1 - Lewis/Chandler
2 - Johnson/Perry
3 - Oweh/Noah
4 - Williams
5 - Garrison/Moreno

Clearly, we want Lewis to be a really solid FR backup PG off the bench. With the NIL involved, I'm not sure that they will push Johnson to a backup role by default.

Moreno will NOT be third string Center on the depth chart being MCD AA and highly ranked. $ He's coming to play and can. We might get someone who can bounce between the 4 and 5 to allow Garrison to play the 4 some and provide depth.

We obviously want a stud PG and stud PF to allow solid depth behind them. Noah and Perry will hopefully be solid pieces #10 and #11 and not higher. Williams will be a solid backup 3.

I think some people think Pope is bringing in more pieces than he is, therefore, he is being very selective to make the right picks. I'm sure Oweh will require around 2 million himself to stick around. A lot of these "contacts" are just Pope and staff checking in on fit and pricing. We will be fine. Relax.

Bucky McMillan expected to be the hire at Texas A&M. Samford was fun last year and nearly upset Kansas round 1. Didn't quite get to the tournament this season. I think it's a good hire and should keep the SEC atop college basketball.

I NEED him in a UK jersey.. may be a hot take, but he is phenomenal in my eyes. May be looking for more playing time, but he sure does bring toughness to any team. Goes 110% all the time.

Really impressed with interview he gave. He said all the right things, but it wasn't that. Just how at ease he was. No pauses. Sometimes, young players sound like they're forcing the canned answers. He was a natural. I don't know how good a player he is, but I'll say I'm not worried about him making a mistake because of a hostile crowd.

Just wondering if the name on the front of the jersey is as meaningful as it used to be?

It used to be UK, UNC, KU, IN, etc meant a lot to players. Now you see them going to places like Boston College, BYU, St. John’s, etc. I know the players on this year’s team bought in for Pope and UK. But can you get the top talent to do that now? Or is it pretty much highest bidder for one year and then on to the next paycheck?

A thought. We thought last year's recruiting endeavors were maybe a one off since he didn't have alot of time. He took alot of mid major guys whom none of us knew how they'd translate to SEC competition. The consensus this year is that with more time, he would go after bigger fish. With the exception of Yaxel, Dent, and a few others, it doesn't seem like he's been heavily prioritizing bigger fish. Could it be that he wants players here who want to be here? Players who know or think they know what playing here would do for their lives and potentially careers? Pope has said a million times how coming here changed his life. I really think he is eyeing players of high character and one's that maybe he can see himself in, for UK to be a blessing to, as it was and contines to be for him. In my opinion, he prefers that attitude and character over a dude that wants to sponge every possible cent he can out of the current NIL landscape. And secondly, we as a fanbase, are used to Cal bringing in the top prospects and we're obsessed with rankings because of that. Pope is going to bring in pieces that fits what he wants to do, instead of just bagging as many 5 stars as he can. We have to let the man cook. And these rankings are BS anyways. Looking at you Hunter Dickenson, Great Osobor, AJ Storr....

Houston has tough, athletic players that can perform well in both offense, defense in tournament

Consecutive s16/e8/ff appreances are extremely impressive (even for blue blood schools)

Houston is not a school with best nil condition but is always one of top teams in tournament in recent years.

Do not need most money, other parts like evaluation, players development are also important

Mitch made a stupid lucky hire. Pope is the bomb. Missing on all the top rated portal guys IMO rests on our administration. Mitch has never been on board with NIL. Listening to Pope can you imagine turning him down one on one. No. Mitch won’t raise money. Stoops said himself, he hasn’t coached since NIL. He has been out raising money.
Duke AD is promising recruits life time benefits and protection. You don’t make NBA. We will find an Alum law firm you can make 100k to answer phones.
We put a billboard up for big Z.
We should put one up for our administration to get on board.
UK is not serious about competing.

I thought when we hired him away from Baylor he was supposed to be one of the top recruiters in the country ?
I have not seen that yet.
I want so badly for CMP to do well here but we have got to do well in recruiting. Yes I am starting to get worried about it.

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Love this lefty and that rapid fire Step back long range shot

NM

Most of these were more than 30 years ago.


All of these were the best teams that year but lost in the FF.

1983 Phi Slamma Jamma
Probably the most fun non-UK team I remember.

1989 Flying Illini
A machine. Had to beat Michigan for third time and didn't.

1991 UNLV probably the best of all these teams but I would take Phi Slamma Jamma talent.


Close to best but not the best:
Some people liked the Fab 5 but we were better. Dale Brown injury.

