Question for all

[billoliver40]

Why do folks get so wrapped up in some of the transfer portal drama? I have never heard of many of the 2000 or so guys entering the portal, but it seems like each week we lock onto one guy that's make or break for the season even though his stats are kinda -meh-.
No offense but this last guy that was down to us an Indiana...he had one real good year, he doesn't rebound, give out assists and by all purposes really doesn't play defense.

So THATS the kind of player that takes us to the championship game?

 

[ImTheVillageIdiot]

Why do folks get so wrapped up in some of the transfer portal drama? I have never heard of many of the 2000 or so guys entering the portal, but it seems like each week we lock onto one guy that's make or break for the season even though his stats are kinda -meh-.
No offense but this last guy that was down to us an Indiana...he had one real good year, he doesn't rebound, give out assists and by all purposes really doesn't play defense.

So THATS the kind of player that takes us to the championship game?

Less to do with LW being an amazing player and more about the specific role fit for me, Bill. Not the end of the world — heck I think I’m already about over it lol

 

[Cole World]

It was only reported 5 days ago that Wilkerson's agent had reached out to Kentucky, while Indiana already had the inside track. People get infatuated with numbers then lose their collective minds when it doesn't happen.

 

[MdWIldcat55]

Why do folks get so wrapped up in some of the transfer portal drama? I have never heard of many of the 2000 or so guys entering the portal, but it seems like each week we lock onto one guy that's make or break for the season even though his stats are kinda -meh-.
No offense but this last guy that was down to us an Indiana...he had one real good year, he doesn't rebound, give out assists and by all purposes really doesn't play defense.

So THATS the kind of player that takes us to the championship game?

It's known as the "Mr. Magoon" syndrome.

Two weeks ago tomorrow Magoon Gwath turned down whatever role Kentucky was offering the Sudanese Pipecleaner (7'0", 205, averaged 5 boards a game -- that's a taller skinnier Damion Collins) to return to SD St. Go back and check the threads: It was like the program had been banned from post season play for some of the Chicken Littles here. Then JQ and a couple others sign and Magoon is Ma--gone from the Kentucky hoops landscape like he never existed.

I predict by portal closing day Wilkerson is Magooned, especially as more comes out about his attitude and his desire to be "the man."

"The Man" at Kentucky? This guy didn't put up numbers at Houston last year. It was SAM Houston. Kentucky doesn't need him to be "The Man." The Cats will be fine without him.

 

[blue cincy]

Bill,

I agree 100%. We are going to have the team we have. Pope will figure out the line up from there. We will probably hear about 10 more guys that we just cannot miss on or it is the end of the world. Heck I still remember a 7 foot Chinese point guard Cal was looking at back about 7 or 8 years ago. lol I will wait on the coach to get his guy or guys. Who is to say Pope would be finished with 1 more guy. Pope might be looking at adding 3 more guys.

 

[JonathanW]

Why do folks get so wrapped up in some of the transfer portal drama? I have never heard of many of the 2000 or so guys entering the portal, but it seems like each week we lock onto one guy that's make or break for the season even though his stats are kinda -meh-.
No offense but this last guy that was down to us an Indiana...he had one real good year, he doesn't rebound, give out assists and by all purposes really doesn't play defense.

So THATS the kind of player that takes us to the championship game?

Because the Transfer Portal is the best way to dramatically improve your team.
Look at the 3 All-American's from the SEC this year (Broome-Auburn, Clayton-Florida, Sears-Alabama), ALL 3 came from the Transfer Portal. Also 3 of the five 2nd team AA's came from the Transfer Portal, so 60% of the top 10 players were transfers.

So, YES those are the kind of players that take you to the championship game, and in Clayton's case WINS IT!

 

[Dalroxas]

Less to do with LW being an amazing player and more about the specific role fit for me, Bill. Not the end of the world — heck I think I’m already about over it lol

This. Wilkerson would have been our leading scorer potentially and being very efficient at doing so on not too many shots. He doesn't need to facilitate, if he fits a specific role we need. We have 4 other guys who can rebound, move the ball around etc. It is his fit.

It would have been akin to Jodie Meeks in 2010. We needed a guy who could hit from 3 consistently on that Wall Cousins Patterson team and we didn't have him. That is what allowed WVA to eventually end our campaign in the elite 8.

 

[ImTheVillageIdiot]

This. Wilkerson would have been our leading scorer potentially and being very efficient at doing so on not too many shots. He doesn't need to facilitate, if he fits a specific role we need. We have 4 other guys who can rebound, move the ball around etc. It is his fit.

It would have been akin to Jodie Meeks in 2010. We needed a guy who could hit from 3 consistently on that Wall Cousins Patterson team and we didn't have him. That is what allowed WVA to eventually end our campaign in the elite 8.

