Issel calls out JQ

LineSkiCat14

Heisman
Aug 5, 2015
38,815
60,838
113
We will never fully know if JQ didnt in some part, pack it in.

And until he returns some portion of the money (which he never will), he deserves the heat. As of now hes just a smidge higher than Sharpe. And if he meant all the nonsense he said, hed come back next year and work on his draft stock. But I see no way he doesnt go to the NBA where hes barely a lottery pick in a stacked draft, or worse, transfer to the next highest bidder.
 

20MRoster

All-Conference
Nov 16, 2018
662
1,214
88
Between this, the booster letter to Eli, Pope bullshitting on radio- it's about to get real ugly this offseason isn't it?
Everyone with a brain is calling it like they see it. Boosters to former players / alums down to the blue collar fan. We do have like 3 fans remaining on here that are circle jerking it in some thread blaming the refs. Even references an IG post from 2023 with a net total of 32 likes. But other than them, the fanbase is united, and it's a beautiful thing. So elite. Like a Rolls Royce Phantom.
 
Jul 6, 2025
182
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It generally takes 9 months to a year to get back to playing after an injury like JQ had.
Not sure what everyone expected.
So why sign him? You know fans are going to assume you have the hope he can play at some point but to pay a guy 3.5 mil to sit the bench all year? And listen to his old man run his mouth? We needed those two like we needed two double enemas. Just another poor decision by Pope in what’s turned out to be a multitude of piss poor decisions. And this guy is just gonna flip the switch and make everything hunky dory in 1 year? Fairy tale my friend.
 
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MonsterMash79

All-Conference
Apr 12, 2024
1,116
1,701
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Pope only brought in JQ because no one else would pay the money we did for an injured guy. It was Pope's way of saying "look, I can bring in big time players."
It’s crazy to me that people on here think pope’s gonna bring “Big time players “ when he himself wasn’t a Big time player lol.. And JQ wasn’t meant for the spotlight anyway, that’s why he went to ASU.
 
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fisherscatfan

All-Conference
Jan 17, 2010
1,068
2,313
113
He was injured when they signed him. Their bad. Issel as a former player shouldn't speak on other's injuries. It's poor form and he should definitely sit this one out.
Actually it is great form as it seems the UK Athletic Department is all about sticking it to fans through raising ticket prices, increasing required contributions for season tickets and finding any way possible to raise a buck so they give that money away to players who don’t play, coaches to not coach and ADs to do nothing.

But UK beat out 30 other minor schools 4 times in shooting BB guns.
 

Jtf2217

Senior
Apr 20, 2024
468
963
93
It generally takes 9 months to a year to get back to playing after an injury like JQ had.
Not sure what everyone expected.
I get that and sure enough that was probably always going to be it.
But don't have CMP talking about how he's setting records and on track for a miracle recovery and he's outpacing all their testing blah blah blah to ultimately end up not recovering.
I'm not a bullshitter kind of guy, I'm a look you in the eyes and tell you exactly what I believe I don't like being lead around the bush and given false hope about the one thing that at the time seemed like it could help with being a competent basketball team. Mark Pope has spread false info constantly to take the heat off of the JQ situation it's only 2% better than the Shadeon Sharpe situation because JQ actually did step on the court.


and I know you can't but there has to be some sort of stipulation that you appear in so many games to get x percentage of the total and it rises with every game played after the fact to the total


Example you get 3 mil in NIL
You get a 100,000 signing bonus
1 million payed out exactly at the end of conference play, and the other 1.9 at end of season based on metting student athlete goals (maintaining a certain GPA and following team rules for example) if you play in 0 games you get 0 dollars for the year. If you come in injured you will sign NIL agreement that states your NIL will be prorated based on when you get healthy and how many games you actually appeared in .

A legitimate injury sustained in competition or practice that is verified nullifies this need to appear and athlete will be awarded that years NIL but must be healthy to reinstate NIL agreement for next year. All cost of injury and rehab will be provided by the institution

That's just roughly something that could help maybe 🤔
 

83Cat_rivals79182

All-Conference
Mar 31, 2009
6,277
1,776
65
Yup JQ is scum. But Pope gave him the money and wanted him. On Pope more than JQ but I definitely don’t want him to have a good pro career.
Like Pope or not, he doesn't write the contracts. Those typically state that the player gets paid regardless if they play. Hopefully that changes in the future, but another team will offer that and then you lose out to them. Agents are the problem with college basketball.
 
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Amonbundy76

Freshman
Mar 22, 2026
51
53
0

Part of the problem too tho which nobody seems to want to point out is so called NIL money is a fraud. They're not being paid for name image and likeness which is what it stands for...it's just boosters paying them outright

98 percent of college players are not recognizable enough to make money off of their name etc. maybe a few thousand not millions
 

Jtf2217

Senior
Apr 20, 2024
468
963
93
Dan Issel is the horse, not the goose. Jack Givens is the goose. At least be right if you are going to be condescending.
My bad you're indeed correct both super legends, both all timers. I've heard the Goose mention criticisms as well on the radio and it was a honest mistake. Please excuse me 😘
 
Aug 4, 2025
388
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This is why Cal is gone.

We can all appreciate the great times. However, over the course of time, the ROI of OAD and projects just briefly using the platform and resources of the program to train, rehab, for the pros diminished.

It’s why I’m not as big on the biggest names on the recruiting trail.

