
RELOADING: Arizona Wildcats SECURE Caleb Holt—How He Will TRANSFORM Them Into NBA Draft Pipeline
About this episode
Arizona Wildcats land elite guard Caleb Holt, fueling excitement for a new era of college basketball dominance in Tucson. Is Arizona building a five-star guard factory and cementing itself as a powerhouse in the Big 12 and NBA Draft circles?
Leif Thulin hosts NBA draft analyst James Barlowe to break down Holt’s two-way prowess, improving jumper, and NBA lottery potential. The conversation compares Holt’s fit and trajectory to standouts like Brayden Burries, touches on comps to Marcus Smart and Jamal Murray, and evaluates Arizona’s stacked roster with Koa Peat, Ivan Kharchenkov, and Mo Krivas. Key topics include positional size advantages, the Wildcats’ transfer strategies, and which prospects are likely to return or head to the draft. Will Tommy Lloyd’s blueprint turn Arizona into a perennial title contender and pro pipeline? Get the inside scoop on a program on the rise.
Arizona Lands Caleb Holt
Leaf Tuline introduces the addition of 5-star guard Caleb Holt to Arizona, bringing in James Barlowe to break down Holt’s game and fit.
03:02 — Arizona’s Freshman Draft Prospects
Deep dive comparing Caleb Holt to Brayden Burries, discussion of immediate impact, playstyle, and draft upside. Early comps and program recruiting philosophy.
13:49 — NBA Draft Stock: Burries, Pete, Kharchenkov, Krivas
Leif Thulin and James Barlowe analyze Arizona’s roster for NBA potential: who should declare, return, and overall outlook for Arizona as a draft pipeline
Arizona Wildcats, Arizona Basketball, Caleb Holt, Braden Burries, Koa Peet, Ivan Karchenkov, Mo Krivas, Jaden Bradley, BYU Basketball, Bruce Branch III, Arizona Wildcats News, Arizona Wildcats Rumors, Arizona Hoops, NBA Draft Prospects, College Basketball, Draft Stock, 5-star recruit, Tommy Lloyd, Big 12 Basketball, March Madness
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Locked On Wildcats - Daily Podcast On Arizona Wildcats Football & Basketball — RELOADING: Arizona Wildcats SECURE Caleb Holt—How He Will TRANSFORM Them Into NBA Draft Pipeline. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.
It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. What's up everybody? This is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Lockdown Podcast Network, and if you haven't heard yet, we started a club and we would love for you to join. It's called the Everydayer Club, and one of the things that you get as a member is an ad-free version of the podcast that you're listening to right now. It works with whatever podcast app you already used, same episodes every day, just no ad. There's also a member's only group chat for fans of your team, plus a lot more. You can check it out by tapping the Everydayer Club link in the show notes. The Arizona Wildcats are reloading already landing Caleb Holt. How great is he? Find out next. This is Lockdown Wildcats. You are Lockdown Wildcats, your daily podcast on the Arizona Wildcats.
Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome into Lockdown Wildcats, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network around. I'm your host, leave to lean, your resident college basketball guru, stats nerd, point guard by game and ball and lower by trade. I'm excited to talk Arizona hoofs with you today, and boy, because Arizona landed a star in Caleb Holt. Today on the show, I brought in my guy, James Barlow, to break down the game of Caleb Holt. Arizona's newest addition also touched on the draft prospects on Arizona's current roster. Braden Burries, co-op Pete, Yvonne Karchankov, and Mo Kreevost, James is a draft junkie as his title says, but also one of the sharpest minds in draft basketball. I'm super happy to have him on the show to break down Caleb Holt's film, because he has watched a lot of Caleb Holt and sent me a text that said, you're going to like him, and I trust James's eye on that. So thank you for joining. Man, I appreciate you for having me. It's always good to talk basketball with you, leave.
