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UK Basketball: Crawford, Bradley will be missed

October 23, 2008|LARRY VAUGHT

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - How much will Kentucky miss the scoring Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawford provided last year?

That's a question several Southeastern Conference players pondered here Wednesday during the SEC media days.

"Crawford and Bradley were both very good players. They were great defenders as well as good scorers. Plus, they were good guys. You could tell everybody on that team really liked them and respected them," said Alabama's Alonzo Gee.

"They were very competitive guys that will be hard to replace. Just playing against them, they both did a lot of things to help a team win. I think it is pretty tough in this league to replace players like that. But in this league, you have to do that."

South Carolina's Devan Downey, the SEC's top returning point guard, thinks the Wildcats will miss both players more than many UK fans might realize.

"I feel like personally Kentucky will be a good team, but you are talking about Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawford being gone. Anytime you lose the leader of your team like they did in Ramel, a guy who started three years, then somebody else is going to have step up. He could score the ball and provide leadership," Downey said. "Then there is Joe.

"I remember the game at Carolina and he killed us. You lose two players like that it hurts the team a lot."

Expectations for a solid team

While he's not sure about how junior college transfer Kevin Galloway or freshman DeAndre Liggins will play at point guard, Downey says UK coach Billy Gillispie's reputation as a recruiter and Kentucky's tradition tell him the Wildcats will still have a solid team.

"I am sure they expect to bounce back and be good. But when you lose two players like that, and then don't have Derrick Jasper, either, it could be hard on a team. You have to miss them a lot more than most people probably want to believe," Downey said.

He said it's hard to gauge how difficult it is for a new point guard to take over a SEC team.

"It is very hard. This league is a good point guard league when you look around. Just to come in and get adjusted is hard for freshman or a junior college guy. I know Gillispie has guys he thinks will be OK, but it's going to be a tough adjustment for Kentucky without Bradley and Crawford," Downey said.

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