He mentioned that in talking with recruits families, he feels that pope doesn't do the best job in building a relationship and seeing eye to eye with some of these families and players. Also mentioned how pope sometimes struggles with valuing players correctly in a monetary way.
Note from Pilgrim on Recruiting on Sources Say Pod
- Thread starter Anon1759768907
- Start date
He’ll learn. It takes time to figure things out. Be patient.
In other words unlike Cal he won't make them promises he can't keep or promises to play certain players X number of minutes no matter how bad they play.
He’s 6’10”. Doesn’t see many people eye to eye.
as i've said all along. the JMI situation probably isnt perfect and i could believe it will prevent some top 20-30 guys from coming here. but no one in the top 150 is interested in playing for pope/uk. that isnt a JMI issue.....
UK probably loses 7 more conference games. 1 SECT game. thats 14 on the year. then you go into next year having to having to roll the dice on the portal with 5-6 guys and hope it works better since you have zero big talent coming in from high school. i dont see how its not a double digit loss season next year if our core group are dudes already on the roster.
that would be 3 years in and not much to show for it and no real hope for the future. but sure....being patient should work out
UK probably loses 7 more conference games. 1 SECT game. thats 14 on the year. then you go into next year having to having to roll the dice on the portal with 5-6 guys and hope it works better since you have zero big talent coming in from high school. i dont see how its not a double digit loss season next year if our core group are dudes already on the roster.
that would be 3 years in and not much to show for it and no real hope for the future. but sure....being patient should work out
The time to figure these things out is when you’re coaching at a G5 school, not when you’re coaching at a top 5 program in the country.
If he's getting elite players, who gives a s***? I don't think we're in any position to judge the dude who traditionally has one of the best recruiting classes, while we don't have anyone.
Hope our recruiting improves. But also dont want to ever be in a situation again where Dejauan Wagner is playing ahead of Reed Shepherd or Quade Green is playing ahead of SGA, or the Twins are playing ahead of Ulis and Booker because promises have been made.
And let's be honest, this team doesn't have the best chemistry and it doesn't seem like they all respect the coaching staff. I imagine several guys on this team will hit the portal.
Ditch Mitch
Kentucky basketball, where coaches learn how to coach/recruit and players learn how to shoot and get their confidence back.
I'm not concerned about that. Unless something changes, we'll not get enough elite talent to have that problem. Per data, the sum of the parts is better, which is beautiful.
UK is not a learn in the job type school.
Yeah it has worked out well this year. Looks at us steam rolling untanked teams, if we keep winning we may eventually crack the top 25.
And that's super special and beautiful.
We can't afford to let a coach learn on the job. Uconn is coming. Duke is coming. Kansas is coming.
I'm surprised UKcowboys isn't here yet to tell us why Pilgrim is lying, Pope is a great recruiter, he's the coach for UK.
I have never bought into the “ this coach doesn’t make promises” . It’s ******** every coach does to land recruits . Doesn’t mean they will honor it .
As far as Pope connecting with families it’s pretty crazy that is where we are at right now . Personality wise I wouldn’t have expected this . Felt like the complete opposite the way JQ pop’s described Pope
As far as Pope connecting with families it’s pretty crazy that is where we are at right now . Personality wise I wouldn’t have expected this . Felt like the complete opposite the way JQ pop’s described Pope
Can you find even one player that says Cal promised him anything?
The recruiting so far has been a big problem.
And it needs to be fixed YESTERDAY.
Otherwise, Pope has to go.
Zero reason for us to not have multiple first-round NBA dudes on our roster year-in and year-out.
$22 Million.
We could have spent $6-$7 million on AJ Dybansta, another $4 million on a guy like Caleb Wilson or Yaxel Lendeborg, and then STILL had $11-$12 million to fill out the rest of the roster with shooters and defenders.
Just embarrassing that this team isn't loaded with talent. And it pisses me off.
And looking at next year, that's Collins and Stokes, BOTH of which we led for, and BOTH of which we have now lost.
If Pope doesn't go out there and just CRUSH the portal this year with truly all-American level talents, he needs to go.
