Man. Someone tell him we don’t have a campus at UVA!!!
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Seriously someone needs to teach this kid how to spend his money. I volunteer myself.
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Looks like no visa issues for him
I swear KSU was so poorly coached last year.
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Starting from roster construction (or lack thereof).
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Probably the biggest issue. They also were stubborn about ball screens at times and didn’t really play to their matchups either tho
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Okay - Grünloh is going to be the better option in most situations; but officially count me excited for having Onyenso on the roster and the matchup options he’ll give us.
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You and I are probably the only two VIPs excited about Ugo. But I think he’s going to be a fantastic backup to Grünloh and will bring a ton of energy on the defensive end in particular. I’ve also wondered if we might not occasionally see both on the floor in the right situations. What do you think?
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I don’t think we’ll see that often assuming De Ridder is mostly a done deal. It depends on Grünloh’s defense - but from what I’ve seen I don’t think we’ll want to see either of them having to slide with most 4s.
Offensively, I think they could play together - but do you really want Grünloh at the 4 in an Odom offense when you have Tillis and, more importantly, De Ridder? Because both are better outside shooters and are going to put the ball on the floor for you with more efficacy. Feels like an unnecessary sacrifice there for the benefit of playing twin towers but you won’t want that too often with how many mobile 4s they are that can space you out.
Grünloh will be a little more mobile than Onyenso on defense though a little less imposing of a shot blocker (although still good) - he’ll be a better defensive matchup against stretch 5s and won’t be a slouch against regular Centers but his biggest value will be that true stretch 5 on offense who has a solid post game (Ugonna is purely a rim runner/finisher - he’s not creating his own offense) but you’re not sacrificing on defense to play him.
I think Ugonna’s value is going to be to keep Grünloh fresh, to be sure, but he’ll be a great option against opposing physical Centers or to put in there if our guards are struggling to hold up to the point of attack. He should be pretty threatening as a rim-runner off of the pick and roll with all of our shooters providing spacing, too.
I see their value being more of that true one-for-one Center duo, though - where we almost always have exactly one in but don’t need to have both and also don’t really benefit from not playing either - because you’re almost always just going to prefer Grünloh over going small ball at 5, too.
*You’re going to want to keep both fresh and out of foul trouble too.
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I don’t think that’s very accurate, I know a lot of us were and are excited about the pickup
I know a few were concerned by his numbers dropping at K-State but IIRC most thought it was a great pickup
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I’m excited based on his time at Kentucky and hopeful that his KSU stint can be mostly chalked up to bad roster fit / bad coaching / bad situation.
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I’ve been excited for him.
My prediction: He’s gonna have like a 7 block game midseason where he looks like Victor Wembanyama and create a small but strong undercurrent of “should he be starting over Grünloh?”
This will be an incorrect thought, but I will understand.
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I’m sorta tepid. Recall hearing there were some concerns with lack of touch/bricks for hands and poor feel for the game. Tough to coach those.
But you also can’t coach height or athleticism and he’s got that.
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I don’t think he has bricks for hands nor poor touch. I thought he looked easy as a finisher of looks at the rim when he was open or when his defender was in recovery mode.
The big gap in his game is he has no offense himself.
If he were slated to be our starting Center and we didn’t really have other good options behind him, I’d be more lukewarm. But as a back-up defensive-minded Center who is going to dunk most things if you leave him, I really like him and as a fit with this team.
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Small sample size given his limited minutes but his career TO rate is fine (15.8%).
I liked listening to Dallin’s podcast with Jeff White where he mentioned already doing some 1-on-1 work with Ugo to set him up for dunks/easy buckets. Hall did a good job of this with BYU’s bigs.
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Ugo is young for his “grade”. I’m guessing that he enrolled at Kentucky when he was 17. It takes a while for many bigs to develop. Let’s hope that he comes into his own this season.
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Fair enough. My sense was that most people were “excited with reservations” given his KS misadventure. I’m higher on him than that And feel he’s ready to excel in Odom’s system with the personnel surrounding him.
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Unacceptable
(Just in case not obvious, this is a joke, @Cuts_from_The_Corner)
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I kinda expect Onyenso to start. Doesn’t matter much, they’ll probably play about the same unless one of them struggles. Get a little De Ridder at center mixed in, so say 17-18 minutes average for Ugonna/Grünloh each.
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