Crying over spilled milk is utterly useless. But I have my vices. Of all of our offseason misses I think the one I covet the most is the Wilkerson kid that went to Indiana. He’s been one of the kids that’s really impressed me the most this season. Hell he even looks like a Kentucky player.
The one that got away
- Thread starter buc puppet
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For me it was Donavon Dent and Caleb Wilson
Pope went with a veteran rosters and player retention. I don’t think he wants to do a revolving door, and Jasper was in our backyard. He’s trying to not fall into the freshman led issues, and some of those guys went there they could be the man and not compete with upperclassman.
Once they get going they’ll be a great group if healthy. Collin will likely be here until he graduates and he’s gonna be a beast. As much as I like and respect Oweh, his shot really limits him and due to injuries we haven’t really got to see him at full strength. Hopefully he can get healthy.
guys like Caleb Wilson and Ament wanted to be the primary guy and were promised it. Those guys know what we have in this roster it’s why they aren’t here. I don’t think we’ll be worrying about a missed freshman by the time they get picked up and going. But pope wants teams with upperclassman and so did we. That’s why he’s here and Calipari isn’t. We all know the drill. Evaluate it at seasons end before determining. Jasper will probably be one of those or close anyway. Not all freshman are clicking immediately. We’re basing too much off of a few games and October basketball.
Once they get going they’ll be a great group if healthy. Collin will likely be here until he graduates and he’s gonna be a beast. As much as I like and respect Oweh, his shot really limits him and due to injuries we haven’t really got to see him at full strength. Hopefully he can get healthy.
guys like Caleb Wilson and Ament wanted to be the primary guy and were promised it. Those guys know what we have in this roster it’s why they aren’t here. I don’t think we’ll be worrying about a missed freshman by the time they get picked up and going. But pope wants teams with upperclassman and so did we. That’s why he’s here and Calipari isn’t. We all know the drill. Evaluate it at seasons end before determining. Jasper will probably be one of those or close anyway. Not all freshman are clicking immediately. We’re basing too much off of a few games and October basketball.
No Pope went after Wilson hard and just missed on him.
well Lamar Wilkerson is a senior so freshman led issues doesn't make any sense here. Wouldn't have anything to do with Jasper.Pope wanted him pretty bad. He would have looked good in blue but oh well .
Wasn’t a family member of Wilkerson hired by IU, or am I confusing him with some else?
if so, that’s pretty tough to compete with, so while he could’ve been a nice piece on this team, it’s hard to pin that too much on Pope
if so, that’s pretty tough to compete with, so while he could’ve been a nice piece on this team, it’s hard to pin that too much on Pope
Outbid is more likely
Something funny? Go ahead and contribute smiley.
Wilkerson isn’t a freshmen. He played 3 years at Sam Houston st. Getting him would have had no impact on getting jasper. If I remember correctly we ended up with Lowe because we missed on dent and Wilkerson in the portal.
That’s possible. But I tell ya, getting outbid is not a fitting excuse when you supposedly have a 22 million dollar roster.
Yea Wilkerson I would have liked to get. I’m seeing a lot of freshman responses everywhere and I for one just don’t have that kind of interested in most of them anymore, I think Popes method will serve better long term.
I will say though, Calipari, if he was about to actually start retaining those guys, would have definitely changed things. But it doesn’t matter he was done and the heavy freshman angle is done. Wilkerson was offered a crap ton to go to Indiana. They won’t be that good as usual. It doesn’t matter what we spent, you can’t outspend for every player. You can’t allow agents to bust you open or it’ll cost a fortune in the future. Kentucky will not and should now allow agents to use our passion to rape us. That’s just not going to happen here.
We’ll see what these guys do throughout the year. I think we’re looking too deep into week 1.
Wilkerson was coming here. But the morning of his decision, IU coach offered him more money and offered someone close to him a job. He was 100% coming here until the absolute last minute.
I thought the "they will get better in March" was for the talented but raw freshman teams. Why are doing the same drill with the old guys who are what they will be. Yes, I know, JQ, he's going to come and save the world. Whatever.
Goalposts just continuously shift all the time. Results are the only thing that matters. Whoever the coach is needs to get to final fours, win the SEC, etc, regardless of whether they do it with freshmen or 40 yr olds.
There's a higher probability of achieving those goals with higher end talent, whether freshmen or portal, and we had the resources to get sad talent but did not.
Goalposts just continuously shift all the time. Results are the only thing that matters. Whoever the coach is needs to get to final fours, win the SEC, etc, regardless of whether they do it with freshmen or 40 yr olds.
There's a higher probability of achieving those goals with higher end talent, whether freshmen or portal, and we had the resources to get sad talent but did not.
I don't think anyone's crying -- this team is what people with eyes thought it would be right around after we missed on Dent, Wilkerson, YL, and Wilson.
Whether this team had Donovan Dent, Rodney Dent or a passenger side dent, it wouldn’t have fixed the schematics. As Kentucky fans, we always think the loss is because of that thing we didn’t have. Sometimes, it’s more complex than that.
I've heard that, not sure how true it is.
Wilkerson would have been excellent for what we need, IMO.
I think this is true to an extent, but also the opposite can be true where talent would mask the deficiency in scheme. For example, I think Coach would work wonders with the Reed / Dillingham squad and just outscore all opposition to the FF. I don't think he'd lose to Oakland, even if Gohlke went off.
