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Caleb Wilson on live with Finkelstein at 1 ET today: "update on his recruitment 👀"

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I'm so over this s***... If he commits, great, if not we'll get a good player in the portal. So glad the program isn't being held hostage by the whims of 18 year olds again.
Chill out. The program isn’t being held hostage by an 18 year old, but your emotional stability is. It’s not that deep. Let the kid decide when he wants to.
 
Whoever we get will be somebody that will help us win and wants to be here, I trust pope, so far most of what he has done has worked out great for the program. I don't pay much attention to it until I see someone has committed or is going to. When I was younger, I was all over the recruiting news, but things have changed and it's a whole different process now and not nearly as important as it used to be. Reading about it when it happens is better than stressing about whether it will happen or not.
 
I know right, like the next season doesn’t start for awhile so whenever he decides means little to me. Most of our class is set so whenever he decides we either have everyone or need one more portal guy which will be a long ways away too.

Imagine not just enjoying the hell out of this season and feeling like the program is being held hostage after what we just all went through for the last decade. WTH?!?!
 
here is the trick

don't follow recruiting on a regular basis.

Check in once in a while for an update and go on with your life.

I'd like to have this kid, but this time next year if we don't have him, no one is going to say "if we only had Caleb ....."

it never works that way - we get excited for who we have and don't think about who we don't
 
I know right, like the next season doesn’t start for awhile so whenever he decides means little to me. Most of our class is set so whenever he decides we either have everyone or need one more portal guy which will be a long ways away too.
Yeah really, I’d rather have him because we have recruited him so long, and it would be nice for a feather in CMP’s hat. If we don’t, there will be very little difference is a mid range portal guy with experience.
 
Dont like the way he talked about being the man @UNC

The whole "come be the man" sales pitch has never made any sense to me.

You're basically telling the player, "Yeah, we can't seem to be able to land anyone else at your talent level, so if you come here you'll definitely be the best player"

That, to me, wouldn't excite me. Why is NOBODY ELSE on my talent-level willing to go there? So I am going to play with a bunch of scrubs and get double-teamed and have the fans blame me for every loss? Where is the appeal?

OR, go play with some other studs at Kentucky, have less pressure, win a bunch and still put up numbers, and have other great players open up more opportunities for you to succeed.

I know which one I'd pick.

That argument has just NEVER made any sense to me, and that's what happens when you see the results of guys like Ben Simmons at LSU, Cade Cunningham at Oklahoma State, Michael Porter Jr. at Mizzou, Darius Garland at Vanderbilt, now Ace Bailey at Rutgers, etc., the list goes ON and ON - a bunch of good players who won't even sniff the NCAA Tournament because they wanted to be "THE MAN".
 
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The whole "come be the man" sales pitch has never made any sense to me.

You're basically telling the player, "Yeah, we can't seem to be able to land anyone else at your talent level, so if you come here you'll definitely be the best player"

That, to me, wouldn't excite me. Why is NOBODY ELSE on my talent-level willing to go there? So I am going to play with a bunch of scrubs and get double-teamed and have the fans blame me for every loss? Where is the appeal?

OR, go play with some other studs at Kentucky, have less pressure, win a bunch and still put up numbers, and have other great players open up more opportunities for you to succeed.

I know which one I'd pick.

That argument has just NEVER made any sense to me, and that's what happens when you see the results of guys like Ben Simmons at LSU, Cade Cunningham at Oklahoma State, Michael Porter Jr. at Mizzou, Darius Garland at Vanderbilt, now Ace Bailey at Rutgers, etc., the list goes ON and ON - a bunch of good players who won't even sniff the NCAA Tournament.
But these guys mostly are all high nba draft picks. Many guys do not care about winning in NCAA and just want to go to NBA asap.

If wilson is this kind of guy, he will go to UNC, otherwise it will be us. We are all guessing because we are not sure what type of guy he is. He will go to nba in one year no matter which school he will choose
 
The whole "come be the man" sales pitch has never made any sense to me.

