....and yes, Cardiotonic....we're talking about Skal Labissierre. His 'guardian' could ask all he wants...the fact of the matter is that Skal is already on campus with no eligibility issues in sight... pretty safe conclusion that Mr. Hamilton will have to wait for Skal to be in the NBA before he sees any 'benefit'.
Let's talk about December 26th at Rupp Arena
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Five-star Kentucky commit believes the NCAA will clear him to play
Scott Phillips
Apr 18, 2015, 9:35 AM EDT
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Kelly Kline/Under Armour
Much has been made about the eligibility of Class of 2015 Kentucky commit and five-star big man Skal Labissiere. The 2014-15 high school basketball season saw a lot of speculation about whether Labissiere, who some consider the best overall long-term prospect in the class, would be able to play college basketball after some strange happenings with his American guardian, Gerald Hamilton.
In November, there was a report from Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com that Hamilton was attempting to profit off of Labissiere including asking one local Memphis AAU coach, “How can I make money off of a basketball player?”
There were also the questions surrounding Hamilton putting Labissiere on Reach Your Dream Prep, a team created, specifically, to make sure Labissiere played his senior season and potentially made the McDonald’s All-American Game. While McDonald’s didn’t take Skal in its game, the NCAA came inquiring about all of the commotion surrounding Labissiere’s new prep school.
On Friday, Labissiere spoke out directly on the NCAA matter in a story with Kyle Tucker of the Courier-Journal.
“I’ll be able to play right away,” Labissiere said to Tucker. “The NCAA is going to clear me and I’ll be able to play right away.”
In December, Hamilton told Steve Jones of the Courier-Journal that the NCAA was indeed looking into matters with Labissiere.
“Oh, yeah, they have investigated,” Hamilton said of the NCAA. “Of course, they hear all the rumors – and that’s what they are, rumors – going out about me, and they have a right to do their job. Unfortunately, a lot of the stuff that went out about me, a lot of people don’t even know me. I don’t know how they got the information. But they’re doing their job, and we’re doing our job. We don’t have anything to hide.”
While the NCAA has yet to officially say anything on Labissiere — or clear him at Kentucky — the Haitian big man saying that he’s going to get cleared is an interesting development. Sometimes, it’s difficult to take a kid’s word in this situation, but at this point, it’s really all we have to go by.
It’ll be intriguing to see if anything comes of the alleged NCAA investigation into Hamilton and Labissiere. Either way, Kentucky needs its new five-star big man in a major way next season after losing seven players to the 2015 NBA Draft.
While many consider the race for the No. 1 spot in the 2015 class to be between LSU commit Ben Simmons and Georgia native Jaylen Brown, Labissiere is generating a lot of long-term buzz after his week at the Jordan Brand Classic. Draft Express currently rates Labissiere as the No. 1 pick in its 2016 NBA mock draft.
Scott Phillips
Apr 18, 2015, 9:35 AM EDT
12 Comments
Much has been made about the eligibility of Class of 2015 Kentucky commit and five-star big man Skal Labissiere. The 2014-15 high school basketball season saw a lot of speculation about whether Labissiere, who some consider the best overall long-term prospect in the class, would be able to play college basketball after some strange happenings with his American guardian, Gerald Hamilton.
In November, there was a report from Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com that Hamilton was attempting to profit off of Labissiere including asking one local Memphis AAU coach, “How can I make money off of a basketball player?”
There were also the questions surrounding Hamilton putting Labissiere on Reach Your Dream Prep, a team created, specifically, to make sure Labissiere played his senior season and potentially made the McDonald’s All-American Game. While McDonald’s didn’t take Skal in its game, the NCAA came inquiring about all of the commotion surrounding Labissiere’s new prep school.
On Friday, Labissiere spoke out directly on the NCAA matter in a story with Kyle Tucker of the Courier-Journal.
“I’ll be able to play right away,” Labissiere said to Tucker. “The NCAA is going to clear me and I’ll be able to play right away.”
In December, Hamilton told Steve Jones of the Courier-Journal that the NCAA was indeed looking into matters with Labissiere.
“Oh, yeah, they have investigated,” Hamilton said of the NCAA. “Of course, they hear all the rumors – and that’s what they are, rumors – going out about me, and they have a right to do their job. Unfortunately, a lot of the stuff that went out about me, a lot of people don’t even know me. I don’t know how they got the information. But they’re doing their job, and we’re doing our job. We don’t have anything to hide.”
