Are we running it back with the same group minus shorts? If not when will changes be made? I’m baffled by the lack of movement on this front.

Hello HOB. I'll be following along with the CMP Show tonight and sharing all the main talking points here on the HOB for those of you who may not be able to listen along live. Show is underway here at 7 ET. Stay tuned...

* Our ceiling is so much higher than what we showed at Clemson, but really happy with the core competitiveness we displayed.

* The physicality Clemson had really impacted the game, and the way the game is called now (which is way better, by the way) allowed them to use some of that physicality to their advantage. They're long, big-chested, and well-coached in maintaining verticality. Sometimes it leads to you taking fool's gold at the rim and having a tougher shot than you thought you had.

* Asked how you improve at the FT line... Practice, reps, and concentration. Sports psychology is a crucial part of what we do, and we'll lean into that as well.

* On the halfcourt offense stalling with the big men at times... Great question, Pope says. They may have gone to that iso a bit too much, and guys were stagnant when they went to that set, so it wasn't always the big man. We played into the hands of their defensive approach. Our bigs didn't make great decisions, and the other four guys stopped moving on them a lot. That's a fundamental DNA piece of our system, so we have to get it right. Going smaller is another counter you can use in those situations, but I was a little gunshy of that because we got blasted on the glass in the first half. There may not have been a good answer to that last night. Ultimately, we lost, so I was wrong.

* On Koby Brea not being on the floor at the end of the game... He's growing as a defensive player and all-around player, but we had a couple of issues early in the game and started rolling with a different group with Lamont coming in and out. Felt like we needed Otega out there more at times. Had considered maybe using Jaxson Robinson at the point, which he has done before in the past, maybe that could have opened another opportunity for Koby. Second-guessing some of the decisions he had to make in that one.

* Asked what Kerr Kriisa has to learn from last night's game, Pope says he's a vet, he's seen it all. He will learn and grow from it. He's such a key to our pace in the game, such a creator. In somewhat limited minutes, he's our leading assist guy. He was good defensively in certain moments during the game.

* Cats had an extended film session today to refresh why they're doing things a certain way and how to approach it under duress. Guys remain curious and hungry to get better, to keep chasing that high ceiling.

* Caller wants to know if the over/under on the ice cream he bought for fans at Rupp Arena was $2,000.... Oooooooover Pope says with a laugh. "But it was worth it."

* Asked if we're going to see any press like he did when he played in the 90s, Pope said you'll see it in spots, just not a steady diet of it like they did in 1996. Says it's not within his capacity to coach it the way Coach P did.

* Our guys were really torn up last night, Pope said. They know the expectations, and it's brutal to lose. Our guys felt it.

* Asked about how hard it is to get so many new guys together trusting each other... Pope says you have to re-route a lot of habits from the past. You have to learn how to function in a new way when you face adversity, trust what you're doing now, the guys around you now. Sometimes that growth process can be painful. It was last night.

* Pope says he's changed a lot over the last 10 years in terms of how he coaches. He originally copied a lot of the things his old coaches did. Wasn't always working out for him or his players. Started taking a more positivity approach, a laser-focus of what we're trying to do. It has functioned well for our team so far.

* Asked about pressing again, Pope says we're kinda lemmings in the basketball world, and right now not many are interested in pressing. But someone might figure it out again and cause a revolution. But he's skeptical because (A) the skill level has changed tremendously in handling the ball, passing, shooting; and (B) officials won't allow what the did back in the 90s. Also noted that a lot of teams would just pull up for 3 now instead of playing into your plan of making them take it to the rim if they beat the pressure.

* Gonzaga is another big challenge for us. We're looking forward to another opportunity to get out there and compete.

Are you renewing?
I can't bring myself to do it. Not in this train wreck. I gave up my season tickets the first time because of Joker. I can't keep them because of Stoops & Co.

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://legal.uky.edu/sites/default/files/2022-11/stoops-mark-20221118170505634.pdf

Hopefully no unpleasant surprises today.

This tweet just came up on my X feed:

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This young man decommitted from Wisconsin over the weekend.

KENTUCKY HC MARK POPE Q&A:

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* On his relationship with Mark Few... Got to know him pretty well. He's been a great friend. One of the best people in the biz. A special person. When he had his first job at Utah Valley, they had a buy game at Gonzaga, went up there to play and were in the game for a while but it got away from us like you would expect at the end. Trying to collect myself in the locker room after the game. Nobody left in the building, but Coach Few waited to talk to me. That's just who he is. What he's done there is unfathomable. Incredible product every single year.

