Stupid post. He’s staying in 27 . If you’re gonna troll at least be intelligent about it, lol
HAMPTON to UK
- Thread starter BlueBloodKyFan72
- Start date
Realistically there’s a decent chance this won’t matter anyway. Trying not to rain on the parade but I’m just being real.
Kinda pisses me off that Pope couldn’t get one of these top guys his first three years and only finally gets one for the season that there’s a good chance he won’t even still be at UK for.
That was my initial thought as well.
Don't want to sound greedy, but is there any way we can get Hampton to put in a good word for us with Marcus Spears Jr. ?
Spears at power forward and Hampton at the 2 or SF ? If you can get just those 2 and cherry pick from the portal .... damn ..... you have got some buzz with that.
Just sayin'.....
Spears at power forward and Hampton at the 2 or SF ? If you can get just those 2 and cherry pick from the portal .... damn ..... you have got some buzz with that.
Just sayin'.....
2 recruits don’t erase the prior 2-3 years of whiffs. The fact that it took Pope all the way to his FORTH recruiting cycle to get 5 star or a guy that wasn’t from KY, borders KY or has a relative on the team is ridiculous.
He wouldn’t be scrambling to keep his job or having to read those 26.5k posts if he had recruited even remotely well prior to now.
Though a small sample size Ryan's peach jam stats were 61.5% from the floor and 54% from deep. Averaged 27 points. He knows how to score
I’d imagine landing Hampton changes the outlook for 2028. If we are a middling team, say a R32-S16 team that had a good but not great year 3-5 seed, I think knowing you have a #1 recruiting class around the corner would mean you probably don’t let him go. Not based on any internal knowledge here — I’m just being practical. Multiple people KSR been saying there’s a lot of internal belief Kentucky is set for a very strong 2027 high school class.
Pope has given himself more ways to keep his job IMO.
I personally have always believed an elite eight is where I plant my flag but boosters and admin aren’t likely to fire Pope if he goes and recruits a monster class, which is the expectation.
He’s absolutely the worst. The only one close is Gillespie. Billy didnt have a portal to bail him out like Pope does. Comparing their high school recruiting, Billy is firmly ahead.
Coach Williams and young Mr Hampton got on a zoom call with Marcus Spears Jr today and Spears senior who's one of the funniest guys I ever met was also on the call.
I can agree that comparing Pope's high school recruiting success against anyone else here puts him at the bottom of the list.
But that doesn't mean it can't turnaround. It's improving, we have to say that now.
Making additions like getting Hampton early to commit, as well as bringing on Mo, and hopefully Crawford as well, would go a LONG way to redeeming the "out of high school" recruiting portion of Pope's job.
Getting Momcilovic as a star standout in the portal is important moving forward. Hampton helps us moving forward with a positive narrative, instead of "Pope can't recruit - WHIFF" ....
And it's right to point out it's a different era with the portal now.
Pope has actually done very well in the portal for recruiting. For me, it's less of recruitment, as it is simply making a good pitch, for the right fit, and coming up with the money, where portal players are concerned.
Most of us have said we need a couple high school top 5 - top 10 players recruited each year, and ideally, we would get several good portal players to add to the mix, and we would be set. That's how Pope and the staff need to approach this. It appears that we are making strong moves in the right direction.
So I am holding fast with guarded optimism that we can continue to see these adjustments to get us back on top again. It all started with quietly getting Mo Williams, we lost out on Stokes, but reeled in Milan and now Hampton, in short orrder....
And Crawford coming here would be absolutely big news.
Just some more patience and I think we're gonna come out of all of this alright.
Yeah we have had some great Texas kids. Looking forward to watching things finally return to our favor.
okay SwamiI just relied on the initial tweets I saw. They were wrong, at least for now. Let's hope he stays in 27.
Depends. If we could guarantee that he would stay two years…
Yeah, I’ve always loved getting Texas players. Georgia may be my second favorite recruiting state.
Last edited:
It’s a great sign that things may be changing, but let’s not act like one hot week makes him Calipari yet. I’m excited for us and him. Maybe the dam can break. A couple top guys succeed here and all the sudden a lot of negative recruiting disappears overnight.
I've often disagreed with bigblueinsanity and he did get some info wrong here, but he's absolutely not a troll. He's a long timer from the old rivals board and a real fan with a lot of solid takes.
He’s obviously a genius. First kid to visit and commit on the visit from HS elite ranks. Smart kid.
I know bruh. It’s weird, but it feels so good.
It’s interesting to me that Pope might be able to recreate the “UK = NBA” pipeline that Cal started, but in a completely different manner.
Cal made great connections with agents, especially World Wide Wes, and became the greatest recruiter in NCAA history. He was a salesman and understood what it took to get the elite kids to sign.
