UK offers Ayodele Coker

[ukwebfan]

Wildcats look to add to front line (http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060727/SPT01/607270361/1013/SPT)

[joneagin]

Kid looks like a good project player to come in and take the place of Patterson or Hickson if they go pro early. Lets hope we get one or both of them so that Coker doesnt have to be the main guy.

[Benj66]

just what we need another project ...The Woo Man.Perry, Thomas, Shag(gone) Carter maybe we should be called UK Projects

[joneagin]

Benj66 wrote: just what we need another project ...The Woo Man.Perry, Thomas, Shag(gone) Carter maybe we should be called UK Projects

Every team has projects...its just when you miss out on your big targets, you projects become guys you have to rely on. If we get the guys we are trying to get then we dont have to worry when a project fails. And by the way, Perry, Thomas, Shag and Carter were all in the Top 150 of thier classes.

[Prince21]

Benj66 wrote: just what we need another project ...The Woo Man.Perry, Thomas, Shag(gone) Carter maybe we should be called UK Projects

Hilton Armstrong was a project for UConn, look where he is now.

[Benj66]

lets see which one of our projects has worked out---hmmm now that is a tough one to answer....Carter maybe....perhaps Perry but he is now a senior so hope he does as this is his last hurah Thomas alas he is a senior and this is his last hurrah..Woo man won't work out in 4 more years...

[jrodw8]

Lets see which of our projects have worked out, umm Gerald Fitch, Erik Daniels, Marquis Estill, Nazr Mohammed, etc.... Just because our recent so called projects haven't worked out(which I don't think you can say until they graduate or leave)doesn't mean we haven't had plentywho have.

[Benj66]

I would not call Naz or Gerald projects..yes fitch and Naz needed some work but not like the ones I have named..I mean Shag and Woo need a total and complete overall and yes you are right there are some projects that do work but by and large to me a project is a player we should not have taken in the 1st place and we work and work with them and maybe by the seniot yr. they do good enough to back up or maybe as last yr. and perhaps this yr. they wind up starting but on a typical UK team they would be only role players....

[Grub]

Benj66 wrote: I would not call Naz or Gerald projects..yes fitch and Naz needed some work but not like the ones I have named..I mean Shag and Woo need a total and complete overall and yes you are right there are some projects that do work but by and large to me a project is a player we should not have taken in the 1st place and we work and work with them and maybe by the seniot yr. they do good enough to back up or maybe as last yr. and perhaps this yr. they wind up starting but on a typical UK team they would be only role players....

Lessee...Nazr came into school at about 325 lbs and played on Pitino's JV team his freshman year.Jamaal Magloire was just about inept as a freshman (worst hands I can ever recall seeing) -now bothhave NBA contracts.I would also define both asprojects.

[RCS]

Nazr was a classic project. He played less than 30 minutes his FR year and looked bad doing it. He lost weight and really developed his game, which is what is suppose to happen. Shag just never developed, most suggest due to lack of work ethic. Woo is what he is. He is tall, takes up space and is a practice body. He probably never had much of a chance to be anything other than that.

Perry and Thomas are/were not projects, they just weren't that good. Their upside was not high enough to call them projects, more like role players. 7'3" guys are projects. 6'9" guys with pogo sticks for legs are projects. 6'6" SF with average athletic ability and a nice shooting stroke are not projects.

[NC Cat]

Benj66 wrote: just what we need another project ...The Woo Man.Perry, Thomas, Shag(gone) Carter maybe we should be called UK Projects


Or likeNazr, Marquis, and Mags. All were projects and all turned out pretty good, I'd say.And I remember people bitching and moaning about each of them on internet mesage boards, saying they weren't the kind of players UK should be going after.

Big men generally develop slower, so even ifyou recruit and sign a McD's AA big like Morrisyou still need some backup post players. And since there aren't that many good bigs in HS, you've got to take some chances. North Carolina wanted Carter, remember? So they recruit project big men too. Maybe they should be called the UNC Projects?:rolleyes:

[matt57]

mags was not a project. he was a top 50 center at least.

[boomdaddy]

Benj66 wrote: lets see which one of our projects has worked out---hmmm now that is a tough one to answer....Carter maybe....perhaps Perry but he is now a senior so hope he does as this is his last hurah Thomas alas he is a senior and this is his last hurrah..Woo man won't work out in 4 more years...

Carter is not a project. He will be a starter this season, with Moriss at the 4.

[RP_McMurphy]

"Projects" are ok and are a part of most Division 1 schools in today's college basketball world. The problem is when a majority of your team becomes "projects" then you have what Kentucky had last year. A team that was sorely lacking in talent at key postions and overall it's talent base was the lowest in 10-15 years. A team that was actually inferior in talent and executionto Vanderbilt. Folks if that doesn't ring warning bells in your mind then nothing will.

[wyldkatzky]

No one expected Geral Fitch or Chuck Hayes to be nearly as good as they were.

Now they are both competing in the NBA? Hmm

Not sure if you'd classify them as projects but still, no one expected them to be as good as they turned out, except maybe themselves.

[Benj66]

they weren't projects..projects are guys like shag. woo man carter maybe, Thomas perhaps and Perry if he doesn't continue as he did in the NCAA's guys that are starters when they otherwise would be role players or never recruited in the 1st place

[wyldkatzky]

Benj66 wrote: they weren't projects..projects are guys like shag. woo man carter maybe, Thomas perhaps and Perry if he doesn't continue as he did in the NCAA's guys that are starters when they otherwise would be role players or never recruited in the 1st place



Fitch and Hayes came off the bench and earned their role at starter.

[ukbob]

Good Lord people.....

Maybe he is a project.... NOW. Maybe he won't be by the time he comes in. Put a guy like this with Patterson, Southern and Hickson and he can take a year or 2 to develope, if it does take that long.

He is not chopped liver and many fine schools have either offered or are evaluating an offer right now. Seems like somebody thinks the kid has great potential.

And if you don't think Nazr was a project then you did not see him when he arrived.

Some work out...some do not.

[DCWildcat]

"Project" might be the most overrated term in basketball right now. Suddenly, every player not playing >7min a game as a freshman and 15min/game as a sophomore is a "project." Players play basketball for four years in college, yet their entire careers are supposedly summed up in the first two. It's silly, since minutes are zero-sum anyway.

RP was right on the mark; every team has their project players, and it's fine for UK to have them as well. When your "projects" are all you have left, well, that's a problem. Super talented youngsters or developed veterans should be their to cover for you. When your super talented youngsters aren't playing superbly, or your veterans aren't playing like they're developed...that's when you have a problem.

[UKCATZFAN]

boomdaddy wrote: Benj66 wrote: lets see which one of our projects has worked out---hmmm now that is a tough one to answer....Carter maybe....perhaps Perry but he is now a senior so hope he does as this is his last hurah Thomas alas he is a senior and this is his last hurrah..Woo man won't work out in 4 more years...

Carter is not a project. He will be a starter this season, with Moriss at the 4.
When you get a lot of projects in the front court, one of them has to start even if its by default