Kentucky Has Been Pursuing Five Star Guard Caleb Holt.
- Thread starter villefan76
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Is it just me or are others not feeling as excited even at the prospect of a commitment from 5 stat guys, knowing that it’s all subject to change if they don’t like how the transfer portal and roster reshaping goes in April/May
Ya absolutely. The recruitment takes years instead of weeks like the portal, the guys are less predictable, they can still leave at the last second if you pick up a better portal player, they’re typically weaker mentally and physically, and if they don’t pan out and you’re banking on them to be a developmental piece with loads of playing time they STILL leave like we saw with Ian Jackson and even that Florida guard we picked up. I just have no idea why in the world anyone would give a **** about HS recruits in this environment, including the coaches. Hell, half the coaches, even young ones like Todd Golden don’t even recruit HS players hardly.
I could see guys outside the top 10 ending up at lesser schools and working their way up through the portal. There’s just no reason to waste time on these guys when you can easily get a better player in the portal, unless it’s an Anthony Davis/flagg/Wall type of guy of course.
I’d still like to stock up on them. I still believe it’s important to try and get guys with multiple years eligibility and those with NBA talent. Deal with the other stuff later. Freshman still need to be recruited so may as well hone in on a couple each year to try and get the best ones. Elite freshman can still play large rolls and you can sign them for around what a mid level portal player would go for. You can get a great player for a million vs 2-3 a portal guy may cost. That will help the budget of the roster. You may get a kid for 500k that turns out to be a real player.
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Once the paperwork is officially signed are these kids legit bound to their school, and if so, can a school and a kid not agree to a multi year deal?? I only ask because you hear so many stories of an agreement being reached only to have the kid bail at the last minute. Do these kids hold 100% of the power???
My thoughts are that the staff are trying to make relationships to as many players as possible and even if they don’t come to Kentucky they still have a relationship with the coach and university so when they transfer to UK after a year or two they already know that UK has always wanted them. I think Pope is playing a game years in advance of other coaches. IMO
Pope knows he needs two wings/guards to replace his two Seniors Oweh and Aberdeen.
That’s the spots he can promise to elite HS recruits.
Any other guys that leave, he will probably have to replace with portal guys.
So he’ll go after Crowe, Kinney, Holt, Stokes, and Thompson to replace Oweh and Aberdeen. Get two of those five guys. That would be a good start to the 2026 class.
That’s the spots he can promise to elite HS recruits.
Any other guys that leave, he will probably have to replace with portal guys.
So he’ll go after Crowe, Kinney, Holt, Stokes, and Thompson to replace Oweh and Aberdeen. Get two of those five guys. That would be a good start to the 2026 class.
Yeap, go sit on the bench and earn your playing time OVER TIME, like they used to do, and be cherished when you graduate and the fans actually know and love you, or go develop at someone else's expense, come in here and be effective, and not be surprised when the coach and fans move on to someone better than you.
I have a feeling that may happen soon but as of right now no. Now if they sign an NIL deal and get paid and then leave without playing that is being challenged in court very soon by Arkansas against two players. So far no school has held players accountable for bouncing after being paid.
I do think there needs to be certain protections for schools when kids sign. Obviously they can agree to let them out of a contract if they want but for stability it would be nice if after they sign that they were actually bound to that school unless they want to sit out a year or something.
I'd never take 2 Freshman combo guards who are under 6'5. That's a huge no.
Holt is from AL but moved to GA because they have NIL for HS players. So will be interesting in how he sees Bama/Auburn as programs. i'd take Holt over both Crowe/Kinney personally and go older at guard position.
Really like Crowe, might be my number 1 want
Fair I like both Kinney and Crowe, and the connections we have with both are strong.
You are free to like whatever you want--just saying going Freshmen guard route isn't how I'm going in this era at all. They have to bee John Wall or De'Aaron Fox.
It would appear to me based on this past offseason our coaching staff agrees, thankfully
Whoever wants to be here and develop. It’s gonna take time for the fans and the high school players to adjust to Kentucky playing the long game rather than mass talent grabs where most of them are out the door in one year to the league or another school. Either keep kids in your program or don’t win championships. Pope wants to win championships and that’s why I doubt we ever accept more than 1 OAD player per year. He has a very clear intent with how he does things and I fully believe in it. That’s why I’m all in on guys like Kinney who you’d hope have some deep rooted ties to the program.
Vince Marrow and Mark Stoops have done this for years, even before the transfer portal and it has worked out pretty good for them.
Coach Pope is smart enough to not burn bridges as are several other coaches now. Heck, Coach Beard from Ole Miss was singing Travis Perry's praises at the SEC Tournament, saying what a wonderful kid and player he is and how he enjoyed recruiting him, long before he went into the portal. Now Ole Miss seems to be at the top of his list of schools.4
You never know what a kid will do after being at a school for a year.
It just makes the most sense for that position. Now there's always an exception to the rule. I liked Acaden Lewis game and seeing him as a backup/part of the rotation, I'd have loved-but he left and for his own reasons and respect it. I'm not nearly as certain of Jasper Johnson as most are here so hope that works itself out but UK has that covered with all the wings they brought in who have experience or can play different roles. I like Moreno more than most though too-I think he's shown well in platforms with peers and someone got upset he was outclassed by the Carlos Boozer All Stars from Miami Columbus-well when you are a Big man and don't have elite teammates-that will happen. Alex Lloyd going to Florida scored 40 pts and had 31 in the 1st Half and think his team lost by 35/40 pts in the game against Carlos Boozer All Stars. Moreno showed well in Camps/AAU/HS All American Settings and is big/skilled. So who knows how things will go but at the PG slot--give me Portal more often than not.
Especially with a lot of major college coaches not recruiting them at all (Pitino) to others who want to spend their NIL money on proven college players. I think Pope is just touching all the bases and I’m sure letting them know how much NIL money UK has and it’s strong fan base.
Nice point, ralph.... just before reading your comments, my thoughts were "do we really want (in this era?) to turn over our PG spot to an unproven freshman - as opposed to finding that experienced PG in the portal?
even if said potential PG freshman recruit is a 5 star stud ?
Unless they are absolutely a unanimous AD-type game changing player, I think we should be looking at filling the PG spots with experienced players from the portal here on out. With exceptions.
Of course, you don't turn down recruiting or landing the top players as freshmen, but in today's landscape, it might be wiser to get that particular position through the portal than any other.
thgoughts?