* Gonzaga knows exactly who they are. You can almost take the names off the jerseys from year to year and know exactly how they're going to play schematically.

* Thinks there are similarities in Clemson and Gonzaga, especially the post play, but Gonzaga tries to play faster.

* On going back to city where he played before coming to UK to play for Rick Pitino... Don't get to go back to Seattle much. Parents don't live there anymore, but still has some siblings in the area. Excited to go back to the city.

* On Lamont Butler's status... Ankle still bothering him a bit. We'll have to hope it improves these next couple of days. Jokes that his trainer's job depends on it. (Laughs)

* Zags have three really explosive guards, and Nemhard has a 10:1 a/to ratio, which is ridiculous.

* Gonzaga is "a Final Four-type team."

* Both coaches really familiar with each other's style of play. A lot of familiarity. So far, Coach Few has come out on top.

* Really liked the defensive scout and execution against Clemson. Some of it came at a cost of other aspects of the game, but did some nice things on that end at times. A couple of lapses in the second half we'd like to have back, lost our principles. Two clusters in the game that hurt us, a 10-0 run and a 10-2 run. Shot selection hurt us on the first, then a couple of defensive breakdowns hurt us on the other.

* Accepted a "poor grade" for himself on some of the offensive play-calling vs. Clemson. Need to make huge strides there.

* Team will be out in Seattle a little bit longer than you usually would be, but he kinda likes the aspect of the team being together and bonding even more on this trip.

* Asked if he was surprised by the SEC winning the Challenge 14-2, Pope said, "No. Except ours." Just speaks to how incredible the league is this year. "We will be refined in the fire."

* Asked what happens if Lamont Butler can't go... A lot of confidence in Travis Perry. Terrific, heady player. Immensely capable. He's be a viable option, for sure.

* Discounts some of the physicality talk that's been out there since the Clemson game. All of these guys have been in more physical games before. It's more about execution, meeting our standard.

* Actually have more confidence in my team than I had before the Clemson game. I know the BBN might kill me on that, but I really feel that way. Liked what I saw in the 2nd half, especially on the glass. Really impressed by how our guys took that as a massive point of emphasis at halftime and went out and remedied it. We didn't play well offensively at all, but in spite of that, we handled some other things well and stayed together. Nobody down or feeling sorry for themselves. Just looking to get better.

* On Father Bradley's passing (priest who sat on bench with Cats during Pitino Era)... A selfless guy. Never has been around a person who made things less about himself than Father Bradley. He was here to serve and love and care for people. An incredible gift for me and to everyone who was ever around him. Special human being. He'll be missed.

*****

GONZAGA'S NOLAN HICKMAN & MICHAEL AJAYI:

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This guy seems to insinuate Kentucky is jon sumrall's dream job

HEY MITCH THANKS

Another one off the Titanic…

Posted on Instagram

Impossible.

Who truly believe Stoops can flip the roster with the transfer portal and NIL?

I think it would require getting rid of and bringing in 35-40 new players. Maybe more.

Culture, you have to get rid of the bad culture, it's hard to change it out of a player.

Tune in today and support the Lady Cats two ranked teams going at it today at 5PM on ESPN 2.

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At least we have another Wan’Dale coming
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I, like my boy Stoops aint going anywhere!
I’ll be here to comfort and correct as I see necessary.

Another one gone, hopefully, Stoops is right behind him.

What happened?

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Figured it's a good time to try and shed some light on various happenings. It's crazy right now.

- Coaching Carousel
- Transfer Portal
- National Signing Day

And at Kentucky, it's all happening amidst intense negativity from a fan base that was disappointed by 2022, disillusioned by 2023, and flat-out angry after this year. There's nothing Stoops can say at this point that's going to win people back over. That's why I've been saying it's not about winning the press conference or even really public relations at this point. It's about winning. And winning isn't going to be easy.

PORTAL NEWS TO DATE

** UK obviously didn't want Dane Key to go into the portal. He emerged as their WR1 this year even if it might have been Barion Brown coming into the season. Key earned that designation. He's probably going to end up at a big brand school and it's not surprising he would. Some have mentioned to me that this always seemed to appeal to him on some level. But the case Kentucky would make to Key is that he's better off being the WR1 at Kentucky as part of even an average (or mediocre!) offense than going somewhere else and being a WR2 or WR3 and end up like Jeff Badet. Of course nobody knows if it will play out that way but that was their approach. I've heard Georgia mentioned as his girlfriend is supposedly there. Have heard LSU might have appeal, as well as others.

