Darius Miller Question

[Terry L. Wildcat]

Since we are losing a bunch of points when Joe and Ramel graduate can Darius help us with this gap as a freshman?

[blue35]

BCG said on his radio show that he went and watched Darius play and he could very well make up the 17 points a game we will be losing in Bradley & Crawford. I hope he is right...

[teamchemistry09]

What about the other 10 or so points? Bradley is averaging 17 himself and Im sure Joe is averaging around 12 or 13. What about the rest? I know Miller wont come in an average 30 a game. Itd be nice but I dont think itll happen

[freethrow]

BCG said on his radio show that he went and watched Darius play and he could very well make up the 17 points a game we will be losing in Bradley & Crawford. I hope he is right...

Miller looked great in the game he saw. I think he had like 29 points and 15 rebounds and shot well from the field.

[freethrow]

What about the other 10 or so points? Bradley is averaging 17 himself and Im sure Joe is averaging around 12 or 13. What about the rest? I know Miller wont come in an average 30 a game. Itd be nice but I dont think itll happen

Don't forget that Meeks will be back to full strength. Legion is coming in and he plays on a team that has 6 or 7 players averaging double figures. I am not worried a bit.

[teamchemistry09]

Don't forget that Meeks will be back to full strength. Legion is coming in and he plays on a team that has 6 or 7 players averaging double figures. I am not worried a bit.

Legion is coming in or Liggins?

[matt colvin]

Legion is coming in or Liggins?

Liggins.....

[wildcatcrazy]

Having seen Darius play pretty much every game for years, he will be of instant help on both ends but he also has tremendous upside. Lets not put too much pressure on any freshman.

[Rockober]

I saw Miller play and I believe he will contribute on both ends of the floor. I wouldn't be surprised to see him average 5 or 6 points a game next year.

[RCS]

I saw Miller play and I believe he will contribute on both ends of the floor. I wouldn't be surprised to see him average 5 or 6 points a game next year.
I would be. I think he will average more than that. He is not a prolific scorer, but I think he will be close to 10 than 5.

[DCCatFan]

I saw Miller play and I believe he will contribute on both ends of the floor. I wouldn't be surprised to see him average 5 or 6 points a game next year.


I hope it's more than that -- otherwise we are going to have a lot of trouble scoring the ball. Losing Joe and Ramel is 35 points. Jodie needs to step up and be a 15/game scorer (which he can do if healthy). And if Patterson stays hopefully he can increase his already phenomenal scoring. After that things get a bit sketchy. Hence Coach's comments about needing another scoring wing I guess...

[grillman]

I think that some of the scoring will be picked up by stephenson 12 a game and I look for harris to average 8 a game . The scoring for next year will be more of team effort with 6 to 8 players scoring consistently every game instead of 4 players this year .

[freethrow]

Legion is coming in or Liggins?

Liggins. :)

[sardiscat]

"I hope it's more than that -- otherwise we are going to have a lot of trouble scoring the ball."

We aren't going to have any problems scoring the ball. We'll just give the ballboys some diamond fingernail files and tell them to get to work without letting anybody see what they're doing. As for scoring points, though, a healthy Meeks and continued development from everybody else will be the keys. UK is a very, very young team this year. Next year the learning curve will be farther along.

[ukbob]

The 2 guys coming in will definitely not make up 34 points per game, IMO. That is a problem. And we still don't know if Liggins will qualify.

Meeks can take up some of the slack. I just don't see Jasper ever scoring a lot.

Miller will be a great player here, IMO. But we need scoring desparately and players that can score when the play breaks down.

Hopson would help a lot. A good, quick PG that can penetrate the lane is necessary to feed scorers and create shots. Players do that to us constantly. That is what concerns me the most.

[Blue Heaven]

The 2 guys coming in will definitely not make up 34 points per game, IMO. That is a problem. And we still don't know if Liggins will qualify.

Meeks can take up some of the slack. I just don't see Jasper ever scoring a lot.

Miller will be a great player here, IMO. But we need scoring desparately and players that can score when the play breaks down.

Hopson would help a lot. A good, quick PG that can penetrate the lane is necessary to feed scorers and create shots. Players do that to us constantly. That is what concerns me the most.
Bob, I love anybody who plays for the Cats, but those guys you speak of, will start coming in starting next year. And the types of players we've been seeing, will be a thing of the past.

