A bit of sympathy from a UK fan.

[PandamoniumReigns]

I think most people outside of UK or UT would absolutely say that Meeks is more valuable to his team than Smith is to UT.

It has little to do with Tyler's skill, but more to do with role.

In Meeks favor

Meeks takes 35% of UK's shots / Tyler is at 25%
Meeks plays 83% of game / Tyler plays 77.8%
29% of UK's plays end in a positive play by Meeks / Tyler end 26%
Meeks ranks 110th in nation in offensive efficiency / Tyler is 27th (how good team is when you are on court)
Meeks effective FG% is 59% (adjusted for 3's) / Tyler's is 49%
Meeks shoots 90% from the line / Tyler shoots 75%
Meeks shoots nearly 53% from 2 / Tyler is at 50%
Meeks shoots 44% from 3 / Tyler is at just under 27%
Meeks scores 1.56 points per shot / Tyler scores 1.42 per shot
Meeks averages nearly 26 ppg (4th in nation) / Tyler is nearly 18 (68th in nation)
Meeks averages 1.5 steals pg / Tyler is at .8 pg


In Tyler's favor

Tyler gets 6% of offensive boards and 13.5% of defensive boards / Meeks gets 2.5% and 9% (not bad for a 2g)
Tyler gets twice as many available assists as Meeks does
Tyler turns the ball over 15% of the time he's on the court / Meeks is at 17%
Tyler draws 6.7 fouls per 40min / Meeks draws 6.2 per 40


Both players are great players and important to their teams, but the numbers suggest that outsiders would say Meeks is more important to UK than Tyler is to UT.

I'm not sure I'd want to have a player be 'more important" to my team....is often an indicator of lesser talent around the player.

mm

Interesting stats
Thanks MM

 

[Hardwood_fanatic]

Why would WKU match the high salary if they were planning on getting rid of him like you claimed?

mm

My guess is.... because of the sweet sixteen run into the tournament. Sorry for not being clear on the subject, it was kinda jumbled all together. During the course of the season, even as late as the sunbelt tourney, the talk of releasing him was rampant. After the sweet sixteen appearance and sudden outpouring of interest in Horn from South Carolina and others, I believe that Western backtracked on their original stance. But at that point, I think the bridges were burned and it would not have mattered what amount of money was offered.

This is speculation on my part, and not confirmed fact. A friend of mine inside the athletics department told me about the contract offer. Take it for what its worth, not trying to lie to you.

 

[lidderer]

Because of the importance of meeks position in the offense, and his incredible effectiveness, it's probably fair to say that kentucky does value him a lot more.

all of kentucky's losses(save the VMI debacle) have featured very poor performances by Meeks(6 TOs vs Louis.; 23% shooting vs miami; 5-of-20 and 6 TOs vs NC), which indicates even from a basic level that his level of importane is very high to kentucky's success.

While the same could nearly be said of tyler, I get the sense he could have a middling 6 points 4 rebound night and the supporting cast could still pull out a victory. That's not to say the cast here is necessarily that much better, but just that our particular style of play tends to allow for 'different heroes'.

 

[Hardwood_fanatic]

While the same could nearly be said of tyler, I get the sense he could have a middling 6 points 4 rebound night and the supporting cast could still pull out a victory. That's not to say the cast here is necessarily that much better, but just that our particular style of play tends to allow for 'different heroes'.

Agreed. Offensively, the supporting cast of UT carries a little more explosiveness and playmaking than that of UK. (outside of Patterson, of course)