Should KY's Mr. Basketball Get an Automatic Scholly to UK?
- Thread starter KYtotheCore
- Start date
Our fans are to fickle. If Cal did that since none of them are anything but multi year players. So u would have 3 or 4 on ur team. Now does anyone remember a few years ago the great Stokes The Unstretchable uproar. We didn't have a scholly for him and he went on to UT and played well against us. Everybody jumped on Cal for giving unfilled schollys to walk on season by season and not having one for Stokes. You just can't have a third of ur roster be 2 and 3 star Mr Basketballs and compete at the level we are
2022-2023 would have had
Senior-dontaie Allen
Junior- dayvion mcknight
Sophomore- Ben Johnson
Freshman- turner buttry
Jacob Toppin, CJ Frederick, sahvir wheeler, Damion Collins, Antonio reeves, Oscar tshiebwe, lance ware were our returning players that year. Those 4 scholarships were used on adou, Chris Livingston, Cason Wallace, and Ugo.
not every Kentucky Mr basketball should have an offer.
Senior-dontaie Allen
Junior- dayvion mcknight
Sophomore- Ben Johnson
Freshman- turner buttry
Jacob Toppin, CJ Frederick, sahvir wheeler, Damion Collins, Antonio reeves, Oscar tshiebwe, lance ware were our returning players that year. Those 4 scholarships were used on adou, Chris Livingston, Cason Wallace, and Ugo.
not every Kentucky Mr basketball should have an offer.
All should be atleast scouted, but honestly... walk on vs yearly Mr. Ky basketball. I think every one should have the opportunity to be on the team. Your good enough for scholly or choice to walk on. But the problem is. It can get crowded, therefore taking scholarship away space for bigger needs. That's the drawback.
Nah, most years the level of talent in state isn’t good enough to play here. Recently that seems to be changing but it should be based on talent and ability. Nothing else.
It’s cool to add in state kids if they are good enough and if they fit our system. Under Cal, sure, add every Mr. Basketball. He didn’t have a system or didn’t recruit to fit a role. Also didn’t fill all scholarships, ever.
With Pope, it gets a little more complicated. He plays his bench, he has a structured system and he recruits based on needs to fit certain roles. He will fill all scholarships or come close to it every year as well. So not as much room.
So if the player fits our system, (Perry does), then you take him. If not, a coach shouldn’t be forced to waste a spot on a guy who isn’t good enough or the right fit because he played his HS ball in KY.
With Pope, it gets a little more complicated. He plays his bench, he has a structured system and he recruits based on needs to fit certain roles. He will fill all scholarships or come close to it every year as well. So not as much room.
So if the player fits our system, (Perry does), then you take him. If not, a coach shouldn’t be forced to waste a spot on a guy who isn’t good enough or the right fit because he played his HS ball in KY.
No. That would be 4 (possibly 5 if there were a redshirt) of your 13 scholarships. KY can go years without a top-half P5 quality player.
The past 34 years, 17 went to P5 schools, 13 went to mid-majors, and 4 didn't even go to D1 schools. Of the 17 that went to P5 schools, 8 of them went to UK, and surprisingly Cal brought in 5 of the 8 (if you count Hood and Perry both, although you probably shouldn't count 1 of the 2).
Yes, there have been some good ones: Houston, Lofton, Sheppard, Darius Miller, Fishback.
But there have been a lot more disappointments, too many to list, many I've never even heard of.
Interesting fact, UT has signed 2 KY Mr Basketball players "ever", and those 2 are probably both in the top 5 UT players ever.
The past 34 years, 17 went to P5 schools, 13 went to mid-majors, and 4 didn't even go to D1 schools. Of the 17 that went to P5 schools, 8 of them went to UK, and surprisingly Cal brought in 5 of the 8 (if you count Hood and Perry both, although you probably shouldn't count 1 of the 2).
Yes, there have been some good ones: Houston, Lofton, Sheppard, Darius Miller, Fishback.
But there have been a lot more disappointments, too many to list, many I've never even heard of.
