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Travis Perry on his departure

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chasingwildcat

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Dec 23, 2024
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Moving on from the Wildcats was not an easy decision for Perry. But at the end of the day, he knows making the best decision for himself should be top priority. Putting his name out on the open market accomplished that, giving him options.


“It’s a difficult decision for anybody to get in the portal,” Perry said. “Just felt like, at the end of the day, you’ve got to make the best decision for yourself and your basketball career. You only get so much time to do it, only so much time to play basketball. So, felt like I made the decision that myself and my family felt like was best for my basketball career.”

Multiple schools were instantly interested in Perry, including those in the SEC. Among those was Chris Beard and the Ole Miss Rebels. Looking to reload after making the NCAA Tournament last season, Ole Miss presented a great opportunity to Perry.

“Whenever I got in the portal, I felt like Coach Beard’s vision was exactly what I was looking for,” Perry said. “I felt like we had a lot of guys coming here that wanted to win, wanted to compete at a high level. I feel like I could come in and impact that.”

Perry got a great first-hand look at Beard’s team during his lone season at Kentucky. Ole Miss welcomed them to Oxford and wound up big winners. In 14 minutes played, Perry recorded five points, two rebounds, two assists, and even a block.

He remembers how hard Ole Miss played throughout the entire game, though. Perry appears excited to play the same way under Beard.

“They definitely play super hard,” Perry said. “You can tell that — they got us pretty good last year. Played a great game against us. But just the way they competed against us all year, competed in the SEC all year if you’re playing in it. Just the way they competed whether they were up 20, down 20, whatever it was. That’s something I think that carries over, carries over from Coach Beard.”
 
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MdWIldcat55

MdWIldcat55

Heisman
Dec 9, 2007
20,889
82,142
113
1. Pretty disrespectful to Coach Pope. Kentucky didn't play as hard as Ole Miss? Beard is a better motivator than Pope? I'm sure he's just a young kid trying to put a good spin on the fact that he was facing limited time for at least one and probably two or three more years. But someone should have coached him on a better way to handle these interviews.

2. Name the Kentucky guard you would sacrifice to have Perry back. That's right. There isn't one.
 
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Ryan Lemonds Hair

Heisman
May 31, 2018
15,257
30,635
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Was it the best for his "basketball career"? Probably so as he wouldn't have gotten many minutes at all next year. However, is graduating from UK with the potential of being on a championship team a bigger pay day for him for his life after basketball? Yes it would have been. A lot of guys who didn't have professional basketball careers have done will for themselves because of their UK basketball connections. I don't see that being the same in Mississippi so it was a short minded decision IMO.
 
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seccats04

seccats04

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Dec 6, 2004
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Creed Bratton said:
Was it the best for his "basketball career"? Probably so as he wouldn't have gotten many minutes at all next year. However, is graduating from UK with the potential of being on a championship team a bigger pay day for him for his life after basketball? Yes it would have been. A lot of guys who didn't have professional basketball careers have done will for themselves because of their UK basketball connections. I don't see that being the same in Mississippi so it was a short minded decision IMO.
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This x100. He is only seeing playing time next year as his driving force for transferring. Dumb move on his part IMO. He will never play in the NBA and would make a great salary at UK and be able to name his job in Kentucky after his basketball career is over.
 
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L

Lempface

Heisman
Feb 16, 2009
12,159
20,637
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MdWIldcat55 said:
1. Pretty disrespectful to Coach Pope. Kentucky didn't play as hard as Ole Miss? Beard is a better motivator than Pope? I'm sure he's just a young kid trying to put a good spin on the fact that he was facing limited time for at least one and probably two or three more years. But someone should have coached him on a better way to handle these interviews.

2. Name the Kentucky guard you would sacrifice to have Perry back. That's right. There isn't one.
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Really man? He didn't even spin it, he said he had to make a decision for his future and he only gets so much time to do it. There isn't a way to say I wanted more playing time without coming out and saying that directly. After that he was just saying what he liked about Ole Miss and didn't insinuate anything negative about KY.
 
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Wunky

Wunky

Heisman
Jan 16, 2021
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Certain kids (and their dads) just want to play for Bob Knight type coaches. Braylon Mullins is one. Perry is, apparently, another.
 
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LineSkiCat14

LineSkiCat14

Heisman
Aug 5, 2015
37,315
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I hope this really puts to bed the whole "We need to prioritize that in-state Kentucky player who played for my daughters highschool!" stuff. Not that what Perry said was bad, but it's more so that these in-state players have no allegiance to UK basketball at the end of the day. They were simply fans of the program at some point, and some fans might have met these players in passing.. that's it. That's the difference between Travis Perry and Bob Smith from California.

