A thought. We thought last year's recruiting endeavors were maybe a one off since he didn't have alot of time. He took alot of mid major guys whom none of us knew how they'd translate to SEC competition. The consensus this year is that with more time, he would go after bigger fish. With the exception of Yaxel, Dent, and a few others, it doesn't seem like he's been heavily prioritizing bigger fish. Could it be that he wants players here who want to be here? Players who know or think they know what playing here would do for their lives and potentially careers? Pope has said a million times how coming here changed his life. I really think he is eyeing players of high character and one's that maybe he can see himself in, for UK to be a blessing to, as it was and contines to be for him. In my opinion, he prefers that attitude and character over a dude that wants to sponge every possible cent he can out of the current NIL landscape. And secondly, we as a fanbase, are used to Cal bringing in the top prospects and we're obsessed with rankings because of that. Pope is going to bring in pieces that fits what he wants to do, instead of just bagging as many 5 stars as he can. We have to let the man cook. And these rankings are BS anyways. Looking at you Hunter Dickenson, Great Osobor, AJ Storr....
Pope recruiting
- Thread starter Jgrass34
- Start date
Or it could be some of what you said and the fact we just don't have the big bags to hand out like some schools do.
Unfortunately, most of the players with high character, humility, etc are not the better players.
Pope a little different to get used to. Not used to the standing on the sideline staring with no emotion or words, hearing him talk technically about things with his team, I will admit, is sometimes over my head of what he is talking about, always talking about things I find stressful like recruiting and solving issues, that he calls 'fun.' Just a totally different kind of coach than most I would say. Even Oweh, himself, called Pope more of a 'teacher' than a coach.
Hope he succeeds in a big way with his high work ethic and love for the university.
Hope he succeeds in a big way with his high work ethic and love for the university.
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All three of duke freshmen seem to be high character guys. No duke fan!!! You kinda have a strange take on players.
One thing i see repeatedly but disagree with is the notion pope had to take what was left last year.
Look at the roster we had. If he got to handpick his roster, the only other guy we would've had was saunders from byu and lanier that went to UT. From Williams to brea to butler, he got every one and every thing he wanted.
So I don't buy that he settled at all last year. In fact the only piece we waited on was Robinson when he inevitably returned to college.
Im not saying this portal season will end up a disaster, but i don't think its accurate to paint last year as us having to take some scraps.
Look at the roster we had. If he got to handpick his roster, the only other guy we would've had was saunders from byu and lanier that went to UT. From Williams to brea to butler, he got every one and every thing he wanted.
So I don't buy that he settled at all last year. In fact the only piece we waited on was Robinson when he inevitably returned to college.
Im not saying this portal season will end up a disaster, but i don't think its accurate to paint last year as us having to take some scraps.
Sure seems to appear we’ll be settling this year. Pope’s early targets of Demary, Magoon, Yaxel, etc. won’t come here.
Sorry but I’m greatly concerned where this is going.
I thought this place was insufferable to be around after a bad loss but you guys have taken it to another level with this transfer portal stuff. Geez.
So you are totally clueless and guessing. Got it.
I disagree with the “ has to fit the Pope system”…..
Any Coach is as good as the players he has. Sure Pope runs a great offensive system. Sure, his teams are not known for being defensive stoppers in the past…
But why do we have to associate Pope system with slow players that cannot defend but can shoot and pass amazingly?
There are plenty of athletic players that can also shoot and pass. We don’t need to settle for just players that can play offense only through offensive scheme and play no defense.
I get it we got tired of the Cal era of perceived athletes that could not shoot or the bigs that can shoot that Cal was pushing to play exclusively in the paint.
Pope is a smart guy. He knows that he is the coach at Kentucky not any longer the coach in Utah or BYU. I am expecting after his first year experience in SEC , where noticed the physicality that we need to recruit for Kentucky.
