Experience (roster building)

[BlueSince92]

I dare say this year was the first year Coach Pope or any of his assistants had anything like the recruiting budget and draw power they have here. They surely made some gambles and some best-guess plays.

So much of that paid off, obviously and thankfully. But now they have the benefit of looking back and seeing exactly what came out of every guess they made and every risk they took. How do you think that will affect how they play things going forward?

Will they try to do exactly the same thing, just do it better as a result of being able to sell Kentucky for a year instead of only six weeks, and jumping into the portal race on Day One instead of getting in late?

Or do you think they’ll shake it up a bit? Spend that NIL money on a smaller number of higher-dollar players? Or even go the other way and spend it on a higher number of potentially start-worthy but still lower-dollar players, shielding us from the injury bug somewhat?

Will we build much more with an eye towards defense? Number two offense is great but number 70–90 defense hasn’t always paired with it great. Will we shoot for closer to top ten and top forty from the get go?

What do you think? Any other major decisions you see our staff needing to make as they round out the roster for next year? Has Pope or any assistant let anything slip on radio or podcast or X that might tell us what they’re thinking in terms of overall roster strategy? I’ve been real busy as work the past couple of months so I haven’t kept up with all the possible avenues for knowing this stuff like I like to. Love to hear your thoughts.

 

[K_TIME]

The main guy I think they decided to not pay for was Great Osobor at PF...and it turned out they were probably right...his numbers are decent but took a good dip going to Washington from Utah St.

As far as next year goes, this is how I see it panning out.

1. Need a portal PF huge IMO....hopefully we aren't assuming Ament from HS can handle it. And we need a more physical one at that to help on glass and defense
2. I'd argue portal PG like Butler is 2nd biggest need
3. Last need is a depth piece off bench that can play SG/SF from portal.

I don't know what that costs $$$ wise but to have a contender...i think 2 starters and a bench piece are minimum what they need along with keeping Oweh, Garrison, Noah....Perry and Chandler should be happy with just Schollys IMO.

 

[know1]

I don't think they were flying blind at all when they put together this team. They just were limited by time and availability. You're minimizing the work they put in and essentially saying they were lucky.

I look for them to take much the same approach with some slight tweaks. The advantage will be much more time and likely availability of players.

And we have plenty of time to worry about all that. We're in the middle of a pretty fun and good season.

 

[BlueSince92]

The main guy I think they decided to not pay for was Great Osobor at PF...and it turned out they were probably right...his numbers are decent but took a good dip going to Washington from Utah St.

As far as next year goes, this is how I see it panning out.

1. Need a portal PF huge IMO....hopefully we aren't assuming Ament from HS can handle it. And we need a more physical one at that to help on glass and defense
2. I'd argue portal PG like Butler is 2nd biggest need
3. Last need is a depth piece off bench that can play SG/SF from portal.

I don't know what that costs $$$ wise but to have a contender...i think 2 starters and a bench piece are minimum what they need along with keeping Oweh, Garrison, Noah....Perry and Chandler should be happy with just Schollys IMO.

I agree on all counts. With the addition that I would think at least smalltime NIL money will probably generally be available for pretty much anyone. I noticed there year Noah was doing radio spots long before he was even getting much in the way of mop-up minutes. Didn’t our ball boys even get their own commercial at one point?

 

[aceman509]

Pope and the staff are very detail and analytically oriented which is how we were able to build a top 20 team from scratch in only a few weeks.

We already have good insight into how they are going to operate moving forward considering we have 3 freshman signed for next year and were/are pursuing potentially a 4th.

The hope is to retain most or all of the 5 players we can retain for next year (Oweh, Garrison, Noah, Perry, Chandler). There is a chance Kerr gets a redshirt and is allowed another year of eligibility, but even if he does I think he is the most likely to hit the portal.

Conservatively that means we have 6 or 7 roster spots filled for next year, the other 5 or 6 will be transfer portal players, constructed the same way Pope did this season.

 

[BlueSince92]

I don't think they were flying blind at all when they put together this team. They just were limited by time and availability. You're minimizing the work they put in and essentially saying they were lucky.

Come on you’re clearly just being argumentative. They were flying blind in terms of familiarity with the specific differences between recruiting with the draw power and budgets they’d worked with before compared to what they have here, and now they’re not flying blind in those terms anymore. I spelled that out. You’re either generally cranky or just reading too fast.

