Kentucky out on Rippey

[ToniTonyToneDelkDelkDelk]

Everybody has money to throw at these top recruits, we need a edge a name guy on staff that these guys want to learn from someone that has excelled at the highest level and knows the game so add Rondo to the staff and you would see an immediate uptick in recruiting not only with first year players but portal guys too.

Man I said this on the other board when someone suggested this, also when someone suggested Rondo joining Redick's Lakers staff... Rajon Rondo isn't going to jump into a situation where he is subordinate to someone who knows less than him. There has to be something to gain.

 

[Forkman]

That's even more embarrassing. You don't go and walk around the Land Rover dealership if you only have a Subaru Outback budget.

You do if you have a Subaru budget but your fans expect you to drive around in a Land Rover.

 

[Kentucky15]

I remember having a ton of McDs AAs every year and that didn’t guarantee a FF appearance. Just pointing out how you were wrong. And your Duke not doesn’t negate the fact that McDs AAs doesn’t make you a FF contender. Just like recruiting decent kids doesn’t mean you can’t go to a FF. There’s a hell of a lot more involved than just talent or decent dudes, LUCK being a huge part of that success.

I mean, Kentucky nor Duke, both kings of the elite freshman OAD’s have ZERO title game appearances in over a decade.

Case closed. Championships are what we’re measuring by, they don’t win those. And, Duke and Kentucky while touting the OAD freshman all over the court have barely fielded final four teams in that same time frame. Only a few for one of those teams since 2015.

If any of these guys are actually UK fans, they’re caught up in nonsense simply because they read we aren’t getting some guy they probably never even paid much attention to. Some of them are trolls and UL fans. Which is sad trolling a board of a team your 18-40 against all time. But I guess you can’t act like you’ve been there when you’re a fan of a no name brand less no mans land like UL who is only noticed when you play the blue blood in your state.

 

[Anon1759768907]

I remember having a ton of McDs AAs every year and that didn’t guarantee a FF appearance. Just pointing out how you were wrong. And your Duke not doesn’t negate the fact that McDs AAs doesn’t make you a FF contender. Just like recruiting decent kids doesn’t mean you can’t go to a FF. There’s a hell of a lot more involved than just talent or decent dudes, LUCK being a huge part of that success.

i agree luck is important, luck is the one of the reasons we were early exits recently

 

[BarefootBeach]

You do if you have a Subaru budget but your fans expect you to drive around in a Land Rover.

What is the UK budget? Please link your info.

 

[ToniTonyToneDelkDelkDelk]

You do if you have a Subaru budget but your fans expect you to drive around in a Land Rover.

That part!

 

[Forkman]

What is the UK budget? Please link your info.

I know what it's not. 22 million dollars. Apparently everyone who landed all the portal players we went after has less money than us.

 

[BlueBlood96Cat]

I mean, Kentucky nor Duke, both kings of the elite freshman OAD’s have ZERO title game appearances in over a decade.

Case closed. Championships are what we’re measuring by, they don’t win those. And, Duke and Kentucky while touting the OAD freshman all over the court have barely fielded final four teams in that same time frame. Only a few for one of those teams since 2015.

If any of these guys are actually UK fans, they’re caught up in nonsense simply because they read we aren’t getting some guy they probably never even paid much attention to. Some of them are trolls and UL fans. Which is sad trolling a board of a team your 18-40 against all time. But I guess you can’t act like you’ve been there when you’re a fan of a no name brand less no mans land like UL who is only noticed when you play the blue blood in your state.

Saying they haven’t won a championship doesn’t hide the fact that they are favored to in most of them years. Don’t Act like you wasn’t almost 100% sure Duke was about to win it less than a year ago. Were they in the final four?

How many years did we almost win it or should have won it? I say Cal was favored to win it half of his years he was here. Duke is favored almost every year. It’s incredibly hard to win it. Much less be expected to.

The years we didn’t have one and done talent we didn’t win it. Last year was 98. All the way to 2012 we didn’t win it so are those type of players to blame and be mad at or not want. They didn’t win and honestly probably weren’t expected to so I’ll always be in favor of having the talent that gives you an increasingly higher chance at winning something that already takes a lot of luck even if you are by far the best team.

if college played series we would have like 15 chips rn.

One and dones never been the problem at any point in time. Wanting them or not wanting them is personal preference but having the best talent in the country will never be the problem.

 

[Anon1679859502]

Really missing JQ. Rim protection isn’t there. Would have beaten UL with JQ. Garrison doesn’t leave his feet half the time.

If JQ doesn’t play this place will be chaos

 

[Possum]

Is the stage too big for Pope?

No, but this board is too big of a stage for you. Get back in the kitchen where you belong and make some sammiches.