If we want to win number 9 , we need to be again at the top of SEC , and get the number one seeding for the big tournament. Recruiting is a big part of it just like coaching it is.
Let’s trust in Pope that he will figure out the right formula.
Any Coach is as good as the players he has. Sure Pope runs a great offensive system. Sure, his teams are not known for being defensive stoppers in the past…
But why do we have to associate Pope system with slow players that cannot defend but can shoot and pass amazingly?
There are plenty of athletic players that can also shoot and pass. We don’t need to settle for just players that can play offense only through offensive scheme and play no defense.
I get it we got tired of the Cal era of perceived athletes that could not shoot or the bigs that can shoot that Cal was pushing to play exclusively in the paint.
Pope is a smart guy. He knows that he is the coach at Kentucky not any longer the coach in Utah or BYU. I am expecting after his first year experience in SEC , where noticed the physicality that we need to recruit for Kentucky.
If we want to win number 9 , we need to be again at the top of SEC , and get the number one seeding for the big tournament. Recruiting is a big part of it just like coaching it is.
Let’s trust in Pope that he will figure out the right formula.
This is what I don't think alot of people understand in today's basketball landscape.
Every player who is not SEC caliber wants to be here.
Out of the thousands of portal players, how many are actually UK worthy/SEC worthy? Who can compete?
The ones who know their worth and have potential will have money as their number 1 priority. Because we live in a time where we pay players, the better portal guys will go where the money is, and NOT because they wanna play for Kentucky. I hate it and I know most of you do to. But it's realistic. College basketball is even more a business with players than it ever has been.
If Pope wants to succeed here, he will have to consider getting some of the big time portal players. He doesn't have to get all of them, but 2-3 a year would be great. If Pope can't find portal success, he will have to find top tier freshman.
Let me ask you. If Pope's first year is any indication of how his tenure will go with the W/L in the season with the type of players he gets who are more finesse guys than hybrid guys who can score and be physical (he needs both imo), do you think BBN will put up with it over 5 years? (Yes this is a hypothetical) (Do I think this will happen? Probably not, can't make a real judgment until after year 2 to see how it will trend.)
Every player who is not SEC caliber wants to be here.
Out of the thousands of portal players, how many are actually UK worthy/SEC worthy? Who can compete?
The ones who know their worth and have potential will have money as their number 1 priority. Because we live in a time where we pay players, the better portal guys will go where the money is, and NOT because they wanna play for Kentucky. I hate it and I know most of you do to. But it's realistic. College basketball is even more a business with players than it ever has been.
If Pope wants to succeed here, he will have to consider getting some of the big time portal players. He doesn't have to get all of them, but 2-3 a year would be great. If Pope can't find portal success, he will have to find top tier freshman.
Let me ask you. If Pope's first year is any indication of how his tenure will go with the W/L in the season with the type of players he gets who are more finesse guys than hybrid guys who can score and be physical (he needs both imo), do you think BBN will put up with it over 5 years? (Yes this is a hypothetical) (Do I think this will happen? Probably not, can't make a real judgment until after year 2 to see how it will trend.)
This. I think the system thing is just messaging from pope. Oweh didn't fit the system and neither really did butler. He just knew they were both really good so he took them and figured it out.
Imo really the only must have is one skilled big.
Anyone ever stop and think that its a It takes a special mindset of a really good player to come in and share playing time with Lewis, Johnson, Oweh, Chandler, Garrison and Moreno????? not to mention Kam Williams we got in the portal already. Players know we already have great players with talent on the team already and some just dont want to compete against that. So whoever we get is going to have to be ok with sharing time for the sake of winning.
It was a totally different CBB world when Pope played. Heck, it was a different CBB world just a few years ago!
Does anyone actually think that AJ Dybantsa REALLY wants to be at BYU? No…
As a matter of fact, we can all go ahead and retire the word ”recruiting”, because nothing of the sort is taking place now!
As soon as everyone comes to terms with the New Normal, the sooner it will all make sense!
