***** GAME CHAT: UK vs. TENN TECH *****

ZaytovenCat

All-American
Apr 25, 2013
23,522
7,314
97
Yeah he should be like our 4th best player. If we can have a lineup that does that next year with his improvement we would actually be what this group was projected to be.
Don’t get your hopes up. Pope has yet to prove he can land an elite high school player and his portal recruiting isn’t exactly tearing it up either.
 
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Jul 30, 2024
4,407
7,870
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Awful start. Defense really turned up for that last 12 minutes of the half. Jelavic is playing very well, definitely encouraging to see he’s finding the open spots in the defense, something he wasn’t doing earlier in the year. Like what he’s giving us.
 
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chasingwildcat

All-American
Dec 23, 2024
3,285
6,715
113
Pope might actually have himself a team if he had 7 or 8 Chandlers. Makes me think he recruited outside of his comfort zone this year.
Probably he need to recruit better athleticism version of Koby Brea/Jaxson Robinson/Carr, who can make offense with improved defense, but hard to find these kinds of players in portal. Because if they are balanced in both o and d, they may be nba player already.

Chandler probably could be this kind of player in year 3 or 4

I would rather him to return to last years model. This offense is garbage
 
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bbnkat02

Heisman
Nov 14, 2017
46,038
68,154
113
I dunno man.

Give me CC, Aberdeen, Moreno, Noah and MoD and see what happens.

Everyone else? Just too iffy.
 

Kyfan27

Junior
Jan 7, 2023
177
306
63
I have hope Oweh will turn it around. We've all seen him do it. I know last year was probably mostly because of the shooters around him, but even in those Oklahoma games when EVERYONE knew who was getting the ball he was still unstoppable. He can for sure get back to that. Garrison has never shown it.
 
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Rick Honcho

All-Conference
Apr 19, 2011
1,375
1,301
103
I don’t want to bring negative energy, but Garrison’s play reminds me of Uwe Blab…
 

One2Three

All-Conference
Nov 15, 2025
785
1,841
93
Probably he need to recruit better athleticism version of Koby Brea/Jaxson Robinson/Carr, who can make offense with improved defense, but hard to find these kinds of players in portal. Because if they are balanced in both o and d, they may be nba player already.

I would rather him to return to last years model. This offense is garbage
If he ends up missing the tournament this year, frankly, boosters might not want Pope to return next year with the amount of money they’ve spending.
 

Eagles_Ball_69

All-Conference
Dec 19, 2003
2,871
3,679
82
Probably he need to recruit better athleticism version of Koby Brea/Jaxson Robinson/Carr, who can make offense with improved defense, but hard to find these kinds of players in portal. Because if they are balanced in both o and d, they may be nba player already.

Chandler probably could be this kind of player in year 3 or 4

I would rather him to return to last years model. This offense is garbage
It aint like he didn’t TRY to recruit them, he just didn’t get them.
 

chasingwildcat

All-American
Dec 23, 2024
3,285
6,715
113
If he ends up missing the tournament this year, frankly, boosters might not want Pope to return next year with the amount of money they’ve spending.
I assume he will get year 3 unless we have a year like last season's south Carolina
 

MbergCat

Heisman
Nov 23, 2014
7,416
13,962
113
They can shoot the 3 and run an offense that gets open looks. We will lose because we can't defend the 3 point line. Or the basket in general. I'm not sure Pope even knows you can go over screens.
This is the most down I've been this early in the season in a long, long time. It doesn't help that my expectations were so high.
 
Jun 30, 2025
293
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Oweh, for his sake and our sanity, better have a strong half. His drop off reminds me of Keith Bogans during his junior season. It looks like he's regressing to the mean after playing above his ability last season.
 

Vek96

All-Conference
Jul 4, 2025
1,637
3,387
113
The thing about Garrison, is not the fact that he’s a below average player. That‘s obvious.
I just hate his demeanor, body language, facial expressions, and lack of energy. I really wish he wasn’t on the team. I also think he’s a terrible influence on everyone around him.
 

One2Three

All-Conference
Nov 15, 2025
785
1,841
93
I assume he will get year 3 unless we have a year like last season's south Carolina
NIL has changed expectations. Jacka** Barney might want to keep Pope around but the guys throwing NIL money might have other plans if he massively underperforms and ends up in the NIT with a $20 million team.

But even from a personal opinion, we’ve no 2026 recruits, not even any top 50 players. The cold harsh truth is what do we have to work with? What hope is there right now for next year? Who are we expecting to return if there’s turmoil among the team. We could be dealing with an exodus and no recruits. Pope would be back to square one. Can we afford to keep him around under this scenario?