Collins Update......

[BlueBlood96Cat]

What do you base your belief that Pope is soft with your capital letters and! Is it because he is nice and considerate does that make a person soft? I mean he ate the whole starting five out last game because they all had a brain cramp on a free throw and Garrison was being lazy.

He is soft man. The whole board will agree his coaching style is soft. Do you not listen to his interviews?
Now being soft isn’t being wrong. We just might not land certain players. Take away the word soft and call it what you want. He is 100% different than any coach I have ever seen.

you think he’s hard nosed? You think he’s getting all over players or just when they literally throw the ball to the other team he subs them out? I even thought that was soft! Get on them man don’t just take them out and smile as they walk past.


With that being said I LOVE coach Pope and want him to do good. I do think he’s soft. Extremely soft. Softer than charmin.

 

[ScWildcat3]

I had not heard this..........who did they bypass in favor of
Stokes?

Thompson who went to OSU. Adams who went to Unc are 2 Pope could’ve had. Also holt seems to be a lost cause now cuz of waiting on Stokes.

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

Thompson who went to OSU. Adams who went to Unc are 2 Pope could’ve had. Also holt seems to be a lost cause now cuz of waiting on Stokes.

If we end up missing on Stokes this board will explode Well not the ones that don’t want him because he said a potty word. I do believe we held off on others because of Stokes.

 

[PastorofMuppets82]

I don't think Holt has anything to do with waiting on Stokes. Recent reports say both UK and Arizona have offered much larger NIL packages than Alabama, but Alabama still leads. Remains to be seen but looks like staying home was always very high on his list and money isn't the ultimate deciding factor with him at least.

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

I don't think Holt has anything to do with waiting on Stokes. Recent reports say both UK and Arizona have offered much larger NIL packages than Alabama, but Alabama still leads. Remains to be seen but looks like staying home was always very high on his list and money isn't the ultimate deciding factor with him at least.

Expect him at UK then if he’s predicted to Bama. Seems to be how this works. Expect Stokes at Kansas since he’s predicted to UK.

 

[PastorofMuppets82]

I think Stokes would pick Oregon before Kansas honestly, but who knows what under the table money and backroom chats are being had with Family and Agents. Bama has a very crowded wing room with more expected to commit still (Samuels). If Holt wants to be the man at a school as some have suggested, it's possible, but he'd have to beat out multiple talented wings to do so. This staff isn't missing because of money. I honestly think it is a combination of two factors above anything else. Lexington does not compare to larger cities with amenities and activities this generation cares about, and Pope's system is designed for average to good players to excel but has little to offer a ball dominant stud. A top 5 guy can go to a smaller school or less renowned one at least and be the dude, get all the media attention, and dominate weaker competition and get everything on film for the NBA scouts while not sniffing a championship if that is what they care about. A couple top 15 guys can decide to play together at one school and team up at a Duke or Kansas or Arizona or wherever and make a run at a Championship together and other programs had really no shot at landing them and were just hats on a table and negotiating pieces to drive up the price. And I highly doubt any top tier PG wants to come to UK as long as our system is 5 out zoom and 20 minutes per game. I mean it works great when you have a roster filled with snipers (Alabama) or a big who can thread needles with court vision (Louisville) but our current roster is somewhere in between, good but not great shooting, and decent but not dominant bigs (obviously with JQ not factoring in yet). And we have been told Pope won't promise players playing time so there's another strike. If it was just, this player wants X dollars and we said no, then we could have a clearer understanding of what they are doing wrong. But right now it's, this player wants X dollars, we offer it, they go somewhere else for less.

 

[Midway Cat]

I think Stokes would pick Oregon before Kansas honestly, but who knows what under the table money and backroom chats are being had with Family and Agents. Bama has a very crowded wing room with more expected to commit still (Samuels). If Holt wants to be the man at a school as some have suggested, it's possible, but he'd have to beat out multiple talented wings to do so. This staff isn't missing because of money. I honestly think it is a combination of two factors above anything else. Lexington does not compare to larger cities with amenities and activities this generation cares about, and Pope's system is designed for average to good players to excel but has little to offer a ball dominant stud. A top 5 guy can go to a smaller school or less renowned one at least and be the dude, get all the media attention, and dominate weaker competition and get everything on film for the NBA scouts while not sniffing a championship if that is what they care about. A couple top 15 guys can decide to play together at one school and team up at a Duke or Kansas or Arizona or wherever and make a run at a Championship together and other programs had really no shot at landing them and were just hats on a table and negotiating pieces to drive up the price. And I highly doubt any top tier PG wants to come to UK as long as our system is 5 out zoom and 20 minutes per game. I mean it works great when you have a roster filled with snipers (Alabama) or a big who can thread needles with court vision (Louisville) but our current roster is somewhere in between, good but not great shooting, and decent but not dominant bigs (obviously with JQ not factoring in yet). And we have been told Pope won't promise players playing time so there's another strike. If it was just, this player wants X dollars and we said no, then we could have a clearer understanding of what they are doing wrong. But right now it's, this player wants X dollars, we offer it, they go somewhere else for less.

