Freshman guard Rob Dillingham could be the wild card for UK next season. (UK Athletics Photo)
How good could incoming freshman guard Rob Dillingham be for Kentucky next season?
“I know he’s excited about getting on campus and playing with the guys coming in,” Yahoo/Rivals national basketball writer Krysten Peek. “There is nobody quicker than him with the ball in his hands in this recruiting class.
“If he wants to change the pace of the game he can single handedly do it,” Peek said. “He can turn the corner, draw the defense and dish or finish at the rim.
“Nobody in high school finishes at the rim better than he does. I do not know how that will translate with his size in college. I do not know how he will do against players three or four years older than him.
“His outside jump shot is really coming along. I saw him make several 3’s in competition and not just in drills. I thought that was very positive the last time I saw him.”
Peek thinks Dillingham will have a huge role in determining how successful Kentucky is next season.
“He will be the wild card next year. He will either fit in and they figure it out or there is going to be some personnel issues with who do we play,” Peek said. “But Rob is a very dynamic, explosive player.”
18 Responses
Wow! I can’t wait to have a player who can increase the pace of play from the boring 68 possessions per game of the Calipari Era.
How fast will the pace be in 2023-24?
70 possessions
72 possessions
75, dare we dream of a UNC worthy 79 possessions per game?
I can’t wait!!!!!
Go, Go, Go!
I can’t wait for Cal and the Cats to kick butt this year. It would be hypocritical to try and jump back on the train with Cal still being the engineer. Maybe the whiners will just Go, Go, Go!
I hope they kick butt for sure but got to see it to believe but fingers crossed
Kick butt is defined as:
1) Getting in the tournament?
2) Winning 1 game in the tournament?
3) Advancing to the Sweet 16?
4) Competing in the Elite 8?
5) Making the Final Foiur?
6) Still Standing on the first Monday of April at Midnight?
In my view, the gold standard program should expect to compete for trips to final fours almost every year (Elite 8), and make it to the Final Four frequently enough to have a legitimate claim to defining the way this game should be played on that stage.
So, what would a team from the Gold Standard Program achieve if it is "Kicking Butt"?
Please define what you mean by your assertion.
Finally, being a UK fan is not synonymous with being a Calipari fan.
Well…….Ky started playing basketball in 1903. If my math is right, this will be the 120th year. The Cats have went to 17 FF (Cal has 4 of those), 38 E8s (Cal has 7 of those), and of course 8 NC (Cal with 1). Also the Cats have More NCAA Tournament Wins (32) the last 14 yrs under Cal, than any other team. Cal has averaged a FF every 3.5 years, an elite 8 every other year. Now….. whining about Cal is pathetic. What have any of you done lately that was so great. Thinking you entitled to something is nonsense.
Well, you dodged the question.
But that is par for the course for people who cannot defend a position or statement.
What do you mean by this next team will "Kick Butt"?
We all know the history that had established this program as the one time gold standard. However, since that embarrassing loss to Wisconsin in 2015, this program has been in steady decline. Nice try in your attempt to shift the focus away from Calipari, but it fails. The issue is not what I have done lately, but what has Calipari done lately, because he is the fraud who swindles $10 mil/year from the coffers of the Commonwealth, and it is the fan base that pays that freight.
Maybe Jimmy’s definition of “kicking butt” takes place in June.
Cal isn’t even tops at that anymore!
See… your a "what have you done for me lately" type of person. Even the great Bear Bryant went 13 yrs between Championships and failed to win 8 straight bowl games in the process. I’d say Alabama is glad they stayed the course. The Cats will be a great team this year. A Championship at the end is not necessary for me because anything can happen.
By the way, UK pays Cal $400,000 a year, and JMI pays the remainder of his salary. It’s hilarious how Cal haters think he’s here on their dime.
You can’t be serious. Every penny that fraud pulls out of this state comes from the fan base in one form or another, and if you read my comment you would have seen that is what I said, not the University.
I expect results for $10/mil per year, don’t you? You still dodge the question. What does "kicking butt" really mean to you, that Calipari remains the coach? Well, I suppose he has been kicking butts of the UK fan base since 2010 by that measure.
What does "kicking butt" this next season mean to you? You made the asseertion, and I think the rest of us deserve to understand what you mean by that NOW rather than after the season has played out and the litany of Calipari excuses have been used and are on the table like has been the case for several seasons since 2015.
If you don’t know what "kick butt" means..GOOGLE IT! It’s pretty self explanatory. Unless you and the fans have stock in JMI Sports, your not out a dime. You can GOOGLE his contract also.
"kick butt" is a subjective term and means different things to different people. I simply want you to be specific about what it means relative to this next season’s team.
You raised it, not me. But I define that my way, and I want to know what your standards are.
But, it is clear that you either don’t have standards to match your rhetoric or you refuse to answer a very simple question.
JMI does not get it’s money from some imaginary source, but via advertising, and those sponsors are relying upon returns on their investments from none other that Big Blue fans patronizing their businesses. Since as you point out the UK only provides a marginal portion of the total compensation package means that the dependence upon the Big Blue Fans is even greater, not less as your argument suggests.
Don’t pay for the channel to watch them and don’t buy a shirt. Problem solved. This team will win most games by double digits. It won’t struggle to score. After the first ten games you will understand what "kicking @$$" means.
So, if I disagree with your coach, I cannot be a fan of the team and program and should simply turn off the broadcasts. If I were not a fan of this program, I would not care that Calipari is destroying it. Quite the contrary is true, and opposing fans tend to take your position rather than mine in hoping Mitch Barnhart keeps Calipari here for eternity.
I think I understand what good and bad basketball looks like, and I will be able to say within 8 games whether this team has what it takes. I have done that for years and have not been bashful in reporting by Thanksgiving every season whether the team is good or bad; I will do that again this November.
What about the first 10 games would demonstrate kicking butt? What are you alluding to with your statement? More rhetoric without any substance.
Undefeated in the first 10 games would be impressive if that happens, but losing 2 or 3 of the first 10 is not impressive at all, and is more in line with what your Coach has delivered under the excuse, "we’re so young"
Winning most games by 10+ points is not impressive or kicking butt given the weakness of the UK schedule year after year and the likelihood that this team may only win 22 games out of 31 during the season. If the team wins 22 and loses 9, then 11 double digit wins will happen but won’t be kicking butt. However, if the team is 28-3 with an average margin of victory of 12 ppg or higher, it would be kicking butt.
Which do you think is more likely? What record will demonstrate this team has been kicking butt?
What kind of finish in March/April is kicking butt, which is the first question I asked that you refused to answer.
😫🍼
You can’t hit the Cal Cult with facts Professor.
No title team since 2015 has had a freshman among its top 3 scorers.
Yet, we’re going to “kick butt” with a roster full of them.
We all know what happened in 2015 when Cal went up against a veteran Wisconsin team with about a quarter of the talent.
Whether I agree or disagree with the Professor, I know few UK fans any more passionate with him and he does back up his points with numbers/stats even if you don’t agree with them
As expected, unable or unwilling to say what you mean, and by logic mean what you say.