He is averaging a little over 12 pts a game and shooting better than 41% from 3 pts. Too bad we could not have gotten him signed. Would have really helped us. Win some and lose some.
Dereck Willis--KY
- Thread starter bashfan
- Start date
He ended up playing more than I ever thought he would, even though it took until his Jr year, so I'll hand him that. I still believe Cal recruited him only because he's required to some degree to make some type of effort with the best HS player in KY each yr. I wouldn't be surprised if Cal believed he would never play a meaningful minute his entire career under the assumption that he would have two freshman one-and-dones every year at that position. Good for Willis earning time.
I don't like UK either, but they are going to wind up closer to #9 on the S-curve than a 9 seed.
Good for him; saw highlights from their last game, he was hot that night 25 pts, 7 - 3's. Only a junior? Seems like he would be 30 years old by now.
Actually, the only reason he even got this opportunity was because Cal was pissed about the way his starters were playing in their putrid loss at Bruce Pearl Auburn, so he put in DW and other bench warmers to make a point. Willis went off in that game from three and got a lot of RBs so he stayed in and never relinquished his starting spot afterwards. Didn't hurt that Poythress is out injured too. Irony is he'd still be gathering splinters if the starters had handled lowly Auburn like the should have.
Is he going to transfer? Only way he'll play for a 9 seed.
meh...they have 3 losses already in the SEC and they haven't even played the "hard" part of the schedule yet.
I really wish we got him. Not sure he would be as good here though. He's been playing everyday with 4 or 5 NBA players.
If they drop their games to TA&M, Vandy, and Florida, I could see them dropping to a 6 seed, but they would have to lose out to drop all the way to a 9.
He scored in double figures 3 times before that game. He is shooting 44.2% from 3 on the year as a 6'9 forward. He averages less than a TO per game and rebounds at a decent rate. He would have been a perfect stretch 4 for us who would've gotten big minutes from the beginning. Another unfortunate miss.
Meh...bygones.
He used Purdue to get what he always dreamed of-- a chance to ride the pine at UK until there was literally no one else left on the bench for Calipari to go to.
To paraphrase that deep thinker, Rocky Balboa: "he coulda BEEN sumbuddy!"
Nice cherry-picking. Two of those three games were the first two games of the season against Albany and NJIT. Before Auburn he also had a DNP-coach's decision and seven games with single digit minutes. Never cracked 20 minutes in any real game in his career until Auburn. Prior two seasons he had more DNPs than games with any minutes whatsoever, and nearly all of those games were single digit minutes.
Not disagreeing that he had and has great potential, and would/could have been a player for Purdue from the beginning, but the point of the post was he'd never have even gotten this chance at UK if it weren't for the regulars crapping the bed against Auburn. If the starters had pulled their weight in that game, he'd still be counting splinters instead of minutes/points. That was the choice he made going to UK.
Oh, and BTW, while he may have the default starting position next season as a senior when practice begins, you can bet that if Cal can recruit over him in this next class, he'll be back to 6th man, at best once the season is well underway.
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