UK not on list of 7 for Dybantsa
- Thread starter March 22
- Start date
To not have us in the top7.. now maybe Pope said "thanks, but no thanks", but I think that notion is a little conceited for a 1st year coach here. If I was Pope and UK, I would be shelling out some NIL to land what could be one of the elite talents of the last 5 to 10 years. Idk, doesn't seem like something you turn down.
And if not this guy because of character issues, that's totally fine.. but then it needs to be someone else.
Because say this team falls short this year.. and say it's not an in-game coaching problem.. the most logical reason will be not having any real elite talent at the college level. If we lose in the 1st weekend, my guess will be that these players are good, but maybe not great.. and we run into a team that can match us very well in size and speed (something we got used to almost never happening under Cal).
So yeah, while I don't want to go back to 1AD teams, I do think we need to keep 1 or 2 top25ish guys on the team, if we can. Kentucky still needs to be a big NIL player.
And if not this guy because of character issues, that's totally fine.. but then it needs to be someone else.
Because say this team falls short this year.. and say it's not an in-game coaching problem.. the most logical reason will be not having any real elite talent at the college level. If we lose in the 1st weekend, my guess will be that these players are good, but maybe not great.. and we run into a team that can match us very well in size and speed (something we got used to almost never happening under Cal).
So yeah, while I don't want to go back to 1AD teams, I do think we need to keep 1 or 2 top25ish guys on the team, if we can. Kentucky still needs to be a big NIL player.
This is a great point. Things will be different.
I am surprised though that Pope hasn’t focused in on some 40-100 ranked kids that fit his style of offense, character, etc. Seems he’s going to try that 15-40 sweet spot this year. (2026 might be different)
Which is odd, considering reports he scheduled a visit to Duke this week. But Duke seems to be all in on the boozer twins.
I want great recruits. However, I think we are so use to the Cal stellar recruiting that we (or I) forget that is only a short-term and mainly unsuccessful approach. Yes, talent will make a difference but the top recruits now are one year and how often has that one great recruit led to a championship or even a league championship? I do think this upcoming season if successful will lead to longer term recruiting but Pope is only in his first year at Kentucky and has done amazing with transfers along with some recruits that have a future in college.
I don't see how any recruit out of HS is worth $2.5 million. There is no guarantee they add a single win to your record. I don't doubt AJ's talent and that he will be a great player someday, but he is only playing for someone for a year. He could be the most dominant player to ever play CBB and he could average 9 pts a game. Reality is probably somewhere in the middle but dropping big time money on kids that have never dribbled a ball in a college game is a big risk. I think in the current climate you get more juice from the portal.
Disagree, Zion and AD definitely would be worth that if not more. But those guys are extreme rarities. AJ is good but he doesn’t get the same attention as someone like Cooper Flagg, so can’t blame other programs for backing out if the asking price is close to 3M.
the money ceiling for some of these players is much higher than that
He has offered several 4 *s and guys in the 40-75 rankings. You HAVE TO at least offer the elite talent. If not, it would appear you are conceding to other schools and not confident you can land those guys. By at least offering (not all, but select top 25 guys), you can at least say he picked another school and wonder, rather than not offer and concede. I think that will be Pope's biggest obstacle early on (first couple of years), gaining trust in these elite kids while going up against Self, and other elite coaches / recruiters. Pope has done a fine job at BYU, but until he lands a few top 20 guys, he will have a tough road to pave. He will eventually get there, but the beginning of his blue blood coaching, he will take some lumps. It will be crucial that he hits on most of the next tier recruits and portal guys, if not, things will get really tough after this years team moves on and the pressure really sets in. The 25 class is really important in sending a message and needs to be near perfect even if he does land a top 20 kid. Can't always rely on landing a portal class like this year every year. He will have to build a roster for longevity and develop kids, land a good (doesn't have to be top 5 class) every year, and land a couple nice portal guys. A mixture of 1-2 high school elites, solid mid tier guys, a few developmental players, and a few solid portal players yearly, I think will be the key to Pope's long term success.
Hit on some of the under valued / ranked guys like the Tyler Herro's, SGA type guys who show up and perform better than expected. He needs to have a great eye for talent because the top 10/15 guys will take a while to earn their trust, and until then, he had better hit the bullseye a lot more than he misses it.
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I agree. Maybe paying an inordinate percentage of your NIL to a player like Dybantsa could make sense from a marketing standpoint if you’re a program that needs the advertising. But that’s not the kind program UK has. UK needs to compete for championship titles to motivate its fan base and maximize value. Relying on OAD freshmen won’t get the job done. They’re simply not good enough yet. The better upperclassmen – both a teams’ home-grown and top transfer portal options - have a bigger impact on winning in that one year. What OAD kids develop into in a few years is irrelevant to UK. Sure, you can cite exceptions to the general rule for freshmen from the past – but I don’t think relying on the “that one time at band camp” justification is sound reasoning.
