Braydon Hawthorne commits to UK!
- Thread starter University-6
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Because we’re not a 9 months and out brand placement program anymore. It’s Kentucky basketball again. Get used to it!
Let’s hope he’s as good as the last Huntington Prep player I can remember in Patrick Patterson!
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Well we can worry about injuries a little less this year.
When I saw the picture of him sitting beside the "Joe B" bench statue I knew he had that blue blood in him!
A little late to the party on brandon damn 6ft8 7ft3 wingspan nice
If he views himself as a two year guy, and he’s good enough, he can earn a starting spot in year two.
Are people starting to shed their doubts over Popes ability to recruit at a high level?
Big Kari nice insightful post unfortunately the negative nannies will never figure it out .
We'll continue to get one and dones. They just won't all be freshmen anymore!
I don’t think this recruit was meant to be a key piece this year.
No, he may not play at all. Maybe, but he could possibly redshirt. I’m sure he was pitched a 2 year plan
Pope is NOT messin' around folks. He's ALL in for #9 next year. And he will be after the next one and the next one every year after that.
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I have to imagine Kentucky is going to be very much in play for a 1-seed. This team now has twice the talent (maybe 3x the talent) as last years team. They will be a little lacking in experience, as last year saw a lot of 4th and 5th year seniors. But with Pope's offense, they're going to be tough to beat. Depth across the floor, our 2nd unit is good enough to probably be in the top25-35 teams.
SEC takes a step back as a whole, the other blue bloods are pretty meh, don't really see any of them competing for a 1-seed. We should be looking at a very real chance at a Final4 and beyond. Things are lining up very nicely.
I think an obvious comparison from a physical standpoint would be Tayshaun Prince. I'm not saying he's at that level, yet. But he has the physical gifts Tayshaun had. Hawthorne is very skilled, though.
I like reading that ^^^ Work hard and see what happens.
He reminds me a bit of Tayshaun Prince. He's skilled, moves well, is long for his height and goes after blocks on D. He is slight and is a year away from a strength standpoint. Pope is killing it this off-season.
I'm happy to have him and excited that Duke didn't get him. 
Pretty good late addition. A lot of consternation on this thread,don't really understand it. I remember Wooden saying once there was no such thing as too much talent. As for the folks saying he'll bolt like Perry after a year, how does Pope " build for the future" if he doesn't take a few kids like this
Count me in as being super pumped about this! I love late bloomers with tons of potential. I trust in Pope and staff to have a plan for how to make it work for everyone involved.
You are making assumptions. The kid made his decision based on facts. We'll all find out together.
I know two things: Pope won't get caught playing with an undermanned roster, and the opponent is going to be holding onto their collective shorts.
In one year under Pope, only Kerr and Travis hit the portal. I don’t know if that creates the foundation for a “good chance” or not. Probably not, but who knows?
He’s very balanced/nimble on his feet for his size. He’s going to have to eat some prime rib though. I’m sure him and the trainers will put in the work, definitely a lot of potential to be had
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Maybe I’m jaded, but I’m skeptical of any and all claims about a recruit being committed ahead of time to stay multiple years on the understanding that they won’t play much if at all during the first year. That kind of plan is extremely rare in the portal era and we’ve seen multiple guys who we thought were on that kind of trajectory transfer after a year.
All that being said, there’s literally no downside to signing him for this year. He’ll give us another legitimate talent to help challenge our other guys in practice and provide injury insurance. If he ends up simply being too good to keep off the floor this year or actually does come back next year, then that’s even better. Nobody can accuse Pope of not using all his roster spots effectively this year, that’s for sure.
All that being said, there’s literally no downside to signing him for this year. He’ll give us another legitimate talent to help challenge our other guys in practice and provide injury insurance. If he ends up simply being too good to keep off the floor this year or actually does come back next year, then that’s even better. Nobody can accuse Pope of not using all his roster spots effectively this year, that’s for sure.
if he sticks around it’s a good add, but the decision is still a weird one from his pov
Pope has been pretty clear that his priority number 1 is retaining talent YoY.
He proved that this year with Garrison, Noah, Chandler and probably Oweh.
Kriisa was always going to leave, so the only hit was Perry, which is pretty good all things considered in this day and age!