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Travis Perry announcing soon

Again, legacy, and in state fandom in a state that has zero other sports, doesn't matter to the rest of the US. Players outside the state are not coming here for some brand, and I have no idea why people keep thinking this.

Most of the players chose Cal when he left lol. Watch how many really care about UK basketball before long.

There's just this hubris that's been floating around here lately is just becoming absurd.
Some just don't get it. The Kentucky basketball brand is (maybe was) bigger than the people who live withing driving distance of Rupp Arena on a Sunday afternoon. Of course we have a passionate fanbase - most programs worth their salt do.

For instance: The UCONN brand has improved, correct? So if a brand can improve by winning, then reckons to stand it can decline with consistent losing, correct?

What some posters need to realize, in my humble opinion, is that its possible (and the case here) for a brand to decline but, wait for it, still not be in the dumpster. No one is arguing that the brand is non-existent, but it's certainly not what it was a decade ago
 
For Perry, as a Kentucky kid, committed to UK, standing in Rupp Arena during the Pope press conference, who just won the state championship on that floor at Rupp Arena should have walked up on the stage when Pope recognized him, grabbed the mic and said, "THIS IS MY HOUSE, I'M STAYING" (drops mic/ walks off stage).........................
Place would have been even crazier that day!!!!!
 
Some just don't get it. The Kentucky basketball brand is (maybe was) bigger than the people who live withing driving distance of Rupp Arena on a Sunday afternoon. Of course we have a passionate fanbase - most programs worth their salt do.

For instance: The UCONN brand has improved, correct? So if a brand can improve by winning, then reckons to stand it can decline with consistent losing, correct?

What some posters need to realize, in my humble opinion, is that its possible (and the case here) for a brand to decline but, wait for it, still not be in the dumpster. No one is arguing that the brand is non-existent, but it's certainly not what it was a decade ago

You realize Kentucky had the highest rated games in America last year right? By what objective metric are you basing your hypothesis?
 
I love this kids potential. He has skills and plays with a maturity beyond his age. He's not as athletic as Reed but he's not unathletic either. Good body and quick enough to guard and get shots off. Think he will be a really solid college player.
Exactly, good college player and what we need for some stability. Perry happens to be KY high school basketball's all-time leading scorer. Hopefully he stays and produces for 3-4 yrs.
 
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He's playing in some kind of all star game this weekend in Cincinnati, I'm sure he will be asked about it up there and will announce he is staying committed to Kentucky.
 
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He is already signed. WTH is he announcing?
If he was considering asking out of his NLI, then I don’t care if he comes. A Kentucky kid with the chance to play at UK should consider it an honor.
This is the really pathetic. It's a sign of the times and what the NIL has done to an amazing sport.
It turns me off in Perry somewhat. A KY kid who got a full ride to play ball at the premier school in the nation! Now he has to show his ass and become another primadonna. Please.....
 
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That's flat out false. There is no brand. It's just some instate kids who were probably fans, went to games as kids, and had parents who went here. It may be a legacy thing, but it's certainly no brand.

Some of you need to leave the state for once and realize that no one is paying UK any mind. The kentucky "brand" fizzles out pretty quick once you leave state lines.
Even up here in Northern Kentucky, UK isn't the team people talk about. It's UC, Dayton or Ohio State.
 
You realize Kentucky had the highest rated games in America last year right? By what objective metric are you basing your hypothesis?
Until you actually stop cowardly avoiding the points/questions I've made, I'm not going to address anything you have for me. Ain't a one-way street here, pal.
 
Until you actually stop cowardly avoiding the points/questions I've made, I'm not going to address anything you have for me. Ain't a one-way street here, pal.

No one is avoiding anything. You're making arbitrary points.
 
No one is avoiding anything. You're making arbitrary points.
What's our Champion's Classic record? How's our on-the-court brand looking against the other elite brands in the nation?

How's our brand doing in post-season tournaments? Are we playing on the weekends in the SEC-T for that coverage/discourse? How about advancement in the tournament?

We offered Hurley the chance to be the hightest paid coach in the history of college athletics, how'd that turn out?

We got turned down by SCOTT DREW - you think Drew turns us down in 2016? No way
 
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Wait! A few UK fanatics thought everything would go our way with a new coach no player in the east has ever heard of before?

