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No wonder J Quantance left

Fans one week ago: You can't win with freshman anymore. JQ is only 16. We're NIT bound this year.

Fans today: Oh no how are we ever going to recruit freshman? What are we going to do without JQ? We're NIT bound this year!
Come on! You are smarter then this!
The fans have been saying you can't win with these freshman by themselves. We need to continue signing these guys, but someone like Edwards, Wagner ECT need to return. Then you use the portal to fill in around them.

The fans never said they don't want the best of the best. In fact we have to have the best of the best to win consistently, but you also can't play guys who aren't ready for it then send them to the draft afterwards!
 
You can win with one or two freshman studs. UConn proved that. Idiot Cal was trying to do it with 6-8 freshmen every year.

The point is, how is Pope gonna recruit these kids when they don’t even know who he is?
I was freaking out last night, but today I'm feeling better. UK brand and revamped NIL should pull some weight.
 
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I think we need to realize Mitch wasn’t hiring anyone with baggage and a repeat champion coach isn’t leaving. There is also a changing of the guard in college hoops. Cal, K, Roy all started somewhere. Duke and UNC went with unproven assistants and they still did better tha an established Cal.
 
Some of you will defend the hire no matter what. And that’s ok. I hope Pope kills it. But he should’ve been about 15th on the list. Not 3rd. Donovan, Pearl, Oats, Golden, Pitino, Beard, Smart, otzelberger, Lloyd, Painter, Sampson, McDermott, Underwood, Buzz.
disagree. depends on your criteria. A lot of “name” brand coaches of course kinda like the one we got rid of.
 
Some of you will defend the hire no matter what. And that’s ok. I hope Pope kills it. But he should’ve been about 15th on the list. Not 3rd. Donovan, Pearl, Oats, Golden, Pitino, Beard, Smart, otzelberger, Lloyd, Painter, Sampson, McDermott, Underwood, Buzz.
A lot of this names are just as delusional as Hurley or Jay Wright. Donovan got contacted and was lukewarm so Mitch moved on. Oats put out a very public statement and his AD was not wiling to negotiate down the buyout. Pearl's a stopgap at best and wants to make his son the next head coach at Auburn, he wasn't leaving. Painter played at Purdue and isn't leaving. Sampson is old as hell and not starting over somewhere else. Beard is a scumbag who should never get a call. Shaka couldn't deal with the pressure at Texas, he's not coming to UK where it's tenfold.

Of the coaches you had a chance with Pope really has no worse of a resume. You'd be looking at maybe Golden, Otzelberger, Lloyd, Underwood and Buzz? Maybe? None of those guys have really accomplished anything of note either. Some quick turnarounds for some of them, but making a coaching decisions based on one or two good years isn't any better than what we did with Pope.

Don't forget where Pope was coaching. At BYU you can't even bring caffeine on campus. The type of player he could actually get was extremely limited. I'd rather have a UK guy who has the passion for the program he does than take a chance on another young coach with a slightly better resume.
 
Pope has as many NCAA Tournament wins as Golden.
Let's always bump this, as a reminder of how great Seccats04 is.
 
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Shaedon Sharpe sure did help us a lot. The amount of development Cal did with him is why players want to play for Cal.... LOL.
 
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No, what makes him qualified is hes been a HC for 9 years at a Div1 program.
That still doesn’t make him qualified. What on his resume says he’s UK material other than being being a former player?

Look, I love the guy and hope he kills it here. I drove past Rupp trying to get in yesterday but was too late so I drove back home just in time to see the beginning on tv. I teared up almost immediately because I really wanna see him succeed.

This is just a huge gamble but hopefully it pays off.
 
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A lot of this names are just as delusional as Hurley or Jay Wright. Donovan got contacted and was lukewarm so Mitch moved on. Oats put out a very public statement and his AD was not wiling to negotiate down the buyout. Pearl's a stopgap at best and wants to make his son the next head coach at Auburn, he wasn't leaving. Painter played at Purdue and isn't leaving. Sampson is old as hell and not starting over somewhere else. Beard is a scumbag who should never get a call. Shaka couldn't deal with the pressure at Texas, he's not coming to UK where it's tenfold.