 

[BlueSince92]

I look for them to take much the same approach with some slight tweaks. The advantage will be much more time and likely availability of players.

This part I appreciate.

 

[crestcat]

I don't think they were flying blind at all when they put together this team. They just were limited by time and availability. You're minimizing the work they put in and essentially saying they were lucky.

I look for them to take much the same approach with some slight tweaks. The advantage will be much more time and likely availability of players.

And we have plenty of time to worry about all that. We're in the middle of a pretty fun and good season.

This plus they’ve had a good look at the conference they are recruiting for.

 

[chroix]

Come on you’re clearly just being argumentative. They were flying blind in terms of familiarity with the specific differences between recruiting with the draw power and budgets they’d worked with before compared to what they have here, and now they’re not flying blind in those terms anymore. I spelled that out. You’re either generally cranky or just reading too fast.

I agree with his take. There’s a negative spin to your post that I disagree with as well. Flying blind ignores the fact that he brought Jaxson with him and had just played against Oweh the previous season (not blind). He’d already recruited Chandler. Harrison was a big time recruit in the area so he was probably well familiar with him as well. Throw in connections his assistants had and I think it reinforces why flying blind does not feel like an accurate description.

 

[megablue]

I agree with his take. There’s a negative spin to your post that I disagree with as well. Flying blind ignores the fact that he brought Jaxson with him and had just played against Oweh the previous season (not blind). He’d already recruited Chandler. Harrison was a big time recruit in the area so he was probably well familiar with him as well. Throw in connections his assistants had and I think it reinforces why flying blind does not feel like an accurate description.

Garrison played against BYU last year, too, as he had his highest-scoring game against the Cougars.

 

[BlueSince92]

I agree with his take. There’s a negative spin to your post that I disagree with as well. Flying blind ignores the fact that he brought Jaxson with him and had just played against Oweh the previous season (not blind). He’d already recruited Chandler. Harrison was a big time recruit in the area so he was probably well familiar with him as well. Throw in connections his assistants had and I think it reinforces why flying blind does not feel like an accurate description.

Fine. I’ll change it. It’s actually accurate in the carefully delimited way I spelled it out, and you guys are literally taking credit away from the coaching staff in trying to pretend like they weren’t facing an extra challenge in the form of a specific subset of unknown variables that you’re brushing off with the benefit of hindsight but which they actually navigated astoundingly well with a considerable relative paucity of data points in the short time they had to strategize last year. But I forgot about the LCD when I wrote this thread. Rather not have everybody have to keep focusing on what a few people can’t understand.

 

[chroix]

Fine. I’ll change it. It’s actually accurate in the carefully delimited way I spelled it out, and you guys are literally taking credit away from the coaching staff in trying to pretend like they weren’t facing an extra challenge in the form of a specific subset of unknown variables that you’re brushing off with the benefit of hindsight but which they actually navigated astoundingly well with a considerable relative paucity of data points in the short time they had to strategize last year. But I forgot about the LCD when I wrote this thread. Rather not have everybody have to keep focusing on what a few people can’t understand.

I mean I spell out why they weren't flying blind bro. It's not like it was a personal attack. We just both pointed out how we thought you had mis-stated something. Dick response from you here though. Weak sauce in my book.

 

[BlueSince92]

I mean I spell out why they weren't flying blind bro. It's not like it was a personal attack. We just both pointed out how we thought you had mis-stated something. Dick response from you here though. Weak sauce in my book.

Weak sauce is misdirection like suggesting Pope having played against Oweh at BYU makes it any easier for him to know how to leverage Kentucky’s extra NIL money and extra name recognition to build a title-contending roster, which is the only and the very specific sense in which I said they were “largely” flying blind last year in a way they’re not this year. If you want me in a good mood take a cue from Kipling and don’t twist my words to words to make a trap for fools.

 

[chroix]

Weak sauce is misdirection like suggesting Pope having played against Oweh at BYU makes it any easier for him to know how to leverage Kentucky’s extra NIL money and extra name recognition to build a title-contending roster, which is the only and the very specific sense in which I said they were “largely” flying blind last year in a way they’re not this year. If you want me in a good mood take a cue from Kipling and don’t twist my words to words to make a trap for fools.

