We're still wrapping up the news, notes and chatter from Peach Jam and basketball recruiting events and there's lots of football recruiting content as well, especially on local 2020 quarterback Beau Allen.
There's also a lot of content previewing Kentucky's football season.
Nerlens Noel's free agency saga, and can Malik Monk really be the forgotten lottery pick, at least for now?
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TURNING HEADS
Recruiting starts earlier for players now than ever so it's not a surprise that Class of 2020 quarterback Beau Allen is starting to find his name in headlines and on social media a little more frequently.
When you're an in-state quarterback from the Commonwealth and you've got an offer from Kentucky before your sophomore year of high school begins, you're bound to find your way into a pretty big spotlight.
LINK: Lexington Catholic quarterback Beau Allen turning heads at UK and beyond
BREAKOUT CANDIDATES
You know about UK's preseason All-SEC picks.
Recently we profiled nine dark horse, potential All-SEC players, who could surprise in 2017.
Here's a list of nine breakout candidates, or players who have made limited contributions at most before, but should have ample opportunity to make their mark on the program in 2017.
ADVANTAGE CAL
Now that the dust has settled for USA's U19 experience and 2018 UK targets have spoken about their time playing for Kentucky head coach John Calipari, it's worth asking how much of an advantage it was for UK's head coach.
Cameron Reddish, Immanuel Quickley, Romeo Langford and Louis King all played for Calipari and are considered Kentucky recruits in the class of 2018. Here's where UK stood before Team USA's trip to Egypt and where things stand now.
LINK: How much did coaching USA Basketball help Calipari with select recruits?
FREE AGENCY STRUGGLE
It’s been 18 days since the NBA’s annual midnight frenzy, 18 days since free agents started flying off the market, and now that the dust has settled, all is quiet. Two top-five members of the free agent class signed long-term extensions on that first evening. Unheralded guys got paid, too. In the nearly two weeks since the moratorium was lifted, over 70 players have either signed or agreed to new contracts. Everybody who’s anybody is off the board.
Except, that is, for Nerlens Noel.
LINK: Nerlens Noel isn't the only loser of his ongoing free agency struggle
"We're very disappointed with where things stand," Walters said. "Nerlens loves Dallas and spent June there working out, but we're still waiting on a serious offer."
Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban said only that he cannot go into details about the negotiations.
What kind of money are we talking about?
LINK: Nerlens Noel 'very disappointed' with where negotiations stand with Mavericks
A month and a half later, salary cap space has dried up around the league and I can’t imagine Noel has any leverage whatsoever, so a max offer doesn’t seem to be coming his way. Instead, a better gauge for a Noel contract would be the one Kelly Olynyk signed in Miami: four years, $50 million. Noel’s potential is higher than Olynyk, so for argument’s sake let’s bump his number up to $60 million over 4 years.
If the Sixers were to agree to that sort of contract with Noel, they would be looking at about a $13.5 million cap hit to start in the early years, and ~$16.5 million a year in the back end of the deal. There was no way for the Sixers to have known the free agent market would have had the downward spiral it has had, but if the Sixers knew they would be getting Nerlens over $10 million per season less than his potential max, I’m not so sure he would have been traded. Philly could have easily had cap room for Noel, considering they are giving Amir Johnson $11 million next season. But even at a discount, there’s still a problem if the team were to roster Noel: his fit.
THE KENTUCKY EXPERIENCE
Mitch Barnhart sits down with some of the most prominent Wildcats to discuss life as a student and an athlete at the University of Kentucky.
From Kentucky Wildcats TV...
SOMETHING TO PROVE
“I have been treated different by a lot of people,” said Snell. “But I also got a lot of doubt and negativity about whether I can do it again that gives me an edge for next year. Last year was okay, but I am never satisfied.”
He got another “edge” for the upcoming season when media members failed to name him to any of the three all-Southeastern Conference preseason teams. He was a freshman All-American and second team all-SEC pick last year by ProFootballFocus.com.
LINK: Running back Benny Snell still believes he's got something to prove
PEACH JAM CHATTER
Making it to Peach Jam is the one goal every EYBL team has during the season. If you're lucky enough to be one of those 24 teams to make it, you know going in the competition will be tough.
Rivals.com caught up with a few of players at Peach Jam to get their thoughts on the toughest competition plus more from the weekend.
