I'm sure teams are looking at it the same way you are looking at it and will scrutinize him at camps more critically than players whom they watched play this season.
So the kid will find out if his gambit paid off or not.
Could we have used Diallo this season. Absolutely. He didn't want to be part of a sinking ship. Did his recruitment hurt UConn. Absolutely.
You all do realize that for all the hand-wringing and suicidal thoughts that were thrown about on this board for the last 3 months since his commitment to Kentucky... not to mention the literal castigation some of you wanted of both Glen Miller and Kevin Ollie for losing out to Calipari on him - this latest part of his plan being set in motion proves that getting him to commit here would have been a net negative. A BIG net negative. And that once Kentucky offered him a scholarship there was almost zero chance he was coming here.
Fleudslipcon, let me start this by saying you are one of the most consistently rational people on here - in fact you just made a great point on the "Enoch Commits to Louisville" thread that everyone's premature speculation on Steve's new career at Louisville is just that, wild speculation.
So I am disappointed to see you join the ranks of the speculators and the know-it-alls (who know nothing) when it comes to Hamidou Diallo. How can you or anyone else now honestly speculate that Hami Diallo's decision had anything to do with how our season was going or ended up by the end of this year?
Sorry, but this one is easy - he is proving he does NOT want to have to play in college at all before getting drafted, as Methodology points out. He is betting that some team will be stupid enough to take him in the first round - a.k.a. GUARANTEED MONEY, without having to step on a court in college. Ok, he is a great athlete with some basketball skills. But his game will get totally exposed if he actually plays at this level. He is obviously scared sh$!less of that exact thing happening. There is no school in college basketball today that provides a vehicle for this exact type of plan to be executed better than Kentucky.
The fact is that he was picking Kentucky even if we were 11-0 and in the top 10 going into that Auburn game that he attended. Saying "He didn't want to be part of a sinking ship" is a total disconnect from the reality of what his plan has been all along, and which school could help him the best to execute that plan.
I wish Hami nothing but the best - but this proves that not only would he not have been some great player here... he would have been a DISASTER for us. Think Andre Drummond's one year, but significantly worse. At least Andre tried to fit into the team concept. Hami is proving he wants nothing to do with putting any team over his own desires. Didn't we have enough of that with the cast on hand already this year? And how exactly would he have made this year's team better, other than providing another warm body? A ME FIRST guy whose biggest weakness (has no jump shot) was also one of our two biggest weaknesses as a team. Other than a few highlight dunks, we would have all been complaining about his crappy outside shooting, his lousy defense (got called out for that at PSA on at least one occasion) and his perceived dis-interest at playing team first basketball.
And now we would be dealing with him putting his name in for the draft? Just another huge distraction for this team that needs no more of them. Frankly, I am mystified by some of the false narratives that posters put on here and then stick to as if their lives depended upon it. Sorry Fleudslipcon, I should not be calling you out because as I said, unlike some posters on here you actually make sense and offer well-thought out opinions most of the time. I am really surprised you think having Diallo on the team this year would have been good for us - and that he picked Kentucky because of the bad year we were having.
Here is one thing that should make practically everyone on this board happy - it looks like he is doing a masterful job of using Calipari and Kentucky without giving them anything in return. The "master" is getting used and abused. Funny how no one has pointed to that aspect of this story yet.
