Pope really has his hands full now. No way recruits are watching this mess and eager to play here. Better get the NIL money up or this is gonna be a long 3 years. And yes, I say 3 years because he won’t last longer than that unless something changes drastically. Never won in the tournament or anything substantial and no track record putting players in the NBA. Major issues in Lexington.
Bad time for recruits to be watching…
- Thread starter rodgersl
- Start date
Needs to hit the recruiting trail hard.
wonder if recruits were watching last week when we beat Tennessee?
I hope they do. Tonight and Saturday’s loss isn’t a good look.
I don't know. If I was a recruit and I was watching this game, I would be thinking that I could certainly crack this lineup.
Recruits don't care just as long as the check cashes. Just look at Caleb Wilson.
I dunno.. If I was a top recruit I'd be saying damn they could use me..
Which top recruits exactly are saying damn, they need me?! Who we got outside of those already signed? We’ve got only one McDonald’s All-America for next year. I’ll gladly raise my hand if I’m wrong but I think we have some big issues on our hands.
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This is silly. If anything it shows he can hang in the SEC despite huge injuries and a remaining team that's more if a Mid Major.
Everything so far this season should be a HUGE green light for recruits.
Everything so far this season should be a HUGE green light for recruits.
You think next years roster is looking drastically better?
You don't?
We have 3 recruits who are higher rated than anyone on this team, even Butler. We are gonna get several of these guys back, pope will have a 2nd year with some of them. And we haven't even hit the portal yet.. where we will draw a LOT of attention.
Look what he did with his first year in the portal. 12 or so brand new guys, going to play for an unproven coach. He's gonna get his guys. Silly to think he won't.
You still think recruits care about that stuff in the year 2025+ ???
The best high school player committed to BYU. These kids care about PAY CHECKS (i don't blame them, cuz that's what I'd care about too).
The best high school player committed to BYU. These kids care about PAY CHECKS (i don't blame them, cuz that's what I'd care about too).
The roster was good, injuries aren't. We have no point guard and Carr is playing on "an injection".
Not sure what teams win anything of consequence without a PG. The only difference in the Arkansas and Ole Miss game is that they made shots and Tennessee didn't.
Cannot see this team doing much unless they get at least one PG back. That said, to place blame on Pope for this mess is shortsighted. This was a borderline FF caliber team until it all unraveled; but they truly needed all of the guys as we have no superstar to carry the team. 2-3 guys out is a death sentence for this roster.
I have to agree with lineski. Before the season started everyone said Pope got a pass this season due to the drastic roster parity he stepped in to. Why has that changed? I feel like it only changed when we had big time surprise success over highly ranked teams. Now that we’ve had that success, Pope is to blame for us struggling? We are missing two point guards due to injury. Come on folks, you can’t give him a pass and then talk about how he is in over his head. This is ridiculous.
No, I don’t as of yet. He has a team of upperclassmen this year that play defense like a middle school girls team. We are extremely soft in all aspects. Better figure that out quick and get that NIL figured out fast.
Does the originator of this thread realize that prior to this game the likelihood of us signing another hs player was like 10%. Maybe now it is 9%. Wheeww, this is gonna keep me up at night.
Eh, we were pushing for a 2 or 3 seed when healthy. Granted our defense was never great this year, it was enough that our offense could certainly carry us in March.
He does have to be harder on the team, but I also can't really expect hard coaching on a short handed team. Whats he gonna do, threaten to bench Chandler so we can play.. who? He's at the end of his rope with this roster. It is what it is.
Fully agree.
And we all knew the one guy this team could not afford to lose was Butler, and we lost him with the backup already on the shelf. I am not trying to make excuses, but if you were to take an entire position group off any top 25 team's roster, they'd struggle.