(1) Lexington might as well be Las Vegas compared to Tuscaloosa or Lawrence.

(2) We have no evidence Pope refuses to make promises to players, playing time or otherwise.

(3) There's no evidence any player has turned down Kentucky for less money.

 

[ScWildcat3]

I don't think Holt has anything to do with waiting on Stokes. Recent reports say both UK and Arizona have offered much larger NIL packages than Alabama, but Alabama still leads. Remains to be seen but looks like staying home was always very high on his list and money isn't the ultimate deciding factor with him at least.

All these guys say money isn’t important but yet all take huge bags. Money is def important. It’s not like uk and Arizona are offering 2-3 million over bama. It’s just so close that home aspect might win out. He also wants to be the man and he can’t be that at uk if certain ppl come back. That’s why him waiting as long as possible could help uk.

 

[PastorofMuppets82]

(1) Lexington might as well be Las Vegas compared to Tuscaloosa or Lawrence.

(2) We have no evidence Pope refuses to make promises to players, playing time or otherwise.

(3) There's no evidence any player has turned down Kentucky for less money.

1) I've lived in both Lexington and Lawrence. I'd take Lawrence 7 days a week and twice on Sunday. At least in Lawrence my vehicle didn't continuously get broken into or things stolen from my property...

2) Pope has stated several times in interviews with Rothstein and Pilgram that he does not promise playing time and that it is earned. Google exists

3) How many boosters do you know personally? Do you know the exact amount we offered Dent and Wilkerson each? Do you know the exact amount they went to other schools for? Might want to look into those two specifically and get back to me.

 

[Blue Jesus]

Actually they do. Tristan Newton at UConn was a portal kid. Damn near Florida's whole team last year were portal kids. But whatever Anon173682947729183728819. You know better.

I continue to believe that portal guys with multiple years of eligibility are the golden fleece (like much of Florida's team last year). You can identify kids who can certifiably play at this level, you have college stats to analyze and make sure you're getting a fit for your system, and you maintain continuity in your program. Plenty of guys, especially those coming up from mid-majors, may need a year to acclimate before really taking off; Antonio Reeves is a prime example of this.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

He is soft man. The whole board will agree his coaching style is soft. Do you not listen to his interviews?
Now being soft isn’t being wrong. We just might not land certain players. Take away the word soft and call it what you want. He is 100% different than any coach I have ever seen.

you think he’s hard nosed? You think he’s getting all over players or just when they literally throw the ball to the other team he subs them out? I even thought that was soft! Get on them man don’t just take them out and smile as they walk past.


With that being said I LOVE coach Pope and want him to do good. I do think he’s soft. Extremely soft. Softer than charmin.

I don’t agree he is soft. Neither should you or anyone else. We don’t have access to practice. If Cameron Mills said it, there may be something there but Rupp Rafters message board has nothing to draw from and conclude this. You’d need to see Pope coaching these guys behind closed doors to know.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

Here is a completly out of the box thinking. Pope is such kumbaya type of person and I think this could be an issue in recruiting. Most of these top kids come from bad backgrounds and I think when Pope is visiting, the Mom wants to be assured that their kid gets a hard nosed coach to keep them in line. Pope is not this kind of person. He is in your face clapping positively and I think he needs to get more aggressive in the way he coaches and also the recruiting of players. His teams are usually soft and don't have the Im going to kick your *** not matter what. Some of my best coaches got in my face and told me how it is. Not doing Kumbaya BS. Todays kids need discipline not “he is so Beautiful” BS. I am probaly off base on this but his approach is the issue.

Today’s kids are Kumbaya though. They are mostly soft AF with therapists for everything. I would love to see more Bobby Knight types keep guys in line but that doesn’t fly today. I get what you are saying but this is the generation I would expect Pope’s attitude to work with the best.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

Expect him at UK then if he’s predicted to Bama. Seems to be how this works. Expect Stokes at Kansas since he’s predicted to UK.

Seems like every other team’s insiders nail the predictions and ours don’t. Most times the guys end up where the crystal balls fall but not in our case a lot of times.

