He missed on Caleb Wilson, Yaxel, Dent, Wilkerson, and Nate Ament. Any of those guys would be the best player on our team. You just can’t keep missing on every top choice and win. We have a bunch of secondary starters and back ups. We just have a lot of them. He won’t survive here if he doesn’t get better players.
It’s as simple as this; Pope can’t recruit.
- Thread starter CatBearPig
- Start date
Amen -- this is the fundamental issue. Get half of those misses and the deficiencies are masked.
chaz lanier too, mgbako, magoon, so many
I really don’t see us landing anyone for next season. Maybe some portal role players and returnees that’s sure getting it done.
There’s nothing really to look forward to in 2026. We’ve practically missed out on everyone so far and it doesn’t look like that’ll change. If there’s turmoil among the team then we’ll see most recruits look elsewhere and it’s likely we’ll be seeing mass transfers after the season and looking for a whole new team.
If we’re looking for a whole new team and no game-changing recruits coming in why even keep Pope at that point?
This was always my concern with pope. He’s never landed big time recruits and he still isn’t. As a matter of fact he can’t seem to land his fist choice either in the portal or with the high school kids. Some people are just bad salesmen. Those people need people on staff who can do it for them. Coach O should have been allowed to stay.
it’s also not lost on me that BYU got better when he left. That’s concerning
it’s also not lost on me that BYU got better when he left. That’s concerning
that last sentence is 100% valid, if this season goes to poop and we have no incoming freshman then genuinely why keep him
like a other thing on this, trilly donavan has told us on multiple different guys that they change their mind last minute, jaron pierre and magoon and wilson being a few
he also incorrectly evaluated that Garrison should remain the starting center
Correct, but better recruiting would make a more positive impact on the team than better coaching, IMO.
Even if he could recruit better, his ability to manage egos has left much to be desired.
Even if he can coach, manage egos and whatever else. These guys aren't good enough.
Bunch of posters here have been waving warning flags since the Dent miss. Doesn't make sense to have this much $$ and land nobody. Kentucky bball fans know ball, you can't BS us. And those that initially disagreed are catching on quickly.
why would any freshman come to Kentucky when Pope has a reputation of not starting them . My advice is to start Moreno & Jasper now , then let the chips fall where they fall.
Then go to platooning with a 40 minutes of HELL Full court pressure philosophy.
Then go to platooning with a 40 minutes of HELL Full court pressure philosophy.
You cannot tell me that Pope couldn't walk into Scott County's gym tomorrow and recruit a two or three star player on the spot. That's what we need. More talent from our state on the roster. Guys who want to win it all here. Heart over skill.
Leave those other players at the top of those dumb recruiting boards to everyone else.
From my understanding of it, we used more NIL money than anyone else to build this team. How the heck do you build a team this bad? Why is he striking out on so many recruits? Normally I’m for giving a coach time to build their program, but things are different now with NIL. He won’t last long at all if he doesn’t turn this around.
Reminds me too much of the BCG years. Anyone who dared to say he wasn’t the second-coming of Rupp were accused of being Louisville trolls or LoDs.
genuinely how bad of a recruiter do u have to be to not have a single 5 star AT KENTUCKY and with JASON HART as an assistant
Yeah it's unreal, the Crowe situation was just WTF!?
Listen to his post-game. His all for one speech being the most important thing, which I don’t think is necessarily wrong and was a needed shift from Cal, just isn’t going to resonate with most difference making recruits today. He needs to balance the desire of the player with the team better than Cal but still play to the kids ego of getting to the league.
Not everyone is going to love UK as much as him at first but you have to get them here and then mold them. That in my opinion separates coaches from the pack.
Not everyone is going to love UK as much as him at first but you have to get them here and then mold them. That in my opinion separates coaches from the pack.
Then we end up with the talent of Pikeville college. Very rarely does the state produce top flight talent.
That's always been amazing to me considering the reputation basketball has in Kentucky.
Darius Miller is the best UK player to come out if the state in my lifetime of being a fan. .I love Darius and he was a exceptional Role player and probably the reason we won #8 but that's what he was. A very good role player. Can't build the program that way.
like for example duke, their returners right guys like isiah evans, our returners are like noah, and their freshman they bring in are like boozer, and our guys are like jasper
He can’t do anything if we’re being honest as of today.
Can’t recruit
Terrible at putting together a roster
No grip on the emotional component of the team
Has provided no identity for the team from an X’s and O’s standpoint
Can’t develop- Oweh, Garrison, Noah, etc haven’t improved. Chandler’s improvement is more of a result of transitioning back to basketball than anything.
Dude needs Lowe to play and JQ to get healthy ASAP. They aren’t saviors by any means but dude has no answers without them and for all intents and purposes without Oweh.
Here’s our 22M:
- Not playing
- Not playing
-projected star that’s a complete shell
- complete disaster big that’s shown to never be good
-6th/7th best player at Florida
-8th leading scorer at Bama
-tweener 4/5 star guard from OTE
-our 2.7 PPG returner
- another 2.7 PPG returner
-a nice high 4 star big
- a non special talent foreigner
-Tulane 5th leading scorer
-redshirt
-redshirt
A disaster. 3 straight embarrassing losses to real teams. With the above, no real answer to change it. All on Pope.
