Self: KU on the hunt for one more player to make its 2026 class 'elite'
- Thread starter chasingwildcat
- Start date
In this era I'm not so sure I would want that many freshmen. My hope is we get a star guy like I think Stokes is and surround him with good portal guys.
I still don’t think Stokes winds up at an Adidas school but what a total embarrassment it would be for Pope to lose two Kentucky kids, Stokes and Kinney, to KU.
Hell, maybe the next high school fight Stokes is in, Bill Self can join in. They can even start a modern successor to the Van der Linde gang together.
It doesn’t take a very smart person to surmise, if Pope didn’t want to pay the $$$ for Kinney, he sure isn’t going to pay the $$$ for Stokes!
My wild guess is, Oregon. Although, if Self found the cash for Peterson, he can probably find it for Stokes as well, so there’s that!
What makes you think $ was the reason Kinney went to Kansas
Doesn’t matter what has or happened with paying in the past, having zero recruits so far and losing out to Duke, Unc, Texas a/m, and Kansas and whoever else so far, pay Stokes whatever he wants. We need not only a player of his caliber, but Pope needs a resume building with recruiting. Moreno and Jasper were good/great gets, but without that Kentucky connection would they be here? He needs a big statement win now.
I think that’s a good take on it. Even if your 4-5 freshman are all 2nd unit guys – which I think they should almost always be – the way Pope plays will result in those freshman playing a lot of minutes (and crucial minutes at that) and the team would have to live with a lot of negative plays along the learning curve – more negative plays than you would have to live with if they could be more strategically placed into situations for development purposes and playing surrounded by a little more developed and shooting-skilled 2nd unit group.
I think UK could start Stokes and be ok – assuming he has the maturity and character not to be a team detriment - but only if, as you say, he’s surrounded by better more skill developed college players AND he’s not the 1st or even 2nd option on offense.