I don’t disagree on the injuries but every team has potential to deal with that. No one gave Cal a free pass for the injuries we dealt with then and Pope unfortunately won’t get that either. I hope Pope can have a great amount of success in the portal with the right NIL funding because there isn’t much on this years team with the ability to return that I think will be a huge help next season. It’s part of the risk of taking an unproven coach, can’t land big time players solely based on his name and track record. I don’t think he is sitting on 10 years to get this right, need to have some tournament success within the first few years or probably won’t last long here.
Probably thinking "damn, don't have to do anything and I can still get mine".
I said “recruit”. Didn't know that limited you to high school players. I thought there was something called a transfer portal that actually could contain some high level players that you might be able to recruit to play for your University. 🤔
Meh …that’s an outdated way of thinking. If we’re losing recruits in this era it’s most likely because we’re outbid in the NIL wars, it ain’t gonna be because some HS kid watched some loss to Ole Miss.
People, not just recruits are watching the roster Pope was able to put together with a significant NIL budget. No one outside our fans care if he didn’t have much time to build it. He took the job and built his roster and has to live with the results. We have NIL money and we will buy some decent players and there will always be the players (recruits) that come here for the NIL only. I’m pretty sure we’ve lived that story for a long time and wanted a change. Can he land the big time recruits though even with a big NIL budget? That’s going to be the difference here I believe to make noise deep in the tournament. I love Pope and hope this turns around but the hype that was built up with some big wins is getting buried by all these bad losses. Injuries or not, it’s about the results and that’s just how it goes…
Name me a top 10 team right now that is missing PG1, PG2 and has another starter playing in a back brace….oh there isn’t one. You’re just full of crap 😂
I dont think you realize just how much the media has praised the job Pope has done in year 1. He was in talks for COY before injuries. You seem to be coming from the angle that Pope has failed as of now, and im just telling you, there isn't an unbiased person who believes that.
Not really sure what you expected from a first year coach who had almost no time to build a roster.
Also, if it turns out that we don't have a NIL budget, then none of this matters. Kentucky basketball is finished as any sort of threat in March if we cant/refuse to pay the players. I want to make it very clear here that there is a portion of our success that lies directly on what UK is able to procure for NIL. If we cant pay players, then our talent will suffer. It's that simple.
You are all acting that the whole country cares or watching Kentucky basketball. It’s only us and few that really hate us.
A big time recruit will look at
1) is this school a good fit for me
2) do I get my nil money
3) do I get exposure
4) would the coaching staff develop a relationship with me,
5) does the coaching staff has a track record to get players better and help them to get to the next level
6) education
7) playing time
Etc.
For every player the order and weigh of this decision factors are different.
A big time recruit will look at
1) is this school a good fit for me
2) do I get my nil money
3) do I get exposure
4) would the coaching staff develop a relationship with me,
5) does the coaching staff has a track record to get players better and help them to get to the next level
6) education
7) playing time
Etc.
For every player the order and weigh of this decision factors are different.
Any recruit that is interested in UK looks at the team and says, thats a fun style, and how much better UK will be with inserting said recruit in there in place of Robinson or Brea etc. Pope has enough big wins in his belt to say to recruits, we are too unlucky with injuries or we'd be a lot better win/loss wise and its something basketball players will understand, normal keyboard warriors on this board and twitter dont understand how much missing 2 pg's and a bum back Carr not able to defend half as well as he was before the injury and how much that takes out of a team and alters everything from practices to games.
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I don’t think he has failed this year as of yet. He was the hottest coach in college basketball before the injuries and recent losses. I also fully agree on the importance of NIL and I participate heavily in it here. My concern is even with that whether he can get the talent to compete consistently at the level Kentucky fans expect. Also, his approach is very soft and that concerns me a lot. We will find out within the next two years what he is made of. Good dude and I’m rooting for success no doubt about it.
Agree with you here. Don’t see the infusion of talent we’ve been promised.
None of the top recruits are seriously considering us at this point. He’s absolutely dependent on the portal at this point. Jasper Johnson is the only recruit we have that we play meeting for minutes next year, imo.
Pope better hit a Grand Slam in the portal next year, along with a few key players returning or we're going to be in trouble.
