This topic contains 23 replies, has 17 voices, and was last updated by 
kobyz 14 years, 8 months ago.
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- Posted on: Thu, 10/27/2011 - 7:03am #33554
mikeyvthedonParticipantHis star forward scored 52 points and only missed seven shots all night, but Kentucky coach John Calipari knew what he saw in the Wildcats’ Blue-White scrimmage Wednesday evening:
“I can tell you, it wasn’t great defense.”
Kentucky’s Terrence Jones, a 6-9, 250-pound forward, averaged 15.7 points and 8.8 rebounds last season. (AP Photo)The Blue team, led by Terrence Jones and his 52-point outburst, shot 55.9 percent from the floor in its 126-104 victory. The White team shot 46.3 percent and got 27 points each from freshman forwards Kyle Wiltjer and Anthony Davis.
Jones was 24-of-31 from the floor and grabbed 16 rebounds. He attempted four 3-pointers and made two.
“He changed his habits, he changed his body conditioning‑wise, he changed his skill set, and he changed his approach towards practicing and conditioning—that’s why you see the change,” Calipari said. “It’s not like, ‘I’m going to do the same thing and I’m going to be a different player.’ You’re not, you’re going to be the same player.
“He and I just talked in my office. I said, ‘I told you when you came back, if you’re coming back, you’re going to be the best player, top three in the country, or don’t come back.’ ”
When Calipari assesses his team’s potential, he knows the Wildcats have the ability to become a great defensive team. But with four freshmen in the rotation and less than two weeks of serious practice completed, he recognizes the progress that needs to be made.
“Everybody’s excited because you saw a lot of high‑flying dunking, blocking, tipping. That doesn’t win, though,” Calipari said. “I mean, we’ve got to play basketball. We’ve got to be a great team. We’re not right now. We’re not a very good defensive team.”
One thing that pleased Calipari was the number of assists the Wildcats accumulated in ringing up so many buckets. Freshman point guard Marquis Teague delivered eight assists and classmate Mike Kidd-Gilchrist had seven.
“I like the team. But we got a lot of work to do,” Calipari said. “If anybody saw that and didn’t say, ‘He better start coaching,’ then you’re truly a football player watching basketball or a volleyball player watching basketball. But if you know basketball, which we have four million people in this state that are experts in basketball, you had to say, ‘Wow, he’s got a ways to go with this team. But, wow, they’re athletic, long, fast, whoa.’”
– Mike Decourcy, Sporting News.com
Just found this while surfing around. He seems to be the forgotten man on a Kentucky team that has 4 players currently ranked before him on the Mock Draft, but this guy had a fantastic freshman season. It is true that he cooled off a bit as the season progressed, and that he still definitely had things to work on as far as his defense and shot selection were concerned, but he is still an incredibly skilled combo forward who checks in at a buff 6’9/250. Now, again, you can only get so much from a scrimmage like this, and I am guessing their was very little structure or defense, but I am glad to hear that Jones seems to have really worked on his game.
I am sure they will have some issues against post players, but they have a lot of speed and versatility. It will be interesting to see how they develop defensively, but I think they have tremendous upside as far as that is concerned. I know that people see Calipari as more of a recruiter than a coach, but I was incredibly impressed with Kentucky going to the Final Four last season. Remember, they had to beat #1 seed Ohio State and #2 seed North Carolina to make it, before losing to UConn. This was a team that really only had one real big man that played extended minutes in Josh Harrelson. He was a huge body, and he will definitely be missed, but I am incredibly interested in seeing how a possibly deeper Kentucky team does this year. They lack bulk, but they are an incredibly fast and versatile team that I think will be a very tough out come March.
0 - Posted on: Thu, 10/27/2011 - 7:11am #605632
apb540ParticipantThis team is going to be crazy. Can’t wait for December 3rd: UNC at Kentucky. For all of us users on here who love the NBA draft, is there anything better than that game?
0 - Posted on: Thu, 10/27/2011 - 7:14am #605634
JNixonParticipantTerrence Jones is 250 now?
0 - Posted on: Thu, 10/27/2011 - 7:17am #605636
Malik-UniversalParticipantthats right….
t-jones all day
0 - Posted on: Thu, 10/27/2011 - 7:51am #605644
McDunkinJon Hood would have had 53…..
0 - Posted on: Thu, 10/27/2011 - 9:11am #605659
iguapops420ParticipantWasn’t he listed at 250 last year as well? Seems 250 is all I’ve heard for a while now. Though I don’t see it, because he doesn’t have the raw size of a Lebron James. 235, 240 is more realistic IMO. If he does in fact weigh 250, he might actaully be one of the better defenders when he enters the NBA against guys like LBJ, Pierce, and Joe Johnson.
0 - Posted on: Thu, 10/27/2011 - 9:45am #605665
mikeyvthedonParticipantLooks can be deceiving with weight. I believe LeBron carries his weight far differently than Terrence Jones, not to mention LeBron is reportedly close to 270. If you care to check his profile, Jones was measured as being 249 pounds at the LeBron camp this summer (6’9 in shoes with a 7’2 wingspan). No one is as built as LeBron James, but I am not incredibly surprised that a player who was already listed at 240 now weighs 250.
Definitely understand being suspicious of some players weights. If you check Basketball-Reference.com, they say that Oliver Miller was 280 pounds, which is what he weighed when he was born. But, with Jones, I do not think it is that far off. He definitely seems to have some mass to him, though I do not think he is overweight. Still, he is a pretty big dude. As I have been saying, Alex Oriakhi has incredibly similar measurements to Terrence, and he was UConn’s man in the middle last year. Not saying he plays the same game as Oriakhi, because he obviously does not and Oriakhi seems to be a better rebounder and interior defender (definitely on a per minute basis), but Jones is not a guy who to many people are going to throw around.
