Don’t count ESPN national recruiting director Paul Biancardi as one who is worried about what kind of impact Nerlens Noel will have at Kentucky his freshman season.
Noel spent most of his summer completing two classes he had needed to complete his freshman eligibility requirements before arriving on campus over the weekend. He was criticized by some for his “lackluster” play at a California camp after he completed his summer school work.
“When you don’t play or practice as much as you normally do, it will show but it won’t hamper him long term. He has to do more come fall to catch back up, but it is all part of the learning curve when you are playing catch up,” Biancardi said. “He is battle tested. He has played AAU at the highest level. He went to a high level prep school. He has done everything you can in the high school ranks.
“It will be different at Kentucky, but I think he will work and get better over time. It may not come as quickly as everybody wants. A lot of what you do during the year is based on what you do during the offseason. I am sure he has been working on his game, but he had to spend some time doing other things. That might make his progress a little slower. But once he gets to practicing at UK and doing weight training, it should all come together pretty quick.
“He has great instincts for what he does, which is block shots and protect the rim. I still think he was a huge get for John Calipari and will make a huge difference in this year’s team.”
Biancardi says even though UK lost its top six players off last year’s national championship team that Calipari will still have a “super talented” team this season.
“They have good guys that are super talented,” Biancardi said. “They do have a huge learning curve. John Calipari and his staff do a great job molding them and shaping players into a system and getting the most out of the talent and still keep egos where you can have an ego but not allow it to hurt the team. That is a fine art that staff does very well.
“But those guys all have enormous talent. Where they line up right now and compare to last year, that’s too early to tell. The freshmen this year won’t have as much help as last year’s freshmen. They have no Darius Miller, Terrence Jones or Doron Lamb. There’s not a lot of help in front of them to show them the way, but they are still going to be very, very good.”
Biancardi says it is no surprise that Calipari could lose so many top players and reload his roster again with Noel, Archie Goodwin, Willie Cauley-Stein and Alex Poythress along with transfer Julius Mayes.
“I think when they put their eyes on someone and lock in, then they are pretty much involved with who they want to be involved with,” Biancardi said. “You don’t get everybody you want, but Calipari and the Cats have gotten the ones they needed to get and will keep doing that.”
Noel spent most of his summer completing two classes he had needed to complete his freshman eligibility requirements before arriving on campus over the weekend. He was criticized by some for his “lackluster” play at a California camp after he completed his summer school work.
“When you don’t play or practice as much as you normally do, it will show but it won’t hamper him long term. He has to do more come fall to catch back up, but it is all part of the learning curve when you are playing catch up,” Biancardi said. “He is battle tested. He has played AAU at the highest level. He went to a high level prep school. He has done everything you can in the high school ranks.
“It will be different at Kentucky, but I think he will work and get better over time. It may not come as quickly as everybody wants. A lot of what you do during the year is based on what you do during the offseason. I am sure he has been working on his game, but he had to spend some time doing other things. That might make his progress a little slower. But once he gets to practicing at UK and doing weight training, it should all come together pretty quick.
“He has great instincts for what he does, which is block shots and protect the rim. I still think he was a huge get for John Calipari and will make a huge difference in this year’s team.”
Biancardi says even though UK lost its top six players off last year’s national championship team that Calipari will still have a “super talented” team this season.
“They have good guys that are super talented,” Biancardi said. “They do have a huge learning curve. John Calipari and his staff do a great job molding them and shaping players into a system and getting the most out of the talent and still keep egos where you can have an ego but not allow it to hurt the team. That is a fine art that staff does very well.
“But those guys all have enormous talent. Where they line up right now and compare to last year, that’s too early to tell. The freshmen this year won’t have as much help as last year’s freshmen. They have no Darius Miller, Terrence Jones or Doron Lamb. There’s not a lot of help in front of them to show them the way, but they are still going to be very, very good.”
Biancardi says it is no surprise that Calipari could lose so many top players and reload his roster again with Noel, Archie Goodwin, Willie Cauley-Stein and Alex Poythress along with transfer Julius Mayes.
“I think when they put their eyes on someone and lock in, then they are pretty much involved with who they want to be involved with,” Biancardi said. “You don’t get everybody you want, but Calipari and the Cats have gotten the ones they needed to get and will keep doing that.”
