Welcome to the Final Four! Our movies have fought a long battle and are vying for the title of Best Christmas Movie.

Last matchup before the big one. Choose wisely and may the odds ever be in your favor.

Should UK go after another portal QB, this is my choice. Mendoza played at Cal, completed 68% of his passes for 3000+ yards(a reminder that UK hasn't had a 3000 yd passer since Hartline 15 years ago), 16 TDs, 6 INTs which doesn't knock your socks off but to watch this guy play is a treat. He's 6'5", probably 220, a RS Jr from Miami whose only offer out of HS was....Yale. He seems to be a great leader, commands the huddle, excellent teammate, hard-nosed who can run but has a really good arm. UK has thought to have offered his #1 WR, think his name is Hunter. Being from Miami makes one think they would have the inside track but there may be some left over hard feelings from his HS days. Anyway, the guy went in the portal Wed, 12/11. Fall back option would be Calzada.

It's wayyyy too early in the season to say, but in all seriousness....

Coach Mark Pope looks clearly - at this point - to be solidly at or near the top of the list.

I know time will tell, but Coach Pope is absolutely deserving of the nod at this early juncture. The media will catch up to it in due course.

I believe, when it's all said and done, you're looking at the man that will win Coach of the Year.

Thoughts?

I haven't seen anything to this point that has shown me he's capable, but do others here think he is?

Does Pope try to get him more minutes to find out?

https://www.si.com/media/espn-dick-vitale-announces-cancer-free-during-jimmy-v-week

Love him or not, he is a HUGE part of college basketball and I'm glad to hear this news.

UNLV is in talks to hire Dan Mullen as their next coach. I'm not wanting Mullen here, but they are rolling out the largest NIL/sharing package in the MWC/Big 12. I guess they understand, football is the largest revenue making sport in college and funds most all other sports.

Just saw an 8th girl last night that could start at 90%of Ky high schools. West Clermont jr high school. Already has contact with the Ohio State. Someone needs to contact Brooks.

How much does each departure so far hurt?

Login to view embedded media There pitch was to compare him to Zion at Duke. I get what they are saying but surely they knew not to talk about a Duke guy here.

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Also saw this yesterday. I said when it first broke he was a candidate that he would take an NFL approach to it and that seems to be exactly what he’s gonna do.
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Cal basically made us a one and done program and only Anthony Davis saved his fate. We need the Perry’s and Noah’s for a foundation. I am sure there will be some one and done type players especially due to the portal and NIL, but you need those 4 year guys like Pelph, Feldhaus, Farmer, Travis Ford etc for a foundation. If you want to live and die with a total roster turnover every year you will get Cal part 2. This year is an exception due to the previous coach taking the entire roster and recruiting class with him to Piggyville. Be patient with the young guys and let them develop. They are Ky boys and will play for UK not the coach and his shady agents.

Tells Cats Illustrated that he will officially visit Kentucky from Dec. 18-19.

He announced an offer from Kentucky on social media today.

He has other visits scheduled to Cincinnati, Boston College, and Minnesota, so this is not like Kentucky is making some aggressive move to lock him down before the action starts. They will be battling those schools.

The 6'5, 255-pound defensive lineman was a sophomore this year. A native of West Palm Beach (Fla.) Cardinal Newman, he played sparingly in 2023 but had 46 tackles, four sacks, 5.5 TFL, and two forced fumbles a year ago. Kentucky needs both starters and backups on the defensive line, though they do get a couple of guys back.

We just won comfortably over a scrappy team that it is almost impossible to get motivated for, just four days after a super emotional overtime victory over a top-five team, while missing both of our point guards.

Most teams are not designed to win without point guards. We have gone 2-1 since losing both of them.

Some of you need to calm down and realize that Coach Pope knows what he’s doing. His team is not perfect, and I do not expect us to win the title this year. But I do see that we are a good team that fights for every game.

One other thing I am noticing is that the trolls have gotten tired of waiting for us to lose games so they are just starting to complain when we don’t win by 30. You guys need to watch out for those people. Don’t get wobbly in the knees this early in the season.

That’s my name for this group. They absolutely kill it in the 2nd half. You play Kentucky, they are going to come at you for Forty Miniutes!

Most favor either as a child or an adult?

I looked very much like Kevin McCallister as a kid. My brothers wore glasses and could be Ralphie. I sort of looked Ralphieish. I have in my head what some of you look like that is probably wrong.

So who was Scut Farkas? Grover Dill? Cousin Eddie?

