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Loose interpretations run rampant.
For The Guys That Leave For Arkansas
- Thread starter Random UK Fan
- Start date
Loose interpretations run rampant.
Admirable and desirable... however, IMO, this way of thinking won't help in today's prep basketball culture, where it will always be the NIL, not the name on the front of the jersey, that will dictate a kid's loyalty. Unfortunately for us (and fortunately for the kids), those days are gone.
And it cuts both ways: kids will (and should) be looking for their best deal... and Pope should always be looking for the best kids in his system (regardless of how loyal to UK they are).
I understand your concern but what he’s selling in the open is no different than what we’ve always done outside of Calipari and what Duke / UNC do today. It’s obvious to all of the players if you want to go you go. Our issue is Calipari totally dropped the ball with our image as a college program and we’re having to rebrand ourselves because of how off the rails it’s gotten. And honestly, if you’re not ready for the NBA, and not ready for college even;, but have one foot out the door? We dont want those anyway. Thats what he’s trying to avoid because they dont help you win and there’s no sense in recruiting them. They can go to Arkansas.
I personally think what he’s doing is smart for proper roster continuity and building. And in today’s college basketball scene the portal is where the best college players are, and many of them are at the end of their time or not looking for the NBA. They’re looking to get paid in college.
It’s going to take a while to get the OAD idea out of our heads. If this was 2014 I’d agree with you but not in ‘24.
Lol! Grew up in Lexington, graduated from UK ‘95, wife the same 2 kids graduate from there 2 weeks, and 2 more headed there, defending our Roger am to a hog fan but yeah . . . It’s Cal!
![[jumpingsmile]](http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/img/emoticons/happy/happy0028.r191677.gif "Jumping Smile [jumpingsmile]")
Merciful heavens.
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huh? Not questioning you are a UK fan at all. Just noticed you seem to be tracking every move of Cal.Lol! Grew up in Lexington, graduated from UK ‘95, wife and 2 kids graduate from there I 2 weeks, and 2 more headed there, but yeah . . . It’s Cal!
Merciful heavens.
On another note, do they know you're on a sports forum in your underware??? I'm guessing now that's not you since you are married with kids. Whatever. No worries. To each their own. I'll avoid.
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It’s still fun playing with it when they do this though.
Here comes Tennessee - Woops
Here comes Arkansas - Woops
Here comes Florida - Woops
Here comes Georgia - we’ll almost all.
@Cold Stout Beer
Ok, gotcha. This was really more about the kids. I think they’re in for some disappointment. These are the kids we bought billboards for, so I do feel some investment in them.
Yeah, you’re right. It isn’t me.
It’s just some gonzo looking dude that I thought looked funny/like a bauce sporting his UK gear with zero shame. Sorry for the snarkiness. You’re a good poster. I like your stuff!
Agreed, which is why I worded it as “a little more than a casual passion”.
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I lived right outside of Fayetteville. Very strange but decent people.
Basketball definitely takes a backseat to football, but not to the extent of schools like Florida or Georgia / Alabama. It’s around Tennessee’s level of interests in basketball. Maybe in the 90’s it was more. Not today.
The thing about Arkansas is there’s literally nothing to do. Arkansas fandom isn’t on level with Kentucky, but they care about their teams because, well, what else are you going to do. Lexington has lots to do, is surrounded by real mountains, has nice cities directly close in the triangle, and Kentucky is still a bigger draw with fans than Arkansas is with theirs.
I cannot describe the boredom in Fayetteville. I lasted 10 months and was out of there. I also grew up directly beside Arkansas, almost a border town in Tennessee. That area is as bad as it gets. So they do care but it’s mainly out of boredom and it’s nothing like Kentucky fandom. Not even close. I’m someone who’s lived in all of these areas, now in Lexington. Their fan base isn’t that big either, most people in Arkansas don’t care about sports. Alabama and Kentucky are on a level on their own, Arkansas is waaaay down from them.
Just not sure how you end up top 3 in the nation in attendance without a large fanbase. The Arkansas Twitter fanbase is as big as any, they won Peyton Hillis of all people a damn Madden cover in a fan vote lol. They’re one of the more active fanbases out there and even other fans comment about it. They’re probably more balanced across all sports than UK basketball or Alabama football though I’ll give you that.
Legit never been to Lexington so hard to compare but what more were you wanting to do exactly? NWA has a world class art museum, the AMP is one of the nicer outdoor music venues in the tri-state area, Dickson Street, Walton Arts Center, endless mountain biking and outdoors activities, things every other city has like Topgolf/Dave & Busters/etc. It doesn’t have the volume of entertainment like big cities obviously but neither do any SEC towns except Nashville.
When your mascot is a pig you don’t have much to be proud of.Arky is going to start their own athletic shoe brand to compete with Nike, Addidas, etc!!! Alot of NIL money for their players.............
Supposedly it was a Brad idea, IDK........