LINK: Peach Jam Chatter: Top prospects weigh in on toughest competitors
As we discussed over the weekend, Bagley III has been rumored to be mulling a move to 2017 for some time now. However, he's certainly ready for college basketball and it would make sense as a move for him to get to the NBA a year earlier. It's something that we've discussed with his father in the past so when reports spread over the weekend, we checked with Bagley's father again and he made it clear that no decision had been made regarding his son's future.
Doing some checking around at the Peach Jam, it sounds like those recruiting Bagley are also unsure of his plans. The one thing that does seem to be emerging as a school of thought is that he may prefer to be closer to his family and if that's the case, then it bodes well for USC and UCLA.
But, this is one guy that nobody should be making any assumptions about until he makes a move or his family makes a statement.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Usually a program's identity changes from one head coach to the next. Under Mark Stoops' watch, Kentucky's identity has shifted shapes under the watch of one coach.
From the short-lived and unsuccessful Air Raid experiment to the smash mouth success of 2017, Kentucky's football program is evolving before our very eyes.
What's the next phase of this evolution, and where does the process need to go for UK to take the next step and compete for SEC East championships?
LINK: The next phase in the evolution of Kentucky football under Mark Stoops
DARK HORSES
At the end of SEC Media Days the conference's preseason All-SEC teams were released.
It didn't mean much. In fact, it's only a projection that amounts to an acknowledgement of a general public consensus, not rooted in what's happened on the field in 2017 but more about hype and what's happened in the past.
Denzil Ware was a second team All-SEC pick while Jordan Jones and Mike Edwards were selected to the league's third team.
CatsIllustrated.com takes a look at some other players not on those preseason all-league lists who could be dark horse candidates to earn postseason honors.
BUILDING ON SUCCESS
The sports editor of the Bastrop Daily Enterprise is nearly finished with a 14-part series previewing every SEC program's 2017 season. Here's what he thinks about the Cats...
Armed with eight returning starters on both sides of the ball, Kentucky is seeking to continue its climb up the SEC ladder.
Kentucky (7-6, 4-4) achieved three milestones in coach Mark Stoops’ fourth year in Lexington by compiling its first winning season since 2009, defeating chief rival Louisville (41-38 in the regular season finale) for the first time since 2010, and making its first bowl appearance in five years (a 33-18 loss to Georgia Tech in the TaxSlayer Bowl).
With the majority of its firepower back, the Wildcats are looking for further improvement from a unit which ranked ninth in the SEC in scoring (30 points per game) and 10th in total offense (420.3 yards per game). Kentucky will need to do a better job of protecting the football after ranking dead last in the conference and 107th nationally with a negative-7 turnover margin.
FORGOTTEN LOTTERY PICK?
The Charlotte Hornets were ecstatic to see Kentucky guard Malik Monk fall to them at 11, when he was discussed as an option as high as 3rd. For a team needing guard help off the bench he seemed like the perfect fit, and he brought name factor to the team as well.
Yet Monk’s name has not appeared in any of the scintillating headlines. Those headlines have gone to former UCLA guard and Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball, who is destroying Las Vegas Summer League. The first in a line of “Big Ballers” is showing he belongs in the NBA.
LINK: Malik Monk is quickly becoming the forgotten lottery pick
WATCH LIST WATCH
University of Kentucky senior linebacker Courtney Love is one of 108 players considered for the 2017 Wuerffel Trophy, an award that honors college football’s top community servant.
Love, a native of Youngstown, Ohio, leads the team in community service hours and has a passion for mentoring children especially those living in a one-parent household or children who have parents who are incarcerated. Because of his passion, he currently volunteers at Amachi Central Kentucky, a mentoring program that seeks to pair caring, positive adults with children and youth in the Bluegrass who have one or both parents in state or federal prison or are affected by incarceration in some way.
TOP GRADES
The 2017 NBA Summer League was a hit on the court and in the television ratings. It appears safe to believe hype on the 2017 Draft class.
The expectations that Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball, Jayson Tatum, Josh Jackson, Dennis Smith Jr., Donovan Mitchell, Bam Adebayo and others will contribute early and often were reinforced by the play in Orlando, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas.
A look at how players with local ties performed this summer — with a special note that Donovan Mitchell, Bam Adebayo and Troy Williams earned recognition for their play from Sports Illustrated.
LINK: Mitchell (UofL), Adebayo (UK), Williams (IU) earn top summer league grades
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