The worst NBA team would beat Kentucky by at least 40 points. The worst NBA team is still far superior talent-wise and is used to the grind of an NBA season. The worst D-League team would beat Kentucky by at least 20 points. This Kentucky team isn't even that cohesive, especially on the offensive end. Not surprising considering many of their players are freshmen. Ole Miss took them to overtime recently. College basketball teams in general aren't as good as they were 15+ years ago, due to most of the best players declaring for the draft after their freshman or sophomore years. I think a top-tier, senior-laden college team from the 80s or early 90s that can shoot well would be slightly more competitive with today's Knicks or 76ers...but they'd still lose by 20-25 points or so.
http://www.nba.com/dleague/idaho/roster/ Idaho stampede's roster. 4-16, worst record in the D-League.
If we are talking about the Knicks team that played last night maybe? (No Carmelo, STAT, Bargiani) Basically Kentucky is longer and bigger at every position. They could win because NY Knicks do not have an NBA player who can dominate (Calderon would be the closest?) They do have players who did well in college though (Hardaway Jr./Early/Larkin) The reason why Kentucky would not win is that their twin guards are not consistent scorers. However, it would not be crazy I would give them 4-1 odds.
[rquoter]Brown: UK could make NBA playoffs SMU coach Larry Brown knows basketball. The 74-year-old "junkie" has coached at all levels and is the only man to have won both an NCAA national championship and an NBA title. He also knows Kentucky Wildcats coach John Calipari, who was an assistant under Brown with the Philadelphia 76ers. So when Brown says that Calipari's Wildcats, who are 34-0 entering NCAA tournament play and have won by an average of 20.9 points per game, are good enough to be an NBA playoff team, one takes notice. "I don't want to put pressure on John," Brown said Wednesday. "I feel real close to him. I'm so proud of what he's done. I think they'd honestly make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference if they were in the NBA." Kentucky, who needs just one win to tie the 2013-14 Wichita State team for the longest win streak to start a season in NCAA history, opens NCAA tournament play Thursday night against Hampton. It's not the first time this season that a coach has said that of the No. 1 Wildcats, who are bidding to become the first team to go undefeated since the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers. Chris Briggs of perennial NAIA power Georgetown College said the same thing after Kentucky crushed his team 121-52 during an exhibition game prior to this season. "I knew they were good coming into this game, but sitting out there watching it on the sideline, honestly I don't see how they're going to get beat this year," Briggs forecasted on Nov. 10. "I don't like to say that, because I know people have off nights, and things can happen and this and that, and injuries and things like that, but if they play like they did tonight, they're an NBA playoff team." Calipari was quick then to pour water on that statement. The Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers both have 30-37 records and are vying for the eighth and final playoff spot in the NBA's Eastern Conference along with the Charlotte Hornets (No. 10, 29-37) and the Brooklyn Nets (No. 11, 27-39). Meanwhile, the New York Knicks (14-53) and Philadelphia 76ers (16-52) are bringing up the rear of the Eastern Conference standings. Brown, whose Mustangs are a No. 6 seed in the South Regional, said Wednesday that he's enjoyed watching how Calipari has handled his team this season. "I've been so impressed with the way they defend and the way they share the ball and the way they don't have an ego," Brown said. "It reminds me a lot of Tark's [Jerry Tarkanian's] teams. Tark was so underrated in my mind about what he did on the defensive end and how he got kids committed to do what they did best. For the sake of the team, and I think John's been able to do that. "But you have to be lucky. You don't win a championship unless special things happen. My first year at UCLA, we make the layup, we win the national championship. When I was at Kansas, if Archie Marshall doesn't go down with a knee injury, we might have won three. You've just got to be fortunate. "But I think in order for somebody to beat Kentucky, Kentucky has to play as poorly as they can possibly play, and somebody else has to play great because they defend so well. They rebound the ball so well, and he's got them playing as a team. It's going to be a test for anybody."[/rQUOTEr]
I was about to post this. To say that they could beat an NBA team would have them jumping two levels of competition. College basketball has so little talent in this day and age, any player with even marginal talent is early entry or already playing int he D-league. If Kentucky had a team of all Seniors that had played together for four seasons maybe they could beat a D-League team. But a pro team, no chance.
People said this about Memphis 2008 team.....and then we saw what Joey Dorsey looked like as an NBA rookie.
The question is, "Can Kentucky beat the Knicks?" And the answer is, "yes they most certainly can." It may take 50 times playing them before they finally win, but if you take the question literally, yes they can.
Almost every couple years this gets asked, well sorry to say there is a large difference between college and the NBA, the Knicks only look bad because they go up against other NBA teams. If you want comparisons, guys like Hasheem Thabeet averaged 5+ blocks a game in college, and Derrick Rose/Michael Beasley averaged 20-20s a night.Why do you even think we have lottery busts? Because these guys look like stars and then play like crap in the NBA. And we're talking about the cream of the crop guys, how many of these blue chip rooks does Kentucky have? You think a bunch of teenagers can hang against a real NBA team with fully grown ass men? LOL wtf.
If you use statistical probability then yes, Kentucky "can" beat an NBA team at least once if they played 100 or so games. He said they could be a playoff team in the East which would mean that Kentucky would have to consistently beat NBA teams and be competitive. That statement is ludicrous.
Sorry, I mixed Briggs' comment with Browns' comment. But I believe the same reasoning I said can be used for both of their comments.
Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle suggests that you can walk through a brick wall, though the probability is low. Feel free to try it for a while and let us know when it happens.