** Key going into the portal is a shot to the WR room's size. They don't have a lot of size at receiver. Think about the guys they lost over the past year or two to the portal. Then take Key out. It's a pretty small room and frankly the WR class they just signed is also pretty small. I've heard that Kentucky has a couple of receivers from the portal in mind they will probably be in good shape with and one is in the 6'4 to 6'5 range but there really is not a lot of size right now.

** Someone also mentioned to me that Tennessee is a school that could be very much in the running for Key.

** Have heard, haven't verified by have heard, that Key might not have been thrilled about UK bringing Ja'Mori Maclin in last year with both he and Barion Brown around. Of course the move makes sense to us as you don't rest on your laurels with two receivers, but that could be worth keeping in mind. I have not written Maclin off as someone who is definitely going into the portal. My view is he would have had a much better year if the overall operation was better. With Key gone, maybe that makes the situation more attractive.

** UK didn't want Keeshawn Silver to go into the portal but it seems to be one of those deals where he will probably get more money somewhere else. Similar to the Justin Rogers situation. He ended up at Auburn because he would make more there. UK didn't want him to leave but they also didn't think he was good enough to command what it would take to keep him. Same deal with Silver. They liked him but didn't love him, I guess you could say.

** What those two departures do is make it harder in the overall portal effort. Two starters are gone. Both would have started next year. Now you have to fill the spots everyone knew you did but you have to find an SEC NT and an SEC WR1. Can you? Who knows. Probably more important to get the SEC NT given UK's defense. My opinion is they should focus on developing Gilmore, Farrier, etc., because how many portal receivers have we talked about in recent years and what have those guys actually done?

** Khamari Anderson has talent but you wanted to see more physicality out of him. That was the big thing. He's good enough to play at UK or in a power conference and they didn't want to lose him but it's not something they're going to lose sleep over. Another factor is Willie Rodriguez is likely to play a lot more next year. Still, Anderson is someone that Kentucky probably would have been happy to keep around.

** Could Jordan Dingle hit the portal? I've heard different things about that, would not be surprised if he does.

** Believe Anthony Brown-Stephens is likely to hit the portal as well. He logged a decent number of snaps but didn't have the touches or opportunities he'd probably like to see.

** As for Jamarion Wilcox, I have heard some speculation that he could hit the portal and that there would be some demand but spoke with a couple of folks today who believe there's a good chance he returns.

** Other than ABS and maybe one or two others (TBD), I'm hearing the rest of the guys who go into the portal from this point forward are doing so "mutually" or that's to say guys that UK is okay with stepping away. Going to have some offensive linemen go, I would certainly imagine.

RECRUITING/SIGNING DAY

** Initially UK seemed to believe they were in good shape to keep Rivals250 WR DJ Miller. But with him not announcing today, I can tell you that folks are at the very least watching the situation closely and there is some concern. One person I spoke with now believes a flip is likely but I don't have a lot of detail here.

** UK was never worried about losing Martels Carter Jr, or at least I never heard concern expressed.

** The sense I've gotten from folks is that they believe the front seven talent on defense is the best part of the class and maybe by a good margin.

** Folks are surprised Marquise Davis flipped to Missouri considering they also brought in Brendon Haygood and UK didn't have a running back. It also seemed to be a great situation for a talented running back given the depth chart. That's probably concerning, as was the decommitment of Tucker Kattus. Frankly, UK wasn't really upset that Kattus flipped but it's a bad look with Josh and Justin on the team.

** Couple of folks I've spoken with believe that Jayden Clark may be the most underrated player in the class. They really like how he came back after that injury.

** UK needs a ton on the offensive line in the portal via recruiting. Not just guys, but starters. The Ivy League is one place they're going to need to look. Guys don't get five years at the Ivy League level so you have a lot of guys get that prestigious degree and then pick up the additional season if they redshirted before. Then they are still going to have to look hard at the Group of Five route because anybody with pedigree coming from a brand program is going to command a lot of NIL and will be looking at the biggest brands as well.

BIG PICTURE

** Stoops is projecting confidence but it's impossible to deny all the bad that's been swirling. Stoops was public about wanting two years from Daikiel Shorts but he didn't get it. The turnover in that room continues. Other assistants have to be looking at opportunities and wondering if they're going to be around for another year while they do the work of putting this roster together.

** Haven't heard what the plan is at quarterback. I'd guess they bring someone else in at least to compete and have heard of a possible name (no hints, still), but the lack of a decision on quarterback kind of speaks to the general uncertainty and makes you wonder about the big picture plan.

Alabama seems to be pulling away a little now. I have always liked UNC plays their upbeat temple regardless the opponent (from the games I have watched).

