I get it that KenPom can be a great indicator of future success and that is what you’re talking about here (so not aimed at you), but it really drives me nuts when people treat KenPom as if a high ranking is the be all and end all. Wins are the goal.
Week of 12/16 Games & News Thread
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Without a zoom-in still shot, I'm not convinced there was any contact on the 4-pointer, foul was a result of the flop
I would love to hear what really happened. Love our team this year but man, Fears is a baller! He’s so quick and smooth offensively and a pure scorer. He gets lazy defensively but you can tell he has great instincts.
We had Boswell and KJ, no room at the Inn.
The difference between KJ and Fears is KJ has not been our closer. Fears has been a killer at the end of games all his life. I watched him beat Morez in HS. He has the killer instinct at the end of games.
Bigtex
- DFW
I was impressed how he was able to beat his man off of the dribble.
Might have touched his elbow. Goldin definitely fouled on the rebound.
Bigtex
- DFW
Plenty of room for a 3 guard lineup. I suspect the staff didn't think Fears was ready to reclassify to 2024/2025 class.
Chad Fleck
- Eureka, IL
Looked like contact on the shooting arm to me.
I never said Boswell over Jeremiah...but if we want to go there, then yes, prior to the season started, absolutely Boswell > Jeremiah. In fact, we had insiders here stating Fears was more like a top 75ish range recruit and not a day 1 star. We now know the kid is a star. Hindsight is 20/20. If we knew that, I'm sure we would have tried to keep him. But just because Fears is better than Boswell, that doesn't mean he'd be the right fit on this team. We have a bonafide star in KJ who is THE guy. Having another strong ball handler, defender & veteran leader in Boswell is a really nice compliment to KJ. Having another ball dominant freshman in the lineup wouldn't necessarily mean we'd be better off.
foby
- Bonnaroo Land
ILLINI IN NE
- Omaha,Ne.
I know there is only so much playing time and NIL to go around but I was disappointed when Fears decommitted and Dainja transferred. I think they would make us better but don't know how it would have impacted the rest of the roster.
DGL isn't even getting any tick and he is a good defender that I think could be doing similar things offensively if he got regular playing time.
Brad seems to want to play big even if that means playing worse players imo.
Brad seems to want to play big even if that means playing worse players imo.
Anyone else see the Coleman Hawkins interview last night? It's honestly just sad to watch, seems like he's going through it over there.
Any chance we can get a mid season portal trade and send Humrichous over for Coleman?
Any chance we can get a mid season portal trade and send Humrichous over for Coleman?
That is not accurate.
Fears committed on 1/22/2024, Boswell committed 4/14/2024, and KJ committed 5/28/2024
So we had Fears first and then Underwood chose to recruit over him. I'm sure there were personal issues like Fears wanted x, but this was a choice Underwood made knowing it would impact Fears.
Looking at their stats thus far:
Fears - 17.9 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 4.6 apg, 2.3 spg, 3.9 topg, 49.6/34.1/85.9
KJ - 16.1, 6.1, 5.6, 1.4, 4.0, 46.9/42.0/84.2
Boswell - 10.1, 4.1, 3.4, 0.9, 1.7, 36.0/20.2/71.4
No way to sugar coat it, Boswell's shooting has been a major disappointment. He was much better at Arizona, so hopefully that comes around. I very much wanted Boswell and KJ has been as good as Fears, but fact remains, Fears was committed 3 months before either of the others came on board.
I'd imagine Fears may have some ambition concerns, because if you questioned his talent, then I'd question your evaluation skills. It was a bit strange that he ended up at Oklahoma. But for guys that want to go straight to the NBA, getting 30 mpg and a starting role out of the gates is a big deal.
Fears was recruited for next year I believe. Did he not decide to move up to this year's class until after we had Boswell and KJ?
Bigtex
- DFW
correct. IMO...There wasn't much talk about Fears moving to 24/25 until both Boswell and KJ were verballed/signed/on campus. The Fear reclass talk seemed to start about the time Riley reclassed and verballed/signed in late June, 2024. Fears announced he was reopening his recruitment in early July 2024
it was being said by insiders that the plan was to reclassify a year before he even committed. It is not like Underwood didn't know this.
That seems to be the way of the world now. All 5 star guys will look for any way to graduate early so they can get paid early and go to the NBA early.
I mean I get it. We wanted Egor Demin, who will likely be a lottery pick next year, and then saw KJ who is playing at least as well as Fears. I'm sure Underwood thought, let's go for it all and if Fears leaves we'll be fine. Reality is, we could really use another ball handler, so if Fears had stuck around, he would get plenty of minutes.
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Would we view the Deron/Dee/Luther the same way if we judged the three from just their underclassmen stats? Boswell, KJ, and Fears could definitely play together but the chances that we can get three highly rated guards to come in together in the same season is very unlikely. We were lucky enough as is with Boswell, KJ, and Riley and the fact that they're already meshing so well in what appears to be the only season we'll get with that trio is impressive. It's almost a disservice to our team and future teams to compare what our roster could be with the 2024-25 upperclassmen guards.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Do they play defense?
The staff didn’t think he was good enough to skip his senior year. I wish they had let him come bc if you had 3 guys like that on the perimeter, it’d be really dynamic.
I think the staff somewhat chose Will Riley over Fears, bc they were fine with Riley reclassifying but not fears
I think the staff somewhat chose Will Riley over Fears, bc they were fine with Riley reclassifying but not fears
band camp
- STL City
I think Fears is a heck of a player too. But he has not seen an SEC defense yet. On the road in the south will be a true test for him and then you can start saying someone is better than the other. There's grown !!! dudes waiting for him.
KJ has faced 3 SEC teams so far, with a chance to go 2-2 while still having the same(ish) numbers as Fears.
KJ has faced 3 SEC teams so far, with a chance to go 2-2 while still having the same(ish) numbers as Fears.
Hoping an insider replies to this or at least likes it!So KJ is going to the league & Fears is transferring here, right?
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