It was just posted on ksr+
havent read it, but have a feeling we may be fading
havent read it, but have a feeling we may be fading
New Stokes Update (Nov 19)
- Thread starter Anon1759768907
- Start date
Yeah but he still needs to beat up a girl first. Kansas has stringent admittance policies for it's basketball team.
I would say after last night you can rest assure he won't be coming here, and I hope I'm wrong!
Last nights game will have no bearing on recruits.
Yep because there's zero top ones coming here.
Who was the idiot on here earlier today,, don't remember the post,, said losing early doesn't count/mean on anything? We gonna end up 3rd in all time wins if it keeps up and UNC keeps winning.. Damn right winning early matters..
I don't believe Stokes was ever coming to Kentucky.
Pope/ UK is being used by player agents to drive up the price! No different with Stokes, UK has probably actually never led.
Been obvious for months. LW situation did me in. No longer think anyone knows anything. Agents leak to “insiders”. Fans of big NIL schools like Ky get hyped. Then coaches are on the hook for bigger money because they don’t want to “lose” player the fans think is in the bag. All the while, was a negotiation ploy. I used to believe in “insiders” but now it’s guesswork
What the hell are our booming assistants doing? We are really gonna go into next year with no recruits.
I agree. All these recruits talk to each other. At least most of them. I wonder what the overall thought is about our program right now. I wonder if these guys aren’t honestly clowning us on purpose. Surely Pope is smart enough to see when these kids are full of crap.
I don’t blame Pope for going after these top recruits. He’s never had them. He wants them. He loves UK. He wants to win as bad as we do.
as I’ve stated earlier I feel sorry for him man. Of course I want us to be good at winning a sports game but I want Pope to be the one to do it. I’ve given him and the whole team a hard time lately. I just want them to have a good season and not be the laughing sock.
Like yall have already stated. We are the biggest fan base and they know they will get clicks. Right now the rest of the country can’t wait to post the next bad thing we do. Hope Pope turns this season around.
Don’t feel sorry for a dude that’s making $5M that’s in his feels all the time. I don’t want to see a whipped puppy dog after a loss. I want to see a pissed off adult that’s competent enough to fix the issues.
Yea he’s making a lot of money that don’t change the fact to me lol. I don’t feel sorry for him in that kind of way but ik he wants to do a good job. If you’ve seen all my post you know I’m not going easy on him or accepting what he’s been giving us.
No, I get that. I just can't and won't have sorrow for a guy that's acting like he's acted. I need my coach to exude confidence, not walk around like a teenager who just got dumped by his g/f. I've been the same way about his damned persistent positivity, or whatever it's called. I'm not looking for a dad that drives a minivan, I need my basketball coach to be a freaking stone cold killer.
He does look like a Kansas player. He’s got the background of shady and has that look. But he signed with Nike. And until I see a player sign with Nike and go adidas, which I never have without some kind of catch, I’ll believe it’s UK or Oregon. UK needs to pay whatever he wants because a recruit like that can change momentum on a dime. We have so many records to protect we cannot slow over years. Unfortunately Mark doesn’t have time, it’s a win now situation. Hate the position we’re in but it’s early in the process.
Been trying to say this for a while. Stop following recruiting y’all. This is now business negotiations not recruiting. This is between the university and the agents, coaches and players have very little to do with it. After the kid says “I’ll play for any of these 10 or 5” the agent goes to work and throws around a ton of bs everywhere to see where the highest bid comes from. When you hear you’re leading or falling, it’s a ploy to drive bids that the agent has created. “Kentucky leads” = Kansas, go higher. “Kansas leads” = Kentucky pick it up. None of which is ever true. The agent created the chaos for bids. Insiders want clicks half of what they say is 100% made up. Kentucky hasn’t had good inside information related to a staff since Marc Maggard got a lot of info from Orlando Antigua.
So stop following it there’s no point. Yet people still continuously do this. My family owned dealerships and we routinely played in this at auctions. This is BUSINESS. gotta get out of the mindset that it’s just kids and parents being recruited. We wanted to “let’m sign some autographs for money”, well we got it. This is what that looks like in reality.
Exactly right. We still have “insiders” because there used to actually be tea leaves to read and journalism to do for recruitment. Now, these people have jobs but the game has changed so much that they are completely useless. It’s like having the McDonald’s worker still employed to say “welcome to McDonald’s. May I take your order” despite the fact that an automated machine already says the exact line. You have nothing left but an NPC sitting there. It looks like a person but it has no purpose or usefulness. Some of us still like to believe, but the tooth fairy doesn’t give quarters either.