While the NCAA has yet to officially say anything on Labissiere — or clear him at Kentucky — the Haitian big man saying that he’s going to get cleared is an interesting development. Sometimes, it’s difficult to take a kid’s word in this situation, but at this point, it’s really all we have to go by.
It’ll be intriguing to see if anything comes of the alleged NCAA investigation into Hamilton and Labissiere. Either way, Kentucky needs its new five-star big man in a major way next season after losing seven players to the 2015 NBA Draft.
While many consider the race for the No. 1 spot in the 2015 class to be between LSU commit Ben Simmons and Georgia native Jaylen Brown, Labissiere is generating a lot of long-term buzz after his week at the Jordan Brand Classic. Draft Express currently rates Labissiere as the No. 1 pick in its 2016 NBA mock draft.
He did it efficiently .
Maybe you should look up what the word "efficiently" means !
Typical ( JC for 3) clueless blue hole, pathetic !
http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/drexel/2015-schedule.html
Drexel was 11-19.....with only 1 other player on the roster averaging double figures. He shot the ball 388 times......
Drexel was 11-19.....with only 1 other player on the roster averaging double figures. He shot the ball 388 times......
Shooting 49% for his career, 37% on 3 pointers, and 84% on FTs. Thanks for the link.
I'm just going on the assumption that Division I is a higher level of competition than high school. So, he will have a smaller adjustment to make than college freshman.
If anything, the fact his team averaged 60 per game and he still finished in the top 5 in scoring makes him even more impressive. No one scored a higher % of his team's points than Damion Lee last year, and he did it with an offensive rating of 118.
How about a question to see just how far apart we are here. What player on an NCAA tourney team would you compare Damion Lee to? Are you thinking he's the next Derrick Willis?
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I want to know what type of player you think Damion Lee is, and who you would compare him to based on size, stats, level of competition, etc.
If I told you Damion Lee (Sr) is a better recruit than James Young (Fr), would you call me crazy? If so, based on what?
It's true, I could have scored as much as he did if I played for Drexel (I concede, I really couldn't, the kid is good), but that number is very skewed based on how much he had to do, apparently being the only good player on the team. My biggest compliment to him may be that, of the 11 wins that they had, he's probably responsible for 8-9 of them.
All that said, being that caliber of scorer is very different at that level than the level you would see at UK, Duke, Kansas, UNC, UofL, Michigan State, so on and so forth.
If I'm picking right now between Damion Lee, and Providence's LeDontae Henton, I'm taking Henton, but you'll notice that despite Henton being the leading scorer in the country last season (if memory serves), and playing in a fairly good conference in the Big East, as soon as he went up against UK (which had, and still has elite defenders), he got shut down.
He'll be good, but he's walking into a completely different role now. How will he deal with not being "the guy"? How does he avoid putting up too many shots while putting up enough to be a big threat to elite teams, and and how does he set up his teammates? Overall, I think the kid will do fine at UofL, but he's not going to be top 5 in the country in scoring again. Minutes may go down (or way down depending on how well he defends), his role changes as a teammate, he's playing against much better competition, etc.
High school isn't all that impressive, it's the D1 AAU circuit that the elite recruits play on that is impressive. Not at all uncommon for some of those teams to have 3-4 high level recruits coming into college on that team alone, with the entire team having scholarship offers. Just as an example, if I had to pick between Team Loaded (an AAU team) or Drexel (a college team) w/ Damion Lee, I'm betting that Team Loaded absolutely hammers Drexel.
If I'm comparing him right now, I'm gonna say Wayne Blackshear production. Mostly because of his role for the team. I'll give Lee the edge over Blackshear in scoring (maybe 14 ppg), but defensively, Blackshear will likely have been the better between the two for you all.
I'm not even sure if Derrick Willis will be Derrick Willis. Won't be Steph Curry though.
All that said, being that caliber of scorer is very different at that level than the level you would see at UK, Duke, Kansas, UNC, UofL, Michigan State, so on and so forth.
If I'm picking right now between Damion Lee, and Providence's LeDontae Henton, I'm taking Henton, but you'll notice that despite Henton being the leading scorer in the country last season (if memory serves), and playing in a fairly good conference in the Big East, as soon as he went up against UK (which had, and still has elite defenders), he got shut down.