I definitely think you get a player like Dybantsa if you reasonably can. But you don’t go into the next season having blown your NIL wad expecting him to be the star of your team his freshman year (unless, again, it’s about marketing rather than winning). According to the new recruiting expert for the Field of 68 show (I don’t remember his name, but his job has been following and writing about high school recruiting for 10 years), this is the mindset of the top CBB coaches, including Hurley and Self. He said those coaches make plans with the idea that the 5-star freshmen may not be great that first year, and then if they pan out that quickly to be a key contributor they consider it a bonus. When Goodman tried to qualify the recruiting guy’s point by saying after the extra COVID year situation expires 5-star freshmen will again be the top priority, the recruiting guy disagreed. He said as long as the portal situation continues, upperclassmen will be more important to the coaches competing for titles year-in-and-year-out.
You guys are so pressed to be bargain basement shoppers. “Let’s focus on Top 100 guys and 5th year seniors.” Smh
It is hard to project. Imagine we had the same NIL environment last year and we gave 2 to 3 million dollars to Justin Edwards since he was the number one recruit. Then, as a result we did not have enough NIL for reeves or one or more players. The season would have been more of a cluster*. Navigating this new environment is tough,so to me you improve your chances by having more good players with multiple skills and then you coach them up and play your most effective combinations.
Right now I'm very gun-shy toward "great recruits". I need to see how Pope handles talent that WANTS to play, but isn't READY for primetime.
And you guys are focused on elite talent alone. Open the checkbook and just write checks because we have been so successful lately with this method of relying on blue chip freshmen.
Our teams recently were trending pretty well mid season. And that was mostly, maybe solely, due to talent.
2022 - were at times the hottest team in the nation, smoking Kansas and UNC. Derailed due to injuries. Highest ranked player sat out all season.
2023 - not great, but we also didn't really have elite talent.
2024 - we get elite talent, play no defense, and still smash a lot of teams. When our elite guys played (and when DJ played less) we almost didn't lose.
Now if Pope can be the real deal.. imagine him with highly talented teams. Imagine if he's not making some of the very odd and head-scratchinf decisions Cal made, or if he's mailing it in (which I think he was doing a bit of long before this past year).
Let's not forget what elite talent does for this sport. If you get a guy like AD or Zion or Wall.. and you can give them at least a decent team.. they ate going to win games. I don't think we should just undersell elite talent because of Cal's tenure here.
I don’t care how we trended in regular season. We have been a massive disappointment since basically 2017.
Wagner I believe was ranked as the top Frosh and Soph in the nation and was still top 5 when he was a Junior and Senior. Like most said I remember Edwards was ranked #1 and was on most boards as being the #1 pick for months in his Senior year. We watched them all year and they should not have started as we watched much lower ranked players and upperclassmen out play them every game. Pope system is not like Cal system. I'm sure Pope would like to have 9 or 10 really good players on every roster instead of having to pay one really good player and take leftovers for 4 or 5 spots. Don't get me wrong I'd love to see AJ here at UK but I'm sure Pope can produce a great team w/o him. It's the xfer portal area it we miss on one just get another close to what you want for team needs.
Edwards wasn't the #1 in any of the top 3 recruiting rankings. Rivals, 24/7, or ESPN. Dybansta is and has been for a long time the #1 guy on all 3.
I have never in my life been so delusional I suggested for a second something as absurd as the reason a player of this caliber dropped Kentucky from his list is because WE told HIM, "No, thanks." That's actually an accomplishment, buddy. If you have nothing else to be proud of you can at least claim credit for that.
One player isn't going to matter from season to season.
Pope still has a ton to prove to get top rated freshmen. And yes, UK needs at least some stud freshmen from time to time to help contributing to win big.
A strong season on the court this season will help immensely.
Pope still has a ton to prove to get top rated freshmen. And yes, UK needs at least some stud freshmen from time to time to help contributing to win big.
A strong season on the court this season will help immensely.
Gotta look at the positive in this situation. Say we land Dybantsa or a like player next year. I don't think we get a player like Robinson, Brea or even a Oweh. They know AJ is gonna demand minutes and shots therefore those really solid xfers is their 5th or last year are not gonna wanna sit behind a supposed phenom and watch him try to maintain his #1 pick status. Look at Dook for example everyone and his mother transferred out when Flagg committed. It's the same thing. Those juniors and seniors don't wanna sit behind Flagg all year.
