Pete Nakos (On3) has logged predictions for the Vols to land:
• PG Jakobi Gillespie (Maryland)
• CG Isaac McKneely (Virginia)
• PG Jakobi Gillespie (Maryland)
• CG Isaac McKneely (Virginia)
I was hoping for Gillispie (not Clyde)
- Thread starter TNCatfanforever
- Start date
Just don't understand how we are missing on so many people we are contacting ...
What we’re willing to pay vs others. Ties to coaching staffs and home states. And contacting doesn’t mean offering.
Plus, his hometown is in Knoxville's backyard. I don't know how much that means to Gillespie, but I think it would hugely be in UK's favor if he were, for example, from within an hour of Lexington.
Why would they commit if Barnes was going to retire? Barnes already said he would absolutely be back. I watched the interview on this site.
Assuming Barnes sticks or they get a viable replacement, Tennessee is going to have one of the top portal classes(and they’ll need to). They have a very cheap possible returning roster at this point and they’ve shown from Lanier that they’ll spend.
It is not just Tennessee that will spend, it is about half of the SEC teams that can match any other teams NIL if they want a kid. I think the NCAA loves the NIL situation because it will continue to create parity. No one school will have enough NIL advantage to stack studs from the portal. If a couple other schools want a kid we want, and drive the price up, that will take a larger percent of their NIL budget. No one team including any deep pocket NIL budget will have the resources to out bid everyone on every kid. This will create parity.
Because there's thousands of kids in the portal and more entering every day. It would be dumb to blow your wad immediately. How many teams have several portal commitments already? It's a process and the Final Four hasn't even started.....
I I agree with you for the most part. I would consider OSU football an exception. BYU basketball seems to have enough money to spend whatever they want. The chicken man down at Arkansas would probably pay whatever is needed.
Gillespie, Dent, Wooley and Thomas gone. Are there any as good as these in the portal right now? Or do we have to hope one comes available or take one not as good?
Between Jasper Johnson, Acaden Lewis, and Perry, we've got three guys who COULD play point next year. I think the staff is probably focusing a lot more on bigs since we need at least two (preferably three).
I don't think we need a superstar at point. It would be nice, but far from mandatory, imo. I think that's why we can get by with someone like the Georgia guy (Silas?).
I haven't heard his name but has UK shown interest in Quimari Peterson from ETSU? He is the SoCon POY and averaged 19.5 PPG, 4.5 RPG and 3.7 APG while having shooting splits of 47, 42 & 73.
Have not seen anything on Peterson. He is 6-1 like Thomas and one sight had him ranked as the third best point guard currently available. Said his strengths are shooting the three and active hands on defense.
Perry can not play point. He is too slow, can't beat his man off the dribble
If you call a point guard someone that just passes the ball from side to side, then yes he can, otherwise he can not, especially if pressured
this is the kind of point guard that is needed, quick, shifty & can shoot
the exact kind that UK has not been able to stop defensively for years
He wasn't great this year as a freshman, but I'm going to withhold judgement until he gets used to the speed of the college game and more engrained in Pope's system.
He probably fits more as a SG, but he has PG experience. That's all I'm saying.
Guess we are down the pecking order when it comes to home towns like Lanier, Gillespie and Dent, and if not that, then money like Wooley.
Yep but people on here are telling me not to worry plenty of great guys in the portal............. No not really they come in and gone like the wind....... Sure hope Pope has a plan for upgrading our talent because we sure need it to make it past the sweet 16!
I really wish some posters here would get it through their thick skulls that the roster won’t be complete this week.
Last year we didn’t even have a coach right now.
Patience, y’all. There’s more than 30 guys in the portal.
Last year, here are the top 15 portal signings according 247 sports last year:
1. Kadary Richmond (SJU) - 2nd team all Big East
2. Oumar Ballo (IU) - honorable mention all Big 10
3. Johnell Davis (Arkansas) - no honors
4. AJ Storr (Kansas) - 6.1ppg - no honors
5. Norchad Omier (Baylor) - 1st team all Big 12
6. Tucker Devris (WVU) - no honors
7. Great Osobor (Washington) - no honors
8. Kobe Johnson (UCLA) - no honors
9. Javon Small (WVU) - 1st team all Big 12
10. Chaz Lanier (UT) - 2nd team all SEC
11. Jeremy Roach (Baylor) - no honors
12. Deivon Smith - no honors
13. Clifford Omoruyi - no honors
14. Mark Mitchell (Mizzou) - 3rd team all SEC
15. Kanaan Carlyle (IU) - no honors
So, only 2 guys were 1st team all conference. 10 of the 15 didn't even get 3rd team all conference. Here are the all-American teams this year and where transfers were ranked:
Johni Broome - 13th in 2022
Walter Clayton Jr - 69th in 2023
Mark Sears - 20th in 2022
PJ Haggerty - 22nd in 2024
RJ Luis Jr - 52nd in 2023
John Tonje - 296th in 2024
JT Toppin - 25th in 2024
UK's highest ranked portal player last year was Brandon Garrison (20th). Lamont Butler was the 44th ranked player in the portal. Amari Williams was the 84th ranked player in the portal. Koby Brea was the 87th ranked player in the portal.
Let this thing play out...Pope knew what he was doing last year at the last minute. I have faith he will get it right.
247 Sport's Travis Branham just Crystal Balled Jacobi Gillespie to Ugly Orange. He said it had been a done deal for a bit. I call tampering! I could not find either the player or school confirming so we may still have a chance.
With all due respect we are supposed to be improving. Not doing what he did last year after being hired. People have pointed to pope being in his first year but our team isn’t going to get better with the mindset you present. I expect a couple to 10 transfers. He said he needs to bring in a couple superstars via portal. This 84th best player had major deficits. When you get that low you get stat stuffers who show up sometimes. That’s the stuff that gets coaches run out when our teams lack the talent sufficient to be in the top 5. We need some real talent or when this program wakes it will be 3rd best and duke will have caught us in titles.
I agree 100% we should be improving. My point of the post was a response to the poster saying we are missing out on all the top rated guys. Well, last year, the top rated guys were pretty meh. They just didn't pan out. When you look at the all-american teams, it's clear it's about fit, style of play, etc. and not just about a ranking. Pope did a really good job of finding guys, last minute, that fit into his system. I think he will do the same this year, with even a higher caliber player. Add that to a pretty strong recruiting class coming in, some potential strong returners, and the team should make a step forward.
My point about listing UK's transfers from last year was that our highest ranked guy was relatively weak, while guys ranked lower had much better seasons.
Portal rankings have proven to be all over the place, so fans can't panic when a top 5 guy goes somewhere else.