Good news is i still believe we have plenty of shooters. I still expect to be a better shooting team than last year because of the versatility of our guards. I’m good, but I really wanted Wilkerson

 

[mebeblue2]

Why do folks get so wrapped up in some of the transfer portal drama? I have never heard of many of the 2000 or so guys entering the portal, but it seems like each week we lock onto one guy that's make or break for the season even though his stats are kinda -meh-.
No offense but this last guy that was down to us an Indiana...he had one real good year, he doesn't rebound, give out assists and by all purposes really doesn't play defense.

So THATS the kind of player that takes us to the championship game?

without Cameron Mills we might not have won a championship. what kind of player was he?
did you think preseason OO would end up being our best player?
had you ever heard of Walter Clayton JR. before he went to Florida?
bottom line is you never know what a player actually adds until he plays for your team

Pope wanted a high percentage 3 point shooter, odds are Wilkerson would have provided that

 

[Tubbyfan78]

It's not the portal or player itself. It's that Pope is ending up with his 3rd and 4th choices at every position. You can't win at the level we need to win at if you don't get your first choice some of the time. We're not going to a final 4 next year now. That's not UK basketball when I can tell you in April we're not making a final 4. It's going to be a lot like last year.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

It's not the portal or player itself. It's that Pope is ending up with his 3rd and 4th choices at every position. You can't win at the level we need to win at if you don't get your first choice some of the time. We're not going to a final 4 next year now. That's not UK basketball when I can tell you in April we're not making a final 4. It's going to be a lot like last year.

Nice future prediction. Guess we should cancel the season Tubby.

 

[Dalroxas]

Good news is i still believe we have plenty of shooters. I still expect to be a better shooting team than last year because of the versatility of our guards. I’m good, but I really wanted Wilkerson

See... this is what I believe to be true as well. From Oweh to Chandler to Noah to Andrija to Lowe, we have a bunch of players who can hit from 3. We may end up being a team that does it by committee.

 

[westerncat]

It's clear that some of these kids are using UK name to get their NIL prices up.

 

[Bluegrassking]

I enjoy it but I am not overly emotionally invested.

There is usually more than one actor to fit a role, Wilkerson and Yates have just looked to be the most promising candidates to bring our script to life but the show must go on.

 

[ftp000]

This. Wilkerson would have been our leading scorer potentially and being very efficient at doing so on not too many shots. He doesn't need to facilitate, if he fits a specific role we need. We have 4 other guys who can rebound, move the ball around etc. It is his fit.

It would have been akin to Jodie Meeks in 2010. We needed a guy who could hit from 3 consistently on that Wall Cousins Patterson team and we didn't have him. That is what allowed WVA to eventually end our campaign in the elite 8.

Yeah but could he defend? I read all the praise for our Kentucky born freshmen last year. But as soon as they played real minutes, folks here talked about them til a fly wouldn't light on them. This place is fickle and bipolar.

 

[Dalroxas]

Yeah but could he defend? I read all the praise for our Kentucky born freshmen last year. But as soon as they played real minutes, folks here talked about them til a fly wouldn't light on them. This place is fickle and bipolar.

Thats a good question. That's one reason I like us picking up JQ and Kam. Kam may not have the weapons yet offensively, but his defense will get him quality minutes. He and JQ can lock down their best players. If they aren't scoring and 4 of our 5 can score, that will give us the ability to catch up if we get down.

 

[Tubbyfan78]

I enjoy it but I am not overly emotionally invested.

There is usually more than one actor to fit a role, Wilkerson and Yates have just looked to be the most promising candidates to bring our script to life but the show must go on.

I know what you're saying but we're now on the b k up to the back up. At some point, it's just not the same.

 

[Dalroxas]

It's clear that some of these kids are using UK name to get their NIL prices up.

I said that as well when Wilkerson was talking to Kentucky. I said he may be doing that to get IU to shell out more. I mean good for him to do it but he's dead to me now. I don't want to ever hear his name again lol.

 

[Kyhoward]

Why do folks get so wrapped up in some of the transfer portal drama? I have never heard of many of the 2000 or so guys entering the portal, but it seems like each week we lock onto one guy that's make or break for the season even though his stats are kinda -meh-.
No offense but this last guy that was down to us an Indiana...he had one real good year, he doesn't rebound, give out assists and by all purposes really doesn't play defense.

So THATS the kind of player that takes us to the championship game?

Right Bill, also selfish when he stated he did not want to be one of several go to players. We avoided a train wreck. No loss at all!

 

[Bluegrassking]

It's clear that some of these kids are using UK name to get their NIL prices up.

Yup, like we put out public feelers to apply pressure to take an offer.

It is all a part of the game.

It isn't just us. All kinds of recruitments we have no part in have stalking horses as well.

