IMO,
Any of the players that Pope had enough interest in to begin with and was able get the player to visit Lexington, but didn't get a commitment from the player, is only a MISS, not a WHIFF!!!
The wrong fit or the money grubbing NIL mercenaries who don't choose UK or UK doesn't choose them are not misses or whiffs, they are probably lucky breaks!!
A baseball player can WHIFF at every pitch in BP and in their first three at-bats in a game and then hit a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth to win the game. What's going to be the overiding memory of most everyone?? The GRAND SLAM!!! There will always be a few, poor curmugeonly ole souls who can never, ever leave their Whataboutville community!!
If come December/ January and UK/ Pope are playing terrible and players who chose to go elsewhere are setting the world on fire, then we can start talking about WHIFFS!!!!
It's only the end result that matters in determining whether something is a success or a failure!!
After the Canada trip, most everyone (UK fans) thought 2023/24 would be a successful season, but it wasn't!!!! The whole team and coaches lost to Oakland in the NCAA and are ALL somewhere else now, it's time move on and get on board!!
No one knows what the future success will be of any recruited college/ high school player/ program, especially five months before the season begins, it's just preseason fodder!!
Recruiting players now with how the NIL is and how it will continue to affect college sports is a complete unknown. But the more money a program can lay down in front of a recruit, the better chance the marginal NBA player will choose them.
HYPOTHETICALLY: A Billionaire could pass away and bequeath all of their money to a marginal P5 program for upgrades to top facilities, hire the best coaching staff and for NIL to absorbently overpay for anyone they wanted. That scenario would be hard to compete with for the vast majority of basketball programs!!
Go Big Blue
Any of the players that Pope had enough interest in to begin with and was able get the player to visit Lexington, but didn't get a commitment from the player, is only a MISS, not a WHIFF!!!
The wrong fit or the money grubbing NIL mercenaries who don't choose UK or UK doesn't choose them are not misses or whiffs, they are probably lucky breaks!!
A baseball player can WHIFF at every pitch in BP and in their first three at-bats in a game and then hit a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth to win the game. What's going to be the overiding memory of most everyone?? The GRAND SLAM!!! There will always be a few, poor curmugeonly ole souls who can never, ever leave their Whataboutville community!!
If come December/ January and UK/ Pope are playing terrible and players who chose to go elsewhere are setting the world on fire, then we can start talking about WHIFFS!!!!
It's only the end result that matters in determining whether something is a success or a failure!!
After the Canada trip, most everyone (UK fans) thought 2023/24 would be a successful season, but it wasn't!!!! The whole team and coaches lost to Oakland in the NCAA and are ALL somewhere else now, it's time move on and get on board!!
No one knows what the future success will be of any recruited college/ high school player/ program, especially five months before the season begins, it's just preseason fodder!!
Recruiting players now with how the NIL is and how it will continue to affect college sports is a complete unknown. But the more money a program can lay down in front of a recruit, the better chance the marginal NBA player will choose them.
HYPOTHETICALLY: A Billionaire could pass away and bequeath all of their money to a marginal P5 program for upgrades to top facilities, hire the best coaching staff and for NIL to absorbently overpay for anyone they wanted. That scenario would be hard to compete with for the vast majority of basketball programs!!
Go Big Blue
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