 

[FitchandMurray29]

Kid’s father does a ton of interviews. Kid is called Ron Ron.

I’m good on missing on those two annoying things alone lol.

 

[ToniTonyToneDelkDelkDelk]

Kid’s father does a ton of interviews. Kid is called Ron Ron.

I’m good on missing on those two annoying things alone lol.

Suuuuuuuuuuure

 

[Verbal Kint II]

A lot of our fans are still suffering PTSD from Calipari. He just offered every 5 star, regardless of position, or fit for the team, and hoped for the best.

Mark recruits for what he likes for his system, AND, high character guys. I prefer the way he does it.

Look, he put together a really nice roster this season. I’m not giving up because of a loss on November the 11th.

Still trashing former players. We’ve always had high character guys. Again, LOL at these dumb narratives. Who were these low character guys that we had?

 

[Vek96]

Still trashing former players. We’ve always had high character guys. Again, LOL at these dumb narratives. Who were these low character guys that we had?

Do you have amnesia? Shaedon Sharpe

Still trashing former players. We’ve always had high character guys. Again, LOL at these dumb narratives. Who were these low character guys that we had?

Shady Sharpe for one.

 

[ScWildcat3]

BYU did get the numbrt one recruit when Pope left kinda odd

7 million reasons that happened

 

[LadyCaytIL]

Why would Pope stop recruiting a top 5 player? You know something the rest of us don't?

If a kid will only go to a place he'd be a starter and you dont have a starting spot for him, you stop wasting your time recruiting them .

 

[LadyCaytIL]

Our Collective has been disbanded and JMI is doing it now thanks to Barnhart, we wont have the same budget for NIL moving forward . Barnhart as always tying both hands behind our backs by trying to follow meaningless rules no one else will.

 

[Bill_the_cat]

Impossible, as much as I’d love to do that. I don’t know who we are in on. I genuinely don’t think KSR or anyone else really knows who we are in on. A lot of the times when we have landed someone, it has came mostly out of left field. (I don’t think Pope’s staff trusts KSR. Just my pure speculation—- I think all of the Intel comes from agents).

Regardless of who we are in on, just pick 4 you think will make a huge difference on their team in 2 years.
It is difficult to that. That is why the ‘just get some 4-stars’ is hard to do.
I would like to think Moreno and Johnson will be those guys for us. Moreno I am confident in. Johnson not so much.

 

[Bill_the_cat]

Everybody has money to throw at these top recruits, we need a edge a name guy on staff that these guys want to learn from someone that has excelled at the highest level and knows the game so add Rondo to the staff and you would see an immediate uptick in recruiting not only with first year players but portal guys too.

It will always be difficult to be the top bid for the best recruits. You have schools like BYU that spend all money on one top notch player or you spread the wealth to field a very good team.
We spent over $20 million to field a good team. But we still have holes.
Money spent on JQ should have been earmarked for top level guards. IMO.

 

[Bill_the_cat]

It's weird that we have a bunch of guys going around insisting that Kentucky really shouldn't prioritize elite freshmen. Two out of our last three national title teams featured freshman sensations taking over the national title game.

There's nothing wrong with a blend. Hopefully Pope figures it out soon.

This year the incoming freshmen class is just weaker than usual.

 

[ToniTonyToneDelkDelkDelk]

Do you have amnesia? Shaedon Sharpe

Shady Sharpe for one.

Oh Lord… that kid didn’t owe you or the university anything. He went on and fulfilled his professional dreams.

 

[Bill_the_cat]

That's even more embarrassing. You don't go and walk around the Land Rover dealership if you only have a Subaru Outback budget.

I can get other -used - for about the same price!

 

[will1976]

Will wade get one high four star and very likely rippey in year one at a lesser program

Wade can recruit well.

 

[BlueVoodoux]

Pope needs to poach a top recruiter from the midwest, south or east. Make him an offer he can’t refuse. The recruiter for Barnes @ UT is consistently excellent. Seems to evaluate talent well and CLOSES. Go get him.

 

[bnewt]

Rippey is reading the tea leaves on Lowe. There's a high likely hood Lowe returns and no elite guard wants to split time. The staff is at a crossroads. Hopefully, Pope realizes he can't be too accommodating with players or it may cost him his job.

If Rippey is as good as advertised, why would he worry about Lowe

 

[bnewt]

Pope absolutely has to be better as a defensive tactician, but there isn’t a single thing we can’t correct about our defense this year that I’ve seen

he knew that going into this year, yet he got no shot blocker or rebounder. He knew Garrison was not a defensive presence & Moreno is a freshman. He picked up JQ, but who knows if he will ever play @ UK. He adds Mo D but he was abused by UL.

 

[bnewt]

I completely disagree with you BUT purely for the purpose of debate I’m going to grant your position.

