(2019) SF Keion Brooks Jr. to Kentucky

[KzooHoosier82]

46 minutes ago, Alford Bailey said:

Doubt it will matter much. He will still be one and done.

Do people think he’s one and done because of his actual talent and NBA potential or because he and his family make it painfully obvious that this is the plan or bust?

Brooks has benefited greatly from having teammates like Stewart and TJD. Without those guys I’m very confident he would have been rated in the 40-55 range and considered a four year college prospect. He’s simply not that impressive in terms of creating his own shot and shooting in general. He was the beneficiary of having very talented low post teammates who attracted a TON of attention every time they touched the ball. He won’t start at UK nor am I convinced he would start at IU for that matter. I’d love to have him here but I don’t think he has a chance in hell to be a one and done and frankly he may be the most overrated prospect I’ve watched in a very long time. 

[MikeRoberts]

Do people think he’s one and done because of his actual talent and NBA potential or because he and his family make it painfully obvious that this is the plan or bust?
Brooks has benefited greatly from having teammates like Stewart and TJD. Without those guys I’m very confident he would have been rated in the 40-55 range and considered a four year college prospect. He’s simply not that impressive in terms of creating his own shot and shooting in general. He was the beneficiary of having very talented low post teammates who attracted a TON of attention every time they touched the ball. He won’t start at UK nor am I convinced he would start at IU for that matter. I’d love to have him here but I don’t think he has a chance in hell to be a one and done and frankly he may be the most overrated prospect I’ve watched in a very long time. 

Wow, entitled to your opinion but seems like a bit of a hot take vs reality. The notion that he may not even start at IU is one we will never know for 100% but was probably 99.99% sure to be a starter. He’s a talent and one we would have enjoyed at IU, can’t agree with his decision but respect it


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[8bucks]

Do people think he’s one and done because of his actual talent and NBA potential or because he and his family make it painfully obvious that this is the plan or bust?
Brooks has benefited greatly from having teammates like Stewart and TJD. Without those guys I’m very confident he would have been rated in the 40-55 range and considered a four year college prospect. He’s simply not that impressive in terms of creating his own shot and shooting in general. He was the beneficiary of having very talented low post teammates who attracted a TON of attention every time they touched the ball. He won’t start at UK nor am I convinced he would start at IU for that matter. I’d love to have him here but I don’t think he has a chance in hell to be a one and done and frankly he may be the most overrated prospect I’ve watched in a very long time. 

I sure hope you have watched him around 10 times or more. In person, and at different events. Where did you watch him play in person.


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[KzooHoosier82]

7 minutes ago, MikeRoberts said:

Wow, entitled to your opinion but seems like a bit of a hot take vs reality. The notion that he may not even start at IU is one we will never know for 100% but was probably 99.99% sure to be a starter. He’s a talent and one we would have enjoyed at IU, can’t agree with his decision but respect it


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Phin, TJD, Green are all starters next year. If Hunter is healthy and the player everyone says he is then he’s starting which leaves the 5 spot open for Davis/Brunk. I didn’t say he wouldn’t start at IU but I’m in no way convinced he would. A case could be made to move TJD to the 5 and let Brooks start at the 4 but he wants to play the 3 and he isn’t the shooter Hunter is so it would be Hunter’s job to lose. 99% Brooks is a starter on IU’s squad is in my opinion a much hotter take than my comment. 

[Stuhoo]

Two guards will start for sure, and they’ll come from Rob, Al, and DeVonte.

He would have had to beat out two of DeRon, TJD, Smith, and Hunter to start at IU.

Likely, but not certain by any means; especially when you consider that the two most likely he’d have beat out in the eyes of most are Smith and DeRon, which would have left us with an all freshman front line.

 

 

[8bucks]

 
We already have that -  a stable of top 150 players who haven't yet established themselves as rotation players, but will get a chance to compete for that right this season; Armaan Franklin, Race Thompson, Damezi Anderson, and Joey Brunk this coming year. 
The other seven are either top 50 players with baked-in expectations (TJD & Jerome Hunter), or are experienced and already have a rotation role (Al, Rob, Justin, DeRon, DeVonte). 
The problems we had last year were in the won/lost column, not in continuing to adjust the roster for class balance and competition; we're pretty good there.
 

Come on. The stable of players we have are not at the same level as guys like Brooks. A few players maybe but one of them has significant medical hurdles yet to clear. I think some can be really good and they will benefit from competition but they are not at his level.

My argument is not about bashing our players but the fans who criticize the selfish player but at the same time want to use immediate playing as one of our top draws. That argument alone is just as likely to attract a kid who is more interested in what he gets out of the program than what he earns.

