is incredibly bad luck with injuries but mainly the NBA draft. Other programs have much, much better luck returning guys, look at Florida, Uconn etc. There is a tax playing for Kentucky that even if you are a fringe 1st rounder or even 2nd round pick, if you went to Kentucky, you have a higher chance of getting drafted. Other programs have worse players, but just seem to always get them back. We just lose all the talent we have more than any other program.
The real reason Kentucky hasn't won lately
- Thread starter VC99
- Start date
It's amazing that this post from 2019 is just now showing up on the first page!
We definitely lose talent, Freeman to St John’s is one example. Tired of excuses, guys like Freeman saying they want to play for Pitino because he gets guys to the next level should tell you something.
Can you tell me the last player Pitino had drafted high? More importantly could Freeman??
Donavon Mitchel at UL in 2017. Almost 10 years ago. Ya, Pitino kills it nowadays.
Not a chance Freeman could have told you that.
Pope has 2 guys drafted from last year on NBA rosters. Brea and Williams Pitino had no one drafted last year. Seems this guy didn’t do his homework or he just repeated what he was told.
Dont Facts suck??
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Calipari let the game pass him by. Not just with his famously nonchalant attitude about 3 point shooting, but because his style of defense stopped working as well as it had. Everyone remembers Wisconsin in the FF and UK's complete offensive meltdown in the last 5 minutes, but I think the real turning point game for Cal was the one before that, when Notre Dame illustrated how to exploit his defense with a 5 out style that became extremely common in the ensuing years. Cal has never had a particularly good defensive team again after that.
Pope just appears to be in over his head. I'll grant you some bad luck, particularly last year with the Butler and Robinson injuries, and I'd give Pope a B for that season given how late the roster was constructed and how historically good the SEC was. But the head scratch stuff started before any major injuries, with the 20 point loss to a dogcrap Ohio State team at a time when UK looked like it had momentum and could be a legit top 10 team. This past season was a huge swing and miss with a terribly constructed roster and a lot of performances that seemed to indicate some of the players just didn't care. And the Quaintance situation was pretty much predictable.
So pretty much a decade with a fading coach and then a guy probably not qualified to have the job.
Pope just appears to be in over his head. I'll grant you some bad luck, particularly last year with the Butler and Robinson injuries, and I'd give Pope a B for that season given how late the roster was constructed and how historically good the SEC was. But the head scratch stuff started before any major injuries, with the 20 point loss to a dogcrap Ohio State team at a time when UK looked like it had momentum and could be a legit top 10 team. This past season was a huge swing and miss with a terribly constructed roster and a lot of performances that seemed to indicate some of the players just didn't care. And the Quaintance situation was pretty much predictable.
So pretty much a decade with a fading coach and then a guy probably not qualified to have the job.
100% true! UK’s platform is so big that even mediocre seasons turn guys into draftable prospects. Other schools have NIL collectives.
Kentucky has JMI, a Fortune‑100‑level marketing arm!