But Pope might be able to rekindle the NBA pipeline by filling his staff (himself included) with actual ex-NBA players. Especially if Crawford joins the staff.
Yup, so far it’s a home run. He accomplished more in a week than the old staff in two years.
He is big and wide shouldered already at 17.. ..
A 6' 6" Shooting guard is Michael Jordan shooting guard size.
It IS the best physical attribute possible for the position.
The frame is rare.
He is going to be a freight train at Shooting Guard as he ages.
A 6' 6" Shooting guard is Michael Jordan shooting guard size.
It IS the best physical attribute possible for the position.
The frame is rare.
He is going to be a freight train at Shooting Guard as he ages.
I think he is taking a huge risk with high school basketball, instead of making that big money now. When your talking about being set for the rest of your life for your first year of college. Unless he is getting NIL in high school. And maybe there
Paying him already. He is one of the few, that committed a year early, if he stays in high school.
Maybe he doesn't have enough credit to graduate, who knows. Wants to play with his #1 rated cousin I hope
Damn I love this. But how did he get Eagle nuts 69's number
Hamptons recruiting will be big for Pope and Kentucky
Hampton, Spears, and Rosser, the three amigos, could rock Kentucky blue next year. WHOA NELLIE.
[QUOTE
And Cowboy just gave me the support your coach fkn speech, that's funny s.hit
That old saying practice what you preach, does apply to you to Cowboy. I remember you melting down on that post, and wanting to SUPPORT the firing of Pope.
Great post
You just have a premium membership and know you're untouchable to always call people names. Here's your exact quote. I thought you were making fun of yourself but I guess you were just being a hypocrite and blowing with the wind.
I was actully complimenting you as I thought you were being humble. Nevermind, lol.
FIRE MARK POPE - Forums
I cant believe I just put myself through that! This is the state of Kentucky Basketball! Run out a HOF coach for a bunch of mid major recruits in Pope's THIRD YEAR!! IM OUT on next season. Wouldn't walk across the street for free to watch them play!www.on3.com
UKCowboys said:
"Yeah, maybe if we call for it they will fire him now. They probably didn't realize we wanted him gone after the season."
And Cowboy just gave me the support your coach fkn speech, that's funny s.hit
That old saying practice what you preach, does apply to you to Cowboy. I remember you melting down on that post, and wanting to SUPPORT the firing of Pope.
Great post
Cal, is that you?
Worst case scenario, the next coach has a heck of a player to start with. Hampton should fit well with almost any style of play if he puts in the effort. If Mark does well with year, and he should, he’ll be here next season Id think.
Cowboy would have to confirm it himself of course but I more so take that statement as sarcasm making fun of the complainers and not actually saying he wanted the coach fired.[QUOTE
And Cowboy just gave me the support your coach fkn speech, that's funny s.hit
That old saying practice what you preach, does apply to you to Cowboy. I remember you melting down on that post, and wanting to SUPPORT the firing of Pope.
Great post
He came clean in another post and admitted he wanted him gone after getting caught lying. He even suggested getting vocal about running him out if town.
He made a whole thread after the season, and no it wasn’t sarcasm
I wasn't even trying to start anything. I remembered him flipping and I thought he was making fun of himself, so I complimented him on being humble. That ended up not being the case and he ended up talking down to me and calling me ugly names like he does in just about every post to others. Sad stuff. I'm a Pope guy, but digging up posts like he did to go after Pope haters is as weak as it gets when he decided he wanted him fired, lol.
Last edited:
1) there are no pope haters, merely fans who truly believe he will not bring the success here we crave 2) this has actually been a great week for those in no 1 (myself included). Getting Moreno back and signing momcilovic gives pope the chance to actually prove he can get it done and not flounder to consistent 12-14 losses (which I still think happens). 3). The signing of Hampton is great but means next to nothing if pope flounders yet again in season 3 as pope won’t be here next year and the next coach will have to recruit Hampton all over again.
So false. I responded to a post just yesterday where the guy said as plain as day "I'm a Pope hater." Several others are conveniently "out of pocket" when something goes Pope's way and then set up camp here and blow their megaphones loudly when it doesn't. Everybody knows who they are, lol.
Last edited:
Half of all players are now coming from the portal, but you exclude those to make him look worse? Even still, it's not that different:
Gillespie -
2007: Patterson (10), Legion (38), and AJ Stewart (3-star)
2008: Miller (35) and Liggins (34)
2009: Orton (19)
Pope -
2024: Chandler (30), Perry (80), Noah (3-star)
2025: Johnson (20), Moreno (25), Hawthorne (56), Jelavic (Int'l ~ 4-star)
2026: Williams (130), Hawthorne (3-star)
2027: Hampton (10)
He’s bad for talking down and acting like he’s above others I’ve seen