Think before you pounce on Harris. Top rated recruits go to the top 1-10 schools in most all sports. I wanted him but can't say I blame him. I think we took Cousins and Bledsloe out of Alambama.
How would you react if the number one basketball player went to Ole Miss?
- Thread starter TNCatfanforever
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Please and double please no more damn BB analogies. We get it, please go back to Rafters.
A certain point in time for UK FB fans, we need some good things to happen, we need to get a 5 start recruit. We need to get a Ben Simmons ala LSU, the 5 star best player in class. UK FB fan care unlike 11 other SEC schools for BB.
Please we all understand that Bama is great and we understand but STFU on the BB.
IMO
A certain point in time for UK FB fans, we need some good things to happen, we need to get a 5 start recruit. We need to get a Ben Simmons ala LSU, the 5 star best player in class. UK FB fan care unlike 11 other SEC schools for BB.
Please we all understand that Bama is great and we understand but STFU on the BB.
IMO
This is not relevant at all. Ole Miss and Bama will never be good at basketball. Will never turn in consensus top 25 recruiting classes. And basketball you only have to stay one year.
To be fair, our rivals probably say the same about us considering we haven't had a winning conference record since the 70s. Kids are all about what's big right then. Recruits have grown up with Alabama being awesome since 2008/2009 so no surprise they flock there.
I understand what you're saying but Harris was at the UK campus with regularity. It seemed as though he was UK bound and then all of a sudden the Iron Bowl changed his mind. If the kid doesn't want to be at UK then I'm glad he's going somewhere else. But, I firmly believe he has the same opportunity to go pro at UK just as he will at Alabama. Just ask Cobb, Trevanthan, Williamson, Woodyard, Smith, Peters, Johnson and so on. After meeting both Saban and Stoops I can confidently say that I would rather my son be coached by Stoops than Saban. I will also say this, many top notch players that leave the state are never heard from again and if they are heard of its in small doses such as Dawson, Davis ( which does start for Illinois but has never had a break out season) and there are several lineman that left the state that many people have virtually forgot about. Harris could have been a game changer for his home state under Stoops. How is that a 4 star Rb named Boom Williams could see what UK is building but a homegrown Cat fan can't? Weird situation if u ask me.
Bama has had success in basketball over the years so what you said is false. They could easily be good again one day, it all depends on what coach you have in place. Most thought Anthony Grant was a really good choice...well clearly not thus far.
On the topic, there is a big apples and oranges issue here OP. No one the caliber of Harris is coming to UK basketball if we are 2-3 deep at his position. Alabama is 2-3 deep at his position as far as talented backs that could arguable match him, and potentially exceed him in talent coming in as a true frosh.
The reason UK basketball is able to get all these studs year in and year out is they are all almost guaranteed a starting spot or huge minutes. I hate the one and done era, and hope it goes to 2 and done soon, but that is the way it is. In football, you are allowed to stockpile talent for 3-4 years, which is great and makes it so much easier to win big like Saban at Alabama, but I truly do not understand why Harris would rather go maybe get a few reps a game at Bama when he could have been the man at UK. Maybe Harris is ok with not being "the man" until he is a Soph or Junior, so to each his own.
I will also say that stud b-ball players do stay in state for their home town schools a ton, and 5 star SG recruit Lacey stayed at Bama over UK a few years back to name one. So let's not act like in b-ball and football (although apples to oranges for various reasons) that this cannot happen.
I would act the same as I am about Harris going to Bama, I AM EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED!!! I wish the kid well, but that doesn't mean I can't be unhappy that he isn't going to be a Wildcat.
I am a University of Kentucky fan, so no matter what the sport, I WANT THE BEST PLAYERS!!! So, it's OK if I am upset that Harris chose the Tide.
I am a University of Kentucky fan, so no matter what the sport, I WANT THE BEST PLAYERS!!! So, it's OK if I am upset that Harris chose the Tide.