Then a kid like Brooks decides to go to UK knowing he would not have guaranteed playing time and our same fans call his decision stupid or call his parents idiots.

I don’t know the Brooks family but if I had my choice between a kid who wanted to go to a program that is frequently a national contender but would have to fight for his minutes vs a kid who chose a struggling program because he could immediately get minutes I am going to choose the kid fighting for his minutes.


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[Stuhoo]

6 minutes ago, 8bucks said:

Come on. The stable of players we have are not at the same level as guys like Brooks. A few players maybe but one of them has significant medical hurdles yet to clear. I think some can be really good and they will benefit from competition but they are not at his level.

My argument is not about bashing our players but the fans who criticize the selfish player but at the same time want to use immediate playing as one of our top draws. That argument alone is just as likely to attract a kid who is more interested in what he gets out of the program than what he earns.

Then a kid like Brooks decides to go to UK knowing he would not have guaranteed playing time and our same fans call his decision stupid or call his parents idiots.

I don’t know the Brooks family but if I had my choice between a kid who wanted to go to a program that is frequently a national contender but would have to fight for his minutes vs a kid who chose a struggling program because he could immediately get minutes I am going to choose the kid fighting for his minutes.


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Kentucky is quite literally the single, only school where a five star comes in and doesn’t expect to necessarily start right away; not even Duke or Kansas have that dynamic. 

And I am not a fan of the Kentucky model; it’s certainly not what it seemed you were advocating for either.

 

[KzooHoosier82]

5 minutes ago, 8bucks said:

Come on. The stable of players we have are not at the same level as guys like Brooks. A few players maybe but one of them has significant medical hurdles yet to clear. I think some can be really good and they will benefit from competition but they are not at his level.

My argument is not about bashing our players but the fans who criticize the selfish player but at the same time want to use immediate playing as one of our top draws. That argument alone is just as likely to attract a kid who is more interested in what he gets out of the program than what he earns.

Then a kid like Brooks decides to go to UK knowing he would not have guaranteed playing time and our same fans call his decision stupid or call his parents idiots.

I don’t know the Brooks family but if I had my choice between a kid who wanted to go to a program that is frequently a national contender but would have to fight for his minutes vs a kid who chose a struggling program because he could immediately get minutes I am going to choose the kid fighting for his minutes.


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You might be right and I’m rooting for Brooks to succeed. I’d have no problem admitting I was wrong if he turns out to be a better/more productive college player then I think he will be but I don’t see his game translating like others do. If I had to put money on it, I’d say his talent is much more in line with Troy Williams at this stage than a Kawhi Leonard or Miles Bridges (neither of whom were one and done but probably could have been). Can’t wait to see what he does though. 

[woodenshoemanHoosierfan]

Some of these younger ones may not recognize him. Lol

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[AKHoosier]

He made such a terrible decision.

Hope he enjoys getting 12 mpg.

[BGVille Hoosierfan]

He made such a terrible decision.
Hope he enjoys getting 12 mpg.

I’ll be surprised if he averages that many mpg. I’m assuming 10 mpg max now.


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[Alford Bailey]

16 hours ago, KzooHoosier82 said:

Do people think he’s one and done because of his actual talent and NBA potential or because he and his family make it painfully obvious that this is the plan or bust?

Brooks has benefited greatly from having teammates like Stewart and TJD. Without those guys I’m very confident he would have been rated in the 40-55 range and considered a four year college prospect. He’s simply not that impressive in terms of creating his own shot and shooting in general. He was the beneficiary of having very talented low post teammates who attracted a TON of attention every time they touched the ball. He won’t start at UK nor am I convinced he would start at IU for that matter. I’d love to have him here but I don’t think he has a chance in hell to be a one and done and frankly he may be the most overrated prospect I’ve watched in a very long time. 

I think he is talented but my comment was probably more based off the family.

[HoosierFan1994]

16 hours ago, KzooHoosier82 said:

Do people think he’s one and done because of his actual talent and NBA potential or because he and his family make it painfully obvious that this is the plan or bust?

Brooks has benefited greatly from having teammates like Stewart and TJD. Without those guys I’m very confident he would have been rated in the 40-55 range and considered a four year college prospect. He’s simply not that impressive in terms of creating his own shot and shooting in general. He was the beneficiary of having very talented low post teammates who attracted a TON of attention every time they touched the ball. He won’t start at UK nor am I convinced he would start at IU for that matter. I’d love to have him here but I don’t think he has a chance in hell to be a one and done and frankly he may be the most overrated prospect I’ve watched in a very long time. 

