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Will the portal be “that” loaded for what we are going to need??

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TTTblue24

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I know we don’t know who’s entering but seem to be a pretty big gamble for it to be then the hardest part for pope……getting them here. I hope we can keep Malachi and Mo for the front court then Chandler for the backcourt, Noah has a place but if he’s not going to make wide open 3s then going to be hard for him to find more PT. I just wonder what we actually will get in the portal cause it seems that’ll be our team next year.
 
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jedwar

jedwar

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jmw23712 said:
Even if it is loaded, will we get those guys or just more of the same?
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I don't think you even need a loaded portal. Just target some really good ones and pay them. Hire someone who knows their work to navigate it.

This years issue is not closing on a couple of really important targets we were in on, Yaxel and Wilkerson. Would have totally changed this team. If you recall we went to the wire with Wilkerson and Wilson (yes I know he wasn't portal). Need to know the market and close it.
 
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FatCatMan

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I dread the portal, I really do. If high school recruiting has been this bad, what guarantee the portal won’t be just as bad? And what if most of the guys we want back, like Chandler leave for BYU while Moreno enters the draft?

Are we going to go weeks without a single commit while watching most of the top 100 portal players commit elsewhere? Like we’re going to get excited about elite prospects getting Kentucky offers and then the next day they end up going elsewhere.

Pope is going to be desperate this offseason and agents know that. I expect to overpay for mid-major 6th-9th rotational players. We’re going to be miserable this offseason. The fans and coaches alike.
 
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catsall

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TTTblue24 said:
I know we don’t know who’s entering but seem to be a pretty big gamble for it to be then the hardest part for pope……getting them here. I hope we can keep Malachi and Mo for the front court then Chandler for the backcourt, Noah has a place but if he’s not going to make wide open 3s then going to be hard for him to find more PT. I just wonder what we actually will get in the portal cause it seems that’ll be our team next year.
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If Mo is our PF next year, we are not winning 10 games.
 
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CB3UK

CB3UK

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My concern isn't whether there will be quality guys in the portal, it will be whether they want to play for Pope after all theyve seen from him here. Sure, we'll have the money to sign some guys, but getting guys who are only signing up for a one year payday doesn't necessarily equal team cohesion.
 
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TTTblue24

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It’s obvious pope needs studs cause we are again at 10 losses already but just wonder how much harder is it going to be to get them here for him?

Wilkerson and Yaxel definitely would have changed the look of this team or Wilson for yaxel, but can pope get them here??? I’m assuming pope is here since Mitch is the AD and we are already paying stoops thanks to Mitch and his brilliant negotiating skills.

I like Mo as a backup but he has to play with talent around him, he hustles and plays really hard and I think there’s a place on the team for a guy like that.
 
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UKCowboys

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jedwar said:
I don't think you even need a loaded portal. Just target some really good ones and pay them. Hire someone who knows their work to navigate it.

This years issue is not closing on a couple of really important targets we were in on, Yaxel and Wilkerson. Would have totally changed this team. If you recall we went to the wire with Wilkerson and Wilson (yes I know he wasn't portal). Need to know the market and close it.
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Yep. Either one of kids changes everything.
 
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jmw23712

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jedwar said:
I don't think you even need a loaded portal. Just target some really good ones and pay them. Hire someone who knows their work to navigate it.

This years issue is not closing on a couple of really important targets we were in on, Yaxel and Wilkerson. Would have totally changed this team. If you recall we went to the wire with Wilkerson and Wilson (yes I know he wasn't portal). Need to know the market and close it.
Click to expand...

Agree. But we were coming off of a pretty exciting season with some impressive coaching all things considered. Now I’m not sure what would cause top portal players to come here. Lots of schools will pay big money, but Pope doesn’t have any redeeming qualities to players with no connection to UK.

You’re right, having Yaxel instead of JQ, Wilkerson instead of 1 or 2 guys, and Acaden Lewis instead of Lowe, and we’re a FF team. But Pope dropped the ball and it’s gonna be tough to recover quickly enough to keep the fans happy.
 
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Jp1542

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TTTblue24 said:
I know we don’t know who’s entering but seem to be a pretty big gamble for it to be then the hardest part for pope……getting them here. I hope we can keep Malachi and Mo for the front court then Chandler for the backcourt, Noah has a place but if he’s not going to make wide open 3s then going to be hard for him to find more PT. I just wonder what we actually will get in the portal cause it seems that’ll be our team next year.
Click to expand...
It better be loaded because I don’t see many of this year’s team coming back.
 
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jedwar

jedwar

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jmw23712 said:
Agree. But we were coming off of a pretty exciting season with some impressive coaching all things considered. Now I’m not sure what would cause top portal players to come here. Lots of schools will pay big money, but Pope doesn’t have any redeeming qualities to players with no connection to UK.

You’re right, having Yaxel instead of JQ, Wilkerson instead of 1 or 2 guys, and Acaden Lewis instead of Lowe, and we’re a FF team. But Pope dropped the ball and it’s gonna be tough to recover quickly enough to keep the fans happy.
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Don't forget Wilson. We had him about done and couldn't close.
 
W

whack0001

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TTTblue24 said:
I know we don’t know who’s entering but seem to be a pretty big gamble for it to be then the hardest part for pope……getting them here. I hope we can keep Malachi and Mo for the front court then Chandler for the backcourt, Noah has a place but if he’s not going to make wide open 3s then going to be hard for him to find more PT. I just wonder what we actually will get in the portal cause it seems that’ll be our team next year.
Click to expand...
Noah needs to be recruited over until he’s the 12th man off the bench.
 
