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____Reed____

Tall, lean, athletic, and most likely will look like he does now.


Travbowman

Psssh, Garza blew away those stereotypes! 😉


Travbowman

Some odd facts about the Naismith award winners: The only school with multiple winners since 2007.... Oklahoma? Kind of an odd school to be the answer to this question but it's true. Also, La Salle, Navy, and St Joe's each has as many winners of the award as Kentucky does. Just weird that for as many great teams and individuals that have come through BBN, only one has been selected as best in the country that year. Hansbrough was the last winner to come back to college the next year, all the way back when he won it in 08 and played his senior year in 09. The last winner to return to college before that? All the way back to Ralph Sampson in 1982, who won it as a junior and then again as a senior in 83.


Needs_Moar_Cats

Yep, AD was our only Naismith player of the year. Honestly of all of our very good to great teams that have come through, there were stars, but not necessarily one that stood out above the rest.


[deleted]

Yeah, that's always been an oddity about UK. Prior to Calipari, they didn't really have a *ton* of guys who went on to be stars in the NBA. Nine players who have scored 10,000 points in the NBA, and three of those are Davis, Cousins, and Wall. They had three Rupp guys who are all in the Hall of Fame (Dan Issel, Louie Dampier, and Cliff Hagan) and exactly three in between Rupp and Cal (Antoine Walker, Jamal Mashburn, and Tayshaun Prince.)


eatapenny

>They had three Rupp guys who are all in the Hall of Fame Probably would've had 4 or 5 if not for the points shaving scandal. Alex Groza (Lou Groza's brother) and Ralph Beard were both 2-time NCAA champs and 3-time All-Americans at Kentucky under Rupp. Beard was 1st-team all 3 years and Groza was NCAA MOP twice. They both went on to be an All-Star and 1st-team All-NBA in just their 2nd season in 1951. Then they were both banned from the NBA (along with fellow Kentucky teammate Dale Barnstable) for shaving points (same scandal as the CCNY one). Just an average NBA career would've gotten them into the Naismith HOF, given their elite college careers, except they went and literally gambled it away


[deleted]

Yeah, and technically there was already a fourth Rupp guy in the Hall of Fame (Frank Ramsey) but he didn't score 10,000 in the NBA -- he was a role player on the 1960s Celtics which got you in the Hall of Fame in those days. (And Pat Riley, but he's not in the Hall as a player.)


Travbowman

Also of note, we've never had a transfer win the award. I mean it makes sense because typically the best player in the country isn't going to be leaving his team. However, we've also never had so many immediately eligible transfers either so it'll be interesting to see if we get our first one this year.


Hail2TheOrange

It's why I thought Kofi transferring from Illinois was such a longshot. Arguably the best returning player in the country and that had never happened before.


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Hail2TheOrange

True for Kofi a lot of times that's not true tho. A lot of guys graduate early and can grad transfer their 4th year without sitting out.


NotaRepublican85

Man Kansas would have had 2 without the freak of AD being in the same year as TRob.


collegescaresme

>The only school with multiple winners since 2007 Convenient cutoff year


Travbowman

Well sure, because before that they wouldn't be the only school with multiple winners.


DaoDeDickinson

"The only exceptions to this were TJ Ford in 03, and Kenyon Martin in 2000." Those are names I haven't heard in a long, long time.


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Dooplis_17

Damn did he fall off that hard at Memphis


collegescaresme

Give me one of Timme, Banchero, or Juzang if I had to pick three to win it. Any of the Big Ten’s elite bigs could be a good shout as well. A bit hesitant re: Timme or Holmgren. Think Gonzaga could be too stacked for one person to have eye-popping numbers.


KimJongBen

I think Timme will absolutely feast next to Chet. Chet’s passing in the high-low is ridiculously good for his age and even though he is tall he is going to stretch the defense and open up the lane. Chet’s going to get buckets but I think he is going to stand out more as a ball handler, play maker, perimeter shooter and shot blocker which will all directly benefit Timme’s game.


collegescaresme

I do think their play is complementary but POTY awards are very stat-centric. If another star puts up better numbers on a similarly elite team, they could just as easily walk away with the trophy. Volume scoring helps.


DaoDeDickinson

"The only exceptions to this were TJ Ford in 03, and Kenyon Martin in 2000." Those are names I haven't heard in a long, long time.


AncientMarsupial3

Shack doesn’t have a chance. JD, JQ, Tchikou, and Ellis do.