Mark Pope needs to rescind the Tyran Stokes offer immediately

peterpiper09

All-Conference
Mar 19, 2006
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Actually Mark Pope is costing us elite recruits! He has absolutely zero 5 star nba players. Pathetic. Kids don’t trust pope, not even at Kentucky.
What don’t they trust?
He plays one of the most fun styles out there. He can’t help it that everyone on the team stays injured. Get a bunch of kids in here that can play and stay healthy, who knows what he might accomplish.

I’ve heard this BS a whole lot in the media. Players are not trusting Pope. What the hell are they not trusting. I believe it’s negative recruiting.
 

kyjeff1

Heisman
Sep 8, 2012
50,470
70,655
113
I’m on record saying I do believe JMI is an issue. I know it is. And him signing Brea was

A. Based on playing time.
B. There was no JMI deal.
C. Even Pope can pull a single recruit here and there that someone else wants. He can’t do it consistently and Brea wasn’t a highly touted recruit.
D. He was recruited on the Caliapri / NBA brand. Pope is now the face. Might not get him now, probably wouldn’t.

Mark would have a lot of trouble recruiting anyway. I mean he’s been a head coach for 12 years. He’s got no major impact recruits in his life. I don’t know how anyone could look past this. Some people just see this early and some don’t, for me this is one of the easiest things I’ve ever seen in sports. Mark has a multitude of reasons why he will not and cannot be successful here. JMI is a hold back for sure, but Calipari was getting around it. Mark cannot both sell himself with no record and get around it. There’s a no chance he wins to standard or returns UK to consistent blue blood basketball. None man.
The beauty of it is, it's all on Mark's shoulders. That's why I'm not freaking out about this whole thing. It's on him to livevuo to what he knows are the expectations.

What good does it do to call him a loser, or a dope?

What we do inow, is he's going to work his a*s off to try to fix it and that goes a long way with me and it’s more than I can say about the last coach we had.

The other good thing here is, with the portal and NIL, a new QUALIFIED coach, can fix the program in 1 season, so this isn’t going to be some 5 year rebuild job if Pope fails next year.
 
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Kyfan27

Senior
Jan 7, 2023
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I believe that Stokes is recruit we need to solidify Pope can recruit and we trend toward getting a top 5 guy.
But if he’s gonna drag this shiit to the point of losing a big chunk of nil where we could get a real proven stud in the portal than I think Pope should end it.
I sort of agree, but if we get him does that mean Pope can actually recruit or more that we now have to drop a bag just to get a guy? Even if we land Stokes this has been a huge indictment to Pope's recruiting. The fact we have, by all accounts, offered substantially more than anyone and still haven't landed him tells me this isn't sustainable even if we get him.
 
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kyjeff1

Heisman
Sep 8, 2012
50,470
70,655
113
Umm, Jeff. We are losing EVERY recruiting battle for top recruits. Comparing Pope.to Cal.or K is like comparing nose whistler to Eddy Van Halen.
So, are you saying Kobe Brea is a nose whistler to Yaxel's EVH?

Who the F compared Pope to K and Cal? Do you need help understanding what’s being said? Do you understand what a comparison is?

I said "every coach, including K and Cal, have lost recruiting battles, Pope isn’t the only one".

And you think that's a comparison??? Are you okay?
 

peterpiper09

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Mar 19, 2006
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Pope is actually a pretty smart guy. He knows that Tyron Stokes is not coming here, and he is probably trying to recruit a spot that Stokes would have been in. I just don’t understand why he doesn’t come out, rescind the offer and be done with Stokes.
Then Stokes has one option and one option only and that’s to go to Kansas, unless someone else is going to come into the picture at the last minute and offer some egregious amount of money. I think some schools are already getting wise to that.
 

UKWildcats1987

Heisman
Sep 9, 2021
19,665
34,274
113
He’s being strung along by this kid and it looks of desperation at this point. Show some pride and end any affiliation with him now. Even if he did come, it would end up bad. He was even seen wearing the back brace thing at the McDonalds game. Just setting the tone for what he will do next season wherever he goes. Plenty of good players in the portal who actually want to play basketball without all the drama.

Anyone that has been around very long has seen this happen before where a recruit strings along another high competitor, costing them resources and time, only to end up going to the other team. Cut the cord now. It could end up costing us another good player.

He’s not bigger than our program, even though some think he is.

The last sentence describes Pope to me.

A real loyal alum would resign.
 
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peterpiper09

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Mar 19, 2006
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The beauty of it is, it's all on Mark's shoulders. That's why I'm not freaking out about this whole thing. It's on him to livevuo to what he knows are the expectations.

What good does it do to call him a loser, or a dope?

What we do inow, is he's going to work his a*s off to try to fix it and that goes a long way with me and it’s more than I can say about the last coach we had.

The other good thing here is, with the portal and NIL, a new QUALIFIED coach, can fix the program in 1 season, so this isn’t going to be some 5 year rebuild job if Pope fails next year.
Some of these people don’t appreciate the fact that someone is actually trying. Especially a lot of the younger crowd doesn’t have respect and obviously have no patience. Sometimes it just takes a little time to get things rolling right. People have unrealistic expectations. They think someone can just come in and win a title immediately and if they can’t, then they should get fired.
 