Kid is pretty good. Honestly thought he was one of the more underrated prospects in this class. 247 and ESPN differ on his ranking quite a bit. Losing him to UK still hurts mainly because I felt IU had him in the bag (and UK fans don't want him). I think the staff did too.  My only issue with his UK choice is Cal brings in obvious one and done talent every year. That isn't Keion. He needs development. These kids will see more minutes than him. That makes it harder for Keion to showcase his talent. Keion would have started day 1 at IU. I was thinking maybe 12pts 5rb as part of his stat line. That is good but not great. I felt he and TJD would both be good in year one and be elite college players in year two-three.

Also-to those who say "well, he saw plenty of time in their tough practices" ask James Young, Harrison Twins, etc how that worked out for them? Nothing beats game experience. 

[Honkyman]

The Harrison Twins got plenty of game experience starting two years at Kentucky. They just weren't NBA material, although both played (sparingly) in the league two years. But I agree that Keion Brooks would have gotten considerably more playing at IU than Kentucky. Keon is a very talented player, he will get playing time at Kentucky, and in my opinion is definitely NBA material. Whether he can make it there in one year or two remains to be seen. He won't leave after one if he isn't a high draft pick. Keon would gone to IU if he had decided in the fall.  After a few more months, he and his family came to believe Kentucky was the right choice for him and that's all that matters.  He wanted to be on a team that would be ranked and get in the NCAA tournament.  And, he wanted to play for a proven coach. After IU's performance in the 2018-19 season, he didn't see either at IU. I don't blame him. Time to move on.

[KzooHoosier82]

2 hours ago, HoosierFan1994 said:

Kid is pretty good. Honestly thought he was one of the more underrated prospects in this class. 247 and ESPN differ on his ranking quite a bit. Losing him to UK still hurts mainly because I felt IU had him in the bag (and UK fans don't want him). I think the staff did too.  My only issue with his UK choice is Cal brings in obvious one and done talent every year. That isn't Keion. He needs development. These kids will see more minutes than him. That makes it harder for Keion to showcase his talent. Keion would have started day 1 at IU. I was thinking maybe 12pts 5rb as part of his stat line. That is good but not great. I felt he and TJD would both be good in year one and be elite college players in year two-three.

Also-to those who say "well, he saw plenty of time in their tough practices" ask James Young, Harrison Twins, etc how that worked out for them? Nothing beats game experience. 

I didn’t mean to imply that I don’t think he’s good because he absolutely is. I just don’t think he’s a one and done talent and frankly will need to improve quite a bit if he’s going to be drafted period. He’s never been the best player on his HS or AAU teams much less a sure fire one and done. He needs a ton of work in all aspects of his game to realize that potential and he won’t get that at Kentucky. I suspect he’ll see some playing time as a freshman but not enough then get completely recruited over with legit one and dones, see his minutes fade away then transfer somewhere. Again, hope I’m wrong but I haven’t seen anything yet shows me he’s a star with a sure fire NBA career ahead of him. 

[WayneFleekHoosier]

The Harrison Twins got plenty of game experience starting two years at Kentucky. They just weren't NBA material, although both played (sparingly) in the league two years. But I agree that Keion Brooks would have gotten considerably more playing at IU than Kentucky. Keon is a very talented player, he will get playing time at Kentucky, and in my opinion is definitely NBA material. Whether he can make it there in one year or two remains to be seen. He won't leave after one if he isn't a high draft pick. Keon would gone to IU if he had decided in the fall.  After a few more months, he and his family came to believe Kentucky was the right choice for him and that's all that matters.  He wanted to be on a team that would be ranked and get in the NCAA tournament.  And, he wanted to play for a proven coach. After IU's performance in the 2018-19 season, he didn't see either at IU. I don't blame him. Time to move on.

Imo this is spot on. It’s a bit sad though.

Had IU had a top 15 type season we would have had Brooks because the Romeo experience would have looked great. As it turned out, the Romeo experience didn’t sell Brooks and family.




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[yogisballin]

Word around the state now is that KBJ is saying that he didn’t actually commit to UK now. Idk how true this is. Take it for what you will


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[yogisballin]

Word around the state now is that KBJ is saying that he didn’t actually commit to UK now. Idk how true this is. Take it for what you will
Look what I found on Twitter. I’m not saying this has legs. Just hear say around where I work. That’s all I’m saying

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[Uspshoosier]

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Kerry Blackshear Jr grad transfer from Virginia Tech is who they are talking about


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[Stuhoo]

Kerry Blackshear Jr