No chance. He branded KY til I die for NIL
Roster next year
- Thread starter JonathanW2
- Start date
Pope has already proven that he’s not going to be able to recruit 5* HS studs, so he better figure out how to get the best of the best portal transfers, because if he doesn’t, it’s going to get ugly.
Would be insane to roll with Lowe again at PG. Injuries, ball dominant, poor shooter, poor defense and would make it harder to get an elite guy at the position.
To be fair at the top of my post I did say (NOT in starter order just the order in which they came to my mind name wise). lol
I don't know what a fully healthy J Lowe looks like in Mark Pope's offense. I saw like 6 games of him at or below 80% healthy in a system that had already scrambled roles while he was out. Not a large enough sample size to say for sure. I think ideally you get either a proven PG with defensive prowess out of the portal who is your PG1 (or at least battles for it) or a young talented PG from the HS ranks who can learn under Lowe and provide solid backup and situational minutes. Someone ready to take the keys year 2 with a year in the system. And I say that because I don't think we get a 5* point guard out of the high school ranks this cycle who we can hand the ball to.
And currently I think Chandler is the best shooting guard we'll have on the roster. Rumors JJ leaves, but if he stays, he's got work to do in order to be our starting 2, especially on defense. He has an extremely high ceiling and shows wonderful flashes, but he also appears a half step behind everyone else most of the time in the decision making side of things, forces bad shots, and is a turnover magnet. He cleans all that up, which most is mental, and he probably gets the nod. All that said, the right 5* out of high school or a stud from the portal changes the conversation entirely.
I'm fine with Kam at the 3, I think he was starting to gain his confidence to be that 3 and D guy and starting to own his role before his injury. Hawthorne is the question mark. Huge upside, very weak still and injury prone. Seems like every week he gets a new practice injury. But that tells me he's scrapping and fighting in practice. I withhold judgement on him until I see year 2 Hawthorne. Maybe he's grown like some people are saying and can play the 4 some, but man is he small for a 4. But I guess Ament is too. Noah is kind of a jack of all trades master of none for us. He's got the heart and grit to be effective at whatever Pope asks him to do. There will always be people better than him, faster, stronger, etc but Noah will give you heart and hustle and be serviceable. I think Noah shines more in last year's style zoom offense than what we've currently had to start running due to lack of bodies and skilled shooters, so it'll be interesting to see what a healthy Mark Pope offense looks like next year (Fingers crossed the injuries stay away and we get one healthy year).
Love Mo and Moreno. I just don't think you can run both together for long stretches. Neither is a stretch the floor big, and neither is a pound the ball inside and let them go to work to draw doubles and kick outs. Probably the biggest difference between this years team and last years. You could put Amari out top and Carr would be isolated down low and go to work and either score or kick out. Or vice versa, though Carr wasn't stellar at his 3 point percentage, he hit enough you had to respect it. And though Amari wasn't talented with the soft finishing touch inside drove us nuts some times, he was a physical force that the defense had to respect.
I think the biggest spot for improvement is getting a complimentary piece to Moreno to go at the 4. A physical scoring threat inside and out. Hence the push for Stokes (though he could play the 3 also). Someone like Stokes would make Moreno better by miles because he'd open up the paint for him. Likewise a brickhouse center who can score would control the paint and draw doubles and help allowing Mo to clean up the back side, get put backs, help more on defense knowing there's a stud behind him, and play with more cuts, screens, and rolls. I really think that is why Pope took a flier on JQ. JQ wasn't the main plan, JQ was the hope he could return by SEC play and create a new dynamic for his offense while creating a wall for interior defense. It obviously hasn't worked out, but I don't count JQ as part of the poorly constructed roster.
I just want one year of healthy UK under Pope before I jump off the ship. I still think he's in over his head with high school recruiting, and I still think he needs to implement in game adjustments faster and stop the bleeding earlier. And I still think these 20 plus point blowouts are unacceptable regardless of the injury report. But I still want this man to succeed. There's still a zero on the scoreboard for recruiting commits while Duke added an arsenal and might still add more. It's an embarrassment of riches that WE used to get.