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

Today’s kids are Kumbaya though. They are mostly soft AF with therapists for everything. I would love to see more Bobby Knight types keep guys in line but that doesn’t fly today. I get what you are saying but this is the generation I would expect Pope’s attitude to work with the best.

I think you’re 100% right when you look at kids across the country. But when it comes to high level recruits that a lot of them come from hard backgrounds and gang ties I don’t think that’s the case.
Kids in general yes. Stokes for instance is a player that won’t respect kumbaya imo.

 

[Tprinceuk]

Seems like every other team’s insiders nail the predictions and ours don’t. Most times the guys end up where the crystal balls fall but not in our case a lot of times.

But it seems like even the national guys miss on the prediction of recruits committing to us.

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

I don’t agree he is soft. Neither should you or anyone else. We don’t have access to practice. If Cameron Mills said it, there may be something there but Rupp Rafters message board has nothing to draw from and conclude this. You’d need to see Pope coaching these guys behind closed doors to know.

I don’t think Pope is soft as a man. I think his coaching approach is extremely soft. I don’t really care what he does in practice I’ll never see it even if I wanted to. What I do see is him just standing there calm and collected down 20 against a rival on national television. I saw you saw it the whole country saw it and most importantly these recruits that we can’t land saw it.


He over achieved last year. I have to let this year play out. I’d be lying if I said I’m not getting irritated tho.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

But it seems like even the national guys miss on the prediction of recruits committing to us.

Which makes me think they get a lot of info from our guys.

 

[ScWildcat3]

Seems like every other team’s insiders nail the predictions and ours don’t. Most times the guys end up where the crystal balls fall but not in our case a lot of times.

Ours are fan boys not insiders.

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

Ours are fan boys not insiders.

Right. Even our actual insiders are still fan boys.

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

(1) Lexington might as well be Las Vegas compared to Tuscaloosa or Lawrence.

(2) We have no evidence Pope refuses to make promises to players, playing time or otherwise.

(3) There's no evidence any player has turned down Kentucky for less money.

We do have evidence of one thing tho. And that’s regardless of the things you said he’s doing or not doing… he isn’t landing big time players point blank. I don’t know why he’s not but he’s not.

 

[davtay]

I don’t think Pope is soft as a man. I think his coaching approach is extremely soft. I don’t really care what he does in practice I’ll never see it even if I wanted to. What I do see is him just standing there calm and collected down 20 against a rival on national television. I saw you saw it the whole country saw it and most importantly these recruits that we can’t land saw it.


He over achieved last year. I have to let this year play out. I’d be lying if I said I’m not getting irritated tho.

What I saw was a coach who did not panic and his team made a run at the end that fell short. I also saw last season a team that got down big to Gonzaga whose coach did not panic and made a run to win the game. I also saw a coach last season who did not panic and win many Top 25 matchups. You don't know anything about whether a Coach is soft or not. You just watch on TV and make uninformed guesses on something you know absolutely nothing about.

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

What I saw was a coach who did not panic and his team made a run at the end that fell short. I also saw last season a team that got down big to Gonzaga whose coach did not panic and made a run to win the game. I also saw a coach last season who did not panic and win many Top 25 matchups. You don't know anything about whether a Coach is soft or not. You just watch on TV and make uninformed guesses on something you know absolutely nothing about.

So you watched us get down twenty several times. We got lucky and hit some shots in all of them games to keep the score respectable.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

So you watched us get down twenty several times. We got lucky and hit some shots in all of them games to keep the score respectable.

Three games into year two. Good grief lol

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

Three games into year two. Good grief lol

Yea two games in. We got dominated by our rival two games in. In year two.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

Yea two games in. We got dominated by our rival two games in. In year two.

Yes. And plenty of other teams lost games early. Y’all are losing your minds bro

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

Yes. And plenty of other teams lost games early. Y’all are losing your minds bro

I’m really not losing my mind or panicking. I think Pope will correct it and not get down 20 against Michigan state. If he does then I’ll panic. I don’t need years of results to form an opinion. This is a thing with Pope.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

I’m really not losing my mind or panicking. I think Pope will correct it and not get down 20 against Michigan state. If he does then I’ll panic. I don’t need years of results to form an opinion. This is a thing with Pope.

You literally said the man is too soft for this job and all kinds of other things. Things we need a much larger sample size for. I think I may have to step away from the site for a few days. Where the men at? Estrogen has taken over every thread. We’re like two posts from complaining about pink tax, bro. lol look around

 

[KYFOSSIL]

So you watched us get down twenty several times. We got lucky and hit some shots in all of them games to keep the score respectable.

