Found this interesting - thought I'd share

[kfwa]

let me state before you read any further - there is absolutely zero proof this is happening at Kentucky..zero


We hired a former D1 player into my training program. I won't mention the program he played for but its a real school, he got NIL money and all that. He was recruited by Pope when Pope was at BYU.

People have been up in arms with Popes playing time, not starting the best players and his rotation, just really strange patterns

This guys was telling me he follows Kentucky because of Pope and has been scratching his head at the rotations and playing times of players this season.

He thinks that its not beyond the realm of possibility the major donors to NIL are demanding playing time for their guys and while he has no idea if its going on at Kentucky, he knows its going on at a handful of schools. They threaten to pull funding if their guy they are paying for is on the bench.

its a hot take that can answer some questions that we didn't have answers for.

honestly it would be hard to me to believe with as much on a line , including his job security that any NIL donor would have some influence over playing time

but it doesn't seem totally off the reservation when you think about it.

for example a car dealership pays $500K to support Jasper Johnson and he doesn't play? are they going to give another $500K next year? I don't know. Can a donor have enough $$$ influence to at least demand his guy get into the rotation?

 

[Goingfor9]

That’s a uk non factor. The major sponsors want to support UK Basketball not individual players. That is what has always set UK bb apart. That UK bb is like an nba team. The franchise is always greater than one player. I can see where guys are steered to non bb schools and they aren’t playing especially if the sponsors are well known and it tarnishes their brand

 

[loublue22_rivals308424]

I would think every donor cares about winning above all else

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

Not buying into that one. Pope played a 7-man rotation last night. Doesn’t pass the smell test

 

[CatManFromCa]

JMI was put in place to make “UK first” in branding.

 

[kfwa]

I would think every donor cares about winning above all else

agreed,

but what if the donor thinks the reason we aren't winning is because Jasper Johnson isn't playing?

I get it, pretty arrogant that a donor thinks they know more about basketball than Pope, but what if the only difference between a donor and say, 50% of the people posting on this board it the donor has enough money to make someone listen to him?

 

[kfwa]

Not buying into that one. Pope played a 7-man rotation last night. Doesn’t pass the smell test

again, zero evidence, but it took until January 7 with the season on the line for Pope to play the lineup everyone paying attention said needed to play.

I'm not going to defend the position any more because as I said, zero evidence, but I don't think its a completely crazy theory.

 

[JonathanW2]

I'm not putting too much into that.
1) I don't really think it is applicable to what we've seen at UK. Pope has cut Garrison's minutes due to poor play (& now he's playing better). The Lowe limitations were obviously an attempt to reduce his risk of another injury to that shoulder. And the JQ limitations are almost surely due to him just recently being cleared to play, and not having practiced with the team for long.
2) That concept just doesn't make a ton of sense. Let's be honest, most NIL is money people are donating to support the team they like, which they can now write off (on taxes) as a marketing expense. In which case, yeah it would be nice if the guy my $ is going to makes a big impact (a cherry on top), but when it comes down to it I just want the team to win, is the mindset I think most NIL donors probably have. In the JJ example, that JJ does a few commercials/ads for them will NOT bring them an additional $500_K in business.

 

[UKJenning]

This is dumbest thing I’ve heard in a while.

No one is going to follow a team with crappy results.

The donors NIL player is going to get zero exposure if they’re sitting home on the sofa in March while other teams are playing,

Pope doesn’t know WTH he is doing is the problem here.

 

[Damage_inc]

makes NO sense at all. Boosters don't care about "their guy". They care about winning or they wouldn't be a booster. The only ROI the donors get is winning games. That's all, unless they hire them for a commercial or something.