Knew his offense was limited before he came. That it hasn't progressed is a concern. But he is elite defensively and could become that rebounding to. You can't say no to that. But...I think Moreno could be a big piece for us next year, potentially our most important player, so don't want to impede that. And it would be tough to play them both at the same time unless Moreno did develop a jumpshot (since neither are drivers either).
I think given his injury, you have to bring in a new PG to be the front-runner to start, although give Lowe the opportunity to beat him out.
And I do think Dioubate leaves, if we bring in a "portal stud PF" (which we do need to do).
Maybe I have a man crush, but I would send some of my own money till it hurts to get another Lamont Butler type but healthy for a full season (3 or more would be awesome).
Dude was everything I want in a pg - could drive, defend, shoot, pass and had a heart to win. Maybe not a pro PG but a 4 year college dude.
Dude was everything I want in a pg - could drive, defend, shoot, pass and had a heart to win. Maybe not a pro PG but a 4 year college dude.
But that’s going to a short list, with plenty of competition. And with the concern of JMI limitations, I’m not at all confident.
He’s way to weak and not a stone cold shooter/small to play at a super high level imo
The problem with giving JJ a longer leash, is it would come at the cost of wins.
When JJ is playing well, yes, keep him in there, but bad JJ shows up far too often.
If Pope kept him in the Arkansas game, we lose by double digits.
JJ still hasn't learned how to play team basketball. He comes in, refuses to pass the ball and just tries to score any way possible. It's like he is in there to get his and to hell with anything else.
He's just not ready to play major minutes in games that end up being so close at the end.
Because if he was any good, he would be playing right now.
I don't know about you, but I'm done buying into all these practice super hero's.
What makes you think he's any good? Is he on draft boards somewhere? Is there some film of him dominating D1 college guys somewhere that I haven't seen?
I know Lowe had so forgettable plays this year but considering his injurys we never got to see a Lowe that played several games in a row. So I agree with you and based on a few games, I thought he played great.
He averaged decent numbers last yr at Miami of Ohio. Especially only playing about 13min a game . He's tall and can run the floor pretty good so he could end up producing if he puts in the work ,plus he can shoot from downtown and hes a good passer outta the high-post.
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He could play over players that have no ability to produce, JJ and Yelavic are both needed and they've shown some ability when you have young guys like that its better to give them a little time and become a star ,not necessarily a longer leash just treat him like others not the quick hook with either of.tgose two cause their both ballplayers and a few of theses guys will never be any good.
Pope is basically going to have to build a team just like year one or as close to it as he can and run it back. Sure if he can get some studs do it, but I don't see it happening and he doesn't look comfortable running any offense other than what he ran last year and that doesn't appeal to top ranked guys. Get guys you know you can coach. He's probably going to have to stop recruiting five stars and go after three and four stars you can develop (hopefully they stay long enough). I'd love to get guys like Stokes, Collins, Smith, etc. but I don't think Pope would know how to use those guys correctly. I genuinely think fully healthy last year's team had final four potential so I couldn't care less if he wins with less talent. Just win that's all that matters.
THIS! JJ has played like hot garbage for the majority of the season. Throwing the ball away, because he isn’t good in a physical setting, taking horrible shots that lead to run outs at the other end. That’s exactly why he only played a few minutes at Arkansas. Can’t allow guys to do that type of **** on the road and expect to win.
If he can just hone his skills and learn how to play team basketball, he could be really good. He can get to the rim and he can shoot, he just has to understand that the playground stuff doesn't work at this level.
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We desperately need Tyran Stokes, a really good SG portal player, a solid portal PG or we're in trouble
Probably unpopular opinion but i really don't want Lowe back unless its in a backup reduced nil role.
Cant shoot. Cant defend. Fragile. Plus we completely changed our offense to suit only him.
I don't see a need to spend significant nil money on that. I suspect that message will be delivered to Pope and we'll see Lowe elsewhere. If not, we'll struggle again.
Cant shoot. Cant defend. Fragile. Plus we completely changed our offense to suit only him.
I don't see a need to spend significant nil money on that. I suspect that message will be delivered to Pope and we'll see Lowe elsewhere. If not, we'll struggle again.