I appreciate it. So I'll give you an easy question here. What are the Wildcats faithful going to see in Caleb Holt? Holt comes in to, he will come in to Tucson, Wilby McDonnell's All-American, very talented player. You have Braden Burries, right? And a lot of what Braden Burries does well is also what Caleb Holt does well. I have him as my, on my 2027 draft, you know, if you know me, I'm always trying to be ahead of the game. But I have him as the eighth best player in next year's draft, and I think he is some like who could rise. He's worked with his jump shot, a ton, he's got great size. He's about 6'4", 6'5", should be well over 200 pounds. It's physical, a great point of attack, defender. And like I mentioned before, he's really, really improved as a shooter. He shot the ball well for the team USA of the under 19s. I believe that was last summer, definitely has taken his game to the next level. You'll see him, or I guess Arizona fans would see him play for a prolific prep as he is one of their star players along with BYU signing the Bruce Branch.
Third, but Caleb Holt is really, really good, combo guard, a much improved shooter. Like I said, if you like Bradenbury's out in transition running, Bradenbury's rebound and Bradenbury's as a secondary playmaker, Caleb Holt has a lot of those same traits. And I think he's going to be a very good signing. I think, not just because I'm on this podcast, which you leave, and not just because you're my guy at least, but like him choosing Arizona is like a perfect fit for how he plays and how he sets himself up to be a lottery pick in the 2027 NBA draft. So we talk about the draft a lot. We work together for those you don't know, and James and I chop it up about draft picks still. So, I want you to think just college basketball. Bradenbury's is excellent. He was all big 12. He was named first team. I think he's got a chance of being an all-American. He's a guy who in conference play is giving you at least 15, 5, and 4 on great splits, and he can take over a game and score 31 like he did against Colorado.
What do you think the numbers look like for Caleb Holt and what do you think the playstyle looks like? Can he play a bit of the one? Like, Burys, when Bradley's off the floor, takes over the playmaking duties. I know you said he's got some secondary playmaking, but do Wildcats need to go get a point guard. And what do you expect his biggest strengths to be right away? Because Burys had a slow start, but then all of a sudden he ascended and became an all-be 12 player. So I do think you still need to get a point guard. He did play a lot of point guard, and I mean, sometimes playing point guard on the A.U. level is just you're the best player on the team, and we're going to give you the ball. But I do think you still need to get a point guard. He may be like a Marcus Smart type point guard at the next level, where I mean, he's going to guard one, two, and three, but you don't necessarily want him to be your primary decision maker, which is why I think he's a secondary guy. But I think he is further along as a shooter at the same age than Braden Burys. Again, I'm not going to sit here and call him a shooter.
Burys, Burys can shoot it. Burys, to me, was he shot at the ball at a decent level his final year playing on the U.I.B.O. circuit. And he made a significant jump this year, whereas for like Caleb Wilson made that jump is making that jump as a senior in high school. Do I think he's a better shooter than Burys? I think he's at the same level, but he's ahead of schedule considering Burys as a 20-year-old freshman, and Caleb Cole will be an 18-year-old freshman. But like I said, I do think you need to get a point guard, but you're going to get a tenacious point of attack, the fender, with great size, who can... He's shooting the ball with so much confidence. Now, he's shooting like moving threes, and like I said, I think that the decision to go to Arizona was, it's a match made in heaven for him for sure. And that sounds like music to my ears, because my listeners hear me talk about this all the time. I talk about the additional size that Arizona possesses. Like Jaden Bradley is a point guard, but he's a big guy, broad shoulders strong, and how
they overwhelm teams, because not only is their front court huge, but their defense as a whole makes it very difficult to score, because if the guards are contesting, those are real contests. You funnel in, decree of us, you do all this. So the point of attack defense, and the size, and the playmaking and transition for himself, and others, all it makes me enthusiastic, buries, stood out to me so much, and I know they're not one to one, but it's easy to say that the reason he went to Arizona is because he saw what Bradenburys did, and he referenced an interview a while ago when there was some steam picking up about Will Arizona, get a good recruit, and he goes, well, Burry's giving me a one I'm done, and the Arizona fans were like, oh really, because he had a bad start to the season. He was going to be one of them, but now I think he's going to be a top-time pick. We'll touch on that in a moment. And you said number eight on your board, going to what is a lesser 2027 draft? What would you compare Burry's and his stock right now versus where you kind of see Holt going, and do you have a player comp for a Holt like Altogether? I know you said a Marcus Smart type of point guard, but I don't think it's a Marcus Smart
