Well, this BBM will be remembered for a couple of things. First, John Calipari's incredibly naked recruiting pitch that probably could have had North Carolina recruits decommitting to come to Kentucky if they'd heard it. The second was the remarkable basketball performance put on by this team.
There was no defense, of course, but man, these guys were knocking down 25 foot shots, doing bounced-off-backboard dunks, and dropping beautiful dimes. It doesn't mean a lot except as a display of raw basketball ability, of which there was a great deal. It will be even more interesting to watch them when people are actually guarding.
I can honestly say that I am aghast at the overall talent of this team, but a couple of guys really stood out for several reasons. I'll get into that after the jump.
Observations:
- Darius Miller and Doron Lamb look ready to shoot 43%+ from three again this year.
- Twany Beckham really impressed me with his basketball IQ and unselfishness, as well as his athleticism. He is likely to get some minutes, and I really didn't think he would.
- Marquis Teague is a much different player than his brother Jeff. Much more of a distributor.
- Terrence Jones looked fabulous, and made several right-handed plays, something we never saw once last year.
- Kyle Wiltjer is exactly what you think -- a very intelligent player and just a bit more athletic than you think.
- Anthony Davis ought to be outlawed. Nobody will be able to stop him. He runs the floor like a gazelle, handles like a guard, and finishes like a 6'10" Darrell Griffith.
- Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is a true slasher. We are going to love him, but he really needs work on his shooting form, it is ugly.
- Ryan Harrow looked pretty good. Eloy Vargas has improved a little also.
- [UPDATE] I somehow neglected to mention Stacey Poole. He looked radically improved, made at least one three and a terrific dunk in traffic. He is going to have an impact this year. His body looked like it was carved from stone.
Well, that's it. Your comments go below. Hope you enjoyed it, I know I did.