And...let's be honest...between the pro-pope and the anti-pope factions, which of the two has to resort to insults more often?? We all know the answer to this,
Rank Pope's 3rd Year Recruting Class
- Thread starter Farsight Clone
- Start date
So you have to let someone talk for you. For someone who claims to know ball, you would not need to lean on someone else to respond for you. Evan's argument here is about Milan and Moreno. You said the entire recruiting class is an A or a B. And I have yet to hear directly from you of why that is in your own words for someone claiming to know ball.
What the hell does the budget have to do with the quality of our team?
C- and he is very lucky that Milan was still there. Missed on a much better PG than Zoom. Missed on a better player than Milan (Stokes)- missed on every high school prospect...but he also did get Milan.
because a Toyota Camry is a very nice automobile but you wouldn't wanna pay Porsche money for it.
One thing about the portal rankings is what key players came back. Did Louisville return anybody close to Moreno stature?
I agree, but that's a whole different argument About spending not about Quality. Nobody would rate.Milan as a Camry since he's the best three-point shooter in college basketball
I was asked to rate our recruiting class; not our team. In the old days, I'd just look at who we got. In today's game, I'd like to know our budget before I give a rating. If our budget was $50M, I'd argue we did a **** job. If it was like $10M, we probably did okay.
1st year B+
2nd year C-
3rd year B-
This is just my ranking without seeing them play, of course. With solid Defense and Rebounding, this could be his best team. We'll see ...
2nd year C-
3rd year B-
This is just my ranking without seeing them play, of course. With solid Defense and Rebounding, this could be his best team. We'll see ...
Do you count Moreno in the recruiting rating or no. Because if you didn't I'd 100% agree with your ranking.
no he's not. but he's only one piece. only one part. like a Camry with really really nice expensive tires.
OK, I get that but he is just part of the number two portal class and getting Moreno back was huge was huge
I agree with all that, I'm just saying the budget absolutely matters. Not to me personally. Everybody else spends, you have to spend to win, that's just the way it is.
But how many times did we hear about the $22MM last year, regardless of whether or not that's true? Once that number is out there, that's the barometer you are going to be judged by.
Definitely a F for high school recruiting.
Stokes made Pope look like a joke.
Pope was Lucky having the most money for Milan because he whiffed on everyone else.
I’m thinking Milan takes us from a F to a C+ overall.
Stokes made Pope look like a joke.
Pope was Lucky having the most money for Milan because he whiffed on everyone else.
I’m thinking Milan takes us from a F to a C+ overall.
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Precisely why I didn't vote. I can't grade any recruiting class until I see the product on the floor. How many times in recent years have we seen an A+ to B recruiting class fizzle? Especially at tournament time when it really counts.
I believe the purpose of the poll is to vote how good you think the class is on paper.
Obviously finished product is a different story (*cough* Cal *cough)
This thread is the perfect litmus to show if you are a pessimist or not.
This is objectively a highly rated recruiting class, so if you are giving a grade of C or below, you are a pessimist. No way around it, don't excuse it and say you are a realist. You are a pessimist.
This is objectively a highly rated recruiting class, so if you are giving a grade of C or below, you are a pessimist. No way around it, don't excuse it and say you are a realist. You are a pessimist.
Our recruiting ranking with hs-portal combined is 12th in SEC and not even top 50 overall.
Those aren’t great numbers.
2026 Overall SEC Basketball Team Rankings
In order to create the most comprehensive Team Recruiting Ranking without any notion of bias, 247Sports Team Recruiting Ranking is solely based on the 247Sports Composite Rating.
247sports.com
When your recruiting ranking is 12th in your conference and not top 50 overall, that does not deserve an A or B. I’m sorry! Especially for a 3rd year coach.
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That is not recruiting rankings, that is overall team rankingOur recruiting ranking with hs-portal combined is 12th in SEC and not even top 50 overall.
Those aren’t great numbers.
2026 Overall SEC Basketball Team Rankings
In order to create the most comprehensive Team Recruiting Ranking without any notion of bias, 247Sports Team Recruiting Ranking is solely based on the 247Sports Composite Rating.
When your recruiting ranking is 12th in your conference and 50th overall, that does not deserve an A or B. I’m sorry! Especially for a 3rd year coach.
Also, most updated preseason rankings have us in the top 15 and we returned 3 players from last year
I would say that's objectively a very good recruiting class that did that
I would say that's objectively a very good recruiting class that did that
Actually, I did. Moreno's fall-off in March was very concerning. His off-season work and hopeful improvement will be a HUGE key for this season !!
Malachi Moreno 2025-26 Game Log | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
2025-26 Game Log for Malachi Moreno
www.sports-reference.com
Overall recruiting with high school and portal Combined.That is not recruiting rankings, that is overall team ranking
You can click on recruit, transfer, or overall.
Even the link shows “The most comprehensive team recruiting ranking”
Overall combines transfers and hs recruits and gives the overall recruiting ranking.
I thought since Milan how interesting its gonna be to track Rob and Donnie, compared to Diallo and the PF position. Imo we spent Donnie money on NDiaye.
Also, love this build so much better w Milan vs. Stokes. Milan has everything to gain by playing his best. Stokes potentially could pull a Peterson or similar and shut it down at any turn.