Do you want to know what the problem is at that point? Even the greatest recruiter in the history of modern college basketball, John Calipari, was getting out recruited by Duke late in his tenure here. There isn’t even an option on the board to win in that arms race.

Thankfully, I’m good with letting the Dukies have all the toddlers coz it don’t mean a hill of beans

hate to disagree because I dislike Duke, but they had a better record that UK last year and went farther in the tournament, so yes the freshmen were better than UK's older players. This year Duke has looked better than UK with Boozer. No one on UK's roster is as good as Boozer or Peterson or Ament or several other freshmen. No one on UK's roster is as talented as Dent or the forward that went to Michigan, or Wilkerson. Recruiting has to improve regardless if it is high school seniors or portal players. IF UK invested 22 million in the current roster, they severely over paid

 

[bnewt]

Uh, no, he’s not. Pope is not going to waste a ton of money on a high school player that may, or may not pan out. Not sure why some fans can’t comprehend this.

He‘s not getting into a bidding war with these high schoolers that only want to go to the highest bidder, and I don’t want these types of players either.

look at the current roster..............IF this 22 million $ figure is correct or even nearly correct, it was wasted........much more talented players that UK had a chance with but supposedly didn't ante up

 

[bnewt]

Man I said this on the other board when someone suggested this, also when someone suggested Rondo joining Redick's Lakers staff... Rajon Rondo isn't going to jump into a situation where he is subordinate to someone who knows less than him. There has to be something to gain.

adding Rondo or Derek Anderson would be a great lift to recruiting. Rondo was one of the premier point guards in the NBA when healthy. Anderson also played well & is UK thru & thru

 

[BarefootBeach]

look at the current roster..............IF this 22 million $ figure is correct or even nearly correct, it was wasted........much more talented players that UK had a chance with but supposedly didn't ante up

Why do you keep stating this 22 million figure if you don't know? Second, if you were the coach you would pay whatever their agent is asking?

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

This is where I disagree. You know I think we just jump to conclusions on that. There’s no correlation between having a top HS guy and being a NC, or if there is it is extremely weak. It’s on Pope and staff to make sure our defense is good. Not blame it on lack of Wilson or anyone else

I don’t think because of a lack of Wilson we are bad at defense. That’s a team problem but FWIW Wilson seems to be a pretty solid defender as well so he would be a nasty small ball 4.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

hate to disagree because I dislike Duke, but they had a better record that UK last year and went farther in the tournament, so yes the freshmen were better than UK's older players. This year Duke has looked better than UK with Boozer. No one on UK's roster is as good as Boozer or Peterson or Ament or several other freshmen. No one on UK's roster is as talented as Dent or the forward that went to Michigan, or Wilkerson. Recruiting has to improve regardless if it is high school seniors or portal players. IF UK invested 22 million in the current roster, they severely over paid

Faulty logic. That would be like pointing out a single team like the 2023 San Diego State teams that went to a final four and use it to say that they had perfect roster construction. There’s a clear difference, proven over time, that there is a certain type of team that wins titles and a certain type of team that doesn’t. Again, you’re comparing 2/41 versus 39/41.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

he knew that going into this year, yet he got no shot blocker or rebounder. He knew Garrison was not a defensive presence & Moreno is a freshman. He picked up JQ, but who knows if he will ever play @ UK. He adds Mo D but he was abused by UL.

I actually don’t think our defensive issues in the UL game had much to do with shot blocking. I think we had about the same amount of blocks as UL. We chose to do things ball screen wise that simply didn’t work. Credit to Kelsey, but I think we would thump them in a rematch.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

Regardless of who we are in on, just pick 4 you think will make a huge difference on their team in 2 years.
It is difficult to that. That is why the ‘just get some 4-stars’ is hard to do.
I would like to think Moreno and Johnson will be those guys for us. Moreno I am confident in. Johnson not so much.

It isn’t hard to do at all. If you want, I’ll look through some 4 stars for you this week. I love the challenge. Thanks Bill

 

[Kentucky15]

Saying they haven’t won a championship doesn’t hide the fact that they are favored to in most of them years. Don’t Act like you wasn’t almost 100% sure Duke was about to win it less than a year ago. Were they in the final four?

How many years did we almost win it or should have won it? I say Cal was favored to win it half of his years he was here. Duke is favored almost every year. It’s incredibly hard to win it. Much less be expected to.

The years we didn’t have one and done talent we didn’t win it. Last year was 98. All the way to 2012 we didn’t win it so are those type of players to blame and be mad at or not want. They didn’t win and honestly probably weren’t expected to so I’ll always be in favor of having the talent that gives you an increasingly higher chance at winning something that already takes a lot of luck even if you are by far the best team.

if college played series we would have like 15 chips rn.