I love UK football but truth is truth and some of you just will not accept reality. We are who we are. A basketball school of the highest degree and I am thankful for that. We had as much success with Rich Brooks as the program has ever known and we really didn't know how to appreciate it. If Stoops can constantly get us to a bowl game with our tradition he will be doing one heck of a job. We are UK in basketball and will never be Alabama, Notre Dame, USC, Florida, LSU, Texas, Oklahoma, OSU, Michigan to name a few in football. Don't berate a kid for wanting to win a national championship. For those telling me not to post here....ha ha...I have been on here since before Al Gore invented the internet....Now lets go find some players who want to come to UK and help us get to a bowl game. Go Big Blue
I don't like this analogy at all. First off, basketball has just 5 guys. So, even if you steal the best in the state there are still a lot of guys that might be D-1 talent in your state that can play and help you compete at a high level. The year we got Bledsoe and Cousins the state of Alabama had 4 guys in the Rivals top 150, one being Christian Watford. Alabama wasn't able to pull in any of these guys, but that state has a pretty good amount of basketball talent that they can pull from. In 2011 Alabama was able to pull 3 top 50 guys out of the state of Alabama alone, one of them being 5 star Trevor Lacey. On the other hand, football requires a whole lot of players to be successful and the state of Kentucky has an extremely small D-1 talent pool. So, the more guys we lose to other states the more likely we are to be unsuccessful because it is that much harder to go steal someone from another state. To put it another way... the state of Kentucky, in football, has just 1 player in the Rivals top 250. That player is Damien Harris. By contrast, the state of Alabama has 9 guys in the Rivals top 250. So, when Alabama comes into our state and picks up our only top 250 recruit available, it is much more painful than our basketball team going into Alabama and grabbing their talent. The effect of taking something from the poor is much greater than it is from stealing something from the rich.
of course you are......basketball-only mindset and worldview
want to know why your analogy, or the ones about Demarcus Cousins turning down bama basketball for uk basketball are so foolish? because there is a site like this full of people who actually give a damn about UK football. which represents the larger fanbase who give a damn.
whereas there isn't one for bama basketball, or auburn basketball, or georgia basketball, or LSU basketball. hell fire florida fan doesnt even give 2 craps about basketball despite winning & final 4's.
Basketball analogies are fine at times but there is not one true UK football fan that isn't pissed right now. The moment we begin to think we are second fiddle we have lost the battle. I understand why a 5 star goes to Alabama but I don't have to like it. I think the thing that pisses most people off is that he led his home school down the path and then stuck up his middle finger. That is his decision but don't crave the spotlight and the attention and then hate it when it turns against you.
I wish Harris all the best and if he actually ever makes it to first or second string playing behind other 5 star players then I hope we play him and decleat him.
I wish Harris all the best and if he actually ever makes it to first or second string playing behind other 5 star players then I hope we play him and decleat him.
This X 1,000!!!
I am hopeful that Coach Stoops and his staff will be able to transform this submissiveness on the part of a group of our fan base. It irks me to no end that some are so ready to lecture me on what my expectations for the school I love should be!!!
Accept mediocrity if you want to OP, but don't tell me how I should do the same!!!
You can't compare basketball and football. It works much differently in the recruiting world because of the one and done rule. In football, teams like Alabama can stockpile 5 stars at every position and keep them for 3-5 years. In basketball, even UK rarely gets a 5 star unless there's an immediate opening at his position (this year's team is the exception not the rule). That's why Bragg just went to Kansas.
Bledsoe or Cousins were never going to go to Bama to play bb. Cousins originally committed to UAB but decommitted later on and was heavily leaning towards Memphis St. Bledsoe was on our radar from the get go under Billy G and was going to come here but Cal come along and reaffirmed To Bledsoe that he was needed. Bledsoe was not a highly ranked player like many thought he was. He pretty much blew up late in his Senior year and one service put him much higher than the others on their last update.
Couple years later we got in a recruiting battle with Bama for a recruit who was actually really considering them and we lost that battle. That kid played 2 years and transferred out and went to NC State. His name was Trevor Lacey who was a 5 star shooting guard.
Bama has gotten a bunch of good recruits over the years they just underperform and stink it up on the court.
And don't be silly and say that the state of Alabama doesn't produce talented basketball players because they do. Look at the class that Lacey was in and. Bama signed like 4 4 stars in addition to Lacey who was a 5 star. Anthony grant just sucks that's all.
Bama has the potential to be a huge national power if they had a good coach. They are located next to Atlanta and they have tons of good players every year as well.
It's not like Bama produces 1-2 good players and the rest are mediocre like Kentu my does in football or basketball. Alabama is stacked with talent.
If you look at Bama's football class this year you notice that they are getting players from all over and only a handful from the state of Alabama. That's leaving the state open to other programs to wiggle in like Miss St, Ole. Miss and for Auburn to get better athletes. We are trying to get in down their if nobody has noticed.