Surely, one of you was a Buzz McCallister.

How long until the "Barnhart was forced to hire Pope" cries begin? Sadly this is not really sarcasm. That "bitter people" being discussed in the other thread as some of these folks. Barnhart is their version of "orange man bad." Nothing MB has done has made them happy.

Will any of them FINALLY agree that MB actually does know what he is doing. Is there a single one of us that had Coach Pope on their personal radar screen? Certainly not on mine. In fact, all of our teams in men's and women's sports are in good hands.

Can we start to appreciate that we are good hands with Mitch Barnhart?

If he would have just stuck to the blueprint of being blue collar program we wouldn't be in this situation. He wanted to go out and get big dawgs and it back fired because they were retreads. Be who you are get the right guys and others will catch on. Don't be who your not. Like dating be you, not who you thinks she wants.

I found this on the free board, and I thought I would post here. Our numbers are skewed some because we played several of the top viewed teams but still not bad for a "basketball school".

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I mentioned Calzada from Incarnate Word as someone you would expect to go back into the portal after stops at Auburn and Texas A&M and a good year, after Cam Ward succeeded there.

Kaiden Salter from Liberty is also someone who has had a lot of interest in Kentucky. The big thing with him is he wants to play with CJ Daniels, who was at Liberty before transferring to LSU. Daniels just went into the portal. He could go into the portal, in which case Daniels and Salter would make for a very interesting combination.

Daniels had 42 receptions for 480 yards at LSU this season. Salter rushed for 579 yards and seven QBs as Liberty's QB while completing 56.3% for 1,886 yards and a 15-6 ratio.

Grant Jordan from Yale has also been linked to Kentucky. He's a December grad with two years of eligibility remaining. He passed for 1,938 yards and a 19-2 ratio for Yale this year. He also rushed for 360 yards and five scores. So you see some interest in dual-threats.

Pope is hoping Kriisa will be back to understanding the assignment as an active player in the very near future — a reported three-to-six-week timeline for return.

I like it that he is showing some hair. I say let it grow Coach.

You? Yes or no.

I have an idea for what Belichick is going to do at UNC....for his son and the program.

This is likely a 1 year thing...or short term. He's 72. He's coming in to install a system at UNC. He's going to show them what it will take to build a structure. He's going to be the man running the program and showing what it takes to win. College is becoming pro sports....he's going to get them a structure in place. Once he gets that structure in place....he passes it to his son.

I've brought up a lot how Stoops becoming more of a CEO of a team like a GM/Director of football ops. In this era....a program like ours....you just can't expect 1 guy to do everything from grade checks, workouts, game-plan, recruit, fundraise, etc. without burnout. Bigger programs have the resources where these tasks are delegated easily. Now whether Stoops does it or we get an actual GM....there needs to be a move towards this and UNC/Bill will be the test case.

Belichick was the GM in New England. He was constantly working on scouting players in college....undrafted free agents were his specialty too. He looked for things that would fit in his system. He also had an idea about the type of attitude a player had that would fit in the NFL. He's talking about making UNC the stop to go for NFL development....he's going to have a scouting operation targeting the portal and all over the country. He's going to build a front office staff and coaching staff that runs like a NFL franchise.

It's like what Pat Riley did for the Miami Heat. Pat had been in LA under Jerry West for years...he saw what their organization did....he also was with the Knicks during their great years too. When he came to the Heat....he started out coaching but built the structure from what he learned from the successful organizations he was in at the time. He installed it and moved into the management role....and passed it on to Spolestra and their whole operation and he turned them into a top brand.

I don't know if it's Stoops that does it....but UNC is showing the blueprint. We need to re-think the operation side. We need to bring in some lower level pro scouts that have worked in NFL front-offices....similar to how we brought in a low level assistant of Sean McVay. We need those guys to install a structure and become MONEYBALL. We need to be scouting players all year and have a data base. We need to have guys that build an operation on how to fundraise and know the funds needed to allocate. Right now...the coaching staff is essentially the front-office....which if you have a big staff budget like Bama/Tennessee/Texas then you don't have to have it. But we have to innovate and be smarter now.

Hire some numbers guys....NFL front office guys....NFL scouts....it's pro football now. We need to build the infrastructure now. The bigger programs will always have talent/money....but you've seen organizations that move first have stayed ahead for decades. It's time to move in this direction.

'Desperate' sheriff's deputy resigns after her porn career is exposed…
and everyone is saying the same thing