Possibly yes.
But it’s also just as equally possible it’s the head coach or any other myriad of factors.
Yaxel to Michigan.
- Thread starter UKortho
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Possibly yes.
But it’s also just as equally possible it’s the head coach or any other myriad of factors.
Are we expecting nothing to happen with UK recruits until after the April 7 ruling? That’s kind of the impression I got.
Good news is we only have 2 more days left.
Looking forward to my vindication about Pope in the coming months. The man isn’t fit to be Kentucky basketball coach.
I wouldn’t say “equally possible”. Pope is hungry and working tirelessly trying to prove himself at his dream job. Mitch has been mailing it in for a decade and just trying not to rock the boat.
That's a valid point if Yaxel.was ever truly open.
Not all kids are going to have schools equal and have an open mind to hearing each schools pitch and then make a decision.
It seems like he targeted Much as his destination from the get go and was going to have to have a compelling reason NOT to go there
This sucks! I'm not sure if Pope knows how to close high caliber players. He is probably not use to recruiting at an elite level. UK is not Utah Valley or BYU. Maybe he should change his recruiting approach. We are missing on way too many elite players that should sign with UK.
It is called recruiting, not buying. Just throwing money at kids will NOT close the deal. I read where a point guard had a $3 million offer but chose a $1.6 million deal. The staff has to make a connection with not just the kid but establish a connection with his family. Not every kid is going to highest bidder. If a coach can win Momma his odds go up tremendously in getting the kid. Hopefully we quickly learn.
So explain to me how we can give a not even top 10 freshman allegedly something in the ballpark of 1.4 million dollars but when it comes to a proven player we are suddenly “hamstrung”.
Makes zero sense.
So the roster he assembled last year, all those top 15 wins, and the run to the Sweet 16 were what, exactly? Craziest lucky streak of all time?
Evidently Trilly is saying that Yax is most likely headed to the NBA. His mom is pushing him to the league.
An awful a lot of swings and misses I mean flying all over the country meeting once or twice with a lot of these players and even popping up at dinners . Heck he’s even hosted some of them and then the next day they commit somewhere else. I do think even for some of you that act like you aren’t that big of worry warts that this doesn’t give you the least little bit of concern?
I understand he put together a team at the last minute last year but this year he needed to UPGRADE the talent. The talent is all going elsewhere this is a very big concern in upgrading for next season. The freshmen he has coming in I think will be good but they’re freshmen and we all know how the freshmen need time to get accustomed to the college game unless you’re a transcendent player. We have none of those type coming in.
I still like Coach Pope. I like his enthusiasm, his obvious love for UK, and the fact that I felt we actually won a few games due to his coaching. (Yes, we lost some as well. I still insist we wouldn’t have beat Duke, Gonzaga, etc with Cal).
However, if Pope can’t get it done here, Barnhart needs to go. He shouldn’t make another UK related decision IF Pope doesn’t work.
I know I'm starting to worry. Got to get some bigs, that can't be pushed around, play good defense, rebounds and can pass. How many players fit that criteria, that is left in the portal?
Acknowledged, but tell me you're not at least a little concerned about what's happening.So the roster he assembled last year, all those top 15 wins, and the run to the Sweet 16 were what, exactly? Craziest lucky streak of all time?
Is the S16 good enough for you every year?
If we don't land at least one of these studs, one of them will knock us out of the tournament next year.
Is that a prediction or wishful thinking for you?
Miserable loves misery.
Let’s see what he pulls together when it’s all said and done.
Then, I don’t know, let’s cheer for that team to win as many games as they can.
Might come as a shock to some of you, but there is no actual scorecard associated with portal season. No points. No Ws. No Ls.
Certainly possible that there are guys Pope would’ve liked to have signed that picked elsewhere. Also possible that a lot of what we think we know is nothing but smoke.
At any rate, everything hinges on who laces them up next winner and how they produce on the court as a unit.
Let’s see what he pulls together when it’s all said and done.
Then, I don’t know, let’s cheer for that team to win as many games as they can.
Might come as a shock to some of you, but there is no actual scorecard associated with portal season. No points. No Ws. No Ls.
Certainly possible that there are guys Pope would’ve liked to have signed that picked elsewhere. Also possible that a lot of what we think we know is nothing but smoke.
At any rate, everything hinges on who laces them up next winner and how they produce on the court as a unit.
I haven't been one of the posters freaking out about the portal. But I can picture Pope's big recruiting pitch to players being about how "special" UK is and how it "changed his DNA as a person," "the greatest program in all of college basketball" etc. but kids don't give a **** about that now. They want to get paid.
No concern on my part. We have money to spend and will get good players.
If you believe we were even anywhere in the ballpark for Dent and Yaxel then there is still money to spend.
Since everyone is freaking out online, I might suggest they start dripping out some returning news while they work through the portal process.
If you believe we were even anywhere in the ballpark for Dent and Yaxel then there is still money to spend.
Since everyone is freaking out online, I might suggest they start dripping out some returning news while they work through the portal process.
I said this about couple of months ago that you can’t run a program like Kentucky on nostalgia and vibes.
Does that tell you something? Some of that football money moving over for basketball expenses?
I am not concerned. I won’t be until I see the final roster.
Even then, I’ll want to see the pieces on the floor together before getting too serious in my judgement.
And no, Sweet 16 isn’t good enough every year. It wouldn’t have been good enough this year if we’d stayed healthy. Pretty sure we’re a long way from knowing how far we’ll get next year.
lol. You’re not getting vindicated for that ********. When he puts together a good roster it will be crickets like usual
here come the cal fans out the woodwork. The portal hasn’t closed, nba decisions haven’t been made etc. when it’s all said and done the rumors about Mitch and pope and nil will probably be put to rest and the ones breeding negativity will be gone. You guys are bad at supporting a new coach, we have a team in red you can cheer for. You look like fair weather fans. Yaxel is projected a first round pick who won’t have to go to classes.
I don’t have worry it’s just more apathy. It’s knowing that we are going to get tubby level players and expect different results. We will probably be not as good next year. I can’t get excited about UK anything until Barney is gone and I mean gone no understudies in his role. We need total new leadership many of us said it before cal left. We need a new ad before a coach.
Well. Season one you were wrong. But now we are really paying attention to your prediction. Certainly your credibility isn’t ruined at all.
Of course but we should never be beat by Auburn, Alabama, or Michigan for a recruit that’s my point. I don’t care that’s this is 2025 or not.
I will wait until I see the final roster to make real judgments. Do the optics look bad right now? Yes, but the staff has all damn summer to get a good team
People will cope about Yaxel potentially leaving for the NBA, but you can work around that. He’s also worth the risk. One of the best players in the country.
Just a really bad turn of events. Need some good news (and then some) ASAP.
Just a really bad turn of events. Need some good news (and then some) ASAP.
Put to rest? When it’s all said and done you will know what has been hurting uK basketball the last 20+ years
Never is a long time bud. And UK is not for everyone and everyone is not for UK.
Until a few days before we play Duke lol? Doom and gloom on our chances to win.
It can't be money, because we've been told that Kentucky has an enormous super secret stockpile of NLI cash.
If UK's NIL is 10mil and top players are getting 3mil. It's safe to assume Oweh is getting close to that and Jasper is probably getting between 1-2mil. That would be half the NIL budget. Now spreading the rest of the money amongst 13 players really doesn't leave room for high demand players.
That’s true too and I’ll take it a step further I don’t think Eli is a good president either . He just doesn’t care too much for sports and he lets Mitch run things how he see fit. This is where the problem lies. I think the house needs cleaned from top to bottom. I’m not talking coach yet.