Been there CMP- Joe B Hall 1974

[I’m The Village Idiot]

Adding “unknowns” to the roster is going to happen regardless. Having better scouting and a better recruiting strategy is imperative moving forward. Have to adapt to how things have changed recently in that aspect.

Right. That is the point. Whether it is freshman or portal players, they are unknowns. This is why you load up on proven returners. If you have a large batch of incoming newbies, you run the risk of chemistry issues. People forget it now, but a few years ago Arkansas under Musselman pulled in the top portal class that was ridiculously loaded and they didn’t make the tournament. Sometimes, you have factions. If you have a team of returnees and about the same amount of new guys in your rotation, there’s a risk that the two “sides” don’t mesh. On the other hand, if you have a group of returning veterans who are helping along 1-2 new rotation players, those new players are much more likely to fall in line. It’s basic psychology—- this is one aspect of why minutes and roster continuity are a massive deal. It’s part of the puzzle as to why there have been ZERO national champions in 41 years of 64-team NCAA tournaments that were made up of less than 40% returnees as starters. And by the way, 95.12% of those champions featured at least three. This is why preseason I was stating we will not win the title while everyone was talking about 41-0. That’s also why Michigan won’t win it either.

 

[Woodrow24]

Brother, I didn’t say anything about how much we spent. You could spend $256M on a roster and if they don’t like each other, it’s gonna be a bad product. This is a reason why you hear the best coaches always talking about minutes continuity and roster continuity—-we have neither. This idea that you can just buy the best roster and win every season is not feasible. Sometimes, you may be Michigan and be amazing. Sometimes, you may be St. John’s or Kentucky and stink. Any good coach is going to want to get to a point where you’re not relying on the portal for rentals. Having good players stay in the program should help you there. It looks to me like there may be a rift between the Oweh’s of the world and the Aberdeen’s of the world and there’s not a good reason to believe that couldn’t have been the case no matter what name you flipped X player for. This is the part of the equation we don’t consider or think about much. You didn’t see Bruce Pearl starting 3-5 brand new players every year at Auburn. You don’t see Hurley doing it. You didn’t see Golden to it last year. My hunch is whoever wins the title this year will be someone with roster and minutes continuity. I believe in that fully —- I’ve never had a remotely decent counter argument other than “this is what I feel” or some wild hypothetical that we can’t test.

You lost me on the part where you said any good coach won’t want to rely on the portal. That’s not going to happen. Every team is going to use the portal to improve their roster. Thats how things are now. Even if a coach returns players, they are going to take the best guys they can find whether it’s out of high school or the portal.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

You lost me on the part where you said any good coach won’t want to rely on the portal. That’s not going to happen. Every team is going to use the portal to improve their roster. Thats how things are now. Even if a coach returns players, they are going to take the best guys they can find whether it’s out of high school or the portal.

Bro….what!? Lol I never said anything of the sort. You are severely misunderstanding what I’m saying. Yes, every coach should be using the portal. You use the portal to accent what culture you have already established. You fill in missing pieces with portal rather than a la carte.

 

[Woodrow24]

Right. That is the point. Whether it is freshman or portal players, they are unknowns. This is why you load up on proven returners. If you have a large batch of incoming newbies, you run the risk of chemistry issues. People forget it now, but a few years ago Arkansas under Musselman pulled in the top portal class that was ridiculously loaded and they didn’t make the tournament. Sometimes, you have factions. If you have a team of returnees and about the same amount of new guys in your rotation, there’s a risk that the two “sides” don’t mesh. On the other hand, if you have a group of returning veterans who are helping along 1-2 new rotation players, those new players are much more likely to fall in line. It’s basic psychology—- this is one aspect of why minutes and roster continuity are a massive deal. It’s part of the puzzle as to why there have been ZERO national champions in 41 years of 64-team NCAA tournaments that were made up of less than 40% returnees as starters. And by the way, 95.12% of those champions featured at least three. This is why preseason I was stating we will not win the title while everyone was talking about 41-0. That’s also why Michigan won’t win it either.

You have to consider that things have currently changed considering the portal and NIL didn’t exist during that time frame. Everyone wants to keep their team together but that’s harder to do in this point in time.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

You have to consider that things have currently changed considering the portal and NIL didn’t exist during that time frame. Everyone wants to keep their team together but that’s harder to do in this point in time.

Yet, even during the portal era those things have remained the same in regards to continuity. What if I told you that during the portal era, significantly less 5-star HS players are even making the final four? In the portal era, we are seeing huge amounts of formerly Unranked players making final fours and winning titles. And they are doing that as parts of teams that returned a lot of players and filled in gaps with the portal. Did a deep dive on every final four team in the last ten years and I say what I say with confidence. It’s always possible the landscape changes again and I’m mindful of that. But where we stand today, continuity is as important as it has ever been. This is why fans being good fans even in the hard times is more important than ever.

