He rarely has a chance to balance out his shooting %. Of you go 0-1 or 0-2 and don’t get a chance to go 1-1 or 2-4, it’s going to make you look worse than you are. You guys kill me when you just look at stats to make your points. Use your eyes. What do they tell you about his skill and potential? I can also tell you that from my experience, it’s a whole different mentality when you are given the keys to the team as opposed to go in there and don’t do anything to hurt the team or you won’t play the next three games. You play differently depending on how the coach treats you.
I’m sure you’ll agree with me that this team needs to be built around Bennett Andersen. The guy is shooting 1.000 from the field, and, on a per-40 minute basis, he is averaging 80 ppg.
just cause we disagree doesn’t mean I’m looking at it incorrectly. Use my eyes? lol. You’re a trip man. I stand by my opinion and Golden agrees too. In my opinion, he’s right at the correct amount of minutes. He def deserves some, but it’s a noticeable drop off when he’s on the court. And no one has answered my question: how many minutes do you think he deserves and who gets their minutes cut if DA plays more?
I think you aren’t seeing deeper here . He showed me some crazy stuff . I will tell you this I don’t want him to leave and have to play against him . So give the kid minutes. I think he is more Val to this team than … you know who
How do you know I’m not seeing deeper? lol. Because we disagree? But you also haven’t answered my question: how many more minutes should he play and who gets their minutes cut? and why can’t you say Kugel’s name around here? Kugel is making a mark on D and he’s always capable of a big offensive outburst. I can’t recall the game but he had a big game that we would’ve lost without him. DA doesn’t have the ability to carry us on that level at this point of his career. Which is fine. All good. He’s deserving of minutes. he’s a really solid player and he’s playing very hard and aggressive. He has some likeable qualities for sure and I’m glad he’s on the team.
We've seen several extremes (offensively) of Good Riley (Loyola/Baylor/Wake) and Bad Riley (most other games). With Bad Riley having his minutes cut in half, our ceiling might be #7 in SEC, floor might be #9 and NIT. If he plays through it and becomes Good Riley, our ceiling might be #4 in SEC. IMO he can't become Good Riley if we park him. So it's a tough call.
It wasn’t too many years ago that much of the conversation was about how our bigs had terrible hands. You can’t say that anymore.
You are giving him way too much value.. we will be better cutting his minutes.. He has to hot dog every pass , every layup/ dunk .
We will see a LOT of zone this year because of two bigs capable of scoring in the post and three ball handlers capable of penetrating the paint. There will ALWAYS be a mismatch one on one. Golden has been good at figuring out which player (lately Richard and Clayton) is going to have the advantage, and that player has been given the green light. Last year opponents could deny Castleton the ball or double-team him and our low post option disappeared. So even though we got a lot of zone we could not exploit it as well because we were a horrible 3-point shooting team. With Clayton and Richard, we will be better and once Kugel's light goes on (which it will) we will be problematic for many defenses. This is a team that will only grow in confidence as it realizes its strengths as a unit and not individually. Kugel and Richard are the only starters that have played in the SEC last year. They HAVE to set the tone.
From what I've seen so far, Kugel needs to come off the bench. Maybe he needs to ease his way in the games. Aberdeen has made a more positive impact on games so far imo
No doubt Riley Kugel has gotten off to a slow start compared to how he finished the last half of last season and with the All-SEC expectations placed upon him starting this year. But as we head into the SEC schedule and, hopefully, the NCAA tournament, Kugel is going to have to be a key player for us on defense and offense if we're going to compete against and beat some of the big boys, IMO. He's the best athlete on the team with NBA skills and despite his pre-conferences lulls, I'm hoping he can figure it out and become the player he was at the end of last year. The team will be so much better when the old Riley Kugel shows up.
The Kentucky game will likely turn into a sprint quickly 'cause both teams love to run. The Katz think they can't lose in a track meet. We'll see. Kugel is still our best open-court player on offense and our best perimeter defender. To beat UK we might need 30 minutes of him playing at a high level, so it may not be in our best interest to bench him for the Quinnipiac game. He's got the athleticism to match any UK player and it might be just what the doctor ordered.
Agree. If we have ambitions of making a deep run in the tournament, it will be because RK has reminded everyone why he's pegged to be a lottery pick