He'll be good, but he's walking into a completely different role now. How will he deal with not being "the guy"? How does he avoid putting up too many shots while putting up enough to be a big threat to elite teams, and and how does he set up his teammates? Overall, I think the kid will do fine at UofL, but he's not going to be top 5 in the country in scoring again. Minutes may go down (or way down depending on how well he defends), his role changes as a teammate, he's playing against much better competition, etc.
High school isn't all that impressive, it's the D1 AAU circuit that the elite recruits play on that is impressive. Not at all uncommon for some of those teams to have 3-4 high level recruits coming into college on that team alone, with the entire team having scholarship offers. Just as an example, if I had to pick between Team Loaded (an AAU team) or Drexel (a college team) w/ Damion Lee, I'm betting that Team Loaded absolutely hammers Drexel.
If I'm comparing him right now, I'm gonna say Wayne Blackshear production. Mostly because of his role for the team. I'll give Lee the edge over Blackshear in scoring (maybe 14 ppg), but defensively, Blackshear will likely have been the better between the two for you all.
I'm not even sure if Derrick Willis will be Derrick Willis. Won't be Steph Curry though.
Yeah, and Cauley-Stein and Towns ain't walkin' thru that door.
"Elite program", my a$$...
But Poythress and Marcus Lee are. For all of the flak that many here, and even some on RR gave Cauley-Stein, he was developed into an All-American, and the premier defender in college basketball while being pretty unheralded coming out of high school.
I'm not sure what kid has his hand out that's on our team, but I'll ignore that comment as it has no substance, nor is it relevant to the conversation.
Alex Poythress is more than capable of playing the 4, and serving as a rim protector. You realize that before his injury last season, he was holding his man to 12.8% FG%, correct? Had he not been injured, he would be my heavy pick for defensive player of the year last season, over WCS. When you have a PF that can defend all 5 positions on the court on the perimeter, and defend well in the post (and he does block quite a few shots, always has, attribute his athleticism for that), plus Marcus Lee being available, well, rim protection from the 4 isn't an issue.
As for the 5 position, Skal is probably the 2nd most heralded shot blocker in the class (Diallo being a superior shot blocker). Even then, on the all-star circuit, Skal had more blocks than Diallo. Wasn't uncommon to see him getting 4 and 5 blocked shots in those games. To say that he isn't a good rim protector is incredibly silly.
Also, FWIW, Matthews and Mulder are both incredibly athletic players at the 3 position, and have apparently blocked quite a few shots in the half-court, as well as transition. Matthews more-so though. Matthews is easily the superior defender between the two.
Also, referring back to your "Cauley-Stein and Towns ain't walkin' thru that door." comment, it seems that this comes up every year. Last year, UK was supposed to be inferior because Julius Randle left. That's the thing with recruits that are in the top 2, 3, sometimes 5 and 6. They're typically good enough to go to the NBA right then. Towns definitely needed to learn how to be physical in the post, and he did. Now he's seeing the benefits from that. Skal isn't the #1 recruit and #1 projected pick in the draft for no reason. It's because he's an exceptional basketball player today with a ton of potential to turn into an even more exceptional basketball player down the road.
Based off of basketball skill, as well as veteran leadership (which is huge), I'm gonna roll with Damion Lee. Based on bias and my love for all things UK basketball, James Young.
Obviously the only applicable thing here is basketball skill and veteran leadership though.
That said, who would you take Damion Lee, or Anthony Davis?
Skal is compared (by scouts, NBA scouts mostly, as well as mock draft service scouts, and recruiting scouts) to Anthony Davis, in terms of athleticism, basketball IQ, natural ability, and skill on both offense and defense.
There are a few minor differences in their size. Anthony Davis was 6'10 with a 7'5 wingspan. Skal is 7'0 with a 7'2 wingspan. Both are ~220# at the same point, and both have 9'0.5" standing reach.
Will he be the next Anthony Davis? I don't know. AD had what was likely the best freshman season of any player to ever play the college game, winning every possible award.
All I know is that Skal has the ability to have that kind of season. If you've seen his games, you would likely agree. I wouldn't trade Skal for any other recruit in this class, including Ben Simmons, and I genuinely mean that. You won't find many who are as adamant as me that Ben Simmons will be a superstar in college as well, but I'm still picking Skal. I think those 2 will be 2 of the very best in college basketball next season.