[cosmonaut]

The 2 guys coming in will definitely not make up 34 points per game, IMO. That is a problem. And we still don't know if Liggins will qualify.

Meeks can take up some of the slack. I just don't see Jasper ever scoring a lot.

Miller will be a great player here, IMO. But we need scoring desparately and players that can score when the play breaks down.

Hopson would help a lot. A good, quick PG that can penetrate the lane is necessary to feed scorers and create shots. Players do that to us constantly. That is what concerns me the most.

I agree with most of this but I think Jasper really could be a scoring threat if he would learn to be a little more selfish sometimes. He has shown that he really improved his shot, and with his knee (hopefully) getting better he will definitely be able to drive to the basket. I guess we will have to wait and see...

[cnice11]

I agree with most of this but I think Jasper really could be a scoring threat if he would learn to be a little more selfish sometimes. He has shown that he really improved his shot, and with his knee (hopefully) getting better he will definitely be able to drive to the basket. I guess we will have to wait and see...

I agree with you cosmo. Jasper has always had a good form on his jumper, and this year has been shooting a lot better. I think he could become a very effective 3 next year. I think Meeks will step right in at the 2, so, if Liggins can step in and score about 10 a game, Patterson will be improved from a good to a great player and I think average about 20 next year. I think Stevenson will be a scorer in the teens, about 14 or 15. If Jasper gets the pass first notion out of his mind I think he could average about 15. If we can just get 1 more player to step in next year and be effective we will be OK. I am just throwing this out there- the player to step up next year might be Jared Carter. If this happens, and I know its a BIG if our team could be very good. I just think our problems this year has been the players not accepting change quick enough and obviously injuries.

[reggis]

Freshmen will not replace Joe and Ramal on scoring, defense or rebounds.

[Rockober]

I think Miller is capable of scoring 10 points a game but I am not expecting it. 5 to 6 points may be a little low-but I think double digits may be expecting a little too much as well. I hope I am wrong and he averages 15 points or more a game next year.

[Mark Blueblood]

Freshmen will not replace Joe and Ramal on scoring, defense or rebounds.

I agree. I guarantee you Liggins and Miller are not more highly rated than Bradley and Crawford coming in. Freshman are always a crap shoot. Knowing the system will help next year's team and because of that I think we may be better. At least a little better. (Hey - I'm a fan - I'm hoping a LOT better)

But....unless we find a quality point guard and a big ugly...talent wise I think we hold serve.

[Tom Blevins]

Darius Miller will help some next year, but the best hopes of next year's team being better that this one are, 1. Everybody is healthy. 2. Improvement of present players. If Meeks is healthy and jasper continues to work on his shot. and Stewart adjusts to the college game as much as he should, than I think we see a much better team next year. We should average more points as a team, and the margin of victory average should go up. Best of all, our won-loss percentage should improve.

[Blue Heaven]

We'll be a better defensive team and we'll definitely be better at running the fast break. Fast breaks points have been hard to come by this year.

[jdeasy]

I agree. I guarantee you Liggins and Miller are not more highly rated than Bradley and Crawford coming in. Freshman are always a crap shoot. Knowing the system will help next year's team and because of that I think we may be better. At least a little better. (Hey - I'm a fan - I'm hoping a LOT better)

But....unless we find a quality point guard and a big ugly...talent wise I think we hold serve.


I haven't seen Miller play, but, I've seen Hopson play many times and he could step in and play for UK right now. I say that because many people say that Miller is just as good as Hopson. Some even say he's better.

We will have a point guard next year. It will be a freshman, but, that's still better than not having one at all like our current situation.

As someone else posted, we will get many more open court baskets next year. We get very few of those now.

[Will Lavender]

As someone else posted, we will get many more open court baskets next year. We get very few of those now.

Yeah, that's been a huge thing at UK for a long time. It's one reason why we never could get out in a passing lane (and still can't; have you ever seen a premiere team that gets so few break-away jams?). I never thought Tubby recruited enough raw athletes, and I've said for years that athletes win basketball games.

[jdeasy]

Yeah, that's been a huge thing at UK for a long time. It's one reason why we never could get out in a passing lane (and still can't; have you ever seen a premiere team that gets so few break-away jams?). I never thought Tubby recruited enough raw athletes, and I've said for years that athletes win basketball games.

