he got minutes this year because 2 starters were out for an extended time. him leaving is a playing time issue
UK Travis Perry to the portal
- Thread starter edub72
- Start date
The total package, I heard, if he ends up staying both of his remaining years, is over a million...NOT per year.
I'm not arguing that Perry is a super solid player, just that he showed more to me and looked way more like he belonged at this level, than Cupps ever did. If I had 1 spot for a backup PG this year, I'd take Perry every day over Cupps, regardless of what their HS scouting report said.
Obviously nothing wrong with that take. They were both very decorated coming out of high school, both won state titles, both won Mr Basketball awards, both 4 star recruits... The problem, for me, with putting too much on how they've looked in college thus far... Perry played for one of the better, and more dynamic, perimeter oriented coaches and offenses in the country... and Cupps played for... well, Woodson. I know more than a few UK fans that were frustrated with Perry's lack of impact on the UK team, despite the offense being tailor made for his skills, AND them having significant injuries at the guard position.
At the risk of comparing "smaller" white guards... neither of them are nearly as good as Braden Smith, or ever will be. And they're not even remotely similar types of players to each other. I think both are capable rotational guys for most college programs. But both have limitations.
I believe so. Thought Perry was 70-80 and Cupps 100ish, but maybe think one of the services had Cupps ranked much higher. Like I said, I think there's enough experience to start to dismiss HS rankings. Both were ranked WAY ahead of Braden Smith and we all see how that's turned out.
My main "pause" with Perry is he had an ENORMOUS opportunity this year to become an impactful guard for that team. For whatever reason, he never really earned extended minutes. Kentucky had huge injury issues in the backcourt, and Pope's offense "should" have been right up Perry's ally. As it was, his 3P percentage, was actually worse than Cupps. I think his per minute numbers are probably similar...better on some, worse on some.
But like the coaches involved or not... 1 college basketball coach thought enough of Cupps to play him 21 minutes per game, and then another one thought enough of him to give him 400K this year, and then another 600k+ if he stays next year. Perry's college coach, albeit on a better overall team, only thought enough of him to play him 9-10 minutes a game, despite spending long stretches of the season down 2-3 of his top perimeter players.
Perry is 100% a better shooter/scorer though.
Impossible to know... Guesses...
Smith wouldn't have been as good, for Woodson and IU, as he has been for Painter and Purdue. But he'd have been better than most, if not all, the guards we've had the last 3 years. JHS, under Woodson, might be there with what Smith would have done. JHS didn't need a good system. And as good as Smith is, I do think he benefits a lot from all the stuff Painter runs.
Cupps would have been better playing for Painter, and Purdue...his freshman year. But Purdue wouldn't have been as good with him, as they were with Smith.
Smith is better at every aspect of the game, except maybe on the ball defending. Stands to reason both teams would be better with Smith. But Cupps, I think, would have benefitted greatly from Painters offensive and defensive system.
But then we might still have to see Woodson coaching daily. So there's a reason for everything to work out. A junior high coach can do no worse than Woodson did!!
Gotta think Smith would have helped our depth, and overall helped us win a couple more games his freshman year. Maybe we get to the 2nd weekend of the NCAAs? Don't think, even with TJD, that he'd have gotten us "over the hump" enough to compete for a FF. In his 2nd and 3rd years though, he'd probably have been worth 5-6 more regular season wins. Obviously, after that sort of run, Woodson is not only still the coach, but the most consistently successful coach, at IU, since RMK. Wild to think about, actually.
All of my Perry/Cupps comps are versus Cupps freshman year. This past year, for Cupps, isn't really worth including, as he was hurt the entire year, and it greatly impacted the limited time he did play.
I agree with you; he's viable high major role player. I think he sees the writing on the wall that he is going to be recruited over at UK every year. he's better than Cupps
