Charles Matthews (Transfer Commit)

I don’t think that it’s that easy to teach skills to guys who have relied on athleticism up until now.

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I didn’t say it in and of itself was easy. However, it’s a lot easier than getting someone like Duncan Robinson or Austin Davis to become athletic.

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? He’s very young. I don’t agree there.

Charles Matthews vs Duncan Robinson isn’t necessarily the right comparison when you are asking if you’d rather have a shooter/skill guy and build his athleticism or an athlete and teach him to shoot and pass. Matthews shot well in HS and went to KY and Robinson went to DIII. How about, say, guys who are similarly ranked, like Jordan Poole vs Brent Petway?

The real answer is that unless you are getting a top 10 maybe top 25 guy, he’s going to have to work on things, and the better talent evaluators can spot the lower ranked guys who are likely to improve on their weaknesses and be able to translate their strengths to the next level.

It is encouraging to hear Matthews is looking good already. I’m pretty excited about the group going forward and he’s a big part of that.

Exactly. I’d rather have at least a couple guys on the roster working on shooting rather than working on athleticism.

Without question.

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Encouraging article. Glad you shared and I read it.

DJ’s comment LOL

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Why do I have this gut feeling that Matthews isn’t going to be what a lot of people are expecting him to be this year?

Well, what is the baseline expectation? I was a bit surprised that so many people thought he should be on our All-Big Ten Top 25 list right now.

Hes going to have his struggles in my opinion. Especially in the half court offense.

He has intangibles we really need, but former top 50 blue blood recruit will unfairly raise fans expectations for him to a level I don’t think he’ll be able to attain.

What is this based on? A projection from what you saw of him in high school/at Kentucky?

Again I just think it depends on expectation. What would you guys think of this as a baseline?

Something like 11 pts, 5 rebs per game, shoot 55%+ on twos, 30% on threes. Best defender on the team, something like 16-18% usage rate.

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That sounds right to me.

I would be very happy with that. Seems reasonable too.

I think that’s the minimum with upside if the 3 will fall. I’m a bit more optimistic than most and don’t worry too much about the fit on the offensive side. He’s played more than a season against JB’s offense in practice. I don’t think that can be discounted…great learning tool. I actually believe he could be gone after next year given the offers on the recruiting side. It sure seems like JB is hedging on an open spot. I also wonder if DJ was concerned about touches in the sets and decided he had to go now. One point for certain…this team will continue to score the ball, the question is who will fill it up? Charles is also a Junior…not many “old guys” in the first round. Should be a great year…GO BLUE!

Well, you did include some freshmen that have never played a minute against college competition.

Why are you so negative about him? You may be entirely right, I’m just curious.

The fact that he didn’t play much at Kentucky seems pretty meaningless. All that really means is that other five star kids were better.

He seems like the exact type of kid who flourishes under our staff. And now that he has realized he’s not a one and done guy, he seems willing to put in the work to be great.

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We included one freshman, that’s correct.