How tall will Cats, Cards be in 2014-15?
This isn't exactly a recruiting post, but with today's news that Alex Poythress and Dakari Johnson are returning to Kentucky and yesterday's news that Anas Osama Mahmoud had officially signed with Louisville, it's now set in stone that the Wildcats and the Cardinals will be some seriously long, tall teams in 2014-15.
Here's a quick rundown of just how tall the frontcourts of the two teams are, counting only returning and incoming scholarship forwards and centers.
Note: U of L calls 6-7 Shaqquan Aaron a guard in its official release when he signed, so I didn't include him here, but he likely will play a lot of small forward. If he's included U of L's average frontcourt height reduces slightly. The same goes for 6-5 UK signee Devin Booker.
Kentucky
Ht. = Inches, Player
7-0 = 84 Willie Cauley-Stein
7-0 = 84 Dakari Johnson
7-0 = 84 Karl Towns
6-10 = 82 Trey Lyles
6-9 = 81 Marcus Lee
6-9 = 81 Derek Willis
6-8 = 80 Alex Poythress
Total = 576 inches/seven players = 82.29 inches on average = approx 6-101/3 on average
Louisville
Ht. = Inches, Player
7-2 = 86 Matz Stockman
7-1 = 85 Anas Osama Mahmoud
6-10 = 82 Chinanu Onuaku
6-10 = 82 Mangok Mathiang
6-9 = 81 Jaylen Johnson
6-8 = 80 Montrezl Harrell
6-8 = 80 Akoy Agau
6-5 = 77 Wayne Blackshear
Total = 653 inches/eight players = 81.63 inches on average = approx. 6-9 2/3 on average
The idea that two college teams could have every forward and center average basically 6-10 across the board is kind of ridiculous, and UK and U of L would seem top candidates to be the tallest teams in the country. If UK gets the Harrison twins back, its backcourt would be enormous, too, except for 5-8 freshman Tyler Ulis.