You're basically telling the player, "Yeah, we can't seem to be able to land anyone else at your talent level, so if you come here you'll definitely be the best player"

That, to me, wouldn't excite me. Why is NOBODY ELSE on my talent-level willing to go there? So I am going to play with a bunch of scrubs and get double-teamed and have the fans blame me for every loss? Where is the appeal?

OR, go play with some other studs at Kentucky, have less pressure, win a bunch and still put up numbers, and have other great players open up more opportunities for you to succeed.

I know which one I'd pick.

That argument has just NEVER made any sense to me, and that's what happens when you see the results of guys like Ben Simmons at LSU, Cade Cunningham at Oklahoma State, Michael Porter Jr. at Mizzou, Darius Garland at Vanderbilt, now Ace Bailey at Rutgers, etc., the list goes ON and ON - a bunch of good players who won't even sniff the NCAA Tournament because they wanted to be "THE MAN".
I’m sure any other recruits or guys planning on coming back next year love hearing that too , lol .
 
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I imagine he will be the man wherever he goes. He mentioned a guard on each team at the other two schools he talked about without naming one on Kentucky's team. It could mean something, then again it might not mean a thing.
From everything I’ve read he doesn’t have the offensive skill set to be “the man” next year. Defense and versatility are his strengths. He is hitting 26% of his threes this year after hitting 31% last season. He has talked about how he would love to play with Lewis and Johnson in other interviews so I wouldn’t read too much into the guard thing.
 
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That argument has just NEVER made any sense to me, and that's what happens when you see the results of guys like Ben Simmons at LSU, Cade Cunningham at Oklahoma State, Michael Porter Jr. at Mizzou, Darius Garland at Vanderbilt, now Ace Bailey at Rutgers, etc., the list goes ON and ON - a bunch of good players who won't even sniff the NCAA Tournament because they wanted to be "THE MAN".
This last Paragraph is how you counter that.

You point out Simmons, Cunningham, Porter Jr, Ace Bailey, Trae Young. You acknowledge they got to be the man and stated for a single season on an NIT or bubble team. Then you leave it with “You’re going pro regardless of where you attend school for 1-2 seasons. It just comes down to the type of person you are. Do you care more about personal stats and less about team outcome or are you a competitor who wants to be in a position to win championships while being a top contributor. Does it matter to you if your single season of CBB is ultimately forgotten like all non F4 teams are…or do you want a chance to leave a legacy and have a banner forever immortalized at a place you call your college home for the rest of your life.
 
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Don’t count out Ohio State . They and Texas are the two best heeled athletic programs and if it comes down to money only ( it shouldn’t preparation for next level should dictate) the Ohio State probably will offer more.
 
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I know money may be a strong issue. But, if he is not a team player he would be the wrong fit for Kentucky and Pope. So, it seems simple. If he chooses UNC he would not have been the right person for us. If he chooses Kentucky then he is making the correct decision for our program.
 
This last Paragraph is how you counter that.

You point out Simmons, Cunningham, Porter Jr, Ace Bailey, Trae Young. You acknowledge they got to be the man and stated for a single season on an NIT or bubble team. Then you leave it with “You’re going pro regardless of where you attend school for 1-2 seasons. It just comes down to the type of person you are. Do you care more about personal stats and less about team outcome or are you a competitor who wants to be in a position to win championships while being a top contributor. Does it matter to you if your single season of CBB is ultimately forgotten like all non F4 teams are…or do you want a chance to leave a legacy and have a banner forever immortalized at a place you call your college home for the rest of your life.

It's a great point.

The "Brand" and "reputation" of one and done's like Carmelo Anthony, Anthony Davis, Zion, John Wall, now Cooper Flag, Greg Oden, etc. is SO MUCH BETTER and SO MUCH HIGHER because they were just key pieces on amazing teams.

Even a guy like Devin Booker, who didn't put up crazy stats in college, is so much more fondly thought of in his college days because he was apart of 38-0. Compared to Ben Simmons at LSU who most common basketball fans probably don't even remember where he went to college.
 
I know money may be a strong issue. But, if he is not a team player he would be the wrong fit for Kentucky and Pope. So, it seems simple. If he chooses UNC he would not have been the right person for us. If he chooses Kentucky then he is making the correct decision for our program.
Either way Pope will be making the decision on whether the kid comes here. Mark is all about chemistry and if he senses something off anytime between now and the commitment, he'll call it off.
 
