HookEm

I would trust Bird shooting the FTs left handed more than I would LeBron. Under no circumstances is Bird missing those free throws. He is the easy #1 pick.

No, it is unwatchable despite them wearing Texas on the uni. I try, I really do. But it is just bad IMO.

I think Nic Codie will be better than Onyema. He is 6’9 with a 7’4 wingspan. He should be able to give us some minutes at center.

No chance they can throw some picks and assets at Phoenix to bring KD home to bookend his career?

I'm also out to Cayman in July with the family.

Here is a shot at it. Probable starters bolded. Jordan Pope - 6'2, 165, Guard - JR - 2 yrs left Julian Larry - 6'3, 185 - Guard - SR+ - 1 yr left Chendall Weaver - 6'3, 164 - Guard - JR - 2 yrs left Tramon Mark - 6'6, 185 - Wing - SR+ - 1 yr left Tre Johnson - 6'6, 184 - Wing - FR - 4 yrs left Malik Presley - 66, 185 - Wing - SO - 3 yrs left Arthur Kaluma - 6'7, 220 - Forward - SR - 1 yr left Jayson Kent - 6'8, 185 - Forward - SR+ - 1 yr left Nic Codie - 6'9, 200 - Forward - FR - 4 yrs left Devon Pryor - 6'7, 185 - Forward - RS-FR - 4 yrs left Kadin Shedrick - 6'11, 216 - Center - SR+ - 1 yr left Jamie Vinson - 6'11, 210 - Center - FR - 4 yrs left Ze'Rik Onyema - 6'8, 215 - Center - SR+ - 1 yr left

Good point regarding passing. FWIW, here is how we stack up vs. last year in assists. Last year's top-5 in assists: 4.1 - Abmas 4.1 - Hunter 2.1 - Cunningham 1.5 - Disu 1.4 - Mitchell This year's team based on last year's numbers: 4.9 - Larry 3.4 - Pope 2.6 - Johnson (FIBA) 2.0 - Kaluma 1.4 - Mark

I assume we are done now, correct?

Yeah that is a solid, solid team. I personally think we close with Pope, Mark, Johnson, Kaluma and Kent... but who knows at this point. Also, we aren't really that small inside. This is pretty solid size for the college game: Major players: 6'11, 216 Kadin Shedrick 6'8, 185 Jayson Kent 6'7, 220 Arthur Kaluma Bench: 6'11, 210 Jamie Vinson 6'9, 200 Nicolas Codie (nobody is talking about this guy) 6'8, 215 Ze'Rik Onyema 6'7, 190 Devon Pryor And we have really good size for once at the guard spots. The shortest guy on the team is now Pope at 6'2 and then Weaver and Larry at 6'3. That is going to be so much better than starting Hunter and Abmas who were a stretch to call 6'0.

Was just enjoying some nice Bardstown rye last night.

Am I the only one who likes old fashioneds served "up"? I never, ever see them served this way, but it is by far my favorite way to drink them. My recipe: 2 oz rye whisky (typically Bulleit) couple bar spoons of simple syrup few shakes of angostura bitters a large slice of lemon peel (no pulp) No ice. No water. No cherry. No orange slice. Just the above served at room temp. I like being able to sip on it for an hour and it not get watered down. T My wife likes the above, except made with bourbon (typically Buffalo Trace or Wild Turkey 101) and orange peel. I'll sometimes make the simple syrup out of demerara sugar if I'm feeling sporty. Orange peel and bourbon (or) lemon peel and rye. I have never understood why people will drink whisky neat, but then water down an old fashioned with a bunch of ice. I guess it is basically like a Sazarac, but without the absinthe.

Welp, it appears my parent's cabin up at Alto burned down. They just bought it about six months ago. They were excited to spend a summer up there. Boo. Luckily it was a vacation place. My heart goes out to everyone who lost a place up there. It is going to take YEARS to rebuild in a community that small and remote.

Which of these players do you want Weaver to start over? Jordan Pope - 17.6 PTS, 3.4 AST, 2.6 TRB, 50.4 FG%, 37.1 3P%, 87.9 FT% - 6'2, 165 Tramon Mark - 16.2 PTS, 1.8 AST, 4.3 TRB, 48.0 FG%, 36.4 3P%, 80.4 FT% - 6'5, 180 Julian Larry - 11.0 PTS, 4.8 AST, 2.8 TRB, 52.5 FG%, 46.2 3P%, 78.0 FT% - 6'3, 185 - 3rd team MVC, 2x All Defense Tre Johnson - 11.1 PTS, 2.6 AST,2.9 TRB, 43.3 FG%, 35.7 3P%, 94.1 FT% (FIBA U19 Stats) - 6'6, 190 - #6 National Recruit ---------------------------------------- Chendall Weaver - 6.2 PTS, 0.6 AST, 3.0 TRB, 49.0 FG%, 23.7 3P%, 74.0 FT% - 6'3, 164 I'll be surprised if we start any group of guards other than Pope, Mark and Johnson. Larry and Weaver will be great off the bench.