Go tryout for the NBA and or rehab your knee somewhere else.

It was bad enough when they were playing for “free”…now I’d just as soon get 3-4 years out of Colin Chandler types for the same price.

Pope didn’t need JQ and he doesn’t need Stokes. He needs 5 more CCs. That’s what the Pitino mid-90s dynasty mode was all about.

Yeah, some dudes were talented and some went pro.

However a core group of dudes developed into a team that could make consecutive runs at it.

Some were pro level talent. A lot were just great, skilled, role playing, gritty, college players who wanted it.
 
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FilsonCat

All-Conference
Apr 5, 2007
3,305
3,863
113
I honestly don't know. This is a situation that never should have happened. We needed guards with a handle more than anything else. It's a small world at this level and rumors make their way around. We'll know the truth soon enough.

If JQ participates in the combine with no restrictions and is out there going after it full speed, then yeah, people will be upset.

If he only does medical exams and is cautiously doing private workouts for specific teams, then him shutting it down may not be unreasonable. Big strong post players have a longer road recovering from knee injuries.
 

phyrekat01

Junior
Jul 9, 2025
213
375
63
I see this feller commenting on UK alot and it p*sses me off! We don't care about what some random washed up fomer GM has to say about Kentucky basketball. THIS IS AN A & B CONVERSATION C YO Way OUTTA OF IT DAN ISSEL!
Satire is a lost art, and I'm saddened by the number of clueless people there out there who take themselves seriously all the time.
 

rick64

Heisman
Jan 25, 2007
24,619
33,769
113
I see this feller commenting on UK alot and it p*sses me off! We don't care about what some random washed up fomer GM has to say about Kentucky basketball. THIS IS AN A & B CONVERSATION C YO Way OUTTA OF IT DAN ISSEL!
Someone is either totally clueless or a big time troll.
 

CrimsonCats_rivals

All-Conference
Mar 22, 2022
1,634
3,327
61
I actually still think it’s likely that he did initially have a legitimate setback in his recovery. He was already on a pretty ambitious timeline for returning after the surgery, and it was clear that he wasn’t the same guy in the couple of subsequent games he attempted that he was against St. John’s. Several people here even commented in the game thread that he didn’t seem to be moving all that well in the Missouri game, and that was before any news broke about the swelling.

I think the question is whether he’s still actually struggling, or whether he reached a point where he and his father and agent decided to give up on playing for us again and target his rehab for getting well for the draft workouts. If he’s going full speed for those, it’s unfortunately going to increase the hard feelings around the situation.
 
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Sw4mpDonkey2

Redshirt
Mar 20, 2026
3
1
3
I feel like the knee swelling was just an excuse. Outside the St John's game, JQ struggled in the time he played. If he would've played, he would've been exposed against SEC bigs and killed his draft stock.
 
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Oboro_3

Redshirt
Sep 3, 2024
13
32
13
The same people on here complaining about Pope signing JQ would be all up in arms if he went to another team and dominated knowing he wanted to come to UK...JQ was worth the gamble due to the feedback Pope and JQ's team received on his recovery process. Every other coach in college basketball would have signed JQ knowing there was a chance he might not be able to play or he might not be all full strength.

This season's failure was not because of JQ's absence, it was due to us not having a true point guard which pushed players out of their true playing positions. JL was an ALL-ACC point guard that we lost.
 
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Zuma75

All-Conference
Mar 19, 2017
863
1,193
93
Between this, the booster letter to Eli, Pope bullshitting on radio- it's about to get real ugly this offseason isn't it?

Sesame Street Popcorn GIF by Muppet Wiki
 

BlueSince92

All-Conference
Jul 2, 2025
10,459
2,798
230
It generally takes 9 months to a year to get back to playing after an injury like JQ had.
Not sure what everyone expected.
It did in the 90s. It doesn’t these days when supervised correctly. Look into MTOR. What JQ did against St. John’s is what he could have done in November if the staff hadn’t been overly cautious as they admitted they were being. It’s up to you to decide how to interpret the “knee swelling” conveniently popping up after Quaintance senior started complaining about how Jayden was being used. But in 2026 that is anything but a foregone conclusion medically.
 

kg1982

Redshirt
Nov 23, 2025
7
7
3
I feel like the knee swelling was just an excuse. Outside the St John's game, JQ struggled in the time he played. If he would've played, he would've been exposed against SEC bigs and killed his draft stock.
There was an away game after he was medically benched again, I can't remember which one - but they showed them in the locker room before they came out and JQ had a noticable limp when the players were leaving the locker room. He was filmed from behind so I don't think he was doing it for show and I do believe he legitimately tweaked it or something.
 

Vek96

All-Conference
Jul 4, 2025
2,374
4,932
113
JQ is a total loser. Pretty much stole NIL millions and quit on his team. He’s nothing more than a nasty **** stain on our history.
 

Swimuk

Redshirt
Sep 15, 2020
6
9
0
I do understand the basic resentment toward JQ, especially given Sharpe situation and this season. However, Pope recruited the kid. What "kid" would turn down any amount of money to come and "maybe" play? Not one. Additionally, I do think that JQ did have every intention of playing, or why get on the court at all? If you can watch any UK game with JQ and say he wasn't an upgrade to BG or Moreno, then you are not watching objectively. I think "something" happened, and the "entourage" shut it down. However, again, why did Pope recruit a big with an ACL tear? That's the real question.