because he shoots so well. Do you have a player comp or kind of a trajectory that Holt could follow? So I say Marcus Smart because Marcus Smart to me is not a point guard, but at the same time, he, I'm talking Marcus Smart, it is his better years in Boston, where he guarded one, two, three, and his imprint on the game didn't look like you're, I guess, your prototypical primary ballhandler, but you look up, he has 15 points, he has five rebounds, he has four assists, he has three steals, he's going to block a shot, he's going to hit timely shots. I want to challenge your listeners to go back and watch Marcus Smart's Oklahoma State tape, right? Where it's just like, he impacted the game the entire time. I do think like I said, Holt's off the dribble ability is a work in progress, but the way that he has progressed as a shooter makes me think that he is already working on that,
working on becoming more of a primary ballhandler. I got to see him actually on that February, I went to all star weekend, went to the grind session, and I saw like in person the shooting ability really improved. Now the jump shot doesn't look the best, but it's going to go in and it's going in. He's just, he's revved to his, he's mastered how he shoots, kind of like a knuckleball, but like I said, you're going to get an energy guy, you're going to get somebody who's going to compete. And like the same level of energy and vibe that you get from Braden Burries, I think you should definitely get from Marcus Holt, or excuse me from Caleb Holt, who I think reminds me a lot of the Marcus Smart type of combo guard. A very different player than Braden Burries, but a similar impact, hopefully for Arizona, and it's a very big thing for the program to be able to win in an era of NIL, it means that Arizona is willing to allocate funds to go after this type of player and realize that they can be contenders by getting the best freshman and supplementing what they
retain. I mean, the reason Arizona is so good right now is they brought back Bonafide talent, pre-boss, and other guys. Then they brought in Pete Burries and CardChankov, who are all starters on a number one seed type of team. And I think this is kind of understanding that they're going all in and getting guys and reload. These guys can see, look, Braden Burries gets to play and have the ball, and he can be first team all conference, be a top 10 pick. And he can play team winning basketball, and Holt and his interview on Steven A Smith's show on that first take, he talked about winning two state titles, and how the biggest thing for him is winning. Of course, there's platitudes involved in these interviews, but I think it's important to recognize that a guy who, you know, compared to a Marcus Smart type, the intangibles really matter. He's has those intangibles, and he's got this like smooth scoring that's Jamal Murray, the Devon Bookery. They might be different, but you're getting a five star guard, and it might be a factory of five star guards come into fall. Speaking of, of Braden Burries and all these different guys, I want to talk about Burries
is Draftstock with James, co-op Pete's Draftstock, and of course, Will Creebox, Will CardChankov, Test the Waters, and where will they go, all that more next unlocked on Wildcats. I'm Clea Butler, host of Lockdown Women's Basketball, and this is Mazda's Women's Basketball Snapshot, celebrating the work no highlight reel can ever capture. Number one ranked Yukon dominated St. John's 85 to 49 on Sunday at Madison Square Garden, extending its winning streak to 47 games. The Huskies kept a perfect 31 and 0 regular season, including 20 and 0 in the big east. Yukon is winning by nearly 38 points per game. The third largest average margin in Division I history. Since 1999 to 2000, Yukon has nine undefeated regular seasons, as many as all other programs combined and has turned six of those into national championships. These moments are earned off the clock, those long before the lights ever come on, the
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everyone event contracts are offered by Robin Hood derivatives LLC, a registered futures commission merchant swap firm. Welcome back to Lockdown Wildcats. And if you've been thinking about joining the everyday club, now is the time. Again, you get the ad free shows and the access to our group chat on discord. And if you're signed up before the NCAA tournament tips off, you can get into our everyday club, bracket pool and discord for a chance to win Lockdown merch. It should be a lot of fun. So right now, join and use the code March to get your first month free. Lockdown Wildcats at supercast.com or tap the link in the show notes. Alrighty, leave Julian James Barlow kind enough to join us and discuss the NBA draft and the ramifications of Caleb Holt who he's seen in person. And he's watched and built these big boards ahead of time. No one better in the draft business to talk about these prospects. So we transition from Caleb Holt to the guy that he is emulating and hoping to replace in Bradenbury's. And to me, I came into the season believing that he's good and he could be a lottery pick.