Fans were going over-board in prioritizing the recruitment of Perry, to be the possible next-in-line replacement for Sheppard (another guy that doesn't seem to have a ton of loyalty to UK).. only for Perry to skip town, go to a SEC rival, just because he didn't have a clear cut role to 20 minutes per game.

We don't owe in-state players anything, just because they had a poster of John Wall at one point.. Fill out the roster with the best talent and the players that best fit. If that means no Kentucky born players in a given year? So be it.
 
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rivercatinfl

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Nov 21, 2012
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I don't want to see Perry fall flat on his face at Ole Miss but I don't think he will ever be seen KY boy made good by this transfer. His weaknesses will still be quite clear in our league.
He has limited skills in so far as lateral quickness and driving to the basket. He is basically a set shot shooter. who can be swarmed by defenses and rendered ineffective imo.
I won't be a big fan of his due to his transfer to a SEC team who wants to take us out. The OP is right, you are either with us or against us. He chose wrong here!
 
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OldEvilleCat

Heisman
Mar 1, 2009
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Just from his statements I feel as if he could've accomplished all the same things if not more at Kentucky. No guarantee he will get any more PT at Ole Miss. But I hope it all works out for him.
 
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BigKari

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He can compete for 8th or 9th man minutes at Ole Miss probably this season. I think Beard sold him on the Sean Pedulla role for his Jr and Sr years. He was going to be 12-13th man at UK this season, Pope is a portal wizard and his HS pipeline is really strong and HS recruiting comp has decreased because of the portal. There’s only like 7-8 teams that can go all in on the portal AND HS recruiting and Kentucky is at the top of that list. He didn’t see a path to be a starter at Kentucky because he’d be recruited over each year, and again Sean Pedulla getting the green light this past season as a 6’1 combo guard looks like a more realistic blueprint for Perry at Ole Miss than what Pope can lay out for him at Kentucky.
 
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noncomposmentis

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Pretty clearly a case of a kid and his family believing in himself more than most observers do. Which is fine. Yes, playing for UK was a dream, and he could have stayed and not had much of a role, been a Wildcat forever and, as others have said, that likely comes with job opportunities, fame, etc for the rest of his life. But he just wasn't ready to accept being the 14th guy on a team - even his dream team. He thinks he can have a career and be an important piece of a good team at the high D1 level. I'm not going to fault a kid for that belief/perspective, even if I suspect he may be wrong in the end.
 
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maysvilleky

All-American
Aug 13, 2003
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IMO pretty simple for Perry…he’s not going to play Pro ball. His only chance to make money playing BB is to get what he can out of a NIL deal.
 
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bluedom44

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Apr 7, 2019
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It sounds like he wants to be challenged and Beard will do that for him. Beard will make him go after it on the defensive end. Perry might be one of the players that will thrive under Beard's style, rather than Pope's more laid back style.

We have to remember that Perry is not a Pope recruit. It's possible that he just doesn't respond well to Pope's coaching and prefers to be under someone more intense like Beard. We should just wish him well and let it be.
 
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bigblueinsanity_rivals250340

Heisman
Apr 13, 2002
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Bottom line: he traded a career at uk, to avoid sitting the bench this season, for barely playing at ole miss the same season.

The move would've been defensible had he just not played last year. He played and we all saw it. He has a long way to go and there was a reason he wouldn't play much this season.
 
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UKortho

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Oct 13, 2015
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bigblueinsanity said:
Bottom line: he traded a career at uk, to avoid sitting the bench this season, for barely playing at ole miss the same season.

The move would've been defensible had he just not played last year. He played and we all saw it. He has a long way to go and there was a reason he wouldn't play much this season.
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You forgot the $$$$- significantly more to transfer. That’s the real bottom line that most of us can relate to.
 
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Runt#1969

Runt#1969

All-American
Dec 13, 2010
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BigKari said:
He can compete for 8th or 9th man minutes at Ole Miss probably this season. I think Beard sold him on the Sean Pedulla role for his Jr and Sr years. He was going to be 12-13th man at UK this season, Pope is a portal wizard and his HS pipeline is really strong and HS recruiting comp has decreased because of the portal. There’s only like 7-8 teams that can go all in on the portal AND HS recruiting and Kentucky is at the top of that list. He didn’t see a path to be a starter at Kentucky because he’d be recruited over each year, and again Sean Pedulla getting the green light this past season as a 6’1 combo guard looks like a more realistic blueprint for Perry at Ole Miss than what Pope can lay out for him at Kentucky.
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this
 
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