His full comments on each school below. Seems to give a glowing remark about UNC

Ohio State: “Coach (Jake) Diebler, he’s a great coach. I really enjoyed my visit there, it was definitely extremely fun and exciting. They have a great guard in Bruce Thornton and I feel like that’s going to be very important with the guard I play with next year. That’s why I like Ohio State.”

Kentucky: “Mark Pope, he’s a great guy on and off the court, and he coaches with energy. They’re having a great year this year, I can’t even lie. They’re playing very good. Their system is very beneficial to long fours like me, the way that they play. It’s a blue blood, so it’s definitely one of the best fan bases and basketball cultures in the country.”

North Carolina: “Coach (Hubert) Davis is a great guy on and off the court. North Carolina is a prestigious university with basketball or without. They have great team and I feel like I could go on that team and step up and become the man at North Carolina. I definitely feel like it’ll be a great opportunity with Elliot Cadeau possibly returning, that would be a great guard to play with.”
 
This last Paragraph is how you counter that.

You point out Simmons, Cunningham, Porter Jr, Ace Bailey, Trae Young. You acknowledge they got to be the man and stated for a single season on an NIT or bubble team. Then you leave it with “You’re going pro regardless of where you attend school for 1-2 seasons. It just comes down to the type of person you are. Do you care more about personal stats and less about team outcome or are you a competitor who wants to be in a position to win championships while being a top contributor. Does it matter to you if your single season of CBB is ultimately forgotten like all non F4 teams are…or do you want a chance to leave a legacy and have a banner forever immortalized at a place you call your college home for the rest of your life.
Nine out of ten players who are legitimate OAD don't give a rats behind about their legacy in college. Very early in the OAD era they probably did(Wall, Davis, MKG and a few others) The OAD player of today is different than when this whole thing began. The wild card in all of this is NIL some schools can pay more than others. Allegiance and legacy are more tied to the dollar than the school
 
His full comments on each school below. Seems to give a glowing remark about UNC

Ohio State: “Coach (Jake) Diebler, he’s a great coach. I really enjoyed my visit there, it was definitely extremely fun and exciting. They have a great guard in Bruce Thornton and I feel like that’s going to be very important with the guard I play with next year. That’s why I like Ohio State.”

Kentucky: “Mark Pope, he’s a great guy on and off the court, and he coaches with energy. They’re having a great year this year, I can’t even lie. They’re playing very good. Their system is very beneficial to long fours like me, the way that they play. It’s a blue blood, so it’s definitely one of the best fan bases and basketball cultures in the country.”

North Carolina: “Coach (Hubert) Davis is a great guy on and off the court. North Carolina is a prestigious university with basketball or without. They have great team and I feel like I could go on that team and step up and become the man at North Carolina. I definitely feel like it’ll be a great opportunity with Elliot Cadeau possibly returning, that would be a great guard to play with.”
The remarks about UK are every bit as "glowing" as the ones about UNC.
 
The whole "come be the man" sales pitch has never made any sense to me.

You're basically telling the player, "Yeah, we can't seem to be able to land anyone else at your talent level, so if you come here you'll definitely be the best player"

That, to me, wouldn't excite me. Why is NOBODY ELSE on my talent-level willing to go there? So I am going to play with a bunch of scrubs and get double-teamed and have the fans blame me for every loss? Where is the appeal?

OR, go play with some other studs at Kentucky, have less pressure, win a bunch and still put up numbers, and have other great players open up more opportunities for you to succeed.

I know which one I'd pick.

That argument has just NEVER made any sense to me, and that's what happens when you see the results of guys like Ben Simmons at LSU, Cade Cunningham at Oklahoma State, Michael Porter Jr. at Mizzou, Darius Garland at Vanderbilt, now Ace Bailey at Rutgers, etc., the list goes ON and ON - a bunch of good players who won't even sniff the NCAA Tournament because they wanted to be "THE MAN".
Exactly! Like cool, I get to be doubled teamed all game. Yay!
 
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