If he's not 6'10 he's missing it by a hair. I'd call him 6'9.75
He weighed on his visit at 193.
I don't know what the target weight is or whether is has been discussed yet, but Cal did tell him they were going to get him on a 4500 calorie per day diet and he would live in the weight room.
He's a bright kid, humble, and extreme work ethic.
As for small forwards, yeah, I think that's it.
Our targets are;
Gabriel (committed)
Sacha Killeya-Jones (committed)
Tai Wynyard (committed)
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Fox (we feel almost certain)
Monk (we feel we will get him)
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Bridges (MSU bound)
Bam (long shot - NC State)
Giles (long shot - Duke)
Simmons (I just don't think we want him)
Ayton (long shot to reclassify)
Bolden (long shot - best guess is 'Bama)
Alkins (I think we stopped recruiting him, sadly. NC State)
Adebayo (long shot - NC State)
My best guess at the class;
Fox
Monk
Gabriel
SKJ
Wynyard
and one of Giles, Bolden, Bam, Adebayo, or Ayton
We should return Humphries (which could be quite good in year two, I think), Matthews, Mulder, and probably Lee.
After losing Ulis, Briscoe, Murray, Poythress, and Skal
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So best guess line up for 2016/17 is;
Fox/Hawkins
Monk/Mulder
Gabriel/Matthews
Unknown recruit/Lee/Wynyard
SKJ/Humphries
I actually like this line up;
Fox
Monk
Mulder
Gabriel
SKJ
Sweet. I'm really amped about this pull. IMO - the choice he made is totally in his best interests. So I'm legitimately glad for him...
Kinda called this from get-go on the other forum I post on(after hyping up Jonathan Isaac months prior). I debunked the minutes available at Duke for him at somepoint here too..
Obviously this is off the consensus, but I have him rated higher than Jayson Tatum...
Since the commitment, I've gotten some funny backlash. (Now that he's headed to Kentucky everyone wants to call him a PF - and ask how it will work..
)
One final question on Gabriel - Is he still growing? As I'm sure you know he started HS at 6'1" and has been spurting up ever since..
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Even though Ayton dropped in my 2018 mock (Carter's the new #1),
I prefer the scenario where Ayton re-classes up, over landing Harry Giles, just because of the roster composition, plus Duke and UK would be on such an obvious collision course, it'd really add to CBB as a whole.
Utahan's just looking to watch Frank Jackson would get sucked in ...
To me this Ayton story is now whats got my attention the most, now that Gabriel's selected.
Killeya Jones, is a player, at this point, that I'd describe as a watered down version of a prospect like Skal or Giles.. He's earned that In my book. Obviously he'd have 0 problems playing next to Giles, not saying they're redundant in any sort of way.
Giles obviously brings a ton to the table, one of those things is being able to hang with players on the perimeter.. Which I'm not all that sure he'd be able to showcase at UK like WCS did playing PF..
Ayton kind of brings the stuff to the table, that could be really useful at C. Plus the rebounding would just be friggin insane. That wou;dn't be a team Coach Cal would need to scream "Grab the ****ing ball" to from the side-lines..
Ayton for a handful of reasons, could be well served re-classing up, Obviously It's a descions with millions of dollars involved, I think he might be able to get drafted higher in 2017 than 2018, despite what they say about these classes. Especially if Coach Cal is extolling his virtues during another beastly season...
Obviously - He'd kill it playing C in college next season. He's not as assertive as he could be, but in the glut of stars there would be at UK, he wouldn't need to be.. It's honestly a perfect landing spot for Ayton. Hopefully the people advising him are aware of this..
Ayton might be able to make a better run for the #1 pick in 2017 than 2018.. I seriously believe that..
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As for the future roster composition, As long as they get Fox it's too good to be true -IMO... Once you start talking about all these other top players, that I like individually, It's tough for me to not write crazy things about what I think they could do together... The team is going to be very difficult to beat, I can't stress that enough...
I think while opposing fans are rationalizing the beatdowns their teams are receiving from UK, Many will say to themselves
"[Mulder] is the lowest rated player they recruited?!.. are you kidding me?"..
As I've been saying for some time, consider me to have Mulder as highly rated as anyone.. Infact show me the person who's got him rated higher than me, and I'll put him 1 spot ahead of that.. (Which is basically how I get with some of these prospects, when I have high conviction e.g. Dennis Schroder..)
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I'm probably not the best person to ask about how all these pieces would mix.. I can't come up with a much better answer then "I wouldn't be surprised if they went undefeated,
or close to it"