And co-a-peat was the one who was likely to be a top 10 pick. Co-a-peat was the premier prospects on this team. And I don't mean this to the slide about co-a-peat. But it became about January when I started to realize, I think Bradenbury is not only the best basketball player on the team. He's the best prospect on the team and he's the most talented player on the basketball team. Over Jane Bradley, one of the big 12 player of the year. And over co-a-peat who overshadowed him in hype coming into this season. I have Bradenbury's and I'm still an NBA draft guy at heart. So I've told some of the people on here about where I have him on the draft and others haven't heard this. But I have number six on my board right now. I love Bradenbury's. I think he's unbelievably well-rounded and he's just in that same tier as a lot of those guards that you see with Wogler, with Flemmings and all these different guys. He's six four, shoots the ball beautifully, is able to play the point, rebounds the ball well, defends his tail off and competes. You and I typically see eye to eye on all of these. You made a face that made me think I'm a little higher on buries than you are. But tell it tell me where you got him. All right. So I think I had him at like 14 and I'm not mad, I'm not mad at you for having him six.
My thing with buries and I think he has a very high floor as an NBA player. I want to see, I'm still testing and this is crazy how the basketball world works. I did a podcast yesterday talking about the shooting guard position in this draft. He is somebody who I'm going to have to re-evaluate once everything is all set and done. Because, and the thing that is I guess not necessarily holding me back, but I want to say like 30% of all his possessions are in transition. That's crazy. That's not a bad thing. And I want to see, and he's also really good at pick a role, which is his second most used play tight. But I'm trying to figure out if he is a high floor secondary playmaker as he had more. Like I mentioned before, and I was talking about Caleb Hope. He didn't make a big shooting jump, at least in my opinion, from what he shot his final
year in the EYB. I think he shot like 30% or jumpers and now he's like a 37% three point shooter. So that's a positive sign. I'm just trying to figure out, and again, that tier is where I had him, but I'm trying to figure out if he is just a very high floor guy, there's no shame in that at all. But does he have more, is he a sleeper in this extremely loaded draft class? But I want to hear why you have met six sleepers. Okay. I got a question for you. It's a quick one. If you were to take Caleb Holt or Braden Burries, who do you think is the better prospect? He just gets people excited either way. So I want to ask that one, and then I'll give you my reason for why he's number six on my board. So it's, I think that's kind of a tricky question. Braden Burries is a 20 year old, already 20 year old freshman. I believe he turned 20 in October. So there's like an A's gap between Caleb Holt, who is 18, who will be playing his entire freshman season at 18 and a half, where I can see when this birthday is.
There's an A's gap, and I expect the guy who's a year and a half older to be a little bit more polished. But at the same time, I think Braden Burries is better on the ball than Caleb Holt is right now. So if you ask me who had more upside based on where they are today, then I would say Braden Burries. I'd be hard pressed to find a guard. I like more than Burries, so I've Holt in that vicinity, Arizona fans, you have something to be delighted to watch next year, and I'm excited to watch as well. So Braden Burries to me, I've had him in my top 10 for a while. I've had him at seven for a while, and then I think recently I've just had this thought of Kate Keaton-Wogg, or you know how early I loved him, and I was sending texts and tweets to a lot of people saying like, okay, this guy's really good in November, and then all of a sudden, Boswell, former Arizona guard goes down, and Keaton-Wogg works 46, he scores 28, all these games on the road, and I get to do a little, I told you so.
But as I watched it, I thought to myself, okay, this guy's a two guard, playing the one. I still think that about Walker, but the reason people moved him up is because he was playing the one and they were saying, oh, he's the one of the next level. I don't think so, and I think Burries is a two guard, and he's a more natural scorer than Walker. Walker does it, but he has to work. Burries is an effortless scorer. He here reminds me a little bit, and I said Devon Booker in the sense of like, he can come off and score in the mid-range, and it's easy, and I've said the Jamal Murray in which you don't look at him and say, wow, that's a freak athlete, but he's got this burst that you just don't expect, and he plays with tempo, and he's smooth from all three levels. He hits three, he hits middies, he scores at the rim with either hand, and I'm leaning more towards the Jamal Murray side of it than I am the Devon Booker, but I just think his game transits the NBA exceptionally well. And if you look at the lot of those guards, I think Kingston Flemmings has a lot of work to do as a point guard. I don't think he's a very good one. Leave, leave, man. It's like you just tapped into my phone, or even tapped into my phone calls.