Interesting fact, UT has signed 2 KY Mr Basketball players "ever", and those 2 are probably both in the top 5 UT players ever.
As long as they bring something to the table. Being athletic is not enough. And you cant go by star ratings because Kentucky,in the past, had great players from Kentucky that lead UK to titles. You can go back to the 50s and 60s and find them on Rupps teams. Pitino in the 90s the same. For a Kentucky kid playing for UK makes them better I believe. Perry and Noah are shooters and neither are 5 Star players but in Popes system of pressure defense and 3 point shooting they are open when they cross mid court.
There have been some hits and misses thru the years, but most of the time I think Kentucky makes the right decision on who they offer. It also seems like some that we pass on end up hurting us in head-to-head match ups. There is pressure to sign certain ones, but I don't think a scholarship should be an automatic thing on the Mr. basketball. I think Cal hated having to make that decision because he didn't think Kentucky kids were good enough to play here most of the time. I also think every Kentucky team should have a couple of Kentucky boys on the roster, whether they be walk-ons or scholarship players. For example, Derrick Willis and Scott Padgett neither were Mr. basketball, but both were good enough to play here.
I would argue that Jon Hood's enthusiasm for and fidelity to the University of Kentucky basketball program, as an historical and ongoing entity, brought an intangible value to the teams of which he was a member that far outweighed that of Tai Wynyard. I don't think that comparison is apt.
I think there are two latin phrases that are equally applicable to this question. Granting a scholarship to Kentucky's Mr. Basketball, per se, should not be a de jure rule. However, I think Coach Pope and all U.K. head basketball coaches who follow him would be well advised to accept it as a de facto rule of practice, rarely broken !
Go 'Cats ! ! !
I wouldn't mind giving the Mr Basketball from KY a scholarship when it makes sense and we think the player can contribute possibly at some point. God knows UK had numerous walk-ons under Cal that were basically wasted roster spots just to add practice players. This would be a scholly though, so the thought needs to be that the kid could be more than just a practice player. If the Mr Basketball in any given year though is just clearly not UK material, then "no".
Absolutely not. Why only have UK on the hook anyway? What about WKU, EKU or UL? These guys are often not good enough to get meaningful minutes at UK.
Yeah, I've seen that occur more often because the guy who commits to UK early wins it.
One of the worst was Josh Carrier winning. Patrick Sparks had way more success than Carrier ever did but Carrier committed to UK and won it.
I think UK has only had like five Mr. Basketball winners the last 15 years.
I think no, and I think it could eventually cause the voting to become political. Not as in repub/dem, but like local, interpersonal politics.
To answer the OP's question, no, I don't think it should be automatic. However, I think anyone of that level should already be on the coach's radar to recruit. If they're not, that really kind of says it all with Cal being the exception as he just was going to ignore most of those guys regardless.
With Sheppard and Perry winning being kind of the recent exception, I feel the majority of the Mr. Basketball winners in more recent years hasn't been worth offering. Big drop from the 2000s.
With Sheppard and Perry winning being kind of the recent exception, I feel the majority of the Mr. Basketball winners in more recent years hasn't been worth offering. Big drop from the 2000s.
Some fun memories about Carrier....he actually grew up a Louisville fan. And remember, he was the one the caused Tubby to have to self-report a recruiting violation during his recruitment.
I definitely do not remember that. What happened?
The case for Carrier winning was awful. Never went to a Sweet 16. Meanwhile, Sparks went to three Sweet 16s, led the state in scoring, and even had a 70 point game.
We’re you surprised your guy -Adou-moved to Arky?
You were his biggest supporter. I thought he and his dad were upset with Cal. Now he’s got Knox and a couple others in front of him
Thought he might stay but perhaps his game wouldn’t fit.
You’re letting down the female side.
Where’s the Ms Kentucky interjection? The Ladycats could use those girls.
If I remember correctly they were in the gym with him working out at the wrong time maybe even participated in the workout something really minor.
Carrier lost to Russellville if I remember.
But the sanctions were Coach Finley and another assistant were throwing Carrier basketballs in an open gym workout. Some NCAA shit.
