Mark Pope deserves a massive "atta boy." Well done, coach.

[bigblueinsanity (the real)]

A standard deduction could be made that when some states something in an absolute manner that that person “knows”. I simply asked a simple question based on my objectively reasoned position that there are actually other options that could have been in play other than the ONE you stated in an absolute manner.

You're trying way too hard.

 

[Mike-D]

I feel like we have a top 15 roster without Mitchell. With him, I'm thinking top 5ish. Pretty pleased with the final roster. However, I have serious doubts that this kid ever plays for Kentucky.

 

[CatFanMan66]

Pope worked his butt off to get Moreno back, bring in Milan, and finally add Mitchell.

I'm all for giving credit where credit is due. Pope landed two top 5 portal players and brought back a potential first rounder in Moreno. He worked really hard to make it happen, and his hard work should be acknowledged.

This Kentucky team has a legit chance to compete for a Final Four.

Let's get behind Pope and the Cats this year and see what happens.

Go Kentucky! Let's hang #9!

Thank you for this positive post

 

[moses1uk]

Now let’s hope Pope has some luck with no big injuries like last 2 years

 

[wildcat111]

I used to say Pope is a B+ recruiter. After the bad start to the off-season, I reneged my claim. I think Pope not only deserves the “attaboy” but also some respect for another top portal class. In the new era of college basketball where portal is so important, he has produced the best of his three classes. All three were top 10 according to 247Sports IIRC. Respect to Pope and I was wrong for doubting his recruiting this offseason.

Save the "atta boys" until the end of the season to see what he does with all of the talent. If Cal taught us anything, coaching is more than getting the recruits by paying big $$$.

 

[Bowfreak.]

Do you really believe everything that Pitino says? He already has offers for juniors and seniors in high school right now. Also, Mark Pope DEFINITELY cares about high school recruiting. He just hasn't been very successful at it yet.

Pitino also said that Marvin Stone was the best big man he ever coached.

 

[Kingslayer07]

I think the biggest question now is how well does Mitchell gel with the team? Will there be some animosity towards him? Because I can definitely see that, we are only human and there will be some of that. How well can Pope handle that?

 

[Dr.LutherSan]

Pitino also said that Marvin Stone was the best big man he ever coached.

And Chane Behanon was the best forward he's coached since Mashburn.

 

[Smeegs]

Big difference in recruiting them and buying them.

Not really. Buying them now IS part of recruiting them. Largely the same thing.

The only thing that truly matters in the recruiting game is RESULTS. Whatever gets the best recruits is what makes one the best recruiter. And the skills that made a good recruiter in one era ain’t necessarily the same in another. Raising enough NIL money to land the best is now one of those skills.

Regardless of how he did it, if Pope landed the No. 1 ranked portal class then he’s now provably a good recruiter. Period.

 

[HipTer]

When someone says that Mark Pope is one of the best recruiters, I feel it's not crazy to disagree with that remark. I'm thrilled with the roster that he has put together, but one of his biggest weaknesses is high school recruiting. That's an issue that needs fixing in order for him to be a top recruiter.

Being able to coax high school OAD kids to come to your program is what I think most associate with being a good recruiter. I guess that - and likewise being able to convince top portal players to come to your school – does fit the term “recruiting” pretty well. So, I don’t think you disagreeing with Pope being one of the best high school recruiters is crazy - it's probably true.

But if I assume the goal is to identify players that give the team the highest chances of winning a title (and given UK’s ability to build rosters most anyway they want), I don’t think the traditional idea of being a “good recruiter” is necessarily one of the more important abilities of a coach.

Personally I would put more emphasis on a coach’s ability to identify and make forecasts on high school players that will have the biggest impact on winning. That applies also to portal recruiting, just not necessary to the same extent due to actual college production taking a lot more of the 2nd or 3rd year forecasting eye out of it.

Golden at FL (who I don’t view as very likeable) seems to be an example of this type of coaching talent. There are plenty of other coaches I’d bet posters here could do a better job of identifying than me. But it’s a more difficult thing to judge than adding “stars” together. M. Williams would seem to be a potential example for Pope, but I don’t know how intentional that actually was – could have been the result of a good eye or could have been Williams “fell into Pope’s lap,” I don’t know.

 

[Neal Orac]

 

[Bowfreak.]

And Chane Behanon was the best forward he's coached since Mashburn.

This too. LOL!

 

[BigBluefoot]

Would you also agree, using the same logic, that our injuries the last two seasons have been luck as well? You can’t have it both ways.

Kam's injury was bad luck, but many of the other dudes had a lengthy history of injuries when they were recruited and of course JQ was recruited knowing his deal. Same with Kepnang this season. You can't recruit injury-prone players and then use it as an excuse. And we did kind of luck into these great transfers at the end. I'll give him credit for.jumping on getting them when the opportunity arose. But this was more luck than Pope playing some 3d chess.

 

[BigBluefoot]

I feel like we have a top 15 roster without Mitchell. With him, I'm thinking top 5ish. Pretty pleased with the final roster. However, I have serious doubts that this kid ever plays for Kentucky.

Yeah, this is far from a done deal yet with the way the ncaa and judges arbitrarily act.

 

[SenseMaker_Cats]

Kam's injury was bad luck, but many of the other dudes had a lengthy history of injuries when they were recruited and of course JQ was recruited knowing his deal. Same with Kepnang this season. You can't recruit injury-prone players and then use it as an excuse. And we did kind of luck into these great transfers at the end. I'll give him credit for.jumping on getting them when the opportunity arose. But this was more luck than Pope playing some 3d chess.

“many of the other dudes had a lengthy history of injuries”

Who were they?

 

[BigBluefoot]

“many of the other dudes had a lengthy history of injuries”

Who were they?

Lowe, Butler, Obviously JQ had a.major one, and now Kepnan. Hell.I think Carr may have had multiple injuries as well.
I think he did that out of necessity, but you have to at least get a viable depth for important roles like PG.

 

[PastorofMuppets82]

Jaland Lowe did not have any serious injuries at Pitt. He broke a finger and played through it his Sophomore year and missed part of game due to concussion protocol. That is hardly a "history of injuries".

Butler broke his wrist and missed 4 week in 2021. That's the list of his history of injuries.

Carr never had injury history at Wake Forest and his first sign of back issues was after the game against Brown while he was playing for UK, when he experienced back spasms. No other major injuries or surgeries prior to UK. He only missed 1 game for us as a result of his back.

Other players who got injured at some point and either missed games or were slowed with minutes years 1 and 2 that didn't have a "history of injuries" before coming to UK, Jaxson Robinson (torn wrist ligaments), Travis Perry (sprained wrist), Kerr Kriisa (broke foot), Trent Noah (rolled ankle), Mo Diabaute (rolled ankle), Otega Oweh (turf toe), Brandon Garrison (ankle), Kam Williams (broken foot).

So really, outside of JQ last year and Franck this year, what other players actually had "histories of injuries" when Pope brought them in?