I don’t believe it. The fanbase is always rational.
The irrationals seem to think rosters and staffs are built overnight if you're a blueblood like UK, that Pope should have had it locked up within 5 days of his Intro.
 
What's our Champion's Classic record? How's our on-the-court brand looking against the other elite brands in the nation?

How's our brand doing in post-season tournaments? Are we playing on the weekends in the SEC-T for that coverage/discourse? How about advancement in the tournament?

We offered Hurley the chance to be the hightest paid coach in the history of college athletics, how'd that turn out?

We got turned down by SCOTT DREW - you think Drew turns us down in 2016? No way

Again, you're equating wins / losses to brand. There is a correlation, but it's not the same thing.

Furthermore, branding is probably one of the smallest factors in why commits go to certain schools. It's about creating synergies in player desires / program desires, and that includes everything from playing time to roster chemistry to coach to NIL. If you want to take the tact that all of that is branding, you can do that, but that's not what a brand is.

Why Drew turned us down by ALL INDICATION has zero to do with branding. If we are actually acknowledging facts, we know why Drew turned us down. But if we are to over-simplify the concept of branding into coaching attractiveness, I'd say the fact Kentucky was discussed in correlation with an NBA coach, a back to back championship winning coach and Scott Drew (who honestly I didn't want anyways) is pretty telling to the respect Kentucky gets. There might be one other program in the country who could have had the same conversations.

We are arguing in circles though. I think I've made my point.
 
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Again, you're equating wins / losses to brand. There is a correlation, but it's not the same thing.

Furthermore, branding is probably one of the smallest factors in why commits go to certain schools. It's about creating synergies in player desires / program desires, and that includes everything from playing time to roster chemistry to coach to NIL. If you want to take the tact that all of that is branding, you can do that, but that's not what a brand is.

Why Drew turned us down by ALL INDICATION has zero to do with brand. If we are actually acknowledging facts, we know why Drew turned us down.

We are arguing in circles though. I think I've made my point.
Kentucky basketball has dropped 8 spots in Total Revenue by Sport, currently sitting in between Marquette and Michigan St - and behind the likes of UNC, Duke, UCONN

But right, I'm sure you'll claim this has no impact on branding, because, ya know, semantics and all

I think I've made my point. You think your points are about the thesaurus next to your computer. But I can tell from other poster's comments here that you're pretty much on an island on this
 
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Kentucky basketball has dropped 8 spots in Total Revenue by Sport, currently sitting in between Marquette and Michigan St - and behind the likes of UNC, Duke, UCONN

But right, I'm sure you'll claim this has no impact on branding, because, ya know, semantics and all

I think I've made my point. You think your points are about the thesaurus next to your computer. But I can tell from other poster's comments here that you're pretty much on an island on this

That's nearly impossible to believe given the SEC Payouts dwarf the Big East and ACC, but even then, I'd like to see the ledger for such numbers. Let's see the source.

According to this, Kentucky was 2nd in revenue, only behind Duke:

 
Even up here in Northern Kentucky, UK isn't the team people talk about. It's UC, Dayton or Ohio State.
It’s always been that way up here since I’ve been a kid but these news stations love to get on UK’s jocks when we go on a tournament run….. Then it’s UK this and UK that.
 
That's nearly impossible to believe given the SEC Payouts dwarf the Big East and ACC, but even then, I'd like to see the ledger for such numbers. Let's see the source.

"Top Sports by Revenue is a measure of the individual sports programs at each college or university that bring in the most revenue, regardless of expenses. This ranking can give you an overall look at which sports are most popular -- and generate the most revenue -- on each campus."

I'm not your research assistant. I did my work, now you do yours
 
For Perry, as a Kentucky kid, committed to UK, standing in Rupp Arena during the Pope press conference, who just won the state championship on that floor at Rupp Arena should have walked up on the stage when Pope recognized him, grabbed the mic and said, "THIS IS MY HOUSE, I'M STAYING" (drops mic/ walks off stage).........................
Place would have been even crazier that day!!!!!
Yet he stood up, looked around and......maybe he's shy.
 
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"Top Sports by Revenue is a measure of the individual sports programs at each college or university that bring in the most revenue, regardless of expenses. This ranking can give you an overall look at which sports are most popular -- and generate the most revenue -- on each campus."

I'm not your research assistant. I did my work, now you do yours
You actually provided nothing. Let's see the source. I provided one already.
 