Duke, BYU, Louisville, Kansas, Michigan, Arkansas, or even bag droppers like Washington and Kansas State work just about as well to drive up your price.

 

[MdWIldcat55]

It was only reported 5 days ago that Wilkerson's agent had reached out to Kentucky, while Indiana already had the inside track. People get infatuated with numbers then lose their collective minds when it doesn't happen.

I think some of our less attentive fans thought he put up those numbers for Houston. It was actually Sam Houston. That's against the likes of Kennesaw State and Florida International and the other stalwarts of Conference USA -- where his team finished 6-12 by the way.

That's not to say he might not have filled the Brea role of spot up shooter. But he's saying he wanted to be "The Man?" At Kentucky?

I predict if he had signed with the Cats, and gave the interview he gave with Field of 68, we'd all be going through a huge case of buyer's remorse, when people looked more closely at his background. After all, somebody had to score -- even for the next to last place team in Conference USA...

 

[Dalroxas]

I think some of our less attentive fans thought he put up those numbers for Houston. It was actually Sam Houston. That's against the likes of Kennesaw State and Florida International and the other stalwarts of Conference USA -- where his team finished 6-12 by the way.

That's not to say he might not have filled the Brea role of spot up shooter. But he's saying he wanted to be "The Man?" At Kentucky?

We had a lot of players with similar attitudes to wanting to "be the man" and eventually most bought into what Cal wanted to do. Wall and Cousins, KAT, so many. I think he would have bought into what Pope wanted to do as well. I hate to say this but that is one reason I did not want RJ Luis on this team. He went what? 3/15 in St. John's second round elimination game? That is what happens when "the guy" has an off night. He can single handedly hand you a loss.

 

[ellowelzees]

Everyone in here now conveniently acting like Wilkerson sucks and we never wanted him anyways, whereas if he had committed people would be saying he’s God’s gift to basketball.

It was a miss plain and simple. Just accept it.

 

[gossie21]

The lesson is not to get wrapped up in each individual recruitment. There are plenty of good players out there, I don't think Wilkerson/Pierre/Yates are make or break players. They are just the most recent players we were looking at. There are still options out there, and it's best to just sit back and evaluate the roster once it's complete.

UK will pivot and find one more guard. But we still have Oweh and Johnson at the 2 guard spot. We probably need one more combo guard who can fill in at both guard spots.

 

[Worf88]

Look, we are absolutely missing that big time scorer/big time shooter. We lacked it on this years team as well. It’s Chaz Lanier all over again.

Pope had 3 chances to get a guy that would make this a true title contender with Yates/Pierre/Wilkerson and he wiffed on all 3. He just can’t get it done in recruiting with the guys he needs the most. He’s missed on those types time after time. Brooks and/or Hart is part of that problem. One of them absolutely shouldn’t be here and Antigua should be.

 

[ImTheVillageIdiot]

Look, we are absolutely missing that big time scorer/big time shooter. We lacked it on this years team as well. It’s Chaz Lanier all over again.

Pope had 3 chances to get a guy that would make this a true title contender with Yates/Pierre/Wilkerson and he wiffed on all 3. He just can’t get it done in recruiting with the guys he needs the most. He’s missed on those types time after time. Brooks and/or Hart is part of that problem. One of them absolutely shouldn’t be here and Antigua should be.

Otega Oweh exists….I promise. It’s been confirmed.

 

[Tubbyfan78]

I think some of our less attentive fans thought he put up those numbers for Houston. It was actually Sam Houston. That's against the likes of Kennesaw State and Florida International and the other stalwarts of Conference USA -- where his team finished 6-12 by the way.

That's not to say he might not have filled the Brea role of spot up shooter. But he's saying he wanted to be "The Man?" At Kentucky?

I predict if he had signed with the Cats, and gave the interview he gave with Field of 68, we'd all be going through a huge case of buyer's remorse, when people looked more closely at his background. After all, somebody had to score -- even for the next to last place team in Conference USA.

Sounds an awful lot like “we didn’t want him anyway.”

 

[WeWant9]

Everyone in here now conveniently acting like Wilkerson sucks and we never wanted him anyways, whereas if he had committed people would be saying he’s God’s gift to basketball.

It was a miss plain and simple. Just accept it.

That’s every fanbase when they don’t land a recruit.

 

[Worf88]

Otega Oweh exists….I promise. It’s been confirmed.

He is NOT a shooter. You could even say he’s not a big time scorer. Yes he averaged 15-16 ppg but he’s not an explosive scorer and someone that you can count on to take over a game like a Walter Clayton.

Our shooting as it stands isn’t going to cut it.

 

[Cat in ga]

There’s still people in the portal, foreign guys, and guys that will drop out of the draft into the portal. Pope will find his guy

 

[MegaBlue05]

My take is we got so used to – addicted even – all these recruiting wins over the last 15 years that we except to land every player, and every guy is a make or break piece and if we miss it's the end of the world and we're going to the NIT.

