Collins chooses

[Dr.LutherSan]

Just blows me away when guys want to go to a non basketball school.
I have watched a lot of basketball from schools not named Kentucky but I can't remember the last time I have seen a USC basketball game.

Like you come here for the massive crowds, cult following, and in the end if you are decent enough you will never be forgotten by said massive crowds. I have zero USC guys in my brain, NOT 1. If you told me a good player was from USC I would be shocked lol.

-Not in 2026 they don't. Why would a kid from California care about being remembered by a fanbase that is largely halfway across the country?

 

[kfwa]

He could start by standing up for the program instead of being a bootlickng, good boy for Mitch. But we all know he doesn’t have the stones for that.

If the AD, who is your boss, worked the deal with JMI with the approval of the President of the University, all Pope would accomplish is either getting canned or sending the program into disarray.

I'm sure someone will say how is that different than now, but you know that Pope is hamstrung - the media is all over the JMI deal and Mitch's golden parachute and UK is just telling everyone to f' off

 

[BMR1987]

Musselman's pitch:
-It's California
-Closer to home
-I have coached in the NBA
-I have players in the NBA
-Look at my coaching accomplishments
-Presents NIL package

Pope's pitch (bringing the entire Pope family):
-look at this championship trophy I won 30 years ago as a player
-We have great fans
-Presents NIL package (with stipulations)

Bringing the family just puts Pope at even more of a disadvantage in a recruiting battle vs. Muss. Nothing against Lee Anne, but something tells me the mothers of (the majority of) 5* recruits would relate alot more to Mrs. Muss. IYKYK .

Truth is this was always going to be a difficult recruitment no matter who our coach was. All Pope's negative aura did was make it an impossible one.

 

[wccat]

Muss has THREE!! Pope has, let me count….Zero.

USC lands third McDonald's All American for 2026 in Collins

Top-five senior Christian Collins announced his commitment to USC on Wednesday, giving the Trojans their third McDonald's All American in the 2026 class.

www.espn.com

 

[Hitman206]

It was over for UK back in the fall when they couldn't agree to terms. They weren't even recruiting him after that.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

View attachment 1222679

I’m beginning to feel like a whiff god, whiff god.

 

[UKCowboys]

We have ZERO (0) recruits next year. If we sign stokes it’s only because we blew half our NIL budget to get him. I’ll be happy we got a top guy but don’t act like whiffing on Collins and every other recruit will be made up if we sign stokes.

I will if you stop pretending that if we signed Stokes as our only HS recruit, Milan Momcilovic from the portal and Miikka Muurinen from Euro, and keep the returnees they want, that they can't be a top 10 team next season. It doesn't have to be those two specifically with Stokes, but thats one example of how three kids can do it, and we have the money

 

[SkyPrince]

what can Pope do if JMI is tripping him up? honest question

There not.
If they were, we wouldn't even been involved in the Stokes recruitment.

 

[AJG-15]

Pope, we are all so tired of all the recruiting wins you have so far. Please, please stop winning on the recruiting front….. please let other schools get some of these studs… we got way too many….

 

[kywildcat1021979]

It’s where Rod Rhodes transferred to.

Basically never heard of again we he did.

 

[MegaBlue05]

Basically never heard of again we he did.

Rhodes was a first round pick in the 1997 NBA draft. He was heard from again. He just didn’t stick in the league.