Something that I hate hearing in the Pope Era

HipTer

Senior
Apr 11, 2012
1,127
921
113
"X will be good in a year or two!!"
"X is a guy that will need a couple years to make an impact!!"

Like why cant anyone be good right away
They can if they're upperclassmen. It's why the transfer portal has been so transformative. But by the same token, NIL has made it very attractive for high school juniors and European 17-year-old to "re-classify." You're just not going to get much positive production from those kids.
 

UKSanders

Senior
Aug 27, 2007
393
749
93
"X will be good in a year or two!!"
"X is a guy that will need a couple years to make an impact!!"

Like why cant anyone be good right away

why can’t both be ok? Recruit high school guys with potential who need to develop either physically (I.e. Hawthorne) or skills
(i .e. Nick Richards, WCS with Cal), and then ALSO get guys who can contribute right away (transfer portal guys like Milan OR elite freshmen).

That combination is what allows the team to be mature and compete at the highest level.
 

Anon200440

Senior
Mar 28, 2026
399
766
93
why can’t both be ok? Recruit high school guys with potential who need to develop either physically (I.e. Hawthorne) or skills
(i .e. Nick Richards, WCS with Cal), and then ALSO get guys who can contribute right away (transfer portal guys like Milan OR elite freshmen).

That combination is what allows the team to be mature and compete at the highest level.
Ive never heard someone in the cal era say "x will be good in a year or two"

I promise you no one was like "Yeah give deearon fox 2 years to get going"
 

UKCowboys

All-American
Oct 14, 2019
4,749
8,897
113
"X will be good in a year or two!!"
"X is a guy that will need a couple years to make an impact!!"

Like why cant anyone be good right away
Momcilovic will be good right away. Zoom will be good right away. Wilkins will be good right away. McBride will be good right away. Moreno was good right away.
You know what I hate hearing? Pope haters making **** up as they go
 

Goingfor9

All-Conference
Jan 27, 2003
16,410
3,415
113
"X will be good in a year or two!!"
"X is a guy that will need a couple years to make an impact!!"

Like why cant anyone be good right away
They’ll be good in a year or two when they’re gone and plan for another coach. They don’t say where he’s gonna make an impact I don’t know last year we thought we had a team of guys and everybody was like “oh we’ll have Lowe next year and the guy that Pope ran off JJ we’ll have all these returners for this season”. We’ll see I don’t know of the time when a guy gets it together after losing his entire team and none of the guys who played for him last year. Want to play for him anymore. I mean, it’s Hometown guys if we didn’t have Hometown guys on this team we would have no returners. I doubt Cam Williams returns of no one else returns.
 

Anon200440

Senior
Mar 28, 2026
399
766
93
Ridiculous. He might be a 1st team a
All American
I doubt it, I could see like 2nd team all sec though

Not a bad player just not a first option, id feel better about the team if by the end of the year zoom or alex is the guy
 

Dward13

All-Conference
Feb 5, 2008
10,292
1,690
72
Ive never heard someone in the cal era say "x will be good in a year or two"

I promise you no one was like "Yeah give deearon fox 2 years to get going"

Plenty of people said that about guys like Marcus Lee, Eric Bledsoe(most werent expecting Bledsoe to be one and done when we got him), SGA, Devin Booker, Tyler Herro, Charles Matthews, Stacey Poole, Tyler Ulis, Dom Hawkins, Derek Willis, Jamalr Baker. Just off the top of my head.

You need to pay attention to some other teams out there. Not every player that ends up great in college is great right away. Several former developmental pieces on the rosters of the 4 final four teams from this past season. Yaxel was like 25 years old. And UNC fans ran off Elliot Cadeau, who is now a preseason Wooden award candidate.
 

SenseMaker_Cats

All-American
Jul 3, 2025
1,916
5,940
113
Plenty of people said that about guys like Marcus Lee, Eric Bledsoe(most werent expecting Bledsoe to be one and done when we got him), SGA, Devin Booker, Tyler Herro, Charles Matthews, Stacey Poole, Tyler Ulis, Dom Hawkins, Derek Willis, Jamalr Baker. Just off the top of my head.

You need to pay attention to some other teams out there. Not every player that ends up great in college is great right away. Several former developmental pieces on the rosters of the 4 final four teams from this past season. Yaxel was like 25 years old. And UNC fans ran off Elliot Cadeau, who is now a preseason Wooden award candidate.
That dude was like four years old at the beginning of the Cal era. That’s why he’s “never heard”.
 

Eagles_Ball_69

All-American
Dec 19, 2003
4,420
5,947
82
Momcilovic will be good right away. Zoom will be good right away. Wilkins will be good right away. McBride will be good right away. Moreno was good right away.
You know what I hate hearing? Pope haters making **** up as they go
To be fair…don’t need to make it up. 26Ls in 2 years. He either gets way better this year or the Pope haters will have someone else to focus on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FactsOrOpinions

*Fox2Monk*

Heisman
Jun 10, 2009
46,908
85,746
113
I think he was 2nd team All-Conference. But I didn't look it up so I might very well be incorrect.
So far he was on the:

All freshman team.
All-Big 12 Tourney team 2x
All-Big 12 second team

I can definitely see a jump to first team All-SEC/ POY consideration and possible AA team based on his trajectory in college. Especially if he shoots as well as last year, has a high PPG, and we finish strong in the standing. Team success will determine his awards as much as anything IMHO. Unless he just shatters the all time shooting records and has a crazy stat line of 20+ ppg/4-5 assists and boards or something. He will start the year on those kind of lists being such a highly rated player with a good history in a big league.
 
Last edited:

Eagles_Ball_69

All-American
Dec 19, 2003
4,420
5,947
82
That's my concern with this team. Lots of "mights". I think they're better than last years product. I'm not sure they're going to be much better than Pope's first team, which is a major concern. They are going to be BAD defensively. While they might have the best shooter in the country, I'm not sure anyone else is capable. McBride...maybe. Wilkins...maybe. Kam has been in a boot since the season ended. Hawthorne is proving why he didn't deserve PT last year. Just a TON of questions to be answered and it's concerning. If the stars align, I can see this as a top 10 team. If they don't and things are just kind of meh, I think they're a fringe top 25 team. If ish goes sideways, I think it could be just like last year's team or a tad worse. I think I'd be in a better head space if the floor for this bunch was a tad higher.
 

UKCowboys

All-American
Oct 14, 2019
4,749
8,897
113
That's my concern with this team. Lots of "mights". I think they're better than last years product. I'm not sure they're going to be much better than Pope's first team, which is a major concern. They are going to be BAD defensively. While they might have the best shooter in the country, I'm not sure anyone else is capable. McBride...maybe. Wilkins...maybe. Kam has been in a boot since the season ended. Hawthorne is proving why he didn't deserve PT last year. Just a TON of questions to be answered and it's concerning. If the stars align, I can see this as a top 10 team. If they don't and things are just kind of meh, I think they're a fringe top 25 team. If ish goes sideways, I think it could be just like last year's team or a tad worse. I think I'd be in a better head space if the floor for this bunch was a tad higher.
I disagree about the floor. I think we can beat anybody. We will score the heck out of the ball IMO