Can’t recruit
Terrible at putting together a roster
No grip on the emotional component of the team
Has provided no identity for the team from an X’s and O’s standpoint
Can’t develop- Oweh, Garrison, Noah, etc haven’t improved. Chandler’s improvement is more of a result of transitioning back to basketball than anything.
Dude needs Lowe to play and JQ to get healthy ASAP. They aren’t saviors by any means but dude has no answers without them and for all intents and purposes without Oweh.
Here’s our 22M:
- Not playing
- Not playing
-projected star that’s a complete shell
- complete disaster big that’s shown to never be good
-6th/7th best player at Florida
-8th leading scorer at Bama
-tweener 4/5 star guard from OTE
-our 2.7 PPG returner
- another 2.7 PPG returner
-a nice high 4 star big
- a non special talent foreigner
-Tulane 5th leading scorer
-redshirt
-redshirt
A disaster. 3 straight embarrassing losses to real teams. With the above, no real answer to change it. All on Pope.
When a coach at the University of Kentucky has trouble recruiting behind that big of a brand in the sport and a huge amount of NIL money, something is bad wrong.
If Stoke goes somewhere else, this picture will be the ultimate meme
in the most respectful way possible, for OUR emotions do not expect collins stokes or holt.
You know the boosters are pissed off right now. All that money spent and how bad they’re playing. I bet Mitch and Pope both had some tough questions to answer after this game.
Boosters saved us in 2009 from having Mitch hire another disaster of a coach like BCG but they didn’t appear to bother with the last coaching search. Only they can save us from this ongoing disaster. Hope it ends this year and doesn’t spread into next.
It's hard not to come to that conclusion. During the portal there was talk guys (like Dent) would use UK's money to drive up the offer from the team they really wanted to play for. That's a tough position for UK/Pope to be in, but, you gotta overcome it! You have to make the top guys want to come here. Our one legit top transfer, JQ, is "damaged goods" if you will, and we still have no concrete timeline for when to expect him back. I'm guessing Lowe was our second highest rated transfer, and it's just bad luck he got injured in the preseason in a way that may ultimately end his season.
You would think the style of play and all the marquee wins last season would've made us a huge draw for transfers and recruits. Instead we missed on one top guy after another. I think most of us, myself included, believed/convinced ourselves that the players we got were good enough, would take a step forward in this system, and the coaching would make up for any deficits. Maybe that'll be right, but, so far it hasn't been encouraging. In retrospect missing on the top guys looks like a big deal, and having 12 players good enough to be in the rotation is not actually that important.
Edit -- it is worth pointing out, Dent and Yaxel haven't lit the CBB world on fire yet this season. It really looks like it's going to be a year defined by outstanding freshmen, of which we have none.
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If these issues don’t get resolved soon, this team will get demolished against UNC, Gonzaga, St John’s, and a lot of the away games in conference. If they lose to Indiana at home I’ll have to stop watching for a few games at least.
magoon has 20 and 7 in his first game this year
Agreed. It’s been a major issue since day one. Which is infuriating given that he had a great recruiting sitting in his lap when he got here but he didn’t hire him.
Dent and Lamar Wilkerson were the biggest whiffs. Even when healthy, Lowe isn’t the ideal pg for a team wanting a title. Dent would have made a huge difference at pg. I believe Wilkerson alone could have fixed a big issue with this team. His 19ppg and four 3’s per game on 50% shooting would give this team a legit scorer and shooter. It would also open up lanes making Oweh and Diaboute more effective and look better. Letting Indiana steal him last minute was pathetic and unacceptable. I’m sure he will light us up.
Dent and Lamar Wilkerson were the biggest whiffs. Even when healthy, Lowe isn’t the ideal pg for a team wanting a title. Dent would have made a huge difference at pg. I believe Wilkerson alone could have fixed a big issue with this team. His 19ppg and four 3’s per game on 50% shooting would give this team a legit scorer and shooter. It would also open up lanes making Oweh and Diaboute more effective and look better. Letting Indiana steal him last minute was pathetic and unacceptable. I’m sure he will light us up.
ament averaging 20 and 10 would be nice tooAgreed. It’s been a major issue since day one. Which is infuriating given that he had a great recruiting sitting in his lap when he got here but he didn’t hire him.
Dent and Lamar Wilkerson were the biggest whiffs. Even when healthy, Lowe isn’t the ideal pg for a team wanting a title. Dent would have made a huge difference at pg. I believe Wilkerson alone could have fixed a big issue with this team. His 19ppg and four 3’s per game on 50% shooting would give this team a legit scorer and shooter. It would also open up lanes making Oweh and Diaboute more effective and look better. Letting Indiana steal him last minute was pathetic and unacceptable. I’m sure he will light us up.
again Brandon Garrison had 0 blocked shots ... Collin Chandler had 2