes had bad shooting nights but it isnt because he isnt creating good shots for himself. I love gilchrist and i will agree that he has earned a starting position. but theres no way u can say he is a clear favorite over miller or that miller doesnt effect this team as much on the court as any other player, especially when u take into consideration the number of times his number is called. Im sure if u asked Cal who the most efficient player is when he asks them to do something he would say either miller or lamb simply because they get the job done when we need them to.

I don't understand how my difference of opinion about Miller's role on the team makes me insane or means I don't watch the games, but I digress. I don't even mean to bad mouth Darius, I just believe that the guy is not comfortable in the role that people keep trying to see him fulfill. After this season we'll see whether we look back and say this year Darius really switched gears. Either way he will play a role on this team as other upperclassmen have and that is as much a virtue of his age as anything else. I don't think it is even fair to compare Miller to Gilchrist so I won't go there, other than to say that stat stuffer and winner can't really exist with a slash between them because to be a stat stuffer insists that you boosts your stats without concern as to whether your team wins or loses. I hope Darius has a good season but I don't consider his leadership to exist as much when the game clock is ticking as it does when it is not. In the game on tuesday, after others let errant threes fly I thought I don't want to see someone take a perimeter shot unless its Miller or Lamb. But if it is the final seconds its not Miller who's taking the shot, it wasn't last year and it wasn't in the fiba summer league either. All I'm saying is we keep looking for 'something else' in him and I think at this point we would have seen it if it was there.

Originally Posted by HamiltonBigBlue

I don't understand how my difference of opinion about Miller's role on the team makes me insane or means I don't watch the games, but I digress. I don't even mean to bad mouth Darius, I just believe that the guy is not comfortable in the role that people keep trying to see him fulfill. After this season we'll see whether we look back and say this year Darius really switched gears. Either way he will play a role on this team as other upperclassmen have and that is as much a virtue of his age as anything else. I don't think it is even fair to compare Miller to Gilchrist so I won't go there, other than to say that stat stuffer and winner can't really exist with a slash between them because to be a stat stuffer insists that you boosts your stats without concern as to whether your team wins or loses. I hope Darius has a good season but I don't consider his leadership to exist as much when the game clock is ticking as it does when it is not. In the game on tuesday, after others let errant threes fly I thought I don't want to see someone take a perimeter shot unless its Miller or Lamb. But if it is the final seconds its not Miller who's taking the shot, it wasn't last year and it wasn't in the fiba summer league either. All I'm saying is we keep looking for 'something else' in him and I think at this point we would have seen it if it was there.

Darius is not flashy I will give you that. But he knows he doesn't have to be. He is steady and one of the most efficient offensive players. And he is one of the best defenders. And I would want him with the ball in his hands, because like Cal says, he can make free throws. Jones misses them in big spots. Miller can score from anywhere on the court. He his a match-up nightmare for virtually any team. Gilchrist is good, real good, but to say he is anywhere near the offensive player Miller is laughable. And do you not remember Miller making huge defensive plays erasing easy lay-ups with huge blocks. Like I said earlier Miller should come off the bench, but he is without doubt the key to this team.

Originally Posted by HamiltonBigBlue

Actually, Gilchrist has scored 27 pts in 2 games averaging 13.5 and Miller has scored 13 in 2 games averaging 6.5, so Gilchrist is in fact more than twice the offensive player that Miller is. And Gilchrist has 3 blocks, 5 steals and 16 rebounds to Miller's 2 blocks, 2 steals and 7 rebounds. So basically Miller can't carry Gillie's jock. And we aren't even addressing the intangibles. Miller's nick name refers to his propensity for disapearing while Gilchrist had a documentary made about his heart and character. So who is misinformed? How can you call a guy called 'disappearius' a steady force? Lets take the homer factor out of it, would you call Lebron in last years finals a steady force? I don't think so. Why? because he DISAPPEARED in the fourth quarter.

To further address your points, I HAVE seen every game for more than the past 3 years. In fact I was at MSG tuesday night and will be at the game on Sunday, can you say that? What I can say is that when Miller has the ball in his hands he looks scared like he's trying not to screw up where as Gillie looks like he has his weapon in his hand and is ready to take someones head off. So hold your breath for another year if you will. I am glad to finally be able to exhale and maybe if Miller can do that and take off some of the pressure he seems to feel he can actually play more of his game, that of a role player, not someone who needs to carry the team and win games like B.Knight did last year...against Princeton.

You can not compare the two players games. Gilchrist scores on fast break dunks and huslte rebounds, Darius can score from the half-court offense with the ball running through his hands without disrupting the flow of the offense. Gilchrest kills the flow with a bad three or slashing to the rim. He is young though and his offense will come, and Miller made a terrible decision against Ole Miss, make no mistake, but because of him Kentucky won the SEC tournament, they beat Princeton and went to the Final Four. He makes plays in big spots. Sure it isn't gamewinning plays but he makes crucial plays that Gilchrist is unable to make. And since we are comparing high school careers Miller led his team to the state title his senior year.

Originally Posted by HamiltonBigBlue

We've been waiting for the past 3 seasons to see Disapearius step up on a consistent basis and it has not and will not happen. He is a skilled athlete, he just has NO killer instinct or will to win. If he gets hot great, one more weapon. But I am done counting on this guy, Luckily Gillie is here and has shown 100X the natural leadership, tenacity, and grit as we have seen from Miller in his entire time in Lexington. He may be a big brother and provide an example in the lockerroom, but to say he is a leader on the court is ridiculous especially with the other monsters on the team. And all that which Cal was saying about Miller at the beginning of the season was pure propaganda. #TeamGillie. Let Darius be the sixth man, he is more than serviceable but that is it.

Also you should probably read the article on ESPN where Andy Katz interviews the players and actually asks them about Darius Miller. They all say he is the leader on this team and he plays his role well. But that requires having an educated opinion.