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What's our Champion's Classic record? How's our on-the-court brand looking against the other elite brands in the nation?

How's our brand doing in post-season tournaments? Are we playing on the weekends in the SEC-T for that coverage/discourse? How about advancement in the tournament?

We offered Hurley the chance to be the hightest paid coach in the history of college athletics, how'd that turn out?

We got turned down by SCOTT DREW - you think Drew turns us down in 2016? No way
How is that any different than the end of the Tubby era and into the BCG era? seriously. Tubby left basically in a similar manner as Cal, he knew he had lost the fan base and got out before he would be fired. BCG prolonged that agony.

UK is to college basketball what Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, is to football. Those schools have all had periods where they weren't their historically good selves, but managed to regain their lofty status with the right hires. one week on the job trying to build a roster and staff from scratch is hardly enough time to give ANY coach, regardless of name recognition. You all act like if Hurley had come we'd have our roster set and we'd be on the road to happiness. That's not true at all. Drew turned us down because he values his families input. That's commendable. Same goes for Hurley and whatever his motivations were. It wasn't because our "brand is tarnished" that they didn't come.

We do have some highly irrational fans.
 
That's what I provided and I actually misread it, but there is no way Louisville grossed higher than Kentucky last year.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiight, so everyone else is wrong except for you? So even with cited evidence to the contrary, what is that called, belief perseverance?
 
How is that any different than the end of the Tubby era and into the BCG era? seriously. Tubby left basically in a similar manner as Cal, he knew he had lost the fan base and got out before he would be fired. BCG prolonged that agony.

UK is to college basketball what Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, is to football. Those schools have all had periods where they weren't their historically good selves, but managed to regain their lofty status with the right hires. one week on the job trying to build a roster and staff from scratch is hardly enough time to give ANY coach, regardless of name recognition. You all act like if Hurley had come we'd have our roster set and we'd be on the road to happiness. That's not true at all. Drew turned us down because he values his families input. That's commendable. Same goes for Hurley and whatever his motivations were. It wasn't because our "brand is tarnished" that they didn't come.

We do have some highly irrational fans.
You're obviously not prepared for this debate. Not at all. You might need to go back and read all the posts to gain some context before launching your own essay on the matter.

None of this has to do with Pope. None of it at all, and I dare you to try to find any post by me to the contrary. I'll wait for you to quote it.

Of course programs win some, lose some. But when they lose consistently across a 5-year span, their brand diminishes as well. Diminishes means it declines a little, it does NOT mean that it becomes non-existant.

So if UCONN's brand improves via winning, programs brands can decrease thru losing, right? Are you going to try and argue that Louisville and Indiana and UCLA have their brands just as valuable as ever? Of course not. Now try to apply the same logic to Kentucky, this time without your own self-serving bias
 
Riiiiiiiiiiiiight, so everyone else is wrong except for you? So even with cited evidence to the contrary, what is that called, belief perseverance?
No, Im just telling you that there is no way Louisville had a higher revenue than Kentucky in 2024. There's no way that's accurate. We are going in cricles, bud. I've made my case. The people can decide.
 
No, Im just telling you that there is no way Louisville had a higher revenue than Kentucky in 2024. There's no way that's accurate. We are going in cricles, bud. I've made my case. The people can decide.
So what about the other 6 schools ranked higher than Kentucky? Just going to ignore their ranking ahead of Kentucky's?

I just don't understand - like legit, you seem like a very intelligent person - I just don't understand how you think the Kentucky brand hasn't declined in the last 5 years. You haven't come anywhere near close to making that point - providing some opinions, sure. Dancing around the question, sure.
 
So what about the other 6 schools ranked higher than Kentucky? Just going to ignore their ranking ahead of Kentucky's?

I just don't understand - like legit, you seem like a very intelligent person - I just don't understand how you think the Kentucky brand hasn't declined in the last 5 years. You haven't come anywhere near close to making that point - providing some opinions, sure. Dancing around the question, sure.

Because the fact Louisville has a higher revenue than Kentucky while averaging 6,500 attendance is pretty clear evidence that we can't trust these numbers. But I am tired of annoying the board with this debate. Last comment.
 
So what about the other 6 schools ranked higher than Kentucky? Just going to ignore their ranking ahead of Kentucky's?

