$8 million for Stokes?

[Burly Peters]

I don't think Stokes is anywhere close to being Flagg's equal. Flagg dominated games in high school. Stokes does not, or at least in the3 games that I have seen. Flagg played hard, Stokes does not. Flagg played inside and out. Stokes prefers to stay outside and not mix it up inside. Flagg was a more complete player........rebounding, scoring, passing, defense, blocking shots. Just haven't seen Stokes do this

Ok. Whatever you think is fine. I believe the gap is closer than you think but that's fine. We'll see.

 

[katwest]

Paying ungodly amounts of money doesn’t necessarily mean winning. Any player getting that much money is ridiculous. They can negotiate that when they are turning pro, meanwhile the fans will slowly leave the arenas if this is the way college basketball is going to be.

 

[Kentucky15]

How did these institutions go corrupt a long time ago?

Did you just ask how the universities went corrupt a long time ago?

 

[philstat]

If he truly wants $8M, believe Pope would be better off getting a player from the G-League or a highly regarded proven transfer.

 

[Kentucky15]

Ok. Whatever you think is fine. I believe the gap is closer than you think but that's fine. We'll see.

I also don’t think he’s near Flaggs level. Just don’t see that, and Duke wasn’t even hot on him. I have to give it to Duke, their evaluation of freshman is top notch. I’ve never seen them miss like Calipari would constantly. But they evaluate, Calipari throws darts at a top 25 list and takes whatever comes. So it’s just another reason I don’t see it.

I think he’s good but in typical classes from 2000-2015, I’d say he’s a 7-15 guy. So if this class was a really tough class with great players, I see a 7-15 give or take. Don’t see a top 3-5 really.

Absolutely yes I’d love to be wrong. Hopefully he commits and I will be. However, we need to grab him to send a signal for Mark that we are still the place of the pros. It will really set the table for other recruits to see the same thing happening. He’s the Mashburn for Pitino and the Wall for Calipari.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

I also don’t think he’s near Flaggs level. Just don’t see that, and Duke wasn’t even hot on him. I have to give it to Duke, their evaluation of freshman is top notch. I’ve never seen them miss like Calipari would constantly. But they evaluate, Calipari throws darts at a top 25 list and takes whatever comes. So it’s just another reason I don’t see it.

I think he’s good but in typical classes from 2000-2015, I’d say he’s a 7-15 guy. So if this class was a really tough class with great players, I see a 7-15 give or take. Don’t see a top 3-5 really.

Absolutely yes I’d love to be wrong. Hopefully he commits and I will be. However, we need to grab him to send a signal for Mark that we are still the place of the pros. It will really set the table for other recruits to see the same thing happening. He’s the Mashburn for Pitino and the Wall for Calipari.

He’s absolutely top 5 even in a fairly loaded class. Too big and strong, plays tough at the rim, athletic as can be. Working in his jumper and getting to his spots. He gets that part locked in you will see.

I don’t know if right now he would be a sure fire number one pick, but he will have a long NBA career.

 

[Vek96]

gotta have a GOOD coach, which we do.

Exactly right.

 

[Kentucky15]

He’s absolutely top 5 even in a fairly loaded class. Too big and strong, plays tough at the rim, athletic as can be. Working in his jumper and getting to his spots. He gets that part locked in you will see.

I just don’t see it. But I couldn’t explain that even if I tried. What scares me is I was out front saying Skal is super overrated and not a top player in the class. I watched him do a workout with Hamilton in Memphis a year Before he committed and he was absolutely terrible. Knew his handler who was also a scum bag of biblical nature. Still to this day believe Calipari took him to throw it at Memphis and because he had the game of a pro. But never understood for a second the top ranking.

Also thought BJ Boston wasn’t that good.

Wall was easy to see, I was also enamored with Knight. Knew Randle was going to absolutely dominate. I just trust my eyes at this point. And I don’t see it but it’s based off of watching a few videos.

I’m sure I’ve been wrong plenty I just choose to not remember those. But I do think he’s really good, just don’t see top 5 in a dominant class.

Hopefully you’re out front on this one. I will be watching closely to see how off I am. And of course, pulling him in is so important for Pope.

 

[LadyCaytIL]

Here's the part I don’t like as a UK fan. If you believe what was said on KSR yesterday, and I do, SEC schools are spending 75/15/5/5 on football/MBB/WBB/everything else. UK is spending 65/25/5/5. So in the sport we are behind on we spend less. And the sport where it should be easy we spend more. They also went on to talk about this being a top 3-5 paid roster in the country at roughly $22M. If Pope were so good, why would UK need to outspend everyone? Shouldn’t it be easier to get players to come and play for UK BASKETBALL? There’s a bit of rhetoric and sarcasm to all of this, but also some truth as well. Everyone talked about how Cal always just went out and got the best players. They were correct. Here’s what I know, if we are spending top 3-5 money and don’t get the results (F4 or NC) it sure doesn’t seem much different than before.

Exactly. What I’m confused on…. And this is gonna make me catch hell on here… if our roster cost 22 million then where did all the money go to? This don’t look like a 22 million dollar roster. The biggest recruit Pope has ever gotten and the prize of this off season is coming off a major knee surgery and unsure when he is going to play his first game. Oweh is a nice looking peice that makes me think he can dominate his position in 85% of matchups this season…. Who else is dominating their position?

Ik I have to see how it plays out. We might kick *** all year who knows. But just off the eye test I don’t see where we have off the chart better players. I hate to say my opinion on this because it makes it sound like I’m crappin on our players before they play their first game but it’s just my observation.

22 million you better have more than a couple stand outs. If we are gonna just settle for players that fit certain criteria then why have all this money. I think we have a team full of good players and a ton of players with breakout potential. My thing is with that kind of money you need to be having stars lined up. Go buy some ballers. Work out the minor stuff later.

If that 22 million or over 17 million is true, then some of that has to be front loaded for them to come back for a another year . I'm sure we had to over pay more for good players to be willing to be the 6th-12th man.

 

[Burly Peters]

I also don’t think he’s near Flaggs level. Just don’t see that, and Duke wasn’t even hot on him. I have to give it to Duke, their evaluation of freshman is top notch. I’ve never seen them miss like Calipari would constantly. But they evaluate, Calipari throws darts at a top 25 list and takes whatever comes. So it’s just another reason I don’t see it.

I think he’s good but in typical classes from 2000-2015, I’d say he’s a 7-15 guy. So if this class was a really tough class with great players, I see a 7-15 give or take. Don’t see a top 3-5 really.

Absolutely yes I’d love to be wrong. Hopefully he commits and I will be. However, we need to grab him to send a signal for Mark that we are still the place of the pros. It will really set the table for other recruits to see the same thing happening. He’s the Mashburn for Pitino and the Wall for Calipari.

Two months ago and I would have agreed with you. Have you seen his shot, lately? I watched one game where he had 2-3 kids hanging off him and he was hitting 25 footers. If can do consistently, he's going to be tough. With the right coaching. If he played for Cal you'd see his bad habits exhibited every night. I think a guy like Pope could do a lot with him. And I do think Flagg is probably better at this stage, in ways. But I didn't think there's that much of a gap. Flagg has a height advantage, though. That helps.

 

[Beatle Bum]

Hopefully we are recruiting the G League hard line UL.