Fans got excited about Wright, but it really appears it was unlikely anyone was going to steal him from BYU. I think he only visited UK before returning home. I suspect UK earned him a little more on his contract with BYU, but the fact that only one school got a visit shows he was limited in what he would entertain. IDK, but he was probably seeing if UK would throw Milan like money at him. Fans act like Pope was out-recruited on that prospect but I think that is not the case. UL and St John’s showed interest but I suspect he was too rich for their plans or he flat out told them UK was the only option besides BYU.
B for me, but I have always been in the camp of recruiting rankings don’t mean **** after the top 10 (double that for the portal) and the pieces fitting is way more important than composite rankings by “experts” who are fans with a press pass.
It was a C- prior to Milan. He bumps it to a B.
It was a C- prior to Milan. He bumps it to a B.
By the way, some reports say Wright was looking to increase his 3.5 million contract and UK was unwilling to go that high, landing Wilkins and Diallo for a combined $4 million.
That ranking system makes no sense - they're HEAVILY weighting recruits over transfers. We get 29.19 points for our transfers (One 5-star, three 4-stars, and two 3-stars) while we get 23.88 points for our freshmen (One 4-star and one unranked). We are NOT the 12th in our conference in any rational ranking system. We're being ranked top-25 by pretty much everybody putting out preseason rankings and we only have 3 returners in our two-deep rotation. Texas with 5 freshmen (One 5-star, two 4-stars, two unranked) gets 61.76 points out of them. We're only 12th because they're apparently giving half-value to transfers.Our recruiting ranking with hs-portal combined is 12th in SEC and not even top 50 overall.
Those aren’t great numbers.
2026 Overall SEC Basketball Team Rankings
In order to create the most comprehensive Team Recruiting Ranking without any notion of bias, 247Sports Team Recruiting Ranking is solely based on the 247Sports Composite Rating.
When your recruiting ranking is 12th in your conference and 50th overall, that does not deserve an A or B. I’m sorry! Especially for a 3rd year coach.
Nobody really knows though so it is just getting vibes from rumors and speculation and running with them.
We can guess but may never know.
You also have to account for and know what all the other teams spent because the number is meaningless out of the context of the actual market.
What does even fifty million mean if a whole slew is spending a hundred million and many more between 50 and 75 with a ton doing 25-30?
My guess is 17 or 18. Maybe even 20 but Duke, U6, Tennessee, maybe Florida, and probably some others have likely spent a good bit more and some others may be around parity.
The only thing that makes sense to me is to focus on how the roster compares to the field and how the pieces fit together.
There are enough moving parts and projections just to manage that without worrying about a data set that is tall tales, legends, and spitballing.
High school recruiting was an F-. It’s either the worst class in UK history or tied for worst.
Portal recruiting was C+. He did manage to get the top portal guy but I do wonder how much of that is due to everyone else basically being out of money or roster spots. If Milan decides on a school a month ago then I have no doubt that he goes elsewhere. Regardless he still got him. Still the bottom line is he missed on his top target at every position except Milan, and he’s done that every year here.
Overall I’d say he gets a C-/D+.
Portal recruiting was C+. He did manage to get the top portal guy but I do wonder how much of that is due to everyone else basically being out of money or roster spots. If Milan decides on a school a month ago then I have no doubt that he goes elsewhere. Regardless he still got him. Still the bottom line is he missed on his top target at every position except Milan, and he’s done that every year here.
Overall I’d say he gets a C-/D+.
When I think of recruiting class I assume freshman. Portal class is portal. I get they are both recruiting. But usually people rank them seperate then together.
Recruiting class F. Portal D+
Recruiting class F. Portal D+
Have to laugh when you see a D given to a portal class that arguably includes the best portal get. It’s easy in this thread to see those who cannot put their bias aside and grade the class on its merit. If you did not know the coach, school, process and just reviewed the class (class does include portal and HS combined), you would never give it a D+. So, it’s fair to draw conclusions from grades given.
When just about any top tier team with a positional need would have taken Diallo, Wilkins, and Milan, you know you have a good class.
When just about any top tier team with a positional need would have taken Diallo, Wilkins, and Milan, you know you have a good class.
Exactly. That's why I gave him a D+. No way it's a D.
But it's not biased. It's just my opinion. I think we got one good player and a bunch of mediocre players to go along with him. I mean come on man. We got people hoping Hawthorne breaks out. Hoping wilkins becomes a star. There's a thread right now talking about Mo Williams son becoming a legacy recruit.
I don't get excited over Mom but I'm glad we got him and I will roll with his ranking and shot making ability. A D+ isn't biased. It's not like I said F. I just see a disaster waiting to happen. Even with players getting along in the locker room.
But you know what would make me super pumped? If im completely wrong. I'd love to be wrong on this. I'd love to have to send cowboy 1000 bucks if we don't lose 15 games. Really.
Wilkins recruited by Nate Oats. Diallo by Tommy Lloyd. Milan by everyone. So mediocre.
we have seen your bias. But I love how hard you work it. You stick to your schtick. Credit for that.
I guarantee you if they recruited them they weren't to be starters. Coming off the bench and paid half of what we paid. Which is why we see them in Kentucky Blue. Only my opinion of course.Wilkins recruited by Nate Oats. Diallo by Tommy Lloyd. Milan by everyone. So mediocre.
Hell they weren't even our first options