Just watching his body language I don’t think he wants to be here anymore or maybe finished with coaching in general. He’s talked about the struggles with NIL, tried to bolt to school with better resources, and not making smart in-game decisions. No matter how this season goes it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see him negotiate a buyout and retire.

Just wanted to give a shoutout to this guy for his outstanding performance. The talent has always been there but it’s nice to see the hard work show up in the stat sheet. Hopefully things have clicked with DK and Vandagriff and we see some more big games by them.

Enough is enough. Talent fee.

Difficult to watch tuition continue to rise and teachers salaries stagnate but these “student” athletes - many who can’t put 2 sentences together- get more and more public money to play a lesser style of pro ball.

Just my opinion. I split a pair of UK season bball txs and I guess it’s a matter of time.

Curious when fans finally say no.

MARK STOOPS OFFICIAL POSTGAME Q&A:

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* Thought we have kept working to improve, and it took getting a lot better between last week and this week once again to beat a great team on the road with a HC that I have a lot of respect for.

* That was a tough, dirty, hard-fought game.

* Proud of how we responded on critical downs.

* O-Line protected better, and that allowed us to get the ball downfield better.

* It's just one game, but it's important for the work that's gone in for a long time. Feel good for our fan base. They needed one like this. We've been close a lot.

* Felt like Ole Miss would be over-aggressive on that 4th down and that Barion would have a shot to make a big play one-on-one.

* Told them at halftime that we have to continue to get those nasty, dirty runs, 2-3 yards can be big to keep things moving. Thought Bush Hamdan did a heckuva job executing the gameplan and calling a good game.

* Very hard to do what we did today against Lane Kiffin and that system and his players. The investment the players have to put into this week to play like that is really hard.

* Was Georgia in the back of his mind when he went for it on 4th down? He says it was on his mind before the game. Kinda felt like they might have to do one (or two) in this game to keep pace. Had to "steal" a possession or two. Instructed Hamdan to have some critical 4th down plays ready.

* Barion Brown knows his personal foul was unacceptable, but proud of him for how he responded. A year ago, he may not have bounced back like that.

* Deone Walker was very disruptive from the start. It seemed like they were holding the heck out of him.

* On not throwing in the towel after Ole Miss converted the big 4th down... Proud of them. Kept playing hard.

* On what was going through his head on the throw to Barion... Just saw him open. I was praying. (laughs) And then told Brad White later on that he thought they were due for something good to happen after that.

*****

MARK STOOPS UK RADIO NETWORK Q&A:

* Went with his gut on the 4th down call late in this game compared to how he felt vs. UGA. Thought they'd get a one-on-one look for BVG and Barion Brown, and they did. It was a 50/50 ball, and Barion made the play.

* This style was a harder matchup than Georgia, just style-wise, so the game-planning had to be at another level. They worked all week on 3rd and 4th-down situations where they may have to go for it. Stoops thought he had to "steal a possession or two."

* We have clearly responded to getting punched (against SC). We played hard as hell in that game. We just played stupid, and SC earned the win. But we've responded the right way to that loss.

* Team is clearly showing growth, moving in right direction. Proud of them.

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Ownership has started dismantling the '21 team, and I'm OK with the Barnhart/Miley moves but sure would be nice if they could get something for them. They need to do whatever it takes to keep Nick C but looks like he's gone too. Saw on mlb.com list of 17 top FAs available and prediction where they'll sign...not a one with the Reds. 2022 not looking promising.

-45th meeting
- Cats are 14-1-29 all-time against the Rebels
- Odd stat here is that this will only be the 12th time Kentucky will play Ole Miss in Oxford, in which the Cats are 2-9.
- The only two wins at Vaught-Hemmingway were in 1949 and 1978.
- Both these programs were regular opponents from 1944-1971 but most of the "road" games were played in Memphis or Jackson. (Not sure as to why, perhaps someone could elaborate).

I know UNC is not the '86 Bears but how does an FCS James Madison already have 53 points and it's not halftime?

I haven't started to dig into this all the way so it's just putting it there for later additions for the most part.

However, 4-star Florida DB Jaydin Broadnax tells me he will be making the trip.

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From the article:

Tennessee has announced a price hike for football tickets starting in 2025 with most of the increase going specifically to help pay players.

The increase announced Tuesday morning in an email to season-ticket holders notes a new 10% talent fee for all invoices to “help fund the proposed revenue share” for athletes and help Tennessee attract and keep the best talent. A video link features athletic director Danny White explaining the reason for the price hike per seat across Neyland Stadium.

“As the collegiate model changes, we have to remain flexible,” White said of the price hike, which includes a 4.5% increase on top of the 10% talent fee. “We have to continue leading the way. That connection between resources and competitiveness has never been tighter. Only now we have the ability to share these resources with our athletes. We can generate revenue that will go directly to our players. This will give our teams the best chance to be successful and bring championships home to Rocky Top.”

I see that Mark Pope has stated that he wants to shoot 35 threes a game and lead the country in made threes. This will be a drastic change in offensive philosophy over the past thirty-five (35) years and it will be interesting and fun to see how the approach works out. For example: It appears he's talking about shooting more than twice as many threes as Cal's teams shot during his fifteen (15) years here and almost twelve (12) more than Pitino's teams did. That's a lot of threes !!
For review, reference, discussion and just plain FUN, here are some statistics I compiled since the Pitino era.
What jumps out at me, sadly so, is just how bad we were on defense last year, with such great offense. It totally killed us ... !!
Also, I noted that Pitino's best teams shot less threes that they'd been shooting earlier in his coaching career here ... !!

Dead men walkin.

Looking for 8-12 participants. I haven't done a draft in quite a long time and will be a fun way to kick off Pope first season.

This will be a Kentucky Wildcats only draft and the only exclusion will be Anthony Davis. Once the draft is over we will put all teams up for a vote in a H2H format and in March Madness style it's 1 game elimination. Draft will be 10 rounds.



Sign ups.

1. @DraftCat
2. @Cowtown Cat
3. @drcats2013
4. @Son_Of_Saul
5. @JHannibalSmith
6. @chroix
7. @RunninRichie
8. @LukaszObrzut
9. @jrpross
10. @BigBlueFanGA

First of all, apologies. I didn’t know where else to get this info. UK fans are always knowledgeable about this kind of stuff

According to this article - Sweet 16 dates are later than usual this year, due to NCAA tourney games being held at Rupp. My family usually likes to attend the 9th region final and the last day of the Sweet 16. It’s a long standing tradition that we enjoy. I can’t find the 9th region tournament dates for 2025. Any help??

(I’m working out west next year but have flexibility to be home some. One reason, I wanted to lock that in. Also, my understanding is the boys regionals MIGHT start, then break during girls Sweet 16, then finish up after).

This kid is like a Jojo Kemp/Boom hybrid, and a tough as nails football player. The way he can keep balance while quickly changing directions is what really reminds me of Boom. There's a certain fluidity there, and combined with his strength and the quickness rmto make guys missed in limited space makes him a stud.

The coaches have been very public in calling him out for his immaturity and lack of learning the playbook, practicing the right way, being on time, etc. Considering he looks more talented than our current starter, and with Chips injury likely being much more serious than they tried to tell us, you have to think he's licking his chops.

With his tough style, I have no doubt he can be a solid blocker once he learns it. I like this kid a LOT. Between he and Patterson, don't think we need to go portaling this offseason, if Stoops doesn't leave.

I'm a fan of DSK in similar ways to Jojo Kemp his senior year. But with this offense being so anemic, this guys gotta be our #1 RB.