catmandoo
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Member # 1284
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posted 07-27-2020 08:41 PM
Today, it’s time to focus on arguably the most important piece of the 2020-2021 puzzle for the Kentucky Wildcats, Wake Forest transfer Olivier Sarr:
About a week ago, a high-major assistant coach took a call from a vacation home high in the mountains, with limited cell phone reception. By technical definition, he and the rest of the staff were there on a little “retreat,” but in actuality it was mostly just a “getaway.” Yes, there was plenty of hoops talk in the morning, but also plenty of hiking and swimming in the afternoon.
In other words, it was the perfect chance for this coach to get away from all the noise, and ignore any media requests that could otherwise be put off to another time. Instead when I texted the coach, he gladly took the request, and as soon as the call began, started absolutely gushing about Olivier Sarr.
“Wake was my scout,” the coach said. “I’m going to say that he was the most skilled big man we played the entire year. Skilled, not best. Our entire was game-plan for Wake Forest surrounded stopping him.”
The coach continued.
“He killed us,” the coach said. “We literally couldn’t guard him.”
If this sounds like the remarks of an overzealous coach trying to hype up a kid who had a good game against him, think again. One, his team got the win. And two, this coach knows hoops. He has spent most of the last decade around high-major basketball. He’s been part of high-major teams that have won conference regular season and tournament championships and made multiple Sweet 16’s and Elite Eight’s in the NCAA Tournament. Oh, and his team also faced multiple big men this season who will end up being selected early in the NBA Draft.
Still, if there was any doubt as to whether the coach was telling the truth or not, he followed up by adding something else.
“We were waiting to see if he got in the portal,” he said laughing. “Because we were like ‘that motherf***er is good.’”
So yeah, Sarr is talented, but to be blunt, we already knew that it. That’s kind of common sense whenever anyone is named to an All-League team, especially in a conference as loaded as the ACC. It even takes on more meaning when you remember that he did it on a bad team. It’s one thing to be All-ACC at a place like Duke or Virginia. Quite another on a team which finished tied for last place. It also kind of becomes common-sense when you look at the stat lines, where Sarr managed five 20-point games this season, and one 30-point game. Not to mention six double doubles in the final 14 games of the season.
Link
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http://www.ukfightsong.com/
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