 

[Woodrow24]

Bro….what!? Lol I never said anything of the sort. You are severely misunderstanding what I’m saying. Yes, every coach should be using the portal. You use the portal to accent what culture you have already established. You fill in missing pieces with portal rather than a la carte.

“ Any good coach is going to want to get to a point where you’re not relying on the portal for rentals.” That quote is exactly what you said in that post lmao

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

“ Any good coach is going to want to get to a point where you’re not relying on the portal for rentals.” That quote is exactly what you said in that post lmao

“Relying on the portal for rentals.” Absolutely. You have an established culture and you fill in gaps. Think Alijah Martin from Florida last year. The bulk of their production was from returners and they filled in gaps with portal. I feel like I’m explaining this in a way that it’s pretty clear.

 

[Woodrow24]

Yet, even during the portal era those things have remained the same in regards to continuity. What if I told you that during the portal era, significantly less 5-star HS players are even making the final four? In the portal era, we are seeing huge amounts of formerly Unranked players making final fours and winning titles. And they are doing that as parts of teams that returned a lot of players and filled in gaps with the portal. Did a deep dive on every final four team in the last ten years and I say what I say with confidence. It’s always possible the landscape changes again and I’m mindful of that. But where we stand today, continuity is as important as it has ever been. This is why fans being good fans even in the hard times is more important than ever.

This is Kentucky, fan expectations are always going to be high and when expectations drop that’s when you face the risk of becoming an Indiana level program. Any blue blood in any sport has high fan expectations.

We do have good fans, they travel better than anyone, always one of the best in home game attendance, and the reason why Kentucky is the most valuable basketball program according to Forbes. When people complain about our own fans, I think they are soft and not very knowledgeable about sports. Our fans aren’t even close to being as mean as nfl fans or college football fans. If they want to see what mean fans are go to a Philadelphia Eagles game or an Alabama football game lol

 

[Anony Moose]

Huh? Well, let me check my crystal ball lol. None of us know if it will happen one way or the other. Nor do we know what reasons or lack thereof would affect players on this team. Are you asking me to guess to appease you? I didn’t predict any certain player to do anything, simply waiting to see what they produce. Would it make you feel better if I rendered some entirely arbitrary hypotheticals? Here you go:

Hypothetical One:
Suppose Kam Williams recognizes he has been pressing too much and overshooting many of his jumpers. He simply settles in and relaxes after making some and his confidence improves.

Hypothetical Two:
Suppose Andrija Jelavic begins to cut more, realizing there is ample opportunity to finish. These easy points contribute to him feeling his game out throughout the year.

Not predicting anything, but pretending you or I know anything about the future would be a fool’s errand. All we can do is hope.

Most of us have been calling it for a bit.

The reason is lack of coaching, accountability, leadership and lack of overall skill. It's pretty simple to figure iut if you watch.

Precisely. Those are just hypothetical not rooted in any facts.

Hypothetical 1: what it the excuse for every part of his game sucking simply because his shot isn't falling. Is this is first ever shooting slump as a player or something?

Hypothetical 2: wouldn't a competent coach fix that in seconds by telling him to cut more for an open shot at the rim?

Hypothetically, if our coach and players are that stupid, why should we want any of them back.

 

[Woodrow24]

“Relying on the portal for rentals.” Absolutely. You have an established culture and you fill in gaps. Think Alijah Martin from Florida last year. The bulk of their production was from returners and they filled in gaps with portal. I feel like I’m explaining this in a way that it’s pretty clear.

I think you underestimate how hard that is to do at this point in time as long as things stay the same with the portal. Every big program is going to rely on it. Roster retention isn’t as easy as it was in the past.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

I think you underestimate how hard that is to do at this point in time as long as things stay the same with the portal. Every big program is going to rely on it. Roster retention isn’t as easy as it was in the past.

Don’t want to keep circling the wagon. I hear you, it’s harder. Problem is it is a necessary ingredient, you either have it or you don’t win. That has held true every year of the portal era. This is why if Pope gets fired, I’m a Bruce Pearl man.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

Most of us have been calling it for a bit.

The reason is lack of coaching, accountability, leadership and lack of overall skill. It's pretty simple to figure iut if you watch.

Precisely. Those are just hypothetical not rooted in any facts.

Hypothetical 1: what it the excuse for every part of his game sucking simply because his shot isn't falling. Is this is first ever shooting slump as a player or something?