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L

Loucatfan30

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jedwar said:
I don't think you even need a loaded portal. Just target some really good ones and pay them. Hire someone who knows their work to navigate it.

This years issue is not closing on a couple of really important targets we were in on, Yaxel and Wilkerson. Would have totally changed this team. If you recall we went to the wire with Wilkerson and Wilson (yes I know he wasn't portal). Need to know the market and close it.
Click to expand...
Almost close works only in horseshoe and hand grenades.
 
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Loucatfan30

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CB3UK said:
My concern isn't whether there will be quality guys in the portal, it will be whether they want to play for Pope after all theyve seen from him here. Sure, we'll have the money to sign some guys, but getting guys who are only signing up for a one year payday doesn't necessarily equal team cohesion.
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He will have to overpay and he will only get the people he overpays for just like last year. Nobody will want to play for him because of what he can do for them.
 
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JwUKFan11

JwUKFan11

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I think most know where I stand with Pope.

The only way I can see him saving this is by somehow getting one of the 4 recruits out there for 2026 and also doing a much better job in the portal this offseason.
I feel like this year he thought he could take his second choice at basically every position for less money and still get similar results.
 
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Loucatfan30

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TTTblue24 said:
It’s obvious pope needs studs cause we are again at 10 losses already but just wonder how much harder is it going to be to get them here for him?

Wilkerson and Yaxel definitely would have changed the look of this team or Wilson for yaxel, but can pope get them here??? I’m assuming pope is here since Mitch is the AD and we are already paying stoops thanks to Mitch and his brilliant negotiating skills.

I like Mo as a backup but he has to play with talent around him, he hustles and plays really hard and I think there’s a place on the team for a guy like that.
Click to expand...
Michigan team which is arguably the best team this year is almost entirely new places from a couple of freshman and rest from the portal. They could have just as easily come here but they didn't even though we had a ton of money to spend. And they were all more highly rated than most of the players we signed. The question is why did they not come here?
 
King1959

King1959

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TTTblue24 said:
I know we don’t know who’s entering but seem to be a pretty big gamble for it to be then the hardest part for pope……getting them here. I hope we can keep Malachi and Mo for the front court then Chandler for the backcourt, Noah has a place but if he’s not going to make wide open 3s then going to be hard for him to find more PT. I just wonder what we actually will get in the portal cause it seems that’ll be our team next year.
Click to expand...
Pope may have quite a few returning, I’m not sure but is Aberdeen eligible to come back? Malachi and Potter will be bigs. I’m not sure Garrison will leave now that he has a child to support. Mo should come back. Hawthorne and Noah at the 3-4. Jelavic is another 4-5. Johnson and Chandler at the 2. Lowe will be back imo. Aberdeen if healthy. That’s 11 and I’m sure I’m forgetting someone.
 
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FitchandMurray29

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By ESPN we got transfer 7, 25, 60, 61, and 76 last year.

Have to think if they do that again with Moreno, Chandler, Kam, and freshman Hawthorne that that makes a pretty solid squad.

You probably just need those guys ranked 7 and 25 to combine for 2000 minutes played instead of 200(largely to blame on Pope with JQ, Lowe was bad luck irregardless of play)
 
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UKCowboys

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FitchandMurray29 said:
By ESPN we got transfer 7, 25, 60, 61, and 76 last year.

Have to think if they do that again with Moreno, Chandler, Kam, and freshman Hawthorne that that makes a pretty solid squad.

You probably just need those guys ranked 7 and 25 to combine for 2000 minutes played instead of 200(largely to blame on Pope with JQ, Lowe was bad luck irregardless of play)
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I think with Chandler, MM and Kam, to be a top 10-15 team we will need one of the top 3 portal kids and another in the top 10
 
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Supafuzz75

Supafuzz75

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King1959 said:
Pope may have quite a few returning, I’m not sure but is Aberdeen eligible to come back? Malachi and Potter will be bigs. I’m not sure Garrison will leave now that he has a child to support. Mo should come back. Hawthorne and Noah at the 3-4. Jelavic is another 4-5. Johnson and Chandler at the 2. Lowe will be back imo. Aberdeen if healthy. That’s 11 and I’m sure I’m forgetting someone.
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We get lube,, or no?
 
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TTTblue24

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I forgot about Kam, I hope he does come back and Lowe I just don’t know about. I definitely think Lewis should be here vs Lowe and though he got hurt, I just have mixed feelings on him returning. Kam, Chandler, then MM would be a solid 3 then I do think you need elite at the 1 and 3/4 position or even at the 2 and run 3 guards.
 
T

TTTblue24

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Anybody know where we stand with Holt? Thought I read a while back he was a Bama lean but I’m guessing that ship has sailed as well and no point to reach back out to him.
 
A

Anon1759768907

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TTTblue24 said:
Anybody know where we stand with Holt? Thought I read a while back he was a Bama lean but I’m guessing that ship has sailed as well and no point to reach back out to him.
Click to expand...
arizona now, bama moved on so he wouldve been ours usually, but now now
 
ZaytovenCat

ZaytovenCat

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I mean, yeah you could probably find enough talent to field a title contender IF you had a staff that could recruit. We don’t. So it really doesn’t matter. It would honestly take getting 3-4 of the top 30 portal guys to field a legit title contender. Pope will be lucky as hell if he can get even 1. He will have to overpay for that 1 as well.
 
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Anon1739778738

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Insanity is repeating the same actions over and over again expecting to get a desired result but always ending up with the one you do not want.Pope and staff will not get top talent from the portal not having a general manager and the jmi contract will guarantee failure.
 
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