I've been talking to some other people, and I'm like, you know, I think, and I'm sorry to derives your show, but like, I think that Kingston Flemmings from a craftiness standpoint, skills standpoint, is further behind McHale Brown and Derrius Acuff, and I think he has work to do as a point guard. I don't think he's going to hit the ground running in the NBA. I agree. And when I joined your show last, I remember telling you I had Brown and other guards above Flemmings, and at that time, it was sacrilegious because Flemmings was killing everyone. We can discuss that further, but I want to tie this back to Berries. I think Berries kind of has an intro to the NBA that's more similar to Conn Canippel than Not, and what's funny is one of my very first shows I did for this show. I said, you know what, Derrius is on a team reminds me of their reminds me of Duke of last year. David enormous center that takes away the rim, and Mo Kreebuss has been even better than
Mollowatch in college basketball. And then I think Koeh Pete's not Cooper Flag, but what he is is a dominant hub of offense, and they have a guard that if he plays really well in plays with his polish, can be the best player in the court at any given night, and that's the Berries versus Connippel. I think he's some version of Connippel and Jamal Murray. And I think that if you look at his immediate production in the NBA that I assume, I think it would be really good. I think he'll continue to grow because he's got great polish and he competes and he does everything. So that's the number six pick for me right now. We got three more freshmen, or sorry, two more freshmen and one more big to discuss coming up next unlocked on Wildcats. It's a little bit of a draft pod because we're celebrating Caleb Holt coming to Tucson and it may become a draft factory soon. It would be great for us. Tune in to the next segment. We got a fun one coming up next. Coast Pay is giving locked on college listeners up to $2,000 credit for your business when you get started today.
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But no one better than James Barlow to bring in for any sort of draft. But welcome to the five hour energy flavor draft with 18 flavors to choose from, including new options. In FEDD craves, fruity rainbow or cotton candy, and there's something for everyone. The board is set and all flavors are ready. And I've got my number one pick on my big board for the five hour energy flavor draft. It's very big, bold, very flavor, slightly sweet and very fruity flavor, a classic mixed berry flavor with notes of raspberry and blackberry. Find your favorite, your new favorite flavor of five hour energy shots available online at five hour energy dot com or on Amazon. Alrighty. Welcome back to locked on wild cats leave to lean James Barlow. We're talking about Caleb Holt come in to Zona and it promises a discussion about who's better. Caleb Holt, Braden Burries, which prospects got the most to prove in college basketball, which one's the most NBA ready. But I want to transition it to a couple other freshmen and a co-opete came in with the most hype around them of the freshmen going to Arizona and it was revitalized this one
and done factory. What's your read on co-opete as an NBA prospect? I still like him a lot. I know that that he set an unrealistic expectation for the season for himself when he kicked Florida's butt. I know that's a boy. He's Thomas Howe. But I still like him a lot and he's still in London. I want no Thomas Howe slander around him. Hey man. I mean, everybody got it. Yeah, 31. I still like him a lot. I know that it's been like an up and down season for him, but I look at the couple things. He's played great defense on AJ advance. Right? Yeah. And he basically shut off Joshua Jefferson's water against Iowa State. And he showed you some scoring ability against Florida. And with him, I'm going to lean more towards his prep level tape where he was kind of a 0.4 and instead of he's playing a role for Arizona to help Arizona win, but I think he has a little bit more game.
He definitely needs to stretch the floor a lot better. I've likened him to a couple of notches below athleticism in terms of like Aaron Gordon's role in the NBA, where he's just the ultimate tools of guy guard multiple positions, good off the ball, can pass, rebound. And he's another one that played extremely well at the U19s. I think he's a top 20 pick. If he shoots the ball in, you know, when the season's over, he in workout shoots the ball well. I think he's a top 15 pick. And I think he's going to have a very successful career. He put him in a situation like San Antonio, some team that's going to be like picking the late lottery or early after the lottery. I think he fits in with what they're trying to do. So yeah, I'm right on the same wave. I actually had the exact same comparison of like a more athletic, a little better passing version of Aaron Gordon. And that's another Arizona guy and you're looking at what Aaron Gordon's doing for the nuggets.