0 - Posted on: Thu, 10/27/2011 - 10:50am #605672
GrandmamaParticipantMikeyv, I think you are underestimating Oliver Miller’s weight at birth. He was over 300 out the womb.
0 - Posted on: Thu, 10/27/2011 - 11:26am #605675
FastAndFuriousParticipantYea you never know when it comes to someones weight, because take "Derrick Rose" for example most guides list him at 191, but he says he is 217, which is crazy. But alot of guys probably have most of that weight thru out their core or lower body, which is why I think Rose is so damn powerful lol
0 - Posted on: Thu, 10/27/2011 - 3:22pm #605704
tareef32ParticipantI’m looking forward to seeing his improvement this year. If he improved his off the dribble game then he would be really hard to guard in the college level and would definitely be a really high pick.
0 - Posted on: Thu, 10/27/2011 - 3:58pm #605706
mikeyvthedonParticipantIf Oliver Miller was 280 pounds, he would be an All-Star. He was actually a really talented player, just with awful conditioning. Word was that he was kind of a head case, though everyone seems to have their issues. Still, Oliver never got into great shape, whereas guys like Zach Randolph and Kevin Love, who both were probably heavier in college than they are now, both slimmed down and tore it up.
When Oliver Miller was with the Raptors, I know that it was written in his contract that he was I believe 290 pounds, or something like that. In reality, he was at least 330 and pushing 340. I have no idea what the procedure is for weighing these guys, but I think the odds are, it is incredibly difficult to gauge the actual weight of a majority of NBA players. Even with college players, I have seen some weights in the media guide that just seem wickedly untrue. But, with Terrence Jones, at the very least his was measured at a camp this summer. Some of those measurements turn out to not necessarily be 100% accurate, but I would think that he would be in or near that range.
0 - Posted on: Thu, 10/27/2011 - 9:00pm #605731
uknationParticipantI watched the game and i must say WOW
This team even looked better than i could imagin. T.Jones was banging downlow and driving pass everyone who guarded him. everyone played Defense till the second half (around the 23min mark) especially when they went zone. The mnost surprising part was Jones body. He looks every bit of 250 and strangely enough he is more athletic and jumps higher. Had a couple of vert dunks on people and drive down the lane dunks. Second most surprising thing was how many times he went right and finished right. Third was all the deep shot’s passed up and instead drove down the lane
Kyle Wiltjer is the truth like ive been trying to tell people. He’s gonna have alot of mismatchs because he is a very very good shooter and can bring a big out(bigs don’t like guarding far from the basket). Kidd-Gilchrist is soooooooo aggressive and athletic, jumper looks ugly but it goes in. Anothy Davis will put up points and get boards with out having many plays run for him because he runs the floor like a guard and is always around the basket for follow ups. This might be the only team in the nation who’s startin five can bring the ball up the court and stop and pop. Shouldnt have much trouble with a team with a big because Jones has the size to guard bigs and truthfully how many teams have a big that can dominate(there’s only one Sully). The UNC game should be one for the age’s and might come down to the last possession.
0 - Posted on: Fri, 10/28/2011 - 12:32am #605738
omphalosParticipantIf it comes down to the last possession Barnes is making the jumper to ice the game. I’m a UNC fan but I’ve got respect for Kentucky, really keen on seeing how that goes down.
0 - Posted on: Sat, 10/29/2011 - 6:02am #605838
uknationParticipantShould be a great game. Last possession for UK MKG drives kicks it out to Lamb who sinks a John Paxson like three in the corner to win the game
0 - Posted on: Sat, 10/29/2011 - 5:13pm #605875
RUDEBOY_ParticipantI think he’s going to be a better pro than Sullinger….
0 - Posted on: Sat, 10/29/2011 - 5:46pm #605877
WizardofOzParticipantFull highlights:
0 - Posted on: Sat, 10/29/2011 - 5:56pm #605878
Malik-UniversalParticipantit looks like to me he tweaked his jumper a lil
and hes getting to the basket more faster
0 - Posted on: Sun, 10/30/2011 - 12:03pm #605939
uknationParticipant^ i was thinking the same thing. Even though he’s gotten bigger he has also gotten faster and more athletic. Also in much better shape(more stamina)
0 - Posted on: Sun, 10/30/2011 - 12:07pm #605940
uknationParticipantAs far as better pro than Sullinger i’m going to hold off on that. Sullinger is gonna be a more athletic version of K.Love
0 - Posted on: Sun, 10/30/2011 - 3:02pm #605959
RUDEBOY_ParticipantSullinger isnt nearly the passer that Love is…
0 - Posted on: Sun, 10/30/2011 - 3:07pm #605961
YurpleHazEParticipantI don’t think sullinger is a better athlete than klove plus sullie isnt as smooth and elusive as love is.
0 - Posted on: Sun, 10/30/2011 - 6:57pm #605978
TheLastWordParticipantHe seems to have retained all his athleticism even with the added weight. Everyone is talking about Anthony Davis now, in a few months everyone might be talking about Terrence Jones.
0 - Posted on: Mon, 10/31/2011 - 5:32pm #606085
r377Participantits only a scrimmage game lets not all jump on the bandwagon….
he dropped in a lot of ppl eyes towards the end of last season, most ppl had him going 9-15 if he declared last season
0 - Posted on: Mon, 10/31/2011 - 7:42pm #606094
kobyzParticipanthe has a lot of Mike Beasley in his game…
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