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So who signs with us next ?

I wouldn't be able to give a good guess about the next high school recruit that commits to UK, but I do think that Pope probably wants to sign a freshman PF during the season to compete with a top transfer portal PF that he reels in after the season.
 
Whoever Coach Pope feels creates the right chemistry for the best chance of a successful team coming together. Doesn’t have to necessarily be a 5 star guy. Maybe it is. Maybe need that ‘heart’ guy.
 
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Brown.

UK will have at least three McDonald's All-Americans coming in under Pope next year.

Feels like a return to the 90s all of a sudden. Not even Pitino brought in more than two Mickey Ds in a single season.
I mean, neither did cal most seasons. It’s not like he pulled in 3-5 of these guys a year. Pope having 3 burger boys is a major haul.
 
I’m not even worried about it. I am so happy we have Johnson and Moreno in the fold. And I know Pope will bring in some good pieces to go with them. Just so excited to have those guys.

My biggest wish right now is that we are able to retain our talent. I hope we can keep Oweh, Garrison, Chandler, Perry, and Noah.

I really doubt Perry and Noah go anywhere anytime soon. Chandler probably sticks around.

We really need Oweh and Garrison for some experience.

Oweh
Garrison
Chandler
Perry
Noah
Johnson
Moreno

That’s a really good core. Add a couple of experienced portal guys and maybe a couple of multiplayer guys and I’m good.

As for who is next. My prediction is Mullins. Moreno is in his ear, they are good friends. Mullins is the perfect Pope player. I think he joins the Fall class.
 
He's got a ton of time to figure it out. You never know, if UK and Pope do well this season, he will have his pick of transfers. So while it looks like we have our 2025 freshman PG and C.. he might want a top 5th year PF in there.

I think we're in an era that unless it's a top10 cant-miss kind of recruit, you might be better served having a 22 year old man in there.

Or maybe he starts working on some in roads for the 2026 class.
 
I’m not even worried about it. I am so happy we have Johnson and Moreno in the fold. And I know Pope will bring in some good pieces to go with them. Just so excited to have those guys.

My biggest wish right now is that we are able to retain our talent. I hope we can keep Oweh, Garrison, Chandler, Perry, and Noah.

I really doubt Perry and Noah go anywhere anytime soon. Chandler probably sticks around.

We really need Oweh and Garrison for some experience.

Oweh
Garrison
Chandler
Perry
Noah
Johnson
Moreno

That’s a really good core. Add a couple of experienced portal guys and maybe a couple of multiplayer guys and I’m good.

As for who is next. My prediction is Mullins. Moreno is in his ear, they are good friends. Mullins is the perfect Pope player. I think he joins the Fall class.
That would be huge, especially with Hurley in Mullins' ear.

Beat out a combination Hurley, Oats, Calipari, Davis, and a few others for Mullins and Johnson? That's quite an accomplishment for a first year from Pope.
 
I want Mullins to, he could be another guard from the state of Indiana to excel at Kentucky. There has been a long list of them to play here and have great careers. Among them were Mike Flynn, Kyle Macy, Jim Master, Louie Dampier, James Blackmon, Roger Harden and Jerry Hale.
 
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I hope it's a player that can play the 4. I think we're good with guards. I'd like to see in order Yessoufou, Ament, Cenac, Wilson, Mullins, Brown.
 
Good listen. Thanks. But at one point, these guys seem to suggest Pope will start 5 freshmen in 2025-26. I don’t think Pope is intending to build a starting unit of freshmen for 2025-26. I think Pope will make freshmen (5-star, #1 ranked recruit, projected #1 draft pick, whatever doesn’t matter) compete against good returning players and the top transfer options – and start the guys who give UK the best chance to win now. In that type of competition and using that barometer (i.e., who gives UK the best chance to win now) to determine who starts, the freshmen are going to lose most of the time regardless of who they are. But they could still be valuable role players and get good minutes.

For me personally, in this age of CBB, if even two freshmen start I would be very leary of UK’s chances in competing for a championship in March 2026; and if three freshmen start I’ll watch simply for enjoyment with zero belief that UK has any chance to compete for a title. Anything is possible, but not every possibility is likely or even reasonable. And while I enjoy following recruiting, I want UK to chase real titles, not recruiting titles - and I think that requires much smarter roster building than what Calipari was doing.
 
I want Mullins bad. I hope Jasper’s signing doesn’t scare him away. They are both listed as SG’s. Not that you can have too many SG’s in Pope’s system!
 
Good listen. Thanks. But at one point, these guys seem to suggest Pope will start 5 freshmen in 2025-26. I don’t think Pope is intending to build a starting unit of freshmen for 2025-26. I think Pope will make freshmen (5-star, #1 ranked recruit, projected #1 draft pick, whatever doesn’t matter) compete against good returning players and the top transfer options – and start the guys who give UK the best chance to win now. In that type of competition and using that barometer (i.e., who gives UK the best chance to win now) to determine who starts, the freshmen are going to lose most of the time regardless of who they are. But they could still be valuable role players and get good minutes.

For me personally, in this age of CBB, if even two freshmen start I would be very leary of UK’s chances in competing for a championship in March 2026; and if three freshmen start I’ll watch simply for enjoyment with zero belief that UK has any chance to compete for a title. Anything is possible, but not every possibility is likely or even reasonable. And while I enjoy following recruiting, I want UK to chase real titles, not recruiting titles - and I think that requires much smarter roster building than what Calipari was doing.
I think they kind of went back and forth on the point but seemed to acknowledge that the best thing indeed is to have a mix of really good freshmen with some veteran players. FWIW, they predicted we'll land Mullins and Yessoufou.
 
I want Mullins bad. I hope Jasper’s signing doesn’t scare him away. They are both listed as SG’s. Not that you can have too many SG’s in Pope’s system!
I saw a tweet earlier today that supposedly Mullins' dad was going to talk with Pope today after the Jasper signing to discuss his fit in the offense. If true, I trust Pope to convince him that they'll pair well together!
 
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