I'm not sure that's the exact role for copied initially, but what he can do is a lot of those same things. And it looks a little different. Maybe there's more DHOs off of co-op, maybe he's more of a short role catch and pass guy. But this is a guy that I think should be a lottery pick. Is there any world where he shoots it poorly in the draft process and he falls outside the top 20? He returns to Tucson? No, I don't think so. I think that I think he's a top 20 pick regardless. And I don't think another, it'd be nice if he came back to school and shot, you know, 34% from three and 74% from the file line. But I don't think that college basketball, especially, you know, the way the air is on this trending, you know, you can win a national championship. I don't think it's going to help him out, but I do think and also like he made a concert effort. It looks like towards conference players are taking more threes, but like I think he just needs to just go full on to the NBA and really expand his range. I'm with you. I think he's one and done like everyone expected buries.
There was a little bit of a decision of, oh, will he come back and that's gone. But there is a real decision to be made by Mo Krivas and Ivan Karchankov. I've said Ivan Karchankov is this year's Thomas Hauke for me for years and for reference for my Arizona fans, Thomas Hauke, I watched play for Florida last year and even the year before that. And I thought, wow, this guy just does everything really well in the basketball court. Everything he does is oriented to winning and they win a national championship. And I think it's the same trajectory. I think Arizona wins a championship and everyone watches and goes, wow, this Karchankov kid's unbelievable. And then there's going to be a possibility of going to top 20 because he does all these different things unbelievably well. Before you can come back and increase his on-ball usage and just like Thomas Hauke has, he's probably going to be an all-American of some variety this year. And I think Karchankov could do the same thing. What's your rate on Ivan Karchankov and where would you say his likelihood is to return to Tucson versus Enter the Draft? I think Karchankov should come back to school, not because he can't play, just this draft is ridiculously loaded.
And it's to the point where if a team takes him at 27, 28, you're making just as much money in college and you're getting the reps at Arizona versus, you know, hoping you can crack a rotation for a playoff team. So, to me, it's almost like an old brainer. I mean, you should obviously test, get some feedback on trying to go through the combined situation. Maybe something changes, but I think he's definitely somebody who should come back for your two. Crevice, I think, should definitely test for sure. I think he gets drafted in the first round, size, defense, and again, he has a similar choice to make, but I think he's a first round pick, late first round pick. You see, like, the success that, you know, space-eating bibs are having in the NBA. I think he definitely is somebody who will team with guarantee to take him in the first round. It's just a matter of in the aisle era. How much money are you willing to give and take in these situations? See, I think that both are first round picks.
I really think that Arizona has four first round picks this year. Should they go? I think CarChankov is that good. I think Crevice should be a first round pick and will be in all-American if he comes back next year. Like, guaranteed all-American. Like, to me, he's the Hulk winner of this year's NBA draft, but also, if he were to come back, he would be the all-American and defensive player of the year front runner if he comes back. So, it'd be awesome if he does. What would you say the likelihood is that he's picked outside the top 20, which means it's more likely he goes back to school and gets similar money? I think it's likely, and this draft is particularly heavy at two positions, point guard and also center. So, you look at some of the other centers in this draft, and I'm Mara, Patrick Gungba. Morez Johnson is probably going to be a four or five. Like, those guys are playing extremely well. So, it's like, what does he do differently? All of those guys can't be top 12. They can't form couldn't be top 20 picks.
So, it's like, it depends on who needs a center. Like I said, these guys have difficult choices, and like I said, this draft here, realistically, and it doesn't, maybe this doesn't make sense, but there's like 35 guys in this draft who are worthy of first round grades, and at some point, you got to be like, okay, do I want to go play and fight and get sent up and down to the G league, or grow on a staying cause in the next year, come back the next year, and potentially be a top 10, top 15 pick, like Lamar and Philan, they like Thomas Hobb, they're for Florida. See, Fran for Shilla has been outspoken about, he thinks Mo Kreevas will come back to school and be a first team all American, and Kreevas gets better and better. He's a first team all big 12, first team all defense, and I thought he was robbed of being the defense player of the year in the big 12, and I think Karczynkov was absolutely robbed of being a first team all defense guy, because I think he's the best defender of the perimeter in the All of College basketball, therefore his conference too.
