I would say Ryan Harrow is about the same as Teague so far. He might be better because he should be a sophomore/junior version as opposed to a freshman version, but just from a prospect POV he's fairly similar.
Goodwin is quicker and more athletic than Lamb but Lamb had a lot of savvy and was a heck of a shooter. Not sure this is an upgrade for the team, just very different players. It is an athletic upgrade, that I will agree on.
Poythress is a fine player and could be better than MKG, but the big question is the motor. MKG had a fantastic motor that is going to be hard to replace by anyone, even a better prospect, like Poythress.
The big downgrade will be at the PF position, with Jones gone. There is some talk of them signing Bennett/Jefferson but currently this is a huge downgrade to Wiltjer.
The second big downgrade is at Center. Noel is a fantastic player but he is not as good as Davis on either side of the court from what I have seen.
The third downgrade is the bench. They lose Wiltjer to the starting 5, they lose Miller and Vargas to graduation. They replace them with Cauley, who is a great pickup but raw. If they get Bennet/Jefferson then they gain back Wiltjer on the bench but still lose Miller.
Miller is a huge lose (assuming all 5 starters are gone) because they have no backup guards. Miller was able to come in and back up the 2 which shifted Lamb to the 1 and gave Teague a rest. Unless they can get something out of the blue or can pull something from their stiffs, they are in trouble in the backcourt.
If they that is their lineup that will be younger than this past year and not as deep.
With any young team, you never know how well their chemistry will come together and how soon they will be ready to handle the big moments. Usually it takes at least 2 years. Last year was unique though they did have one Senior who was a solid contributor and two juniors that had some F-4 experience from the year before as well.
The addition of Harrow to run the point is huge. Arguably the most important position and they get a kid who has some D1 experience.
As for missing Davis, his contribution was mainly on the defensive end of the floor though his offense continued to improve as the season went on. If Noel can learn to stay on the floor for long stretches, UK might not have that much of a drop off at the 5. They also have Willie Cauley, ranked #9 (Scout) and #15 (Rivals) at the center position. Granted you're talking about 2 freshman manning the point. Freshman Bigs quite often give you 10 minutes of PT before fouling out. Hopefully for them both will learn to play D with their feet and not their hands.
Goodwin will give them a better all around 2G, but again, he'll be just a freshman compared to the battle tested Lamb who struggled his first season, but really came up big this past one. Goodwin really impressed me with his all around game. On a side note, I was not impressed the first time I saw Purvis, but wow, he was awesome during the All-Star game I watched a few weeks ago. It stung a bit when I heard that we came a close 2nd. It sounded like if not for the tournament ban, he might not have had the hesitations he had and just might have pulled the trigger for the Huskies. Oh, well. We move on.
I really like Poythress. He's a true combo guard that can give them minutes at the 3 and the 4. He has ridiculous range for a kid his size and can put it on the floor. He also looks like a kid who's not afraid to bang under the basket and should be a very good rebounder. As good as Jones was, I think he'll exceed his production this coming season. Just seems like a kid who has a lot of confidence in his abilities, something that Jones struggled with at times. I realize that Jones slide over from the 3 to the 4 this past season and that MKG was UK's primary wing. If UK is able to add Bennett at the 4, then he's the true replacement for Jones, which I think will be an upgrade since Bennett is a more true 4-man while Jones was a 3/4 combo. As for Poythress vs MKG, it looks like a wash, though MKG was very good at attacking the basket and finishing in transition. I think many under value how good and how important MKG was for this team.
The one player that would put them over the top is Bennett. He already has the body to play at the next level and has a ton of game to go along with it. As noted above he'd be an upgrade over Jones due to being a better position fit at the 4, and IMO, would make them a major threat for reaching -4. I haven't really surveyed the field to see if there are any top tier teams returning many of their key players. If much of the big boys are at a minimum doing some retooling, then a young talented UK team might just come together and make another run for the title, especially if Noel is able to stay on the floor and take away the paint. Our young team two years ago wasn't exactly an offensive juggernaut, but we had enough offense thanks to Kemba and an impressive team defense that came together at just the right time. If Harrow can come in and lead this team with some level of maturity, note that I know very little about him, he could be the glue guy and voice of calm to shepherd this young team deep into March. One thing to keep in mind though, who is their back-up PG? Harrow is not going to be able to play 40 minutes every game and they could find themselves in a lot of trouble if Harrow gets into foul trouble. Maybe Goodwin can slide over to the 1 and hold down the ship for whatever minutes they need.
They just look like a very talented but young and thin (depth wise) team. Unlike this past season, where I stated that they had the right pieces to win it all with a team lead primarily by Freshman and Sophomores, I'm not so sure about this group, even if they get Bennett. I think their youth and inexperience won't carry them 6 consecutive games in March. Someone will trip them up. Last season, they didn't have any one or even two players to rely on for scoring. They really did a nice job of spreading it around, but those they spread it to were very good offensive players. I just don't think the new group has nearly as much offensive fire power. I can see them relying a lot of Goodwin against teams that are able to shut down their inside game and young scores have a long history of shooting their teams right out of the tournament. Knight against us two years ago, is case in point. I would not be shocked if the Squid makes it back-to-back-to-back F4s, but until I see how this team looks on the floor, I say a back-to-back NC is unlikely. If that's the case and he can manage to keep most of these young players for a second season, then who wouldn't sign of for that? If he has to reload again and doesn't sniff an NC for a long time, then Cal and the UK program will face a lot of expectation pressure. Having to rebuild just about every year and only getting to -4 will eventually not be good enough. If he sprinkles in an NC every 2 to 3 years, then again, who wouldn't sign up for that. It will be very interesting to see how UK does over the next 2 to 4 years.
