Deron Rippey to Duke

[RunninRichie]

Pope reminds me of George McClellan in the Civil War. Organized. Tons of the resources. Every reason in the world that he should have had success. But at the end of the day, he wasn't a killer, and his ineptitude helped allow the South to prevail far longer than they should have.

Pope is the same way. It is inevitable that this thing collapses around him. It's painful to watch. He's a terrible recruiter and a mediocre coach.

Braxton Bragg? That guy actually had a confederate soldier, from my home county of Barren County, executed for going home to tend to his mother's farm.

Corp Asa Lewis (unknown-1862) - Find a Grave...

Asa Lewis was a young Barren County, Kentucky farmboy. Asa joined Company E, 6th Kentucky of the Orphan Brigade of the Confederate Army, Lewis received no training, but was simply handed a rifle and told he was a soldier. Lewis served with distiction in the American Civil War and was promoted to...

www.findagrave.com

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Every day we fall further behind. There is no one behind the wheel.

You need to learn from Pope and show some gratitude. We may be a laughing stock this season, have gone from #9 in the nation to unranked in a matter of weeks, lost to every meaningful team we've played, and have no commitments right now, but we beat an unranked Indiana team at Rupp.



Gratitude is the assignment, and Pope understands it.

 

[CRZ4UK]

We will continue to strike out on 5* kids with the JMI/Mitch special that is having the player sign over their outside NIL rights to JMI effectively eliminating their chances at any outside NIL on top of their UK NIL deal within the collective. Multiple agents and a few players said THAT is why people are refusing to sign. Pope gets some of them to the table and the JMI NIL contract details are gone through and they walk away. That's why we had Crystal Balls for Stokes and Collins and were in good position with others. It's not the money, it's not players not wanting to play for Pope or KY, it's this new JMI deal (specifically that clause) that are making people run away the most. There are obviously other factors, but that is our death knell that we didn't have last portal season. Since we inked that 15 year extension with this clause in, we've signed exactly 0 players.

Pope and Mitch must praise the deal and continue on though. Word getting out that no one wants to work with JMI will kill even getting them to the table.
IMO. The only thing that will solve this is if the money partners threaten to walk away unless JMI drops the demand. The companies and donors must tell JMI drop the clause or we all walk away.

 

[Crazy4Blue]

yes no commitment, but he has a crystal ball there, basically means hes a lock

Uh.....no it doesn't. If it did we would have Stokes and Collins right now.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Pope and Mitch must praise the deal and continue on though. Word getting out that no one wants to work with JMI will kill even getting them to the table.
IMO. The only thing that will solve this is if the money partners threaten to walk away unless JMI drops the demand. The companies and donors must tell JMI drop the clause or we all walk away.

I think Pope's coaching staff floated the $22 million reality out of necessity. Due to the fact that the JMI deals are so silly and limiting for player flexibility, the staff had to resort to spouting off about their expenditures so that potential recruits can see that there is a silver lining. In other words, the message becomes: "Yes, we can't really promise much at the outset, but we take care of you once you commit here and pay premium for sub premium talent once the dust settles." Pope knows they don't have much to offer at the outset. He knows their JMI deal is shizznit.

Ultimately, it reaks of desperation from a coaching staff that is evidently clueless about how to navigate NIL through JMI's twisted system of potential earninings.

 

[Anon1759768907]

Uh.....no it doesn't. If it did we would have Stokes and Collins right now.

our coach is an awful recruiter + the jmi stuff.....

crystal balls are right iver 95% of the time

 

[UK4Life#9]

Nah just ask @UK4Life#9 , everything is fine and Pope is doing great.

We have signed 0 recruits, and this past off-season Pope displayed his portal picking expertise, which needs work.

Quote me from where I said everything was fine and Pope was doing great this year?? The lies and twisting of my words just further confirms what I have said.

 

[Hush4872]

if this is true.......can anything be done about that clause?
if true,.......how can someone sign a contract like that and no one else read/know/understand the fine print and how it will harm the sports programs?
Is Barnhart against UK sports that much???? Why doesn't he do something to help the sprots programs/ Why isn't he held accountable for these stupid contracts? Does he not have any superior that keeps tabs on him?

If there was legitimately anyone above MB who cared, he would've been fired after the BG and Joker hires. UK administration seems wholely uninterested in having successful sports programs for some reason.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

They’re rolling and meanwhile down in Lexington. Thanks, Mitch!!!