My point being is, I think Arizona is so talented that some of the other guys lose their shine because it's like comparative, and that's the reason this team is so great because they coalesce on the basketball court and become a very good basketball team. I think Arizona could get Kreevas and Karczynkov back, I think Pete and Beres are gone, but we expected that. Kreevas and Karczynkov come back, Caleb Holt in the guard line, you got to go get a point guard, and you likely knowing Tommy Lloyd, go get a big, powerful bruising body to rebound to replace what Toby O'Walka does, but Arizona is becoming a factory, like you look at Pella Larson, he plays minutes. Kishad Johnson, I know the main claim would be the dunk contest, but like NBA player, you look at Carter Bryan. All these different guys are factoring through, and you find out, okay, Tommy Lloyd plays basketball the right way, you play an egalitarian attack, and everyone shares the ball, and you know, you may lose individual luster, but it comes in wins, you win games, and people like winners, and Arizona I think is going to become a factory for not only one in Dunes, but transfer, and then one year in Dunes. I think Arizona is
what I'm only going to win, and win big, win the big 12, win championships hopefully, but become winners in the NBA draft eyes, and so Arizona basketball, Caleb Holt just furthers that agenda, that's how I feel, how do you feel about that thought? I agree, and it's almost like you're following the same blueprint that you kind of had success having, right? So you get a kind of like a blue collar foxtile recruit, that's who, you know, I mean, you step on Castle fans, right? And then you have a clinging, is crevice your version of Donovan clinging where he's really good as a freshman, comes back his second year, and he turns into being, you know, a lottery pick and potentially the best player in that particular, in that draft, and then you follow it up, and that's what you do with Caleb Holt. So just talking to guys, man, around the draft space, and they're like, you know what, Arizona's got a great thing going, and they continue to do things the right way. And then also, I mean, you know, coaches, he's the coach for the U19 teams,
he's in the USA program, that's the recruiting advantage in itself right there. So like Arizona's definitely training very much so upward, reminding me of the old Arizona teams. And I was a kid, if you go to young, for the Mike Bibby, Richard Jefferson, Eugene Edison days, but for sure, Arizona is definitely going the right way. Many of my listeners were watching that. The 1997 championship predates me by a couple years. I'm not going to tell you guys how many, but I was not for. Anyway, that's a fun transition over, but this is my guy, James Barlow, please tell him where they can find your work and see more of your coverage on their guys on Bradenbury's on co-op Pete and the NBA draft as a whole. So if you're watching this here, it says draft junkie James. That's me on X or Twitter, however, which way you want to call it. I am on the NBA draft junkies podcast. It's just me. Sometimes I get my guy to leave when I got to get you on their leaves. Definitely before the time we came. So we'll put something together, but I am at draft junkie
James on Twitter at draft junkies on YouTube and I write articles on the NBA bigboard.com substack. If you find me on Twitter, you'll find all that information. Well, thank you for tuning in. We can talk for hours. I'll have to get you back on, especially before the draft wouldn't have been the big boards are really set in stone. We see where these guys are going. And for those of you who are listening to this one, I got, I already recorded another one, but Caleb Holt, he came to Tucson as I was recording. So I had to get another episode ready. So my next one, I've already recorded it. It's a great one. It's talking about the big 12 tournament as a whole, telling you about each match up and why I feel Arizona got a bad draw, but should find their way to winning it all. And it's yet another notch in the belt into what you really hope is a fantastic season ending on April 6th, winning it all. We'll talk about that next. And if you guys, you guys know where to find me by now on social media, it's it's my just my name, leave to lean on Twitter. And if you've never missed an episode, the everyday
club is built for you. So get locked on Wildcats at free plus members only discord access. And more head to locked on wildcats dot supercats dot com to join the club. And for those of you who are on video, we send you the first ever 24 seven National Lockdown podcast network YouTube channel. And on audio, make sure you make your second listen, locked on college basketball or Andy Patten and Isaac Shade break it down as we head into the madness of March. Thanks for tuning in, as always, pair down.
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