Obviously the only applicable thing here is basketball skill and veteran leadership though.
That said, who would you take Damion Lee, or Anthony Davis?
Skal is compared (by scouts, NBA scouts mostly, as well as mock draft service scouts, and recruiting scouts) to Anthony Davis, in terms of athleticism, basketball IQ, natural ability, and skill on both offense and defense.
There are a few minor differences in their size. Anthony Davis was 6'10 with a 7'5 wingspan. Skal is 7'0 with a 7'2 wingspan. Both are ~220# at the same point, and both have 9'0.5" standing reach.
Will he be the next Anthony Davis? I don't know. AD had what was likely the best freshman season of any player to ever play the college game, winning every possible award.
All I know is that Skal has the ability to have that kind of season. If you've seen his games, you would likely agree. I wouldn't trade Skal for any other recruit in this class, including Ben Simmons, and I genuinely mean that. You won't find many who are as adamant as me that Ben Simmons will be a superstar in college as well, but I'm still picking Skal. I think those 2 will be 2 of the very best in college basketball next season.
Willie Trill Cauley-Stein was a 4 star recruit and ranked 40th in his class. It's not like he was some scrub player out of HS. He had something coming out of HS a lot of kids don't have. He was (and still is) 7 foot tall. BTW, shouldn't you be calling him Willie Trill Cauley-Stein now? Willie Trill Cauley-Stein is his name. He legally changed it just like Bruce Jenner changed his name to Caitlyn Jenner.
Middle name is "Trill". Unless you call people by their full name, then I don't see why you would call him Willie Trill Cauley-Stein.
But according to many here, he was quite the scrub. If you deny that, you're lying to yourself, and everybody else. He didn't come into college nearly as good as he left college. Not even in the same stratosphere.
I agree he left college a better player. He's a terrific player. I don't see how a top 40 player in a very strong class is ever considered a scrub player, but if you say he was then I guess he was. I never thought of him as a scrub player though. I thought he was raw offensively. I thought (and still think) his defensive abilities are way ahead of his offensive abilities. That's not a bad thing. He can guard every position on the floor. That makes him a valuable asset at the next level.
Agreed on a couple of points. It may not be you saying it as much as many others here saying it, but many here did in fact say on several ocassions that WCS was simply not a good player. He was very raw offensively, and defensively, he didn't have the ability to really defend the perimeter coming in. All of that improved dramatically. He's a much more intelligent defender, he has quite the jumpshot if you haven't seen it (to the point that it surprised me. Apparently he's been drilling 3's in his workouts).
I don't know how strong that class was, I've been more impressed with many other classes, but maybe it's just me. I really don't know.
All besides the point though. How many here truly believe that Damion Lee is going to be a better player than Skal Labissiere next season?
I don't see anyone arguing Lee over Skal (see edit). I also don't see any UK fan acknowledging that Lee is a great pickup for UofL - until you just did.
"Trill" suffers from Peyton Siva-itis. To opposing fans, he's trash when he's there - but when he's gone, the team will be trash without him.
edit: leave it up to Cardio
"Trill" suffers from Peyton Siva-itis. To opposing fans, he's trash when he's there - but when he's gone, the team will be trash without him.
edit: leave it up to Cardio
The only thing I know for sure is one will be in college with a degree, and the other may or may not BE in college. TBD.
Poythress and Lee are still at LPT after several years because they've grossly disappointed as OADs and couldn't get enough playing time as a result. The only reason they'll get PT this year is because the rest of the LPT team is sub-par. That's a significant drop-off from your inside guys last year, and I can't imagine why a guy like Damion Lee would be too concerned.
The reference was to your incoming freshman center assuming he's eligible. I guess it will come down to whether he got anything in his hand.
Not that it will matter, but I'm curious as hell to see your stats for that. So let's see 'em...
LOL! These two guys are a little short of 1st team All Americans. They're not spending their 3rd and 4th years at One-and-Done University because they just like school.
The handout kid is focused on his offense, and I wouldn't look for that to change playing a few months for LPT. Dragging the M&M kids into the argument is a bad joke. Matthews was the 48th rated kid in the 2015 class per Rivals, one spot behind Deng Adel. You see any U of L fans here talking about Adel's major contributions this coming year? And Mulder was recruited over by U of L this past Spring.
How desperate are you guys?
"Elite program", my a$$...