Terrible uninformed take. Last year we finished #25 in KenPom and won a tournament game. That is better than any season Shaka Smart put together and he lasted six years. And you have to go back to 2011 to find a Rick Barnes season that was better. That isn't even counting the credit that the administration will give him for righting the ship after the Beard shit show and the ultimate Elite 8 run. RT would have to have single digit wins to get fired next year, and that isn't happening with this squad playing in the SEC. If he misses the tourney then his seat will be hot and the bar will be very high for an extension.

Kaluma would be a great add and would round out this team nicely. He brings a lot of the things Dillon Mitchell provided but is a much better offensive player. 6’2 Pope + 6’5 Mark + 6’6 Johnson + 6’7 Kaluma + 6’8 Kent is enough size, skill and defense to give anyone problems if coached properly. Beard would have killed it with a team like that. My guess is that if we sign Kaluma, we would bring Kent off the bench and start the above team plus Shedrick. Then we could have Larry and Kent, who are very used to playing together, leading the 2nd unit. Weaver will also get a lot of minutes off the bench. It will be interesting to see if anyone else steps up. Devon Pryor, Malik Presley and Nic Codie all have the talent to contribute if they develop.

On Tuesday, we made the fairly long trip back to Nashville. We had a late flight, so it gave us a chance to stop at Mammoth Cave National Park. We took the "Domes and Dripstones" tour, which takes you down a sinkhole into the cave system. Unfortunately, the "Historic Tour" was sold out already by the time we booked on Monday. If you go, you are able to do a "self guided" tour of the first 3 rooms via the original entrance. By the time we figured that out, we had to leave to go to the airport and missed out. Mammoth Cave isn't a national park that I would set as a destination, but it is definitely worth spending a couple of hours if you are in the area. Plus it is ~55 degrees down in the caves and makes for a nice escape from the summer heat. The trip overall was great. I actually liked that we flew into Nashville since it was a cheap direct flight and you have to drive to get to the distilleries anyway. I don't know that I would stay in Lexington again, unless UT was playing UK in basketball or something. It also might be fun to go back to Keeneland for the races in October/November. But Lexington itself was kinda sketchy in places and was pretty underwhelming as a college town. I think you are better off staying in Bardstown or one of the other small towns in an Inn or AirBnB.

On Monday, we got up early and went to Keeneland for a tour of the track and to watch the horses training. The area is beautiful and it is really awesome to watch the horses train. You can get some coffee and just go in and watch them for free from like 6-10 AM. It is a great way to spend an hour in the morning. From there we took the incredibly scenic route up Old Frankfort Pike (HW 1681) to Frankfort. Along the way, we stopped at Wallace Station (which has been on Diners and Dives) for a fantastic grilled pimento cheese sandwich. Highly recommend. From there we went to Buffalo Trace. We didn't have a reservation for a tour, but it was no problem on a Monday afternoon. First, the scale of the place and history puts all the other distilleries we visited to shame. The tour was awesome and really focused on the process from Barreling all the way to bottling. We got to see them breaking open some Weller 12 bottles and also bottling some Blantons and it smelled like we were inside a whisky glass. Just awesome. Every day they rotate between allocated bottles available for purchase and Blanton's was on sale during our visit - but you are limited to one bottle. From there we drove over to Woodford Reserve, which is a beautiful property. Castle and Key is on the way and also a really beautiful place, but it was closed on Mondays. That night we ate at OBC Kitchen, which was really good and had probably the most extensive bourbon collection I have ever seen.

On Sunday we got up and went downtown. We had breakfast at Pat's Place, which was a solid main street diner with typical eggs and hash browns type breakfast. Since it was a Sunday (and Father's Day), we didn't have a chance to get to Heaven's Hill (which opened late) or Lux Row (which was closed on Sundays). We took a scenic route up HW 62 and got to Four Roses right as it was opening. Four Roses has built a beautiful new visitors center. We stopped in and got a couple of drinks and also bought a bottle of Single Barrel and had it engraved for Father's Day. It is a short drive from Four Roses to Wild Turkey, where we went next. Wild Turkey has probably the prettiest visitors center with the best view of all the places we went. It is really a stunning place. The pictures don't do justice to the views. When we were there, Jimmy Russell (60+ year master distiller for Wild Turkey) was there talking to people and signing stuff at the entry. In retrospect, I should have bought a Russel's Reserve Single Barrel Select or something and had him sign it. It was a short, beautiful drive from there to Lexington. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency, mainly because it was only 8K Hyatt Points. It is right next to Rupp Arena and the area is pretty meh. That night, we ate dinner at Carson's Food and Drink and it was tremendous. We got out of there for ~$120 including a few cocktails, which were fantastic. It was so good, we almost ate there again on Monday night. Highly recommend.