Does anyone actually think that AJ Dybantsa REALLY wants to be at BYU? No…
As a matter of fact, we can all go ahead and retire the word ”recruiting”, because nothing of the sort is taking place now!
As soon as everyone comes to terms with the New Normal, the sooner it will all make sense!
I said "most". Three isn't anywhere near that. You kinda have a weak reading comprehension.
Nobody here KNOWS who has been offered. Nobody here knows who we missed on, or even if we missed. Nobody here knows how much Pope has to spend. Nobody here knows if we've been out bid.
Yet every negative puke bucket, and every troll are here giving their self anointed expert opinion.
I predict you'll all look stupid in the end. But I'm not an expert like you guys.
Yet every negative puke bucket, and every troll are here giving their self anointed expert opinion.
I predict you'll all look stupid in the end. But I'm not an expert like you guys.
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The fair thing to ask at this point-if Pope was still at BYU--would AJ Dybantsa being going there? I mean Pope said it's been "easier" to get recruits to listen at Kentucky then when he was at BYU--yet his successor comes in and lands not just Dybantsa but also Xavion Stanton who is a top 3 Center in the class.
Exactly! It was not BYU lack of resources. I am going to stop there because I am still hoping that Pope is learning on the job from these experiences, and he will adjust since he is a smart guy.
I kept saying he needs to define roles and if those roles are not accepted, clean the house. I know that Pope is more loyal to his players but I hope that his loyalty does not stop him to make the hard decisions.
Pope would have been better off staying at BYU, where their seems to be unlimited NIL money to build a stacked roster
Kevin Young's relationship with Ryan Smith is their reason for the upgrade of talent, so I would assume Dybantsa, Stanton, Demin etc would have went elsewhere
Also nobody knows the demands that some of these diva's and their agents are putting out both financially and other things like playing time, shots per game, etc.
Used to be we’d seek only players worthy of playing at UK.
Now it seems the players are judging if UK is worthy of them.
Don’t like the pattern.
Now it seems the players are judging if UK is worthy of them.
Don’t like the pattern.
Anybody else think it's extremely troll like for this new poster to call himself "wildskat"? I mean, skat is slang for poop. If someone referred to UK as 'the Kentucky Wild-skats' I would consider that derogatory.
Gross man, get your tin foil hat head out of the gutter.
To the non sickos it' a Danish term of endearment. I happen to be Danish.
"Darling’, ‘beloved’, ‘treasure’: a term of endearment"
It's not like " WildCatFan" wasn't already taken, too. Weirdo....
Cool story bro. But that's pretty selective of you. You ever hear anyone refer to their beloved as "skat"?
Hunters and farmers, and pretty much everybody in this country knows what skat is.
You linked the Dictionary of South African English. Skatboy
That's "scat", genius.
I may have linked a South African dictionary but I can assure it is a Danish term.
My mom used to call me that as a kid all the time.
This is why winning #9 will be as difficult as winning #6, 7, & 8 combined. It now is all about the money and many teams have enough money that top talent will never be concentrated. It will be more luck than skill winning championship in the future. As they say, "Luck of the Draw."
You said most so how many players do you know. You seem very well connected. I am sure you know all these players!! lol So there is only three players that are decent folks!! You seem to be the one VERY small minded!!
CMP has repeatedly said he want kids who want to be here, want to play for UK not themselves, has refused to get into a lot of bidding wars which I salute but at some point like getting in the pool you just have to go nuts deep and join the crowd because you don't get bonus points for not paying stupid prices, everyone else that will will leave you behind.
♂
You're arguing, and your sail is pointing in the wrong direction. Listen with your eyes, see with your ears.
Pope is a smart likable nice Man Coach and person. Recruiting and the portal however are cut throat and nice guys finish last. He is going to have to throw some shade at other programs and Coaches if he ever wants to land superstar Portal guys and elite high schoolers. It would also help to have a blank checkbook too.