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Your snarky comments are getting old, and the emotional blindfold regarding all things UK isn't a good look - in my book.
Not sure if there's a better way to describe Zipp's outlook on anything involving UK.
I'll give him this much though, he isn't exactly Harvey Updyke jr. yet.
There mods, I said something nice. Give me Rivals points.
Thanks for the feedback, Rye.
And to reciprocate, I'm not too interested whether you hold in esteem two-faced LPT posters. You have my consent to keep those comments to yourself.
"Elite program", my a$$...
And I'll give 'vic some props... It takes more balls than I've got to edit a moderators' warning.
I guess in a way, suicide also takes courage. (And a little stupidity.)
"Elite program", my a$$...
"Good UK poster" is a very relative phrase. If you don't like them - stop baiting them to our forum.
And giving them undue adulation discourages it? Curious way to look at things.
"Elite program", my a$$...
Posters like Rhavicc and JC don't bother me, which is why I'm fine engaging them in discussion. I don't agree with their opinions, but that's much different than the countless UK fans who come here to trash UofL because half our threads are trashing UK.
Wouldn't say the two go hand-in-hand, but fair enough.
Oh, I'm not two-faced lol. I'll openly tell you that I don't appreciate your narrow-minded views, and sheer ignorance, but to each his own. You reserve those rights.
I own up to the things I say, and boy, have I said a lot.
What I mean by "two-faced" is bad a$$ on your home board, nice guy on here.
'vic, you're not as bad a$$ as many I read, but that simply makes it the issue of how two-faced you are. Kinda like pregnancy, are there really degrees of that?
As evidence for both you and Rye, why are you here now? Answer: because your board ban was lifted a month ago. Which means you were banned previously. Which means you violated some kinda board policy. Which means you didn't or couldn't behave. Which means the "other face" must have revealed itself.
[Rye, the mention of "JC" is REALLY a bad joke. That guy has been banned multiple times and changed his moniker way back from I-can't-recall to escape a ban. If that guy is included in your "don't bother me" group, your standards for LPT posters are much lower than the rest of ours, and I'm glad you don't moderate the forum...]
Now, I'm not an advocate of banning any but the most ridiculous LPT posters. I've never asked for or suggested that someone be banned. I view that as asking your Dad to go next door and beat up the kid that beat you up. But I'm certainly not above inciting behavior that gets an LPT poster banned, and the mods know that and give LPT posters engaging me a little more rope. (Note 'vic's "sheer ignorance" remark above which violates this forum's personal attack policy...) That's a reasonable tact for a moderator.
Just know that when you post here, in my opinion, you're responsible for whatever you have posted here and elsewhere. Some may excuse "two-faced" behavior--I choose not to. And I will drag in evidence to make my points. If you're a humble, polite LPT poster with a few IQ points and little or no track record, you'll find that I mostly leave you alone. At least for starters. My experience is that not many of those lifeforms exist.
"Elite program", my a$$...
'vic, you're not as bad a$$ as many I read, but that simply makes it the issue of how two-faced you are. Kinda like pregnancy, are there really degrees of that?
As evidence for both you and Rye, why are you here now? Answer: because your board ban was lifted a month ago. Which means you were banned previously. Which means you violated some kinda board policy. Which means you didn't or couldn't behave. Which means the "other face" must have revealed itself.
[Rye, the mention of "JC" is REALLY a bad joke. That guy has been banned multiple times and changed his moniker way back from I-can't-recall to escape a ban. If that guy is included in your "don't bother me" group, your standards for LPT posters are much lower than the rest of ours, and I'm glad you don't moderate the forum...]
Now, I'm not an advocate of banning any but the most ridiculous LPT posters. I've never asked for or suggested that someone be banned. I view that as asking your Dad to go next door and beat up the kid that beat you up. But I'm certainly not above inciting behavior that gets an LPT poster banned, and the mods know that and give LPT posters engaging me a little more rope. (Note 'vic's "sheer ignorance" remark above which violates this forum's personal attack policy...) That's a reasonable tact for a moderator.
Just know that when you post here, in my opinion, you're responsible for whatever you have posted here and elsewhere. Some may excuse "two-faced" behavior--I choose not to. And I will drag in evidence to make my points. If you're a humble, polite LPT poster with a few IQ points and little or no track record, you'll find that I mostly leave you alone. At least for starters. My experience is that not many of those lifeforms exist.
"Elite program", my a$$...
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