Jonathan40330

All-Conference
Dec 23, 2014
1,279
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I'm curious how Stokes would fit with Keegan Brown's "team chemistry over individual potential" outlook. Brown must see him as a fit if Pope continues recruiting, but I feel Stokes to be a Kansas lock.
 

Vek96

All-Conference
Jul 4, 2025
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He’s being strung along by this kid and it looks of desperation at this point. Show some pride and end any affiliation with him now. Even if he did come, it would end up bad. He was even seen wearing the back brace thing at the McDonalds game. Just setting the tone for what he will do next season wherever he goes. Plenty of good players in the portal who actually want to play basketball without all the drama.

Anyone that has been around very long has seen this happen before where a recruit strings along another high competitor, costing them resources and time, only to end up going to the other team. Cut the cord now. It could end up costing us another good player.

He’s not bigger than our program, even though some think he is.
I agree. He’s a drama queen, that will likely be a pain in the ***.
 

Vek96

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old adage. You cannot make wise decisions without all of the facts . None of us have inside knowledge of ten or so basic questions. I trust in Pope to do the right thing . He has put together two good teams that were plagued by injuries.
Bingo!
 

Vek96

All-Conference
Jul 4, 2025
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Another old adage. If you are 63 win percentage across 10+ of your entire career and have never won anything, that's what you'll continue to do.
Pay attention. Check out Hurley’s, Donovan’s, and Golden’s first few years. Pope has been better.

Quit with this stupidity.

Root for another team. Calipari was garbage his last 4 seasons here. He left this program in awful shape. Go off on him. Not Pope.

If Pope goes the next two seasons at Kentucky, and doesn’t win a single tournament game, he will still have 3 tournament wins in his four years here, which will be two more tournament wins than Calipari had in his last 4 seasons here. Think about this.
 
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mdluk1

All-Conference
Oct 28, 2007
886
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Pope is actually a pretty smart guy. He knows that Tyron Stokes is not coming here, and he is probably trying to recruit a spot that Stokes would have been in. I just don’t understand why he doesn’t come out, rescind the offer and be done with Stokes.
Then Stokes has one option and one option only and that’s to go to Kansas, unless someone else is going to come into the picture at the last minute and offer some egregious amount of money. I think some schools are already getting wise to that.
It ain’t over until it’s over. Keep the offer out there but if there is a stud in the portal that wants to come, you take him.
 
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Catlogic1552

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Jul 3, 2025
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Pope is actually a pretty smart guy. He knows that Tyron Stokes is not coming here, and he is probably trying to recruit a spot that Stokes would have been in. I just don’t understand why he doesn’t come out, rescind the offer and be done with Stokes.
Then Stokes has one option and one option only and that’s to go to Kansas, unless someone else is going to come into the picture at the last minute and offer some egregious amount of money. I think some schools are already getting wise to that.
You don’t just rescind an offer to the number 1 player in America when this will all shake out in a week or so anyway. That would look petty. Besides, UK probably already knows Stokes intent.
 

Reggie Noble

Sophomore
Jul 5, 2025
134
175
43
Michigan: 5 of their top 6 players are transfers.
Illinois: only 2 RSCI top 100 players (#23 & #57) and 3 transfer players.
UConn: 3 transfers and 1 top 10 kid.

The team that had all the high end NBA star power, is sitting at home. It can be done and it actually is done more often than not.
There’s four teams in the final four, why did you leave Arizona off? They have two freshmen lottery picks.
 

Reggie Noble

Sophomore
Jul 5, 2025
134
175
43
Great post, will be ignored by most, doesn't fit the narrative. Using this fact based knowledge would make them think May, Underwood and Hurley can't recruit lol
Because he cherry picked. What about Arizona? Also Yaxel was the number one player in the portal
Keaton Wagler is a freshman projected in the top 10 of this year’s draft and is clearly the leader of Illinois.
 
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GoAndRunIsGoneAndDone

All-Conference
Dec 12, 2023
901
1,093
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So, the number 1 recruit in the nation comes down to two schools and some people on here think we should just wave the white flag and surrender him to Kansas? Is that really what ya'll think? And aren't some of those the same people that claim to be the only real fans and the rest of us have just lowered our standards? Ya'll confuse the hell out of me! It's literally nut cutting time. That's when we find out who the quitters are in life and bball. I'd get banned if I said what I really think about some of those know everything so called fans, so I'll stop there. They're the same ones that were hoping we'd lose, because they knew better than anyone what's best for the program. I wanna see their resumes! This place must be loaded with power conference D1 coaches or something.
 

*Fox2Monk*

Heisman
Jun 10, 2009
44,707
80,488
113
There’s four teams in the final four, why did you leave Arizona off? They have two freshmen lottery picks.
Not to mention acting like Duke is failing is crazy. They have underachieved but it took two collapses with a lot of stuff happening to even get it o happen. They will be right there very year.
 