Weak sauce is editing out what you originally wrote and then trying to act high and mighty about it. Kipling LOL.

But ok, he probaby had considered how NIL would impact the game and has accounted for it. Especially since BYU is now the leading NIL program dropping a reported $7 million on Dybantsa so he might have had some thoughts about NIL and how it was changing the game. Just maybe. Then add in the fact that he played here and won a championship so it's not like he is unfamiliar. On top of that he clearly is tapped in to BBN and understands the mission in a way that would make you think that maybe just maybe he had thought about it a little bit.

 

[BlueSince92]

Weak sauce is editing out what you originally wrote and then trying to act high and mighty about it. Kipling LOL.

But ok, he probaby had considered how NIL would impact the game and has accounted for it. Especially since BYU is now the leading NIL program dropping a reported $7 million on Dybantsa so he might have had some thoughts about NIL and how it was changing the game. Just maybe. Then add in the fact that he played here and won a championship so it's not like he is unfamiliar. On top of that he clearly is tapped in to BBN and understands the mission in a way that would make you think that maybe just maybe he had thought about it a little bit.

I edited it out because you two knuckleheads couldn’t understand it and were making so many moronic complaints about it. Just like I said I was going to do. Numbnuts.

 

[chroix]

I edited it out because you two knuckleheads couldn’t understand it and were making so many moronic complaints about it. Just like I said I was going to do. Numbnuts.

That’s a whole lot of cope. You got out over your skis, got called out, now you’re doubling down after editing your BS? GTFO bro. You’re drowning here.

 

[BlueSince92]

That’s a whole lot of cope. You got out over your skis, got called out, now you’re doubling down after editing your BS? GTFO bro. You’re drowning here.

👌🏻

 

[chroix]

👌🏻

Now we don’t have to argue about it. He addresses some of it in the opening here.

 

[catfan220]

I dare say this year was the first year Coach Pope or any of his assistants had anything like the recruiting budget and draw power they have here. They surely made some gambles and some best-guess plays.

So much of that paid off, obviously and thankfully. But now they have the benefit of looking back and seeing exactly what came out of every guess they made and every risk they took. How do you think that will affect how they play things going forward?

Will they try to do exactly the same thing, just do it better as a result of being able to sell Kentucky for a year instead of only six weeks, and jumping into the portal race on Day One instead of getting in late?

Or do you think they’ll shake it up a bit? Spend that NIL money on a smaller number of higher-dollar players? Or even go the other way and spend it on a higher number of potentially start-worthy but still lower-dollar players, shielding us from the injury bug somewhat?

Will we build much more with an eye towards defense? Number two offense is great but number 70–90 defense hasn’t always paired with it great. Will we shoot for closer to top ten and top forty from the get go?

What do you think? Any other major decisions you see our staff needing to make as they round out the roster for next year? Has Pope or any assistant let anything slip on radio or podcast or X that might tell us what they’re thinking in terms of overall roster strategy? I’ve been real busy as work the past couple of months so I haven’t kept up with all the possible avenues for knowing this stuff like I like to. Love to hear your thoughts.

I've said this in half a dozen threads but I think the key in the transfer portal era is to find transfers with multiple years of eligibility. If each year you stock the roster with a bunch of 4th/5th year seniors it's just one-and-done in another form.

Get sophomores and juniors from mid majors (e.g. Antonio Reeves), or from other power conference teams (e.g. Otega Oweh). Most of the best players in the sport right now are upperclassmen who transferred. You get continuity, you get players that have proven they can play at this level, and you get age and experience. And of course go after the best of the best freshmen when you can, and one or two freshmen that know they'll be deep on the bench.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

They did a wonderful job in the time and choices they had.

And they targeted defense. Williams was supposedly a great defender.

Who knew it wouldn’t transfer at all?

Oweh and Butler too.

They hold their own but they haven’t had to play SEC athletes night in and out before.

But minus the injuries it would be far better.

 

[BlueSince92]

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Now we don’t have to argue about it. He addresses some of it in the opening here.

I love how at the end of that he said fifteen minutes into being an assistant coach under Mark Fox he knew he had made the right decision. Even though at that point he was making spit and he had left Columbia medical school which would have set him for life anywhere in the world if he’d stayed just the last little bit to finish there. What an awesome combination of destiny and balls.