Of the coaches you had a chance with Pope really has no worse of a resume. You'd be looking at maybe Golden, Otzelberger, Lloyd, Underwood and Buzz? Maybe? None of those guys have really accomplished anything of note either. Some quick turnarounds for some of them, but making a coaching decisions based on one or two good years isn't any better than what we did with Pope.

Don't forget where Pope was coaching. At BYU you can't even bring caffeine on campus. The type of player he could actually get was extremely limited. I'd rather have a UK guy who has the passion for the program he does than take a chance on another young coach with a slightly better resume.
Hey, I’m all in now. Even tried to get into Rupp yesterday to support the guy. This is just a huge gamble but I hope it pays off.
 
Maybe we'll get Jayden Quaintance back after we recruit him just like other schools will have to, now that he's reopened his recruitment. Or maybe we'll get someone else to replace him that will fit Pope's system better than he would have. Or maybe we'll even get someone else to replace him that won't fit Pope's system quite as well as Quaintance would have.

BUT I guarantee you, whether it's Quaintance or someone else, we will absolutely get someone at Quaintance's position that Mark Pope will wind up getting more use out of than "Take Cover In Arkansas!" would have gotten out of Quaintance if we'd been stuck with that guy another year and Quaintance would have played under him.
 
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We heard JQ was going to wait out the process and talk with Mitch about the future of the program. He decommits the next day. Now we see why.

He was probably like, “who is Mark Pope?”
Rachel Dratch Snl GIF by Saturday Night Live
 
No, but in fairness, only 32 teams made the tournament back then. Which made it damn near impossible for a school like Army to get in.

He did have a couple good seasons (20-8 and 19–9) and got them in the NIT …which was back then considered a remarkable feat for Army.
True
but his 5 year record in order was:

11-14, 20-8, 19-9, 14-11, and 9-17. Trending down last two years. Not stellar.
 
A lot of this names are just as delusional as Hurley or Jay Wright. Donovan got contacted and was lukewarm so Mitch moved on. Oats put out a very public statement and his AD was not wiling to negotiate down the buyout. Pearl's a stopgap at best and wants to make his son the next head coach at Auburn, he wasn't leaving. Painter played at Purdue and isn't leaving. Sampson is old as hell and not starting over somewhere else. Beard is a scumbag who should never get a call. Shaka couldn't deal with the pressure at Texas, he's not coming to UK where it's tenfold.

Of the coaches you had a chance with Pope really has no worse of a resume. You'd be looking at maybe Golden, Otzelberger, Lloyd, Underwood and Buzz? Maybe? None of those guys have really accomplished anything of note either. Some quick turnarounds for some of them, but making a coaching decisions based on one or two good years isn't any better than what we did with Pope.

Don't forget where Pope was coaching. At BYU you can't even bring caffeine on campus. The type of player he could actually get was extremely limited. I'd rather have a UK guy who has the passion for the program he does than take a chance on another young coach with a slightly better resume.
well said season 9 GIF
 
Oh we're going to lose most everyone and who can blame them. We're going to get some scraps from the portal. He has absolutely zero recruiting connections. He has no pedigree of developing anyone for the NBA.

The only way he has any chance at all is if somehow someone connects him with a Superstar recruiter that has all the connections. Otherwise we're going to be playing underdog basketball for the foreseeable future.
They have around $4.5 million in NIL so far, and climbing. That should ensure that we don't get "scraps from the portal."

The win-win in this is that Pope is only inked for 5 years. If he kills it here, you adjust his contract and let him become a long-term guy. If he struggles, you buy him out after year 3 or 4 and find someone else.

I think we'll love the quality of player he brings to the portal. Kentucky has the immediate money and playing to offer.
 
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We heard JQ was going to wait out the process and talk with Mitch about the future of the program. He decommits the next day. Now we see why.

He was probably like, “who is Mark Pope?”
He may be a 16 year old kid that barley knows himself.
 
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