If UL is still offering that, I might have to see if I have any eligibility left.He could go to U6 and squirt to the ceiling
And also to your point. The making money point. That’s why i don’t understand the people who say we can’t criticize these players. They are making a **** ton of money also.
Couldn't agree more. It's all part of the job. And honestly, if we've got players concerned about what the fans are saying (not saying we do), then they need get out of their feels too.
If we don't get Stokes than I believe Popes days of being the HC are numbered. He needs to land the elite talent.
Stokes has a chance to come in and be Jamal Mashburn. A recruit much more important than Wall at this point. He can be the man at UK that sets the table for the future of Kentucky basketball and Mark Pope. It’ll send a signal like nothing since Mashburn.
If he wants that, and wants lifetime game at a program, he’ll come here. If he wants a few extra dollars and to be forgotten in college basketball, he’ll go to Oregon and be forgotten.
I don’t believe Kansas is an option because of Nike. I’ll believe a Nike kid will go to Adidas without a catch when it happens. I’ve never seen it.
That’s wild. Zero high school players that were ranked number one in the high school class has won a natty in literally a decade and a half. Tyran Stokes is the LEAST of our problems at the moment.
Duke has been the greatest underachiever in college basketball in those 15 years, but they get the best recruits, so they don't freak out on the coach. If Tyran Stokes were to commit, all this subject would change so quick, your head would spin village
I just don’t think that is the answer. I’d accept a Stokes, but acting like getting him or not is firable is nuts. It hasn’t shown to be the difference in winning the chip or losing it. I’m as pissed as anybody about the recent play, to be clear. Feel like I’ve been consistent that I’m not saying to NOT get talent. It just isn’t the make or break like we think. We need to demand excellent coaching, scouting and development before we cede even more ground to the rest of the sport.Duke has been the greatest underachiever in college basketball in those 15 years, but they get the best recruits, so they don't freak out on the coach. If Tyran Stokes were to commit, all this subject would change so quick, your head would spin village
The talent issue isn’t the biggest problem. If Pope just decided to recruit a bunch of top 40-50 guys and snatched them up there wouldn’t be as much concern from me.
The concern is that Pope and staff are obviously trying to recruit these guys and are failing at every turn. Not some of the turns, ALL of the turns. He’s failed to snatch a single recruit so far for the 2026 class.
That doesn’t even include all the transfer portal rumors of Kentucky being the favorite only for another team to take the player instead.
Pope isn’t getting his first choices. He’s not even getting his second or third choices. And with $20+ million? How?
The concern is that Pope and staff are obviously trying to recruit these guys and are failing at every turn. Not some of the turns, ALL of the turns. He’s failed to snatch a single recruit so far for the 2026 class.
That doesn’t even include all the transfer portal rumors of Kentucky being the favorite only for another team to take the player instead.
Pope isn’t getting his first choices. He’s not even getting his second or third choices. And with $20+ million? How?
I never said anything about firing Pope, for not getting Stokes, reread my post. If we had a big commitment from him or Collins, things would change big time in a hurry, and I stick with that. That's why I would have paid the big money to him quick, and the guards would have fallen in behind quick, in my opinion anyway.
I think at this point, he does matter. We are going to be hammered by SEC coaches after taking players off their rosters and pulling this. It’s hella bad all of our gains from last season are gone. I believe this can turn around due to NIL, and part of that is recruiting. We need a big splash not for reasons of a championship but to stop the bleeding from this sht show this year and signal we’re still here and still rolling. We need good news and given the situation with our new new players pulling this, this would be it. #1 player goes to Mark even if this team collapsed. That’s huge. Mark is in danger of losing this and it’s not 100% his fault. The NIL era is to blame.
Also off topic but I want to say it whenever I can. We have an AD problem. Does anyone hear anything like this happening at Duke? No. We have got to get a new AD in here. Barnhart sucks. He was given the Pitino era and a program seen as the pinnacle and look at this f’n crap. He’s TERRIBLE. he’s literally surviving because of this board and pres. seems both UL and UL have some hatchet men controlling things and all they care about is sucking money out, winning is secondary. Well Barnhart is a rare AD who won’t try to win. They love it. Keep it cheap Mitch, keep our profile low.
Good lord get this bum out. Need Kentucky men back in these seats.