1979 Indiana State was a lot of fun in down year for us. Mich St had more talent

My Grandma passed away recently. Somehow her passing made me nostalgic for some of the meals she always cooked when I went to visit her in Bell County. One of those was “Soup Beans”.

I’ve lived in Illinois since college. There are plenty of recipes online. However, I’m wondering if there are any ingredients you like to add? I made a pot simply using onion, some salt, and ham. It just didn’t taste like grandma’s.

This kid can play. Would be a great pickup!!
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Greetings from soggy Lexington, HOB. I have jumped in my boat and paddled over to the JCFTC this morning for today’s practice wrap-up. I’m sure the weather has forced the Cats back into the fieldhouse for Day 10 of 15. We’re scheduled to talk to DC Brad White and select coaches/players from that side of the ball at approximately 11 ET. Stay tuned for the latest news and notes…

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DC BRAD WHITE Q&A:

* On Quay’sheed Scott… Bigger role, you gotta be mindful of taking steps. Not going to automatically become Zion Childers. Gotta be focused on technique, but still play fast. Don't over-think things. We'll get the corrections made. Making progress.

* On Kam Olds.. So much of the portal is evaluating how they will adjust to playing in this league. Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith, but in his case he had some experience against the league and showed he could make plays against upper-level competition.

* On his old coach, Brad Lambert, joining the staff in a support role... He brings a wealth of knowledge into the room. Makes us better as coaches, as a team.

* High expectations for DJ Waller at corner. Plays with great length and physicality. Cleaning up little details, eye discipline, footwork. We’ve seen growth and improvement. Plays with great passion.

* On Steven Soles… Important year for him or guys like Nichols and Dooley and Antwan Smith and Jerod Smith. Time to take next step. They are what we expected when we signed that class, but it’s a hard league to come into as a freshman. Feel better about them now. Good to see therm competing at high level. Tight knit group. Great to see them doing things together off the field.

* Good depth at safety, like how Carter and Dooley and Williams have progressed behind the two veterans. Today was a red zone day, though, and there were times when you could see their heads spinning like Poltergeist. But theyve been making plays this spring. And they've got two guys playing in front of them with a lot of experience who have seen everything.

* On Grant Godfrey at ILB... Coming along. Big thing for him is getting back into the flow after missing a whole year with an injury. Almost like a redshirt freshman. Big thing with him is live reps. Needs as many as he can get. At that position, you gotta get guys to the ground, and the only way to get that ability is to get live reps.

* Asked if there's been any young offensive guys who have been a thorn in their side so far, White said he probably wouldn't single anyone out. But they've all shown flashes of what they liked on film.

* OL improvement is there, for sure, in pass protection. Good job in blitz pick-up. We had a one-on-one pass rush drill at the end today, and the offense won it. They’ve given the D a big challenge.

******

PLAYERS Q&A:

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Surprised this one isn't on here yet.

Moment married Illinois special ed teacher accused of raping student, 15, breaks down after learning charges: ‘I’m gonna throw up’

This is like nothing we’ve ever experienced before. I mean this dog eat dog buy this guy or buy that guy is so aggravating! Can you imagine what Mark Pope is going thru with all the dynamics and every nuance of these recruitments. I created this topic for us members of BBN to vent our frustrations. I’ve been told that more than a few times the coaching staff have left or had zoom meetings that they felt very good about to have something happen to change the situation. I am coming to believe a lot of the chaos is being driven by agents ? They are putting out so much misinformation about players that it’s difficult to sort out. How aggravated are you guys ?

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I'm more concerned about the fastfood incident in Bloomington than his talent. Is that bad?

Rated 7th best transfer in this cycle according to Evan Miya. His numbers were almost identical from his freshman to sophomore season. NBA athleticism. Would be a draft pick with a more reliable shot.

12.2 PPG, 33% 3PFG, ~41% FG, 1 APG, 4 RPG

I think there are points in the article that translate to CFB, also, regarding recruiting and transfer evaluation. We have not had much luck with HS QBs under Stoops. Some have been misevaluated. Some have not developed any further. Some were in the wrong system here. For a program like ours who will almost never land the 'can't miss, 5-star, immediate stud QB', we have to evaluate better. Quite frankly, we've done a pretty poor job of that.

Pretty interesting read. No solutions, unfortunately.