They have not told him that. On the wing, he will have to beat out returning starter Ty Rodgers and transfer Tre White. White is talented and will benefit by being in a program with talent and coaching.
I don't get that thought process. To my mind, Pope needs to land the recruits that improve UK's chances of winning games and competing for championships - period. If that includes a high school player rated as a 5-star by some recruiting service (and likely a role player of some type his freshman season on the best teams in college), fine. But I don't think "5-star" high schoolers are anywhere close to the most important component in doing that.
Most likely you are exactly right. They will want to see how a Pope team plays at Kentucky, and that is to be expected.
You keep doing this, because you are stupid. It doesn't insult me that you think I'm an Arkansas fan, because if I was, I'd be on their board laughing at how gullible we are. It doesn't insult me because you're wrong. And you're making assumptions because you don't understand the adage "When you assume you only make an ass out of u and me." So keep making an ass out of yourself and put some damn shoes on.
And who are you again? Have you been posting on this board under another name?
It was all about immediate playing time. Unlike our former coach, Pope isn't going to sacrifice team victories by playing boys against men just so they can be OAD players.
I believe the right ones are, examples being Dillingham and Reed. Guys who are skilled enough to help win, in fact this years team they would be even better on because we have defenders and older guys who can help cover them on defense.
I enjoyed the heck out watching Sheppard and Dillingham play . But they couldn’t carry a team to a championship (or SEC title) as freshmen. I do think, as you say, they were good enough to compliment a championship level team, with it probably being best for only one to start and the other as a 6th or 7th man. But without Reeves and to a lesser degree Mitchell, wouldn't you agree that last year’s team would have been a disaster. I know losing to Oakland seems to pretty much be a disaster in many ways anyway, but I think it would have been much more so without those upperclassmen. So yeah, I still don’t think 5-star high schoolers are anywhere close to being the most important components in building championship contending teams year-in-and-year-out. But I agree freshmen can help, just don't put them in a bad spot of having to carry a team.
How to you expect them (Sheppard and Dillingham) to have carried their team anywhere coming off the bench after spotting their opponent by 10 or more points most games?
Very well stated and I agree 💯 with this take! I absolutely LOVE REED AND DILLY but when the lights popped the brightest, they couldn’t handle the weight of it. I think we should absolutely want and take the “cant miss” freshman but we NEED the upper classmen that can take the beatings and not fold come tourney time.
No doubt, Cal magnified the issue by not starting them but we can’t be oblivious and say that Reed in particular, and Dilly to a lesser extent, didn’t wilt under the pressure in the Oakland game.
I honestly believe when it mattered most Cal checked out and didn’t prepare them to win. We didn’t look close to the team that even beat Tennessee a week prior.
Nope. I've been lurking on this board since 2011 or so. Can't you click on my name and see this sh*t? I don't know what it is with people asking questions that they can easily find the answer to with a cursory amount of research. You see, that's how I figured so much sh*t out about the world. I bothered to do the research. Had you done it, you wouldn't be questioning me. You'd join my crusade.
I’m using UConn as the blueprint, and it seems to be working well! Returning players, a couple 5 star recruits, and a few high level transfers.
That's the blueprint for success today. That's it right there.
Exactly, return your four star guys 2-3 years. Hit a couple high level freshman, and plug holes with the transfer portal. Seems by far the best way to operate.
UK does not need to waste a free ride who is anything but a can’t miss recruit. In fact, most of these can’t miss recruits play overseas, are physically stronger, and more about the game instead of the NIL money.
You are so naive. It's all about the money. Athletics has always been about the money. The #1 motivation for all athletes is the almighty dollar. It's only become MORE obvious this is the case with NIL. Most athletes come from pretty destitute backgrounds where athletics is the only chance they have at what this country deems 'success'. Privileged people generally don't turn to sports unless there's some sort of legacy where their parents were athletes and that's all they've ever wanted to do. I don't know how old you are but I've been watching sports for about 35 years and I've been able to figure this out so I don't know what your excuse is.
That's what we need to do. Let him go to Illinois, let them develop him, then in a year or two, grab him in the portal with cash that he'll be looking for...IF he has developed. Who knows. He may or may NOT develop into the player we need. We've had 5* players that have not been as advertised. So let someone else take the risk first, and then with the portal now, things could be better in the long run. Just my two cents.🙂🙃