This is not on Mitch

 

[TJ_Ford]

They can waste millions on hs players just like other teams They are spending 25,000,000 I guess

This is completely false. Nobody spends in the 20 millions except UK.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

Heckuva pickup

The hits keep coming. I definitely didn’t want my favorite player in the class to go there. I hate Mitch Barnhart so much.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

Which I said by saying there are obviously other factors, but the kids we get to the table that want to play for UK and for Pope that we can't close on are because of the JMI clause, which is what I was referring to. The guys who don't want to play for Pope/UK is a different discussion, albeit, still an issue.

So that means even when we do get kids interested they won’t sign. That deal has to go today. I can’t believe we have to deal with this ********.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

Fake News. He may indeed commit there, but hasn’t yet

Correct. No commitment

He isn’t coming here so fake news all ya want.

 

[senonesy]

He isn’t coming here so fake news all ya want.

Great comeback! Didn’t say he was.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

Great comeback! Didn’t say he was.

Ummm it’s not a comeback because you didn’t say anything to me… but I think you are smart enough to know that a CB pick this late to Duke who gets every 5 star they want is a lock.

 

[Agent Redbone]

yes no commitment, but he has a crystal ball there, basically means hes a lock

Unless the crystal ball means they’re coming to KY

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Ummm it’s not a comeback because you didn’t say anything to me… but I think you are smart enough to know that a CB pick this late to Duke who gets every 5 star they want is a lock.

You're conversing with a guy who supported Calipari all the way until the end - even after Sharpe, after Saint Peter's, and after Oakland. Just based on inference, it seems like he's a "say no evil" kind of fan, regardless of the ineptitude of any particular regime. I have no problem with that, but you'll never get him to critique Pope. It ain't happening.

At least MDWildcat has gotten off the Pope wagon. Sejonesy/Senosey will never critique the head coach. That is his right, but it really hampers his ability to sound objective when the empire is on fire and he's still playing the harp with Nero up on the palace roof.

 

[OmahaJhawk]

Has Duke become Nike’s favorite school now? Seemed like when Cal was around he had a good streak of getting the elite Nike talent..

 

[TJ_Ford]

Has Duke become Nike’s favorite school now? Seemed like when Cal was around he had a good streak of getting the elite Nike talent..

Been this way for a decade now

 

[Bill_the_cat]

If Duke gets Rippey, and I think that they will, hopefully it will help our chances with Smith.

Except Smith is a 2G. He may need to play the point because of his size, but he is not a lead.

 

[HogCoyote]

We will continue to strike out on 5* kids with the JMI/Mitch special that is having the player sign over their outside NIL rights to JMI effectively eliminating their chances at any outside NIL on top of their UK NIL deal within the collective. Multiple agents and a few players said THAT is why people are refusing to sign. Pope gets some of them to the table and the JMI NIL contract details are gone through and they walk away. That's why we had Crystal Balls for Stokes and Collins and were in good position with others. It's not the money, it's not players not wanting to play for Pope or KY, it's this new JMI deal (specifically that clause) that are making people run away the most. There are obviously other factors, but that is our death knell that we didn't have last portal season. Since we inked that 15 year extension with this clause in, we've signed exactly 0 players.

Careful someone is going to accuse you of being a Matt Jones schill here soon. Remember everything is fine with JMI and Mitch, its just Matt Jones has a vendetta because JMI won't work with him.

 

[Drcatfan]

At one point we had hopes of a class of Stokes, Rippey, and Collins. Now, we fully expect we get none of them. This season is on edge of disaster and next season looks worse. I'm as big of UK fan as anyone, but facts are facts. We are in serious trouble with no solution in sight

 

[TFCat11]

yeah, like what do we have to be excited about next year

year 3 chandler and noah???

And more 3rd and 4th Portal options

I knew when Pope lost Lendeborg to May and Michigan, his recruiting, and NIL valuation was baked!

 

[TFCat11]

Didn’t experts have us in the lead for him a few months ago and now we didn’t even make his top 5? Not even a hat on the table huh

bUt pOpE HaS tHe mOSt nIL tO WOrk wITh iN aLL Of cOLlAge BAskEtbAll!!!

 

[Stenchymouse]

The university of JMI...

 

[TFCat11]

Boom!
(Did I do that right?)

I know a lot of fans like these “BOOM” gifs, but I’m sure there’s a good percentage to recruits that find them kinda cringe, and just attributes them to Pope’s goofy persona, thus part of his inability to close the deal.

Literally, no other Blue Blood program (or other) participates in such silliness.

 

[TFCat11]

This is not on Mitch

Uh, Mitch approved the contracts and hired Pope! This is every which way but loose, on Mitch!