And it needs to be fixed YESTERDAY.
Otherwise, Pope has to go.
Zero reason for us to not have multiple first-round NBA dudes on our roster year-in and year-out.
$22 Million.
We could have spent $6-$7 million on AJ Dybansta, another $4 million on a guy like Caleb Wilson or Yaxel Lendeborg, and then STILL had $11-$12 million to fill out the rest of the roster with shooters and defenders.
Just embarrassing that this team isn't loaded with talent. And it pisses me off.
And looking at next year, that's Collins and Stokes, BOTH of which we led for, and BOTH of which we have now lost.
If Pope doesn't go out there and just CRUSH the portal this year with truly all-American level talents, he needs to go.
worst part is that jack pilgrim said that the donors gave pope a "blank check" for this roster
and only brought in one double digit scorer from the portal
Such a silly revisionist take.
Reed Sheppard -28.9 mpg
Dj wagner -25.8
quade green - 25.6
SGA- 33.4
Harrison’s - both 25mpg
Ullis-23
both doubled up ullis in points ona team where we were a **** *** goaltending call away from playing for 40-0
Reed was 2nd most on team. He is also probably the reason we got sent packing. Getting schooled by a balding insurance salesman and throwing uncontested passes over heads.
it’s fine to bash cal. It’s fine to have wanted him gone- I thought it was time for a change. But you goobers have to make stuff up to support your feelings. It’s hilariously sad.
How about this- only brought in ONE guy who was a season-long starter last year for a P5 team.
Jaland Lowe.
Aberdeen, Dioubate, Kam Williams, etc. don't fit that criteria.
We should have been able to bring in MULTIPLE dudes who can dominate and change a game, instead we brought in this collection of role guys and paid them an insane amount.
its scary that next years team on paper will most likely be way worse than this one
I don’t talk to them very often, but it’s pretty clear from many examples in the past
Or…and here’s a thought…Cal was wrong for making the promises AND Pope is a huge effing dork that doesn’t identify with today’s players. Both can be true.
The fact KSR continues to talk about Popes recruiting struggles, it's bad folks
The number of first year and second year coaches that are out performing Pope is astounding. Most are not at basketball schools with half the money UK has. I can name at least ten. But let’s run it back, everyone should be use to being a middle tier SEC team at this point.
Wagner should have been getting about 15 minutes a night. At most. Quade Green about same. We’re talking about SGA or Quade Green, Reed or Wagner, Booker or Aaron Harrison. Are you saying they should have been getting similar minutes? Neither of the twins shot better than 40% that year. Play the right guys and stay out of the way is literally all he had to do with that team.
Idk if that is totally fair.
He is #1 in 2nd-year head coaches in terms of Q1 and Q1A wins, as well as top-15 wins. He is the only first-year coach last year who advanced to the 2nd weekend of the NCAA tournament.
His first year was better than Jon Scheyer's, etc.
This year has not been even close to the standard so far but through 1.5 years of guys who were hired a year ago, there aren't ten coaches that have done better or accomplished more during that stretch.
JMI CONTRACT REVISION AND GM HIRING OR POPE AND BARNHART NEED GONE YESTERDAY
I don’t think this should be over-looked. I love Mark, but his recruiting is seriously suspect. When you have the money he had and bring in what he brought in - well, there is an issue there.
I posted after the Gtown exhibition that we had a team full of bench guys. I’m not surprised at where we are currently this season. I wasn’t a big fan of Lowe. JQ coming off an ACL? I think it’s obvious Mark whiffed on most of his 1 and 2 targets across the board.
If this is true, then that sounds terrible for the future. If a "blank check" isn't enough to get top players, then how will he survive without that blank check.
I agree Lowe was a bad fit injury or not. Way too ball dominant. I would like to have seen what an Aberdeen/ Conwell back court might have looked like this year. And been able to keep the kid who ended up at Nova. I feel like Popes system needs a pass first, great on ball defender at the point. Butler was just about perfect. Damn shame he had the injury. Hopefully the staff can learn from this and find better fits next year.