There’s a reason teams who win the titles have to be top 20 in offense and defense though. I’m going to wait it out and see how much we improve defensively over the next couple months. Honestly, and I know this is pretty extreme, if we don’t get better defensively Pope really should fire the defensive coordinator which I think is Fox. What we were doing versus Louisville made very little sense and even when they were bending us over doing the same, we waited until we got down by 18 to switch it. I don’t chalk it up to Pope to be a great defensive coach, because that isn’t who he has ever been, but he needs to be able to hire the right guys to cover that part for him. If Fox is the DC, perhaps his gameplanning is a little outdated at this point for these modern offenses with multiple pin downs, zoom, DHO, etc.
he reminds me so much of reeves, another guy i wanted was jarron pierre for smu, he was considering us but we chose lowe instead, pierre is 225 6'4 and a hulk of a guard, not only can he drive and defend but he can shoot too, love his game
Pope’s struggles to get the top freshmen so far has made me wonder if you kind of have to get a top guy each year and give him more minutes and responsibility than you may want, to prove to the legit superstars who come along every few years that you’re willing to play through freshmen. Like Jasper and Moreno are probably in the 8th - 10th range on the depth chart, and they were both 5 stars. Does Caleb Holt or Stokes see that and think, “I’m better than those guys, but do I know Pope is willing to start freshmen? Because I know Scheyer/Calipari/Hubert Davis/Oats/etc will.”
I don’t know. Balancing the roster these days with the freshmen, transfers, international pros, and G League guys now is so crazy I don’t know how anyone does it…
btw in my opinion this is the main reason wilson went to unc
Ill clip and save this comment and you and I can revisit it in March to see how that works out for you folks with eyes
This!!! The gaslighting and playing pretend needs to stop! Pope is going after everyone he recruits with guns blazing, he’s just not netting any of his top targets, and that’s concerning for a UK head coach.
agree on Pierre. Love that dude's game. He was a combo guard with everything we needed but I understand targeting Aberdeen for winning pedigree.
We should have upped the Dent and Wilson offers to whatever it took. Those two would have given us a really special team IMO. Wilkerson was the shooter we needed and he’s balled out for sure.
I’ll have to see a freshman PG get bodied through SEC play and dominate before I can get excited about recruiting an incoming freshman to be our primary ball handler.
I felt the same way about the missed recruiting targets way before this loss. I don't care if you think it's crying or not but Pope has yet to land any of his big targets and that needs to change or we will have plenty to cry about.
I heard the more money angle but I know it’s been rumored there were jobs for a relative or mentor of his. Was said openly the week he went elsewhere. And that’s coming from close to staff too. Not the staff but not far down the line.
My concern is we paid jasper as much as these truly elite guys got. I know pope needed that recruiting win but it was obvious Tuesday that was way too much money for what we got.
6 minutes of disaster vs what we're seeing from some of the other freshmen around the country is disappointing.
None of them? Because Wilkerson was ranked and is worse than most of the guard we got in the portal and have coming back. Keep crying though
So you thought a team of guys that have never played at all together, a PG that has been hurt not playing, who’s also never played with a single person on this roster, was going to come in guns blazing burning the house down on the road In a hostile environment game 2 and just blitz everyone to a title before a season begins?
And if not we’re all shifting goal post? Gotta see how that sounds.
Wilson wanted to be the primary guy on a team and UNC gave him those assurances.
Wilkerson should have been here, but we’re not offering jobs and we weren’t going to be held down by his price tag. Indiana wanted to get their new coach a toy and did. Nothing we can do. But I agree with BWO it’s been said he was coming here but Kentucky isn’t offering these parents and handlers jobs.
It’s not a recipe for success long term.
I thought it was funny if you remember, he had that “Indiana is a blue blood too” demeanor and tried to up talk who they are last second. You could tell he’d never heard of it or them but was making some excuses last second when the switch was made days before.
I know he was at Keeneland with Pope, I think Pope is spending too much time with recruits on their visit. He needs a player hosting and let them get out and make some bad decisions
. I don't know what he's doing honestly, just seems at the very end we're not closing the deal
I know he was at Keeneland with Pope, I think Pope is spending too much time with recruits on their visit. He needs a player hosting and let them get out and make some bad decisions
Could be wrong, but it seems to me that Kentucky is having to be very careful with these payouts. I just imagine that agents are telling Kentucky if you want it, pay it, and asking more of us than some of these other programs. And I think it’s possible Kentucky is having to set a standard that we might want that recruit more than anyone but playing at Kentucky is still a privilege to some degree, and we aren’t going to be held hostage just because we want it more than anyone. I see no way agents aren’t using it against us. If this is happening, it could take a little while to settle it all down.
If Mark starts throwing around and paying more than everyone else whenever he wants a recruit, that price tag is going to be outrageous on a constant.
Personal belief but I think it makes sense from an agents standpoint.
You may not like hearing it. But we are still waiting to see Pope land a big fish outside of the state of KY. Wilson, Ament, Dent, Wilkerson, eaglestaff, among others are guys that Pope went HARD after and made a top priority. Some are HS recruits and some are portal kids. But the point is that Pope has not been able to close on his top priorities. Lowe is a nice enough PG but he was far from our first choice for example. He continues to recruit blue chip freshmen heavily and rightfully so, but we really need to start closing the deal.
Which of our guards are you referring to as being better that WIlkerson? I still like OO and Aberdean has been really good but Wilkerson is averaging 21 per game and shooting 40% from 3 thus far. There is a reason pope wanted him so badly. He is our missing piece.
I am not a pope hater but you still seem triggered. It's ok to hold the coach at KY to a high standard. If we are gonna spend 20 mil on a roster then there's no reason to be missing on your first and second choice like we have.