You do realize that Lexington is part of the triangle containing Cincinnati and Louisville right? Louisville is an hour away and Cincinnati is a tad more than that. Fayetteville is next to Morrow, Arkansas lol. Lexington is also positioned and in close proximity to the Appalachia mountains and not a far distance from places like Pigeon Forge, Nashville, Indianapolis, and in decent proximity to more than that. Fayetteville is close to Springfield, Missouri and 2 hours from Tulsa Oklahoma which really is an underwhelming city. IIRC correctly Little Rock is 2 1/2 hours away and it’s a very dangerous and underwhelming city. Most people in Arkansas are trying to get out of Arkansas so I’m not sure what you’re trying to say. Lexington is also a lot better than Fayetteville so I’m not sure what your point is there. You might want to check a map or take a visit and you’ll quickly realize what you obviously don’t right now lol. Lexington is centrally located to a lot of places.
Fayetteville is a nice little town in the middle of nothing and is a very boring town all considered. The people are very nice but I found them to be a tad strange, probably due to an avenue of the area I’m not going to get into. But there is no comparison to Lexington and surrounding areas and Fayetteville Arkansas and surrounding areas.
Knowing Calipari he’s going to hate it, it’s probably why he looked so miserable at his presser. It’s also going to be a lot harder to get Nike and recruits to buy in to coming there and he’s aware of that too. There’s a reason the PR Campaign is having to go all out to show they’ll buy everyone they see. I don’t think any of that works and I don’t believe most of the reports or Arkansas would have already been doing it, but when your coaches are Petrino and Calipari? I think Arkansas has totally decided to sell out to anything to try and win. And part of the reason is nobody wants to come there on their own. Much of the money talk was just used to get Calipari to consider it after he was ran out.
A lot of us have a billionaire alumni they’re spread out throughout the SEC. None of this is going to work so I wouldn’t get too worked up about the PR campaign. It’s just making Arkansas look trashy. And buddy check the damn map, lol.
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I want to add, Calipari is obviously really upset that he was ran out of Kentucky for underperformance. The PR campaign coming out of Arkansas is understandable but people really shouldn’t buy in. Arkansas didn’t just suddenly realize they have some big money boosters because Calipari walked through the door. They’re trying to create a lot of buzz around the hire because everyone in the nation saw Calipari be ousted from Kentucky and it’s hurt his brand. He also doesn’t have a very good place with loads of tradition to recruit to, so this is all to make it appear he actually wants to be there (he doesn’t) and they want to make it appear it was a move based off of things other than being forced out. At the end of the day, he doesn’t want to be there and Arkansas hired a guy that was thrown out of UK.
It’s clear as day because Arkansas would have been using this for football years ago and it’s never helped them much at all. It’s clearly designed to take attention off of the situation and none of it will work, especially long term.
Boosters only matter when they actually do what you want them to. Memphis has Fred Smith and he’s always given to the university, doesn’t help them. It takes more than that even if they do help. This PR campaign won’t bring any significant changes to Arkansas. Calipari is just trying to rehabilitate his brand after getting slammed to the floor.
It’s clear as day because Arkansas would have been using this for football years ago and it’s never helped them much at all. It’s clearly designed to take attention off of the situation and none of it will work, especially long term.
Boosters only matter when they actually do what you want them to. Memphis has Fred Smith and he’s always given to the university, doesn’t help them. It takes more than that even if they do help. This PR campaign won’t bring any significant changes to Arkansas. Calipari is just trying to rehabilitate his brand after getting slammed to the floor.
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Except Cal wasn't ousted from Kentucky (even though he should have been); he quit!
They'll won't care. Will make twice the money. Watch them do some behind closed doors to make even Z wealthy.
Even in the 1990s when Nolan was tearing it up, and Danny Ford was going 4-7–it was about the Pigskin (like if Frank Broyles was still there)
In 30 minutes you will not be able to find out. Clowns like you go to the ignore drawer. Bye bye. 👋🏼
That is factually incorrect on the first sentence about northwest Arkansas specifically. I won’t argue about the delta or LR area but NWA is statistically one of the fastest growing places in the nation for its quality of life and the money flowing through it right now. In 15 years it’s expected to look a lot like Austin, Texas (not saying that’s a good or bad thing lol). Most SEC fans would likely have it and Lexington as a push at worst from polls on places like the SEC Rant. But there are pros and cons to every comparison with mid-sized vs. larger regions.
On your second point, this would make more sense if Muss didn’t just land the #2 class two years ago. Even crappy John Pelphrey had a top 10 recruiting class long before NIL. Sure Arkansas football has been awful lately but the two coaches prior to Chad Morris came from the Big 10 champion Wisconsin Badgers and the Atlanta Falcons. It’s traditionally not been that difficult to get a decent coach (on paper). But hiring is a crapshoot anyway and there are many factors involved.
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