Last night was what I thought Garrison was gonna bring to this team all year! He has the ability to be better than average. More of what we saw last night and we take a step up.
If we are going to win anything at all Lowe can’t be our starting PG.
Good grief did some of you just start watching basketball yesterday?
Good grief did some of you just start watching basketball yesterday?
You are not going anywhere IMO without a PG that can finish at the rim. Lowe can’t finish at all. We need a stud.
Lowe is a back up at UK. If we expect to have a ff caliber team it’s not going to happen by having guys like Diobate or BG returning. I feel JJ transfers where he’s guaranteed to play. I read this entire thread and I have seen more about kam than about JJ. And that’s a mistake. Pope has totally botched the kids development by trying to force JJ to play the pg. he’s not a pg. he’s a wing player and wherever he goes when he is let loose to play a develop he will be a stud.
Moreno may end up a solid nba first rounder so that’s work to keep him.
Noah is like a cam mills type if the roster is UK elite. Hes not a major contributor. In all honesty the program needs an overhaul. Pope needs to unload a couple guys starting with mark Fox. I mean how tone deaf are you to have mark Fox on UK bb staff? UK fans do not think highly of that dude. Pope needs to freshen up the program tremendously, the culture? Has to change in order to bring in elite players. He needs a highly respected name recognition caliber, assistant coach. People say GM ugh no. Pope with his background is already more like a gm than a coach. We need a guy who knows how to read the game and most of all is great at developing pgs and the backcourt.
JJ is q 3. He has length and can stroke it. He’s not a pg people who have built this up have done an injustice to JJ. It will be hard to bring JJ back with Chandler unless it’s to play the 3. Not cam Williams
I'd love to see that kid at the 3. I wish Pope would play him there just to find out what that does to his game. I think he's 6'5" so he may be guard smaller 3's and lots of clubs play 3 guard lineups.
He has offensive potential. You can tell that by his free throw stroke. He is deadly as a pnr threat, but we kept foolishly coaching the pg to snake, which negated that.
Speaking of, when was the last time we saw that stupid set? If you notice that was finally scrapped. Right about the time everything started looking better. Imagine that.
They won’t. They’re always here.
“all time wins don’t matter”
“Kentucky really doesn’t have standards”
“Kentucky won’t dominate the way they once did”
All comments from the same group who made every excuse for Calipari and now are doing it for Mark. Real UK isn’t going to mess with 15-7 unranked seasons with mega blowouts and talks of “telling each others stories”
I like Mark, maybe a little less after what has been mentioned by some guys who know some things though. Think he’s going to do ask Barnhart asks and don’t like that: prefer the dons who lock him out. But I do like him he’s just got to win here or he can’t stay. I really don’t see what’s hard about having that position. And lowering the standards here and diminishing our records, which some are doing, to cover for Mark, should be treason. Never met a UK fan in person that’s okay with it, some of these “pope fans” like the Calipari ones are actually just trolls in hiding. They like the losing.
Arkansas may have done JJ a favor. They attacked him on offense and defense and exposed him. If he will work on his weaknesses and develop his body he could become a very good player. His upside is tremendous. I hope he comes back.
Yep he's a 2 guard and is being asked to play out of position because we didn't sign a backup pg. Playing pg is not easy and its a completely different mindset.
Would be nice to see the kid play his natural position. You could then do a proper evaluation at that point.
UL runs the same type of offense we do. Why would JJ do better there? I guess because their schedule is easier. That does help.
Right, but Aberdeen isn't a pg either and look at his growth.
Even though JJ isn't a pg, he has the dkills to he a good one if he wanted to.
Also, he plays ball like it's a 1 on 1 game, he doesn't like passing the ball, he wants to just score, even though he's trying to force it. I don't care if he's a pg, sg, or sf, his game isn't good for any of those positions.
He will be really good once he understands how to play team basketball. In fact, he would he deadly with his range and penetrating skills if he used them correctly.
Hope he comes back next year.
He's got much bigger aspirations than college and his lack of minutes does not bode well for those goals. The "KY till I die" branding is not important enough to be loyal to what he perceives as a hinderence to his future.
Why did he only play about 13 minutes a game at Miami of Ohio? Does that not concern you?