Here's the thing we don't know how good AJ, Robinson, Brea, Oweh or Flagg will be so it's all a big crapshoot as of now. I'm personally over the one and done era so it's a breath of fresh air to see how our older guys do this year.
Here's the thing we don't know how good AJ, Robinson, Brea, Oweh or Flagg will be so it's all a big crapshoot as of now. I'm personally over the one and done era so it's a breath of fresh air to see how our older guys do this year.
Yeah, that's so ridiculous. Why would anyone think we need good players to win games? At least we are smart enough to know that's not how it works!
You guys use losing and try to paint it as winning in the most unique ways. "At least we made the list" when we miss on guys, and "Well, at least we didn't make the list," when guys cut us from their finalists. The ways you people lie to yourselves is so intriguing to me. I can't do that. I don't have the ability.
2022 - the team that was the highest seed with best record’s “star” recruit was TyTy Washington who wasn’t a top 10 recruit and rest was built with portal transfers
2023 - two top ten “starts” Livingston and Wallace. Wallace was good
2024 - our must get top 5 star elite recruits were Bradshaw, Edwards, and Wagner who all sucked ass. Our best recruit was the lowest ranked Kentucky kid.
- Just not buying the whole “must get” HS recruit unless he’s a freak like Zion or AD who come along once every 15 years. If we get an elite recruit then great but I’m not going to hand wring over it if not.
In Pope's opening presser he basically said that if the first order of business is the bag💰 and not the opportunity, that player is probably not for him.
The players are not doing the jersey a favor, was one of the other quotes.
There's a new sheriff in town.
He gets to decide how he runs the show.
GBB!
The players are not doing the jersey a favor, was one of the other quotes.
There's a new sheriff in town.
He gets to decide how he runs the show.
GBB!
And now Pope is holding open tryouts? Good grief, that's just sad.
You obviously do not get the reasoning behind it. He is saying "All UK students / players are welcome. We have ONE spot left, not like he is trying to build a team with walk ons or student tryouts. LOL, you are so blind with negativity, you let a good PR move smack you right in the face. We have TEN players who will contribute, season is about to start, the last spot is just filler. He said the last spot could go several different directions, a reclass, project, or a multi year, developmental type player. The try out is simply a chance to include the fanbase. It is not because he NEEDS another player. If he could have got a reclass or remaining guy from the portal who fit, he would have taken him, but he didn't, so he is using the last spot for PR. SIMPLE AS THAT.
Of course it's PR.
No one wants to come here and be the 13th man and never play.
And a team never needs 13 players. It's gonna be hard enough to keep 12 happy.
Not to mention, it is for walk-ons, but that doesn't stop the Negative Nero's from chiming in with their low level IQ opinion.
Even the mighty Calipari said, due to NIL, he's riding or dying with 8-9 legit players and subsequently added 3 scrubs to get water.
You do know this is for a walk-on spot not a player spot. We have 12 good one's of those. The kid will probably never play a meaningful minute in a game. I'd rather Pope do this to give back to BBN then Cal give to one of his buddies son's. Remember hogs earned not given is his motto.
By the way tell me how that 8-9 man rotation works out for ya this year when you know your gonna have some players with major or minor nagging injuries. Yes the Cal injury thing is real it's happened about every year here and I don't expect it to change by some miracle.
So just LAST year we had enough talent to win the whole thing. We(UK) fans were as giddy as could be pre-season. Destroyed 4 teams in route to a gold metal in Canada in July looked nearly invincible with our leading scorer back and the #1 recruiting class coming in combined with a 5th year really good senior. A deep talented 10 man rotation with no glaring chink's in our armor. Well we went 23-10 lost in first round of the SEC and NCAA tournament. Only 2 out of the 10 players played all 33 game in Reeves and Sheppard.
Big Z- missed 18 games from eligibility issues, food poisoning, general soreness, the runs etc.
Ugo- missed 9 games got hurt in Canada pre-season.
Adou Thiero- missed 8 games with back issues.
Aaron Bradshaw- missed 7 games from surgery.
Tre Mitchell- missed 6 games with a ribcage injury never the same when he did come back to play.
DJ Wagner- missed 4 games from a ankle injury and was never the same when he did play.
Rob Dillingham- missed a game from sickness.
Justin Edwards- missed a game from sickness.
8 of our 10 rotation players missed a combined 54 games last year for UK under Cal. That's just last year and it happened about every year under Cal. Cal will not play them if they are not 110 percent he has to protect them so they get drafted. Don't be surprised when your 8 or 9 players drop to 6 or 7 a few times this year it's happened about every year. You hogs have no idea what's in store for ya.
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Pretty embarrassing not to even make the final 7 on a kid were legitimately after. But hey, at least we can overpay to keep Jasper home!
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