I think that Saban knew for a long time that Harris was coming and wanted him to wait so he could get those other backs to go ahead and enroll and keep us from going after others. Remember the biggest enemy you have is schools in your conference and they will do anything to keep you from landing good recruits. They don't bed any more competition than they already have. We already beat them out last year for Elam while they beat us out for a wide reciever. Hopefully we can flip somebody they have and show em the middle finger.
Couple years later we got in a recruiting battle with Bama for a recruit who was actually really considering them and we lost that battle. That kid played 2 years and transferred out and went to NC State. His name was Trevor Lacey who was a 5 star shooting guard.
Bama has gotten a bunch of good recruits over the years they just underperform and stink it up on the court.
And don't be silly and say that the state of Alabama doesn't produce talented basketball players because they do. Look at the class that Lacey was in and. Bama signed like 4 4 stars in addition to Lacey who was a 5 star. Anthony grant just sucks that's all.
Bama has the potential to be a huge national power if they had a good coach. They are located next to Atlanta and they have tons of good players every year as well.
It's not like Bama produces 1-2 good players and the rest are mediocre like Kentu my does in football or basketball. Alabama is stacked with talent.
If you look at Bama's football class this year you notice that they are getting players from all over and only a handful from the state of Alabama. That's leaving the state open to other programs to wiggle in like Miss St, Ole. Miss and for Auburn to get better athletes. We are trying to get in down their if nobody has noticed.
I think that Saban knew for a long time that Harris was coming and wanted him to wait so he could get those other backs to go ahead and enroll and keep us from going after others. Remember the biggest enemy you have is schools in your conference and they will do anything to keep you from landing good recruits. They don't bed any more competition than they already have. We already beat them out last year for Elam while they beat us out for a wide reciever. Hopefully we can flip somebody they have and show em the middle finger.
Yeah, it's tough on the fan base. I think many could just dislike it but be ok with it. But he's also been asking KY fans to get invested and care with his twitter behavior, then when the base cares... even after being shown all the tell tales to Bama...and he pulls the rug... and it's been planned to be this way for a while... you can't expect people to all of a sudden not care that he has been begging them to invest in recent days. The irony is that all of the local analysts picking UK up until the last few days even reasoned that pick by talking about the kind of kid he is and the relationships he built and what he has told people and how he interacted with them and that he is the type of kid that gets the situation UK is in and isn't the type of kid that would be messing around with them and acting the way he was acting if UK wasn't going to be there in the end...and with all of that, he knows and understands UK's circumstances...wouldn't toy with that, etc.."too close with Stoops to yank him around" etc... Come to find out he's been messing around with UK even longer than his recent weeks' asking of UK fans to stick with this whole decision thing even after everything started pointing to bama.
Now, I'm not going to hate the kid or anything like that, but he's out of the family once his signing is done...you know. He'll be forgotten...just like Lamar Dawson was....hope he's ok and healthy or whatever but nobody really thinks about him anymore other than a once a year name mention and a "what's he up to" from someone. But anyone expecting people to just say the behavior is acceptable because he's 18 won't get it from me. I won't go over the ledge with it, but it's not acceptable. No different than Lebron's decision. People would've been upset regardless but you handle things wrong you deal with the backlash. I mean that's life 101...we've all dealt with it and still deal with it when we do something. Yes I make mistakes and I get called on them and I would say that applies to most of us or all of us. His begging of UK fans (which is the majority of his twitter following and he knows this) to stay engaged with his decision in recent days so they would watch that mess was a mistake. Making the reference last night to "Heroes come and go..." (Neil Brown's line) was a mistake. There's nothing wrong with saying that it is on here. Hopefully he learns from it. And hopefully we don't have too many that carry it to the point that "hope he drives off a cliff", etc... life is bad with the good and if you beg for the attention you have to deal with the train wrecks you help create too.
Here is an anology...
What if a 5 star Kentucky HS basketball player (who was ranked #1 at their position) actually picked Duke over UK, after visiting UK multiple times and hanging out with UK players, etc?
This post was edited on 1/10 12:31 AM by TJS4UK
What if a 5 star Kentucky HS basketball player (who was ranked #1 at their position) actually picked Duke over UK, after visiting UK multiple times and hanging out with UK players, etc?
This post was edited on 1/10 12:31 AM by TJS4UK
