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Today should be the day that Otega Oweh announces he will be returning to Kentucky for his senior season after leading the Wildcats in scoring last season when he was UK’s best all-around player.
The key here is should be because as of midnight Tuesday, Oweh had not taken his name out of the NBA Draft yet like Yaxel Lendeborg (Michigan), Alex Condon (Florida), Milos Uzan (Houston), Karter Knox (Arkansas), Mackenzie Mgbako (Texas A&M), PJ Haggerty (Kansas State) and others have done. They decided they likely would make more money staying in college than what they likely would make in the NBA/G League next season.
Oweh put his name into the draft to get feedback on what he needed to improve — 3-point shooting — and coach Mark Pope certainly has indicated that he expects Oweh back while fully supporting his desire to get NBA feedback.
If Oweh wants to return to UK, he has to pull out of the draft by midnight tonight.
Matt Norlander of CBS Sports gave UK fans a reason for possible concern on his “Eye on College Basketball Podcast” Tuesday.
“Otega Oweh has apparently gotten some really, really good feedback in the past four or five days. I previously thought that he was almost a guarantee to come back to Kentucky. I would still pick that he comes back to Kentucky, but apparently what he’s gotten back recently has been good on that end. So we wait and see on that,” Norlander said on his podcast.
Some outrageous figures have been thrown around as to how much money Oweh could make if he comes back to Kentucky. Still, I will be shocked if sometime today he does not announce he will be a Wildcat again next season.
16 Responses
I’ll open my cigars and rum and sacrifice a chicken to JoBu today. Also gonna wear my wife’s garter and breathe through my eyes for good luck.
Time to move on from him…next man up. Reportedly, there is more NIL here than what he would get in NBA. He is thinking SELF over TEAM. Maybe addition by subtraction.
We are so deep it doesn’t really matter if he comes back or not. We might be a better team without him. I hate when people think they are bigger than something. If he comes back cool if he leaves cool. We will still be a good team either way. If he doesn’t come back that will give Chandler and Johnson twice as many minutes. Without him I could see the starting lineup Lowe/Chandler/Mo-D/JQ/Garrison. We would actually be a better shooting team but not as great on defense. So you would be swapping defense for shooting. Chandler has pretty good defense but nothing like Oweh. You could swap in Aberdeen for Chandler or Johnson.
This is all very stupid if you think about it he’s not on any mock draft in the first(which he said had to be guaranteed) or the second round. Which clearly he’s not seeing eye to eye with the owners. They could also tell him he’s ready and mess his whole future up like so many NBA owners have done over the years. They would love nothing more than to tear college basketball apart because they have way better ratings than the NBA. I don’t see how the NBA stays in business its a terrible product. The owners have ruined the NBA by going after "talent" that never pans out. They will take a freshman because he can jump 38" but that’s about all he can do. Look at all the freshman we seen play for Cal and only a handful were really ready for the NBA. Reed Sheppard made a critical error by trading glory for money. It was a weak draft and I understand that but he barely played. He averaged 4 ppg. Sitting on the end of the bench. He traded out his Kentucky jersey for a rockets jersey that he never has to wash because he never sweats in it. If he would have came back he would have been in on every reward and he would remember his time at Kentucky forever instead he was at Kentucky for 6-7 months. A blink in the scheme of things. If he’s happy wiping his teammates sweat off the floor than he made the right decision.
Drama King is returning. I hope that turns out to be more than just a YAWN for all involved!
I don’t think he is a Drama King. Pope even encouraged him to do every workout he could and visit with as many teams as possible
Sheppard seldom got minutes, as you know and stated. The Rickets sent him to the G-League for 3 games to give him some actual game minutes and he averaged about 30 points, even lighting it up for 39 in one game. If he had been given 10-12 minutes consistently, he would have proven to be better than those who were given the big minutes.
Sheppard being benched all season in his first NBA season reminds me of Perry essentially being benched all of his 1st seqson except for 3 emergency starts (with basically no experience).
Why didn’t some billionaire offer Sheppard $4 Million a year to stay at UK? It’s a no-brainer if some NIL contributor is giving a million to any other player. Even 2 sponsors could have joined together to co-sponsor his NIL money.
The UK billionaires gave up Sheppard to the NBA. With the money he is guaranteed, he is set financially even if he gets injured and can’t play. It’s a tough choice to make at 19 years old.
That makes our team stronger but means Johnson comes off the bench now. He will get plenty of PT unless Oweh learned how to play defense without fouling.
That means 14 players on scholarship with Oweh back on the team. Who gets redshirted? My guess is it will be Potter, but we really need him as a backup to Jelavic at the 4. Dioubate is too small to play the 4. Start him at the 3 with Williams as his backup. If not Potter, the Hawthorne should redshirt. We have too many guards/wings now.
Remember good chance there will be 15 scholarships per team next season
Wow!
This comment section has turned into Negative Ninnie Windbag Anonymous.
BTW, the man is coming back. All that lack of optimism wasted.
Larry, I love your articles but a few gloomy fellers have cleared the comment room from rational debate.
I shall not return but only to see what kind of edifying and uplifting comments are made about me.
Don’t give up Crash. Just keep reading the stories and comment as you do and just don’t read some of the other. Everyone has opinions but some do go off the deep end at times
Welcome to the BBN (Big Boohoo Nation).
Oweh was 1 of 2 players with the lowest efficiency rating of the lose who played the most minutes. His poor shooting from 3, missing many layups and never sharing the ball (pathetic A:TO ratio is proof) took a toll on his actual value to the team. 2 big games vs OK but check the stats to see if he shared the ball in the double digit losses.
Oweh simply was NOT a TEAM FIRST player.
It won’t matter whether he returns or not. After 10 or so games, the leading scorers will stop sharing the ball once they have established they are starters. The terrific BB Coach Pope & his staff will probably once again produce overwhelming performances for 5 to 7 games before some begin to get selfish & then the chemistry will break down and double digit losses will once again become a very high probability.
Loyalty and unselfishness just can’t be coached, developed AND MAINTAINED with players are here just for their possible pro future with zero care for the UK on their jersey.
LB…do agree with you on that. He was nowhere to be found on few occasions and possibly a little over-hyped as well. Hopefully, we get to see his best this year.
Thanks a lot, Mike!