Expected. Still stinks though, hes gonna be a hooper for someone
Travis Branham has removed his Crystal Ball for Collins
- Thread starter Anon1759768907
- Start date
Yup he’s not coming. Nobody is coming.
popes recruiting has single handedly removed all the excitement i have for kentucky basketball, when things go bad his recruiting gives me nothing to look forward to
Hard to disagree with you.
With the specifics about that JMI deal and this staff’s inability to get talent period coming out. What’s to get excited for? This current team isn’t world beaters and we have nobody better coming. Maybe we rule the portal but we supposedly did that this year. So yay!
No point in making a recruiting thread like on the old message board .
*Pours out liquor for Smashcat and Ralphdalton
*Pours out liquor for Smashcat and Ralphdalton
Next year we’ll have another team of over-paid mediocre 6th men.
Mark it.
Mark it.
The combination of Pope’s recruiting and the JMi contract is a total disaster.
JMI nonsense or not, why would any high-value player sign with a coach who throws their self esteem back in their face with his own brand of collective narcissism? ~“We’re not gonna bid for you—we’re Kentucky”
Disappointed he didnt understand the assignment.
That’s the reason when Pope says everything is ok with this JMI **** I call complete ********!!!
This has nothing to do with JMI.
Pope would not get these type players with $100 mil NIL.
Any recruiting problems we might have, real or perceived, are all on the head coach.
Pope would not get these type players with $100 mil NIL.
Any recruiting problems we might have, real or perceived, are all on the head coach.
Pope and Barnhart will run this program into the ground and I don’t see it getting better. The football fans want to eat first and the next AD will know this.
I’ll keep watching the best years on YouTube since I can’t enjoy the here and now
I’ll keep watching the best years on YouTube since I can’t enjoy the here and now
no denying it. recruiting for w/e reason is in a free fall.
I actually agree with this. Pope is benefiting from the JMI discussion since it draws attention away from his inability to recruit alphas.
Am I worried about our recruiting? Yes
Am I worried about the JMI angle? Yes
Am I concerned with our roster management? Yes
Do I think committing significant resources to a thin athletic 4 freshman that can’t score in the post, nor is a great shooter is a great idea? No
I am also worried that Pope thought it was in the first place.
We’re for sure losing Aberdeen and Oweh. Over 50 minutes a game currently opening up and it didn’t feel like Pope was ever close to landing Holt or Jordan Smith.
Forget the high school class for 2026. Get a couple top 20 transfers, a depth transfer or two, return our core this year minus Oweh, Aberdeen, JQ, and whatever decision they make on Lowe.
Am I worried about the JMI angle? Yes
Am I concerned with our roster management? Yes
Do I think committing significant resources to a thin athletic 4 freshman that can’t score in the post, nor is a great shooter is a great idea? No
I am also worried that Pope thought it was in the first place.
We’re for sure losing Aberdeen and Oweh. Over 50 minutes a game currently opening up and it didn’t feel like Pope was ever close to landing Holt or Jordan Smith.
Forget the high school class for 2026. Get a couple top 20 transfers, a depth transfer or two, return our core this year minus Oweh, Aberdeen, JQ, and whatever decision they make on Lowe.
Meanwhile UK football has a GM and assistant GM. Pope is going to help Brainfart finish off KY basketball.
It’s Barney and Barney jr.
Collins to UK was as done as they come. I'm not sure people understand how bad our recruiting is going to be under JMI until something changes.
Dude the only solution is pope has to go. He’s already gotten more annoying than cal
The free fall in recruiting is why pope cannot be retained. Year 3 will be an even bigger disaster than year 2 if we don’t move onward. If January goes the way I think it will go, pope should be fired in February and get our coaching search underway. You can’t ride this out to the end of the season.
The problem is we aren't getting anyone in Feb and I think our list would be very slim since we aren't really solving the main problem of the JMI/NIL stuff. Things don't look good right now but you can't juts fire coaches every year and not address the JMI and Mitch Barnhart problem.
Something has got to be wrong when you are the winningest team in college basketball history with the richest tradition and plenty of NIL money and are missing on most of the top players you are recruiting. Nobody is happy about this and it needs to change fast. If money can’t get you somewhere, it’s bad.
I admit, I know basically nothing about the JMI contract details but how are we getting football commits? And other sports? Is it only affecting men’s basketball?
Some guy on X saying Collins has signed his first NIL deal with Crocs. Anyone got any info how this works? I wonder if this has anything to with Branham removing his UK prediction today?
Last edited:
It aggravates me to no end that we cannot recruit a lick and I’m not entirely sure why? Is it pope? Don’t know, maybe. Is it JMi? Don’t know maybe. Could be both I guess. Could be anything. None of us know for sure and every day is a different story. All I know is the future is bleak and I don’t enjoy the games like I used to. I don’t look forward to watching. I feel like the soul of the program is dimming.
If JMI is this bad for our recruiting, then will we have to get a Calipari-like recruiter to over come it? Not that I want Calipari back by any means, but wonder if an established recruiter might put us over the top in these deals. Pope is clearly struggling. Didn't expect his recruiting to be this bad at Kentucky.
This is why I see nothing positive about Kentucky under Pope. People can get mad, but absolutely no recruits are coming. Living on the portal can be risky. We missed a lot of our top targets in the portal last year.
The team is not doing very good. No talent on the horizon. It is bleak
The team is not doing very good. No talent on the horizon. It is bleak
Pope is recruiting the wrong guys for how he wants to play.
Guys that see themselves in the NBA sooner than later are not going to play for a system coach.
If they think they might want to they will be convinced otherwise by their handlers.
Then you have the problem to overcome about guys not getting better playing for Pope.
Pope needs to go after the next level guys with a chip on their shoulder that they have been overlooked.
But just like for games, Pope doesn’t have a plan.
It can be glossed over as much as anyone wants. The bottom line is that UK made a terrible hire.
Guys that see themselves in the NBA sooner than later are not going to play for a system coach.
If they think they might want to they will be convinced otherwise by their handlers.
Then you have the problem to overcome about guys not getting better playing for Pope.
Pope needs to go after the next level guys with a chip on their shoulder that they have been overlooked.
But just like for games, Pope doesn’t have a plan.
It can be glossed over as much as anyone wants. The bottom line is that UK made a terrible hire.
I’ve said this before. Cal didn’t suck the way everyone said, myself included at times. But he put himself on an island and pushed away the life rafts. His relationship with Mitch was the catalyst for everything bad that happened. It takes two to tango but what I’m saying is Cal should and would
Still be here if Mitch could have built some sort of relationship with him. If anyone has ever had a toxic relationship with their boss then they know what I’m talking about. Once that relationship reaches the point of no return, all your performance suffers. Your production falls off. It doesn’t mean you’re less smart or less talented, but success becomes nearly impossible.
Then everyone wants a separation and you better hope you win the breakup. We did not win the breakup
Well seeing as everyone on our team was popes 4th choice I think it doesnt matter who he is going for. He’s just not gonna get them. He’s not going to get anyone he thinks he needs
It does matter though. You have to have a plan and recruit to the plan.
If Pope has a plan, what is it?