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catmandoo
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Member # 1284

posted 08-15-2014 10:12 AM      Profile for catmandoo   Email catmandoo   Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I knew he was good but didn't know he was this good. He looks to be another one year player witch is good for him but not so good for us fans. [Wink]

Before Kentucky left for the Bahamas, coach John Calipari admitted that 7-foot freshman Karl-Anthony Towns was even better than he expected.

Remember Towns is a McDonald’s All-American, consensus top 10 recruit in the 2014 class, has already played for the Dominican Republic national team and was tabbed as a potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft in one mock draft.

Still, Towns has done nothing to alter Calipari’s perception with his play in UK’s first three exhibition games going into Friday’s game with the Dominican Republic in Nassau.

“I really didn’t know how gifted of a scorer he is. He has to get stronger, but his skill level is really, really high for a young, young man. And he really hasn’t shot the ball well and that’s one thing that he can do. But he can score in a variety of ways and he’s just going to be a big piece for us,” assistant coach John Robic said after Tuesday’s win.

Towns may not have shot well, but yet he’s made 15 of 26 shots (.577 percent) in three games despite going 0-for-5 from 3-point range. He’s averaging 13 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.

“Towns has a great understanding of the game,” ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said during UK’s win. “It shows in how skilled he is and what a great passer he is. He moves well and has a great future ahead of him, and his present is pretty good, too.

“One of the things really impressive about Karl is that you can tell he has a great work ethic. He comes to work in games and (UK assistant coach) Barry Rohrssen says his phone is blowing up with Town asking to work out. For a coaching staff to have players that want to get in extra work … to be a great player, it’s not just the work but the extra work. And he will put that work in.”

Towns believes his international experience — Calipari coached the Dominican team that Towns played on — has helped him adjust to college basketball.

“It’s definitely helped a lot, the experience, being able to guess the opponent’s move without even having a scouting report on them. It really helped me a lot, especially with the DR (Dominican Republic) team. I give them a lot of crap, but I’m here with Kentucky. I’m glad that I can maybe shed some experience (with his native Dominican Republic team). But at the same time, (the UK vets) got more experience than me at this level and I’m just glad that I have a chance to play with these great guys,” Towns said after UK’s opening win.

“I think that my size sometimes deceives people. But at the end of the day, I have to do what’s best for the team. And today, for me, the best thing I could do for the team was give them an inside presence. When you have people like Andrew (Harrison) and everyone here, it makes it a lot easier to play both sides of the ball — play perimeter and also play inside, because they can find you inside and they can definitely find you outside. I think people don’t give me as much credit for the perimeter, but that’s just our little advantage that we have.”

Assistant coach Kenny Payne raved about Towns after he had 19 points and 10 rebounds in UK’s win over Chalons-Reims, a pro team from France, in game two.

“Unbelievable on the boards. Still, we’re not satisfied because he has so much more. He’s a very talented, a very energetic player with a whole bunch of skill. He has to learn that we play this game from inside-out, not outside-in. But what he brings to this team is super because we need big, long, energetic, skilled guys that can dictate what we’re trying to do,” Payne said.


Link

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http://www.ukfightsong.com/

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