 

[PastorofMuppets82]

Careful someone is going to accuse you of being a Matt Jones schill here soon. Remember everything is fine with JMI and Mitch, its just Matt Jones has a vendetta because JMI won't work with him.

Luckily for me I don't listen to Matt Jones because I never got behind his knee jerk reactionary takes and his click baity headlines. I'm admittedly not as close to the program as I used to be but I'm still decently close my old roommate who is pretty plugged in. So I get info on occasion. lol

 

[Crazy4Blue]

Except Smith is a 2G. He may need to play the point because of his size, but he is not a lead

Puke has already signed Bryson Howard for the 2. I did read somewhere that they may try to get Smith for the point. Now they apparently got a true point guard in Rippey. Kind of eliminates Duke for Smith but now I hear where he may be leaning to Arkansas!

 

[UKBB4Ever]

Uh, Mitch approved the contracts and hired Pope! This is every which way but loose, on Mitch!

No it’s not. Except for the hiring of Pope.

The reason we are not getting the players we want is 100% on the head coach.

Mitch is responsible for that. So in that regard it is his fault.

The JMI deal may at some point become a recruiting problem. But it is not now.

Pope has a blank checkbook to use. The checkbook is not the problem. The user is the problem.

 

[PastorofMuppets82]

Where in the world do you get the idea that Pope has a blank checkbook? I'm just curious because Pope doesn't have the ability to write the checks, JMI does.

 

[GoCATSGo77]

Has Duke become Nike’s favorite school now? Seemed like when Cal was around he had a good streak of getting the elite Nike talent..

Did you fall asleep in 2015 and just wake up??

 

[Pensacola_Cat_Fan]

No it’s not. Except for the hiring of Pope.

The reason we are not getting the players we want is 100% on the head coach.

Mitch is responsible for that. So in that regard it is his fault.

The JMI deal may at some point become a recruiting problem. But it is not now.

Pope has a blank checkbook to use. The checkbook is not the problem. The user is the problem.

You don’t know that. Stop making things up.

 

[Bill_the_cat]

Puke has already signed Bryson Howard for the 2. I did read somewhere that they may try to get Smith for the point. Now they apparently got a true point guard in Rippey. Kind of eliminates Duke for Smith but now I hear where he may be leaning to Arkansas!

Rippey straight up reminds me of a Michigan State type guard. Tough as nails, motor always on.

 

[Bill_the_cat]

JMI - someone explain to me if if is required to be signed.
I have not read anywhere that a player MUST sign that deal.

 

[PastorofMuppets82]

It isn't a must, BUT..... they make it very difficult to NOT sign the deal. Since JMI controls logo/branding. If say Trent Noah signs a deal with a Harlan gas station that isn't part of the JMI collective and he goes to do a commercial for them, he can't wear any UK gear, show the logo, or mention the university without approval from JMI. Plus, for say like 5 star talent, without JMI pulling the money from the collective, it's going to be on the player's crew/agent/family etc to find the NIL money from outside businesses. That's because Mitch has said UK won't do the outside pay for play that isn't currently illegal but he was planning would be illegal had it passed in Congress. Other schools are simply paying the player and skipping NILGO completely since they know there won't be any legal rammifications. It isn't a dead stop, only option thing. It just makes it VERY difficult to land good players on it's own. Combine that with Pope's reported negotiation difficulties and it's a recipe for landing 0 recruits.

 

[CAWOOD FAN]

It must be Pope's fault.

 

[seccats04]

Pope reminds me of George McClellan in the Civil War. Organized. Tons of the resources. Every reason in the world that he should have had success. But at the end of the day, he wasn't a killer, and his ineptitude helped allow the South to prevail far longer than they should have.

Pope is the same way. It is inevitable that this thing collapses around him. It's painful to watch. He's a terrible recruiter and a mediocre coach.

So, basically what most of us thought about him before we hired him. Thanks again, Mitch.

 

[Kentucky15]

Pilgrim said its a bit of both.

100%. It’s takes very little to see that. I do think it’s way more JMI, but when Pope took the early hits, it expanded the problem. Then he started losing and here we are. No momentum and sitting dead.

Kentucky is absolutely no threat to do anything. None.

Anyone who can’t see this is an absolute moron. I seriously hope they’re trolling.

 

[Kentucky15]

Chris Beard is also high on him and that guy knows his sh*t

I’d call Beard today. Been saying it for years. That guy is so hungry to finish off the job he’s been so close. He’d murder it here.