Just got back from the Kentucky trip. It was a great time. I'll try to document what we did here... Saturday - Got an early flight from Austin direct to Nashville. We landed at 8:30 AM and drove up to Bardstown (~2 hour easy drive). We stopped at Lincoln's birthplace, which is worth the 10 minute detour, but not much more than that. Just stayed long enough to stretch our legs. It was around lunchtime, so the first stop was Bardstown Bourbon Company. We got a spot on the patio and had lunch and a cocktail. Unfortunately we didn't have time for much more than that. The place is modern and beautiful. If I did it again, I would do a tour there and then one of the older places like Buffalo Trace to see the difference between old and new. The main dining room was huge, open and beautiful. I would make reservations, especially on a Saturday. From there, we went to Willett and took a tour. They were generous with the tastings and we were feeling good by the end. They mainly focused on the distilling end of the operation. After the tour we went upstairs to the Willett bar and had a couple of cocktails and apps. Got the Egg Salad sandwich of course. Luckily, in Bardstown they were having their ~20th annual street fair. They had blocked off downtown and had a big stage with some very solid bands. It was a great way to spend the evening. Bardstown downtown has a few nice bars that would have been a good choice otherwise. If we ever go back, we will probably just stay the whole time at Bardstown and take day trips to the distilleries. Dinner was a couple of charcoal cooked hot dogs and cold beers at the street fair. Nothing says "America" quite like a small town street festival.

Speaking of Four Roses:

I LOVE Flamingo Beach. Perfect waves and water temperature. It is honestly one of my favorite beaches anywhere all things considered. Early one morning, I went for a run and just took my shoes off and ran into the water when I was done. I was the only one on the whole mile long beach for quite a while. I also second the Coco Loco rec. I also really like Playa Conchal - one of the more unique "beaches" anywhere. It isn't a sandy beach, but made up of millions of tiny smooth shells, that are almost the same as sand but more colorful and interesting. The waves sound awesome as they crash and filter through the tiny shells. And the water is clear because you don't have sand and silt ruining the clarity - so you can snorkel.

Of the list I posted a few weeks ago, 7 of the 12 are now off the board. It sounds like Duncan Powell has heard from Texas, but not sure about any of the others. He would be a good final addition. I still think DJ Burns is also someone we should reach out to. Hawkins seems like a bad fit for the team's needs and is also likely too expensive. Power Forwards: Coleman Hawkins, Illinois - 6'10, 230 - #24 - 12.7 PTS, 6.7 TRB Trevon Brazile, Arkansas - 6'10, 220 - #41 - 8.6 PTS, 5.9 TRB - Staying at Arkansas DJ Burns, Youngstown St - 6'7, 220 - #154 - 13.1 PTS, 11.0 TRB - 2nd team Horizon, All Defense Matt Bewley, Chicago St - 6'9, 225 - #189 - Signed with Overtime Elite (pro league) Mowot Mag, Rutgers - 6'7, 215 - #207 - 9.1 PTS, 3.8 TRB - Signed with BYU Ryan Bewley, Chicago St - 6'9, 210 - #240 - Signed with Overtime Elite (pro league) Centers: Baba Miller, Florida St - 6'11, 204 - #131 - 7.9 PTS, 4.9 TRB - Signed with BYU Ugonna Onyenso, Kentucku - 7'0, 233 - #180 - 3.6 PTS, 4.8 TRB - Signed with K-State Max Allen, Marist - 6'9, 255 - #338 - 11.4 PTS, 3.8 TRB - 2nd Team MAAC Duncan Powell, Sac St - 6'8, 220 - #411 - 12.1 PTS, 7.0 TRB - Texas visit Emmanuel Okorafor, Louisville - 6'9, 220 - #444 - 2.4 PTS, 2.2 TRB Enoch Boakye, Fresno St - 6'11, 250 - #471 - 7.5 PTS, 7.7 TRB - Signed with Villanova

Devon Pryor is really the same age as all the true freshman that are starting college this year since he reclassified last summer to start a year early. So his #21 in Texas ranking / #209 National ranking in 2023 is really a little misleading since he was a year younger than everyone else in his class.... AND he has been competing with grown men for the last year. I bet he will play more like a national top-50 freshman.

Our team last year would have been soooo much better with Ron Holland than with Ithiel Horton. I count six losses that likely would have been wins if he was on the team, which would have been enough to get us to a 3-4 seed and likely the Sweet 16 or beyond. And it wasn't just that he bailed, it was that he did it so late that it was hard to recover. F him. Hope he goes to Charlotte.