I don't get it, you could tell he was ready to break out, he was just hitting his stride the last couple of games. The decision to not start him for the UL game might cause him to go elsewhere, in which he'll become a first round draft pick, it's surreal to see this unfold.

I hope not.

Carlin

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Has he announced that he was entering the portal??

There is an article out there that says BB and Maclin have both entered the transfer portal.
I know about Maclin but must have missed the BB announcement, even though it has been obvious for the past several games.

… the SEC crushes the ACC and a lot of the games were beatdowns by the SEC … unfortunately, the Cats didn’t hold up their end of the deal … and Duke won … aarrgghh … both ACC wins at home

… the SEC is going to be ridiculously difficult … if a team finishes 0.500 in league play you are a good tournament team … so be prepared to deal with losses this year, just can’t string losses together …

… as for Duke, the schedule is very favorable for them in the ACC … I don’t see them losing more than 1-2 games in league play … whether we like it or not, they will likely be a 1-seed whether they earn it or not …

It's always good to try and compare offers/interest from other P5 programs as measure of commits perceived value.
Pulled offers and visits from the class and listed below. Reinforces the quality of the top half of the class.
Outside of losing Kattus and the huge hole left by the Daviess flip i'm pretty happy with what we're bringing in considering the year.
These are all per their rivals page and in the descending order of their Rivals grade.

Martel Carter S - 24 other P4 offers, Auburn, Vandy Nebraska never relented
Quinton Simmons WE - 13 other P4 offers per rivals profile
Andres Purcell DB - 9 other P4 offers (officialed miami, georgia, Un-official auburn late )
Cedrick Works DE - 12 other P4 offers, (officialled penn st, cinci, florida)
Javeon Campbell DE - 18 other P4 offers (officialled georgia, bama, auburn, ohio st)
Kalen Edwards DT - 8 other P4 offers (officialled auburn, louisville
Mikkel Skinner TE - held off SC, 4 other P4 offers
DJ Miller WR - held off ole miss 20 other P4 offers (officialed UCLA, Tenn, Ole Miss) oregon, usc, ark offers down stretch
Darren Strey OT - 20 other P4 offers (Stanford, Wisc, Northwestern offcials)
Preston Bowman WR - 3 other P4 offers including ohio st after committing to UK
Dyllon Williams DB - 6 other P4 offers, (officials to miss st, cinci, mizzou commited
Montavin Quisenberry WR - 5 other P4s, flipped from WVU
Cam Miller WR - 16 other P4s, flipped from Wisconsin
Stone Saunders QB - 19 other P4s Un-officials to Nebraska, mich, ND
Nick Smith DE - 4 other P4s
Demarcus Gardner DB - 2 other P4s, ole miss offered late
Bryan Auguste OL - 8 other P4s, official to BS and Syracuse
Jayden Clark OL - 5 other P4s, offical to Cinci, indiana
Brenned Ward QB - 3 other P4s
Jermiel Atkins OL - 4 other P4s, VT official
Grant Grayton DB - 1 other P4, flipped from Minnesota

that Dane Key could come back now? Since Stoops prepared us for it in his "don't panic remarks" I assume not. But players have entered transfer portal and then changed their minds. In reality, if Dane does not come back - what does it say about your program when a local kid who was your best receiver and a legacy as well decides to leave? Of course we also lost the one year "whiz" receivers coach too. I'm probably one of the few - as I still hope the football program will change direction with new leadership once the portal fully opens. If UK has a mass exodus - of the main nucleus of the team - isn't that enough for the administration to see we need a full house cleaning? It is still not too late to change directions!

I am, like many others who post on here, a season ticket holder who is waiting to see what everything looks like early next year - but if changes aren't made I will not be renewing. I know many who post here are not season ticket holders - but it is important that people who are supporting the program financially stand up and be counted. I can hardly believe that major donors will go along with what we have seen happen to the program over the last 3 years. This has not been a one year meltdown - it has snowballed with major talent evaluation failures as well as several questionable coaching hires. If it was just my opinion - then it wouldn't matter - but all of what I am saying is not conjecture - it is facts! Anyone with their eyes open can see it and look at the rosters and results.

This is not what I want to be posting or saying - I have followed UK football for almost 60 years now. I have had season tickets and sat thru ZERO win seasons and many seasons of less than 4 wins. Is it the worst we have ever been - NO! But it is definitely headed for an ultimate low - when that happens - in this new world - it may take another 30 years to get it back to where it was only 4 seasons ago.

Go Big Blue!