No, you won't see a team be premier team if they don't get easy baskets regularly. That's one of the reasons we are not at that level.

Most upper level college teams play each other pretty even for most of the game. Especially when they are just trading baskets in the half court. The great teams go on 20-4, 15-2, etc. runs a couple of times a game to separate themselves from the pack. Those runs are almost always fueled by turnovers and runouts.

Our guys have to work so hard for every basket. No wonder they look so worn out after every single game.

[leroybyrd]

Yeah, that's been a huge thing at UK for a long time. It's one reason why we never could get out in a passing lane (and still can't; have you ever seen a premiere team that gets so few break-away jams?). I never thought Tubby recruited enough raw athletes, and I've said for years that athletes win basketball games.


The ball-line D that Tubby preached really doesn't let players get in passing lanes on the perimeter, in fact many of those are the so-called non-productive passes that you allow in that philosophy. I may be a bit fuzzy on that, but I think that is generally correct.

[dwarfdorin]

I think we will spread the scoring out next year and have more contributors, which will make up for the loss of RB and JC. I think the players we are bringing in add more athleticism and defense which will be plusses. Believe 2Pat will go for about 20/10, Stevenson 12/7, Meeks 20/5, Jasper 8/5, Miller 8/5, Liggins 6/6/5, Harris 10/5. Seven decent threats instead of three, maybe that's optomistic but I think that will pan out. If we land Hopson then things look even better cause I think he will be an offensive threat.

:widcat::widcat: Go CATS!!!

[The Black Watch]

I agree. I guarantee you Liggins and Miller are not more highly rated than Bradley and Crawford coming in. Freshman are always a crap shoot. Knowing the system will help next year's team and because of that I think we may be better. At least a little better. (Hey - I'm a fan - I'm hoping a LOT better)

But....unless we find a quality point guard and a big ugly...talent wise I think we hold serve.

Actually, when you average the rank of both kids in both classes, Miller and Liggins are more highly rated. Joe was rated as the 10th player, I believe, and Ramel was rated somewhere in the 90's. Liggins is rated as the 21st palyer, and Miller is 45th. These were overall rankings, by Rivals, for each class. Some other sites have Miller as the 25-30th player. What most people forget is that Ramel wasn't really that highly rated out of high school. Some people actually argue that he was a McDonalds All American. Which he wasn't. He was top 100, yes, but not top 50. Again, this is averaging the rank of both kids in both classes, with the lowest value being the highest-rated. The Miller/Liggins class average is 33. The Bradley/Crawford class is 50. This is just one way of looking at it, and may not make sense to some. There are many ways to look at it.

[Wildcat97]

I think we will spread the scoring out next year and have more contributors, which will make up for the loss of RB and JC. I think the players we are bringing in add more athleticism and defense which will be plusses. Believe 2Pat will go for about 20/10, Stevenson 12/7, Meeks 20/5, Jasper 8/5, Miller 8/5, Liggins 6/6/5, Harris 10/5. Seven decent threats instead of three, maybe that's optomistic but I think that will pan out. If we land Hopson then things look even better cause I think he will be an offensive threat.

:widcat::widcat: Go CATS!!!

You have those 7 at 84 PPG average...a pretty big jump...too much IMO.
PP-ok
PS-8
DJ-7
JM-15-17
Miller, Liggins...not enough knowledge to argue, but quite possible if in enough.
RH-6-8 imo for now...he shows solid D skills quite often & O talents, but I want to see more aggresiveness before I can agree.

But you are as likely to be right...just depends how it falls out...and then there is Hopson...???

But I hope you are right!!

[bigbaloo]

This is why we need Scotty Hopson! 37 points last night! Personally, he looks like the real deal and could average 12-15 points a game as a fresh wherever he goes.

[lighthouse]

I agree the freshmen will contribute, but they are freshmen. Some of the veterans will need to step up and contribute. Maybe Stewart?

[Terry L. Wildcat]

I agree the freshmen will contribute, but they are freshmen. Some of the veterans will need to step up and contribute. Maybe Stewart?

I'm hoping Jared Carter has a good summer and develops as this is IMHO our best hope for big man help next year (I understand a number of my Nations friends feel otherwise about Jared but please don't turn my post into one about Jared...thanks.)