One and dones never been the problem at any point in time. Wanting them or not wanting them is personal preference but having the best talent in the country will never be the problem.

This has been put to bed by data. Freshman are not what wins championships. Do you have data to suggest otherwise?

 

[Kentucky15]

Saying they haven’t won a championship doesn’t hide the fact that they are favored to in most of them years. Don’t Act like you wasn’t almost 100% sure Duke was about to win it less than a year ago. Were they in the final four?

How many years did we almost win it or should have won it? I say Cal was favored to win it half of his years he was here. Duke is favored almost every year. It’s incredibly hard to win it. Much less be expected to.

The years we didn’t have one and done talent we didn’t win it. Last year was 98. All the way to 2012 we didn’t win it so are those type of players to blame and be mad at or not want. They didn’t win and honestly probably weren’t expected to so I’ll always be in favor of having the talent that gives you an increasingly higher chance at winning something that already takes a lot of luck even if you are by far the best team.

if college played series we would have like 15 chips rn.

One and dones never been the problem at any point in time. Wanting them or not wanting them is personal preference but having the best talent in the country will never be the problem.

And also BTW, If you go back and look at 12. The only reason that title was possibly was returning players due to a lockout. Calipari would not have retained Lamb and Jones. It took a retuning senior and two returning freshman to win his only ship. The sample size is massive, if you want to win championships, freshman don’t produce that without returning players. Look at 12 and take away Miller, Lamb, and Jones. No title by miles.

So it’s settled the data shows that upperclassman and turning players produce championships. you can’t argue against statistical fact. Who was thought to be the best doesn’t mean they won the big ones.

And I never thought Duke was going to win that title. Had them going out elite 8 due to a freshman who is shaky in big moments at the end of games. And that’s what happened.

Pope isn’t here to win recruiting battles for toss ups he’s here to get away from it and grow a team who has men not boys, which wins championships.

 

[Verbal Kint II]

Our Collective has been disbanded and JMI is doing it now thanks to Barnhart, we wont have the same budget for NIL moving forward . Barnhart as always tying both hands behind our backs by trying to follow meaningless rules no one else will.

What budget will we have going forward? Oh wait, you can’t say because you make stuff up.

 

[LadyCaytIL]

What budget will we have going forward? Oh wait, you can’t say because you make stuff up.

If people follow the rules no one will have the same budgets because the rules were made on NIL that Barnhart among other ADS are ruling on whats fair compensation with NIL for players. No longer are collectives allowed to give out 3 million dollars for what seems like hardly any work by the player etc. that and the court rulings over the summer is why everyone was front loading NIL before the courts ruled. All of that is going to lower the amount of NIL that will go to a player. If you dont believe me ask Jack Pilgrim


I know I am not giving JMI any donations, I dont trust them with the money. I've read on these boards and facebook many others also who gave to our collective wont give money to JMI for that reason or another. that also leads to us not having as much money as this past year also.

 

[Forkman]

Everybody has money to throw at these top recruits, we need a edge a name guy on staff that these guys want to learn from someone that has excelled at the highest level and knows the game so add Rondo to the staff and you would see an immediate uptick in recruiting not only with first year players but portal guys too.

Yeah, if only we had someone who could attract talent to the roster despite Kentucky not being their highest offer because he's got a track record of putting guys in the NBA...

 

[Forkman]

I completely disagree with you BUT purely for the purpose of debate I’m going to grant your position.

Do you want to know what the problem is at that point? Even the greatest recruiter in the history of modern college basketball, John Calipari, was getting out recruited by Duke late in his tenure here. There isn’t even an option on the board to win in that arms race.

Thankfully, I’m good with letting the Dukies have all the toddlers coz it don’t mean a hill of beans

You know what would make that make rational sense? If Cal started recruiting worse when the NIL period began because he didn't have the resources Duke has, and then he was landing players anyway Kentucky shouldn't have landed because he was putting guys in the NBA.

Then Cal bolted to somewhere he has better resources to build a roster (still not stellar) sending Kentucky to a position where not only do they not have the NIL their traditional rivals do, but they have to overpay the guys they DO get just to come play at Kentucky.

And to make it worse, it seems everyone in basketball media, whether on the UK beat or not, is gaslighting and lying to Kentucky about the reality of the situation they find themselves in as if mediocre results would somehow not reveal all of them to be charlatans and liars.

It's clear why it's going on. There is a TON of money in keeping Kentucky fans engaged in Kentucky Basketball. But it's also hubris that will backfire spectacularly. Just leveling with fans is the smartest approach, but you see few coaches taking it. I think, depsite himself, Mark has. He's mentioned several times that he just doesn't have the resources other SEC teams do.