I get you run a bit pessimistic but dont minimize the grit they showed saying they hit some "lucky shots". I mean seriously.

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

You literally said the man is too soft for this job and all kinds of other things. Things we need a much larger sample size for. I think I may have to step away from the site for a few days. Where the men at? Estrogen has taken over every thread. We’re like two posts from complaining about pink tax, bro. lol look around

Estrogen because I have an opinion. I could get it if I was attacking posters. I have said a bunch of things but to sum it up…

I like Pope I think he did a good job last year. Not happy with his recruiting. Gonna let this year play out before I say much else. I do think his style is soft. Are those crazy opinions?

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

I get you run a bit pessimistic but dont minimize the grit they showed saying they hit some "lucky shots". I mean seriously.

As one poster said during the game chat….. Ik my negativity is bringing them good luck seriously I’m all UK. If I say something bad it’s halfway hoping they prove me wrong. I just want to win at the end of the day.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

Estrogen because I have an opinion. I could get it if I was attacking posters. I have said a bunch of things but to sum it up…

I like Pope I think he did a good job last year. Not happy with his recruiting. Gonna let this year play out before I say much else. I do think his style is soft. Are those crazy opinions?

No. I don’t think any of those are crazy opinions. Look around and tell me this place hasn’t went brain dead

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

No. I don’t think any of those are crazy opinions. Look around and tell me this place hasn’t went brain dead

Yea it’s pretty gloomy right now. We need to win Tuesday. I might stay off here for awhile if we don’t

 

[Anon1759768907]

Yea it’s pretty gloomy right now. We need to win Tuesday. I might stay off here for awhile of we don’t

i think we do lose tm, but i will still feel confident if we do end up losing, this team has the pieces to be okay, just hope it comes together ag the right tiem

 

[wildcatdon]

We were in good with Mikel Brown for a while and then he signed with UL. Anyone know the true story on that one? How good would we be with him?

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

We were in good with Mikel Brown for a while and then he signed with UL. Anyone know the true story on that one? How good would we be with him?

Probably worse. He kept us in the game.

 

[Burly Peters]

He is soft man. The whole board will agree his coaching style is soft. Do you not listen to his interviews?
Now being soft isn’t being wrong. We just might not land certain players. Take away the word soft and call it what you want. He is 100% different than any coach I have ever seen.

you think he’s hard nosed? You think he’s getting all over players or just when they literally throw the ball to the other team he subs them out? I even thought that was soft! Get on them man don’t just take them out and smile as they walk past.


With that being said I LOVE coach Pope and want him to do good. I do think he’s soft. Extremely soft. Softer than charmin.

I know Pitino is largely FOS, but he swears Pope is the most competitive guy that ever played for him. If that's true, you can't be that competitive and be soft. I know that many religious guys come off as soft because they aren't tossing F bombs and getting drunk. That's also a fallacy.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

I know Pitino is largely FOS, but he swears Pope is the most competitive guy that ever played for him. If that's true, you can't be that competitive and be soft. I know that many religious guys come off as soft because they aren't tossing F bombs and getting drunk. That's also a fallacy.

Absence of information, a jump to conclusions. That’s what I’m trying to point out to people.

it’s this kind of logic:

We lost 96-88.

We didn’t have Mikel Brown Jr.

We didn’t score enough points

Mikel Brown Jr is a freshman

We need a star freshman!!!

That’s not logic, that’s emotion

 

[Burly Peters]

This high school class isn't very good. Maybe the weakest in well over a decade. There are only two or three guys I'd take. We've already got enough continuity peices. I like Holt. Smith Jr has potential. And Stokes if he can stop being an f'n moron. You're the potential number one pick next year and you're getting expelled for fighting. I'm not sure I want anyone that dumb on my team.

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

I know Pitino is largely FOS, but he swears Pope is the most competitive guy that ever played for him. If that's true, you can't be that competitive and be soft. I know that many religious guys come off as soft because they aren't tossing F bombs and getting drunk. That's also a fallacy.

Popes by far not soft. His coaching is imo. He could get in there and bang with the best of them but he seems to not be able to get his players fired up. I don’t need him to be cussing. He just needs to win and it will shut me up.

 

[Burly Peters]

Absence of information, a jump to conclusions. That’s what I’m trying to point out to people.

it’s this kind of logic:

We lost 96-88.

We didn’t have Mikel Brown Jr.

We didn’t score enough points

Mikel Brown Jr is a freshman

We need a star freshman!!!

That’s not logic, that’s emotion

A lot of people struggle to see the big picture.