Hypothetical 2: wouldn't a competent coach fix that in seconds by telling him to cut more for an open shot at the rim?

Hypothetically, if our coach and players are that stupid, why should we want any of them back.

I feel like this is an entirely unnecessary argument. I didn’t predict any player to do anything and I don’t know how many times I gotta say I don’t know the future.
If you feel like you do, more power to you. If you don’t think Pope is competent, more power to you. That has nothing to do with what I was talking about in the first place. I have my own reservations about Pope anyway —- how could anyone not have them? I don’t see enough disagreement to debate here.

 

[Woodrow24]

Don’t want to keep circling the wagon. I hear you, it’s harder. Problem is it is a necessary ingredient, you either have it or you don’t win. That has held true every year of the portal era. This is why if Pope gets fired, I’m a Bruce Pearl man.

I just can’t believe we’re this bad right now. I’m just floored by it. 22 million dollars spent, Oweh back, the other guys that returned, I thought for sure this team would be good. It sucks and I have no clue how they can fix this. Pope told us we had a blue Ferrari, I want to see that and not this crap lol

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

I just can’t believe we’re this bad right now. I’m just floored by it. 22 million dollars spent, Oweh back, the other guys that returned, I thought for sure this team would be good. It sucks and I have no clue how they can fix this. Pope told us we had a blue Ferrari, I want to see that and not this crap lol

Well, this is where I may diverge a bit. I do not believe that basketball is a sport where you’re gonna just drops wads of cash, pick the best players and win titles. There’s literally no reason to believe that would work. You’re welcome to go check all my posts in the offseason—-I’ve been the same poster the entire time I’ve been here —- it doesn’t work that way. What else was Pope going to do? He didn’t have a choice if he inherits zero players. You gotta build a culture somehow —- well, it failed. He’s going to have to salvage and fix what of it he can, or he will be canned. Then, the baton will be passed on to the next coach, who hopefully builds a culture over time and adds pieces where needed to stay relevant every season.

 

[RunninRichie]

Can't do that now. Players have too much freedom. They can just fake an injury and transfer. Kelvin Sampson spiled the beans on youtube a few weeks back.

 

[UKCowboys]

With NIL and the portal available now days no Kentucky coach should struggle like that.

Itemize and breakdown the alleged $22M. Really wamt to see that

 

[RunninRichie]

Itemize and breakdown the alleged $22M. Really wamt to see that

Oweh is making 5 million. BG 2-3 million, almost half your budget right there...add everyone else.

 

[UKCowboys]

Oweh is making 5 million. BG 2-3 million, almost half your budget right there...add everyone else.

So $7M for those two and you contend $15M for everyone else??? LMAO

 

[rick64]

My mom and dad along with my aunt and uncle were at that game in 1974.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

he was literally able to handpick who he wanted with 22mil and somehow picked the least talented kentucky team of the last 2 decades

It’s remarkable.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

We retained 4 key players from last season and 3 of them are sucking. 3 were staring before Garrison started coming off the bench. It’s absolutely inexcusable!

Exactly, we do have quite a bit of roster continuity from a solid team who returned and we still look like this. They should be thriving in this system in year two. That makes it even worse!

 

[RunninRichie]

So $7M for those two and you contend $15M for everyone else??? LMAO

Those are the numbers that are reported/speculated.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

Exactly, we do have quite a bit of roster continuity from a solid team who returned and we still look like this. They should be thriving in this system in year two. That makes it even worse!

Well, we certainly should at least have one significant returner which is Oweh but we have no idea if he knows when the season begins. Aside from our SEC preseason player of the year who has seemingly either quit or died inside, we return only 18.3% of the minutes from last season. That’s a tiny amount. It may feel like a lot of continuity for us, because we have grown accustomed to having so little of it. This is actually highlighting season to season minutes continuity, but there’s also in-season minutes continuity. I don’t have the numbers for this one, because I don’t have a subscription. I do know our minutes continuity this season would be extremely low. This measures the amount of minutes that your players are able to build chemistry together —- unfortunately, and I know everyone is sick of hearing about injuries, the injuries have taken a toll on us. Let me be very clear, because I know everytime I talk about continuity, it inevitably draws in someone talking about whether Pope is garbage and deserves blame. Take what I’m saying as a general concept, that has nothing to do with the coach. These things would be true no matter who the coach is. If the fanbase wants to fire Pope tomorrow, guess what I’m still going to be asking the next coach for….continuity. It’s a proven ingredient that is necessary for winners.

 

[UKCowboys]

Those are the numbers that are reported/speculated.

Speculated....LMAO