I just don't understand - like legit, you seem like a very intelligent person - I just don't understand how you think the Kentucky brand hasn't declined in the last 5 years. You haven't come anywhere near close to making that point - providing some opinions, sure. Dancing around the question, sure.
The issue in my opinion is that the 2 of you are using different definitions of branding. Using the revenue reporting is poor way to prove either side, regardless of what that report says (admittedly, I didn't even open it). As with most things, NIL included, books aren't kept the same way, nor do schools use the same rules for their books. So at most you have some data that isn't collected the same way for all schools.

At the end of the day, you seem to be talking about the profitability of a sports team as an indicator of the total brand, and the other guy seems to be using the popularity as an indicator. The truth is there is merit to both sides. UK is still the show, hence being on the list several times for the most watched games. However, in the last 5 years, the fanbase has been mostly dormant (a dislike of Cal), and have decreased a lot of the spending. Matt tells people all the time, on top of being a fan, he needs UK to win and win big because it drives revenue in his bar when UK is good and winning.

At the end of the day, I tend to agree with you that the brand has taken a hit over the last few years. It is still a big brand, but not near as big as it was years ago. I think that if Pope can get the team rolling, and we have a return to fun and dominating performances, that brand can be rebuilt.
 
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This is the really pathetic. It's a sign of the times and what the NIL has done to an amazing sport.
It turns me off in Perry somewhat. A KY kid who got a full ride to play ball at the premier school in the nation! Now he has to show his ass and become another primadonna. Please.....
The writer of the article just says making an announcement. You make it sound like he is having a press conference with mics to make the announcement. All he said was he will will be deciding very shortly. He waited to talk to Coach Pope, see who the assistants were and make sure there are no more surprises. He is a shy kid and will probably just post something on twitter.
 
Because those revenue rankings looked odd to me, I briefly looked into that study. The numbers are based on what the institutions reported to the DOE for the Equity in Athletics disclosure requirements--which is related to Title IX.

So, I looked up UK's disclosure (linked below). All sports show exactly the same expenses as revenue (net zero). UK included the following caveat.

" In addition, the instructions for this report
require revenue to be re-allocated to ensure all sports are "fully funded." Please note that our athletics department will report
a small profit, but all sports do not have a net income of zero as this report shows. All our sports are truly fully funded, but not in the manner shown here (revenue in this fiscal year came mostly from non-sports specific, men’s basketball, and football). The NCAA report will show all sports with the actual revenue earned by sport."

So, I decided to go and look up UK's latest NCAA report (also linked below). UK reported $31.2M for Men's Basketball. Of that, only $4M was media rights. There was $57M in non sport specfic media rights, of which basketball is the second biggest portion. So, we know for certain that this ranking underestimated UK's men’s basketball revenue by at least $9M, and in reality much more.

In summary, that ranking of revenue is worthless because it uses the wrong data in the wrong way. In any case, attendance, TV ratings, and social media mentions would be a better measurement of brand power.


 
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Because the fact Louisville has a higher revenue than Kentucky while averaging 6,500 attendance is pretty clear evidence that we can't trust these numbers. But I am tired of annoying the board with this debate. Last comment.

You're correct. Those numbers are worthless. See my post above.
 
The strides that Reed made at UK, Travis could also.
Possibly, but he needs a supporting cast of talented teammates that will alleviate the pressure. Reed did not ever appear to feel “pressure” until the last two (2) games of the season … where outcomes began to really matter and we were counting on him to solidly contribute and help us win to advance.
 
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For anyone debating it, UK Basketball is still a HUGE draw and a BRAND that is recognized and talked about. The people either love UK, hate UK, or respect UK Basketball. To say otherwise is just plain ignorant.

From Michigan to Florida, I talk to people all the time that know Kentucky and recognize their basketball program. When I went to Europe and wore my UK apparel, I got tons of comments by other Americans and a few Europeans. I run into UK fans on almost every vacation I've taken whether to Chicago or Texas, FL or NC/SC.

There's a reason the negative UK stories make the headlines. There's a reason they give us dramatic matchups in the tourney. What the national press DOESN'T WANT is for UK to become a nationwide favorite. It's the last thing they want for college basketball.

You can debate against facts and history all you want. KENTUCKY basketball is STILL a big, brand name, (even after what Cal has done to diminish returns lately). That may change at some point. It may not. Right now there is no real debate. Just blowin smoke for attention and clicks is all it is.
 
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