I'm so old I remember posters here wanted C.J. Leslie over Terrence Jones. Others were upset Cal took Anthony Davis over Quincy Miller because Davis was "too skinny to bang in the SEC."

I learned long ago to just let the chips fall because there's nothing I can do about it.

 

[MegaBlue05]

It's not the portal or player itself. It's that Pope is ending up with his 3rd and 4th choices at every position. You can't win at the level we need to win at if you don't get your first choice some of the time. We're not going to a final 4 next year now. That's not UK basketball when I can tell you in April we're not making a final 4. It's going to be a lot like last year.

Guess we should just cancel the season and not play the games.

Some of y'all are like people versions of Eeyore.

 

[megablue]

My take is we got so used to – addicted even – all these recruiting wins over the last 15 years that we except to land every player, and every guy is a make or break piece and if we miss it's the end of the world and we're going to the NIT.

I'm so old I remember posters here wanted C.J. Leslie over Terrence Jones. Others were upset Cal took Anthony Davis over Quincy Miller because Davis was "too skinny to bang in the SEC."

I learned long ago to just let the chips fall because there's nothing I can do about it.

Always best to only worry about what you can control …

 

[FitchandMurray29]

I think people go crazy over it because it’s insanely fast moving recruiting. Instead of following some 2026 recruit about to play EYBL this summer and potentially join the team 18 months from now, you can follow all the news and scuttlebutt over days/at most a few weeks usually for a player.

Also some folks are data nerds that love going through the numbers/analytics for college players whereas that’s not as doable for high school kids.

Free agency is big in a lot of sports these days. I lovvve the first few days of NFL FA for instance. Just a hobby.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

I don’t know anything about the guy. But we won’t have him.

It’s funny an Indiana business associate called me this morning about business. Then he threw in “why the hell did y’all take a black guy to the racetrack?”

I told him that was a racist comment. He said, “well yeah, we are racists!”😳

I told him I heard IU offered more money. He said no way.

Anyway, MM had verifiable connections. 😆

 

[billoliver40]

Look, we are absolutely missing that big time scorer/big time shooter. We lacked it on this years team as well. It’s Chaz Lanier all over again.

Pope had 3 chances to get a guy that would make this a true title contender with Yates/Pierre/Wilkerson and he wiffed on all 3. He just can’t get it done in recruiting with the guys he needs the most. He’s missed on those types time after time. Brooks and/or Hart is part of that problem. One of them absolutely shouldn’t be here and Antigua should be.

That's crazy.
Brea was considered the leading three point shooter in the nation. ROBINSON WAS A LAST MINUTE Pull out of the draft.
I think you are remembering someone else.

 

[billoliver40]

My take is we got so used to – addicted even – all these recruiting wins over the last 15 years that we except to land every player, and every guy is a make or break piece and if we miss it's the end of the world and we're going to the NIT.

I'm so old I remember posters here wanted C.J. Leslie over Terrence Jones. Others were upset Cal took Anthony Davis over Quincy Miller because Davis was "too skinny to bang in the SEC."

I learned long ago to just let the chips fall because there's nothing I can do about it.

Except over the last 10 years it was miss much more than hit.

 

[catlogic15]

Everyone in here now conveniently acting like Wilkerson sucks and we never wanted him anyways, whereas if he had committed people would be saying he’s God’s gift to basketball.

It was a miss plain and simple. Just accept it.

When he declared for Indiana, it was a miss.
But when you heard his comments after, it was evident we may have indeed missed a team disruption and selfish player.
Both can be true.

 

[MegaBlue05]

Except over the last 10 years it was miss much more than hit.

I agree. But we still had our grand proclamations about how "next year" was going to be better than whatever current year if the current year wasn't going well. We always had the new shiny objects and won all the offseason recruiting wars and preseason polls, but it was really a crap shoot once the games started. We defied odds for 6 years and then slowly declined for a decade. The longer our coach recruited by throwing together the highest ranked five stars he could find to play "positionless basketball" (regardless of ability to shoot) instead of building a cohesive team with clearly defined roles, our classes were inconsistent/underwhelming and the play on the court often matched.

The Cal era is what taught me living and dying over recruiting was a fool's errand. I have watched hat/table ceremonies on West Coast time. I've refreshed this board and Twitter constantly for hours on end. Eventually it dawned on me that we will end up with who we end up with and working myself into a tizzy won't change anything. I really agree with the poster above likening the portal to casting a movie/play. Plenty actors to play the role. Which one fits best and which one takes the role?

 

[gbl97]

Otega Oweh exists….I promise. It’s been confirmed.

If Oweh is our best scorer again next year, we are in trouble.