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*Fox2Monk*

Heisman
Jun 10, 2009
44,707
80,488
113
Because he cherry picked. What about Arizona? Also Yaxel was the number one player in the portal
Keaton Wagler is a freshman projected in the top 10 of this year’s draft and is clearly the leader of Illinois.
Yeah he was a diamond in the rough find too. You won’t consistently win relying on 150th ranked freshman every year. You end up with Booby Perry more than Wagler and that’s why you are mediocre even when they become the best player they can be.
 

3 Putts

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Apr 25, 2025
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Yeah, I’d much rather give up on the nation’s number one recruit and grab two role players from other schools so I can watch them hit the top of the backboard on 3’s and have the ball bounce off their head under the rim.
 

UKCowboys

All-American
Oct 14, 2019
3,324
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Because he cherry picked. What about Arizona? Also Yaxel was the number one player in the portal
Keaton Wagler is a freshman projected in the top 10 of this year’s draft and is clearly the leader of Illinois.
LMAO, Holy Cherry Pick...and do with REALLY want to use Wagler as an example and prove my point for me? Wagner was barely a 4 star coming out lol. Research fella
 
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kyjeff1

Heisman
Sep 8, 2012
50,470
70,655
113
I
Some of these people don’t appreciate the fact that someone is actually trying. Especially a lot of the younger crowd doesn’t have respect and obviously have no patience. Sometimes it just takes a little time to get things rolling right. People have unrealistic expectations. They think someone can just come in and win a title immediately and if they can’t, then they should get fired.
I'll take a coach that works his butt off to win a title over a guy that's full of himself.

Pope has more than proved that he has the ability to beat anyone with less talent. He just has to find a way to sustain it.

He also has to overcome the recruiting hurdle, but he just hired 2 people that will greatly hwlp with that.

It's crazy to me that a coaxh gets this much hate after 2 years, when he went to the tournament both years, won games and did great things in year one. We got some fans in tbis fanbase that play too many video games.
 

kyjeff1

Heisman
Sep 8, 2012
50,470
70,655
113
You don’t just rescind an offer to the number 1 player in America when this will all shake out in a week or so anyway. That would look petty. Besides, UK probably already knows Stokes intent.
I'd be interested in knowing how much NIL money Pope has to work with. It matrers.
If he has enough and another 6'7" sf pops up in the portal on Tuesday, he can get both of them. Probably wouldn't work that way, but it would be nice to not lose out on a portal giant while we wait on this kid to most likely go to KU
 

paulcalhoun_rivals397471

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Aug 23, 2024
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He should have taken advantage of the NIL I guess.
He did take over after a successful 3 year run by Bill Foster at 73-24 75.2% with a title game appearance and an Elite 8. K didn't have NIL in those days but neither did anybody else. If you are claiming you wouldn't have demanded his firing in the first three seasons (17-13,10-17,11-17) you are being very dishonest.
 

UKGrad24

All-American
Apr 2, 2024
2,808
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The beauty of it is, it's all on Mark's shoulders. That's why I'm not freaking out about this whole thing. It's on him to livevuo to what he knows are the expectations.

What good does it do to call him a loser, or a dope?

What we do inow, is he's going to work his a*s off to try to fix it and that goes a long way with me and it’s more than I can say about the last coach we had.

The other good thing here is, with the portal and NIL, a new QUALIFIED coach, can fix the program in 1 season, so this isn’t going to be some 5 year rebuild job if Pope fails next year.
We can definitely fix this fast. Only issue is, JMI. I would hate for coaches to want the job for obvious reasons, then say “eh not worth the JMI hassle”. Of course, from the “sound” of it, it’s not impossible to work around so I don’t know. But man I hope UNC doesn’t grab a guy like Donovan and he kills it. It would be a major blow to UK knowing he was sort of one of us, a Pitino guy, wanted the job several times and wanted it this time possibly, and UNC comes in here. I know a lot of people make the claim that he hasn’t coached in college in a long time and it’s the NIL era now. All of that is even more of a reason Donovan would do well. This is a pro league, he’s already a name brand, he knows how to win, he’s got it all for a pro league like this. I’m praying it doesn’t happen. I don’t see May going Michigan is the one job in this era that is as good as a blue blood without be one. And please Arizona win it all to keep Lloyd in place.

He’s another the board constantly railed against and it was obvious years ago he was on his way.
 

kyjeff1

Heisman
Sep 8, 2012
50,470
70,655
113
Because he cherry picked. What about Arizona? Also Yaxel was the number one player in the portal
Keaton Wagler is a freshman projected in the top 10 of this year’s draft and is clearly the leader of Illinois.
Cherry picked? 3 of the dang FF teams have a bunch of transfers. Michigan is loaded with them

I don't care that Yaxel was the top portal guy, he was atill a portal get. Why is that so hard to understand?

Dude said Pope cant win with a Portal only tean and I literally proved it false.

What, Pope can't land the #1 ranked portal guy? If you have money, you most certainly can. IU, UCLA, USC, Texas and freaking SMU are getting players, why can't UK? Have you seen the lame duck coaches at those other programs?

Cherry picked… wtf?