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Feels like we're going back to Tubby era recruiting

Mar 3, 2024
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And getting more with less. I'm ok with it as long as we do get more out of less. No more recruiting based on raw athleticism. It's going to be a huge change on the recruiting trail. Kinda makes me nervous and anxious.
 
Tubby didn't have an $8 million dollar salary cap to work with.

This thing could get crazy if Pope has early success, but the NIL will explode even more. That's why I'm hopeful. It's a new day and age. No more depending on Tubby landing a Randolph Morris, Rondo, and Joe Crawford class to validate us nationally.
 
Everyone here keeps saying the NIL is pouring in for Pope so buy out the portal.All those portal guys/recruits care about is money if we are honest.
Because Joe Crawford, Chuck Hayes, Tony Delk, and Antoine Walker chose Kentucky because of their sheer love of the program and not because they wanted as much exposure as possible before making the NBA?

Those dudes would be the exact same as what we're seeing now if they lived in this modern age. Delk almost went pro after his junior year. Mashburn almost left after his sophomore year. They only returned because they knew they could increase their draft standing, and thereby their career earnings.
 
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Everyone here keeps saying the NIL is pouring in for Pope so buy out the portal.All those portal guys/recruits care about is money if we are honest.
You're pathetic, predictable, and ponderous. Now portal players are beneath us? You hate everything, constantly. Or, more likely, you're just a contrary jackass troll. Go away, come back when there's actually something to cry about. Your speculation is boring.
 
You're pathetic, predictable, and ponderous. Now portal players are beneath us? You hate everything, constantly. Or, more likely, you're just a contrary jackass troll. Go away, come back when there's actually something to cry about. Your speculation is boring.
WTF are you babbling about old man.I said portal/high school players these days want the money.How can anyone disagree with that?
 
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And getting more with less. I'm ok with it as long as we do get more out of less. No more recruiting based on raw athleticism. It's going to be a huge change on the recruiting trail. Kinda makes me nervous and anxious.
Can’t be worse then it’s been just getting the top guys and failing. We need to just have faith and pelt Cal with frozen chicken nuggets when he returns.
 
And getting more with less. I'm ok with it as long as we do get more out of less. No more recruiting based on raw athleticism. It's going to be a huge change on the recruiting trail. Kinda makes me nervous and anxious.

Debbie Downer Snl GIF by Saturday Night Live
 
Pope is well aware of the caliber of players on the teams he played and won with here so I don't think talent acquisition will be backburner at all.

He is now in a whole different pool and will have to build those relationships and his brand though so there will be a transitional period before they start trickling in and building up.
 
Well, how did all those 5-star recruits work out when it came tourney time over the past few seasons?

I want to watch a complete team, not a bunch of guys who believe this is just feeder system to the NBA.
This
The shitshow has left the building good edifying post
 
UCONN has proven it doesn't take 5 stars to win it all. Coaching and a balanced roster with experience in the portal era is a direction I am ready for. Done with seeing UK being used as an NBA farm system and have players like Sharpe use Kentucky and never step foot on the court.
 
This couldn't be any more different of a situation for Pope. He's coming from a school where it was hard to find recruits to even listen to him because of the strict stipulations of even attending BYU. There was a small pool he could pull from. Here, he's given a blank check and is told to go get WHOEVER he wants to help form a winning product. Crazy to me how much of a daylight to dark difference it is in his situations. How he will handle it remains to be seen. A true UK fan has to be optimistic.
 
Tubby would probably win multiple nattys if he came up in this era. He wasn’t a good recruiter (we don’t know if Pope is yet - too soon to tell) - but the thing is, you don’t have to be anymore. You just need to sell your style of play and have people cut checks.

Nobody ever questioned Tubby’s X’s and O’s.
 
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Tubby would probably win multiple nattys if he came up in this era. He wasn’t a good recruiter (we don’t know if Pope is yet - too soon to tell) - but the thing is, you don’t have to be anymore. You just need to sell your style of play and have people cut checks.

Nobody ever questioned Tubby’s X’s and O’s.
A ton of people absolutely questioned Tubby's Ball Line Defense and actively hated his offense.
 
A ton of people absolutely questioned Tubby's Ball Line Defense and actively hated his offense.
They shouldn’t have. Tubby was an excellent defensive coach.

The 03 team, in particular, played about the best half-court team defense I’ve ever seen. That team got in a groove during a long stretch of the SEC season where they just refused to allow anyone to find an open look.
 
They shouldn’t have. Tubby was an excellent defensive coach.

The 03 team, in particular, played about the best half-court team defense I’ve ever seen. That team got in a groove during a long stretch of the SEC season where they just refused to allow anyone to find an open look.
You were on the board in 07. I'm sure you remember it.

The irony of it being many saying "look at Calipari's super athletic teams and recruiting! That's modern basketball!"

We have come full circle.
 
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We just had the best recruiter in college basketball history (Not counting Sam Gilbert) and that got us 1 championship 12 years ago.

I didn't enjoy the Tubby era (mostly due to style of play not recruiting) but he never missed a NCAA.
 
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And getting more with less. I'm ok with it as long as we do get more out of less. No more recruiting based on raw athleticism. It's going to be a huge change on the recruiting trail. Kinda makes me nervous and anxious.
Just another negative post from someone with less than 25 posts. The reason to block.
 
I call bullshit. Tubby quit recruiting. That was his whole issue. No reason to think Pope won’t field great teams now that he isn’t hamstrung by BYUs no sex no partying rules.
 
I’d rather have 50 years of Tubby than the last 8 or 9 years of Cal, if I’m being honest. Also though, you don’t know that. This could end up being a genius hire. Or yes, it could be Tubby. I just don’t care. I’m happy the man in charge will care about Kentucky basketball and winning games rather than NBA salaries of his former players.
 
I’d rather have 50 years of Tubby than the last 8 or 9 years of Cal, if I’m being honest. Also though, you don’t know that. This could end up being a genius hire. Or yes, it could be Tubby. I just don’t care. I’m happy the man in charge will care about Kentucky basketball and winning games rather than NBA salaries of his former players.
I mean I kind of care about making Final Four and winning championships.

I'm weird like that.
 
This board loves the extremes of all sides. You know it’s possible to recruit in the middle of what we saw with Tubby vs Cal.
 
Everyone here keeps saying the NIL is pouring in for Pope so buy out the portal.All those portal guys/recruits care about is money if we are honest.

That’s the point and why this was such a good hire. As soon as I heard our NIL is now fixed I was on board.

The money is the most impotent factor
The coach and his likability is next
The schemes are next
The program is just behind that

When you have all of those components, which we now do, I don’t see how anyone isn’t excited to see how this goes.

We now have one of, if not the coolest offensive schemes in the country.
 
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The game has changed. It’s not all about recruiting freshman, but I have no doubt we will continue to pull all Americans. We have a good crop of local talent who will be probably All American level too. At least two are probably locks for McD AA
 
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