Some of you complaining about whiffing on Rancid... If you go to shootyhoops.com Duke's SECOND String would beat our FIRST string. People, there is a massive, massive gap from how Duke is building their rosters to how we are. Duke is convincing former 5-stars to come off the bench behind more 5-stars. They will be able to keep doing this over and over and over, retaining elite talent and having elite depth. We need to change up everything about how we do things here.
I don't think yall realize
- Thread starter VC99
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There’s a massive gap in the top 10 teams next season, with our roster, we are top ~50.
Is there even a conference where we would be the clear cut favorite to win it?
For starters Fire mark pope
Duke is the only one doing it, and I doubt it lasts much longer. They also have the strongest brand in hoops in an era that brand doesn't have as much weight.
Kids these days are mainly going for the coach and/or the program they think will get them to the NBA. Pope is never going to be able to build that foundation.
Kids these days are mainly going for the coach and/or the program they think will get them to the NBA. Pope is never going to be able to build that foundation.
That program is also swimming in cash and is Nike’s favorite school.
Many of us realize just how bad it is. All we can do is point it out we don't have the power to change it. As it stands UK's roster is one of the worst in the power 5.
Agree. MBB is basically becoming WBB (where there are 2-4 elite teams, a gap, then a group of 10-15, a gap, then the rest of the field).
For real-- I only knew of 2 frosh they brought in, and I made a thread to laugh at them signing a Pope level player. You guys educated me on their roster and holy crap they are stacked. That retention is insane. Going by betting odds, they are 1a and 1b title favorites with UF.
UK needs a completely new infrastructure, president on downwards, to get to that level.
UK needs a completely new infrastructure, president on downwards, to get to that level.
Yes, and there's no excuse for UK to not be in that top tier
True, but plenty of programs have $$.
CBB is about to get monopolized by 6-10 programs. The top 6 is going to look about exactly the same as the Final 6 this year.
Illinois
Michigan
Uconn
Duke
Florida
It's like rinse, wash, repeat. Now maybe some schools break in, like UNC, but it's generally looking like the same group as they are all retaining a ton of talent. Kids want to play for their coaches.
Most of us realize this and have been talking about moving on from this idiot coach since December.
It’s called, having REAL NIL!
Kentucky “pretends” to have the money, but the money has been an illusive mystery that never actually materializes in the form of a star player!
Case in point… We hear constantly about this phenomenon known as “Stokes money”, but this “Stokes money” has yet to make an appearance either, so is that just smokescreen as well?
I do know this… The schools that actually do have NIL, are signing players left and right, and the majority of the time, these players don’t even need to visit the school!
Maybe KHSAA 3rd region? Definitely isn’t one in D1 or D2 with the talent UK is rolling out with!
End of day, you cannot have a coach that repels players. That is a bare minimum requirement. On this alone, it's hard to keep the guy any longer than you have to. This portal season was enough for me to realize ASAP is appropriate. As long as you can do it seemlessly, fluid and without disruption, while maintaining some class, you do it if you can bring someone else really good in. You're never going to win with a coach that doesn't draw great players in - he'll lose them all in a year even if he gets the good ones, and as you see the top 5-7 teams are there because of retention - everyone wants to play for them.
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Reminds me of a video I saw from a guy working at a BMW dealer on "fake rich" customers vs "real rich" customers.
Duke will have Dame Sarr, Cayden Boozer and Bryson Howard coming off the bench and Pope will sub in Trent Noah. Reece Potter and Mason Williams.
I'm saying tons of people have complained about Rancik and "we should have just taken him as our starting PF but there's a reason why they went on in on Freeman, the talent gap is so massive Duke's bench would give our starters a run.
Who in the right mind on here is comparing the dumpster fire we have here to Duke? That’s like comparing a pig to a thoroughbred. This program is a season away from Indianaitis and that season will be here in 6 months. We are not top 5, top 1, not even top 100 with our current roster but the players aren’t the problem. The problem is obvious whether folks want to admit it or not. The steady departure of coaches and players, the complete whiff on recruits, followed up by being forced to take table scraps just to fill out the roster? The people currently in charge should be charged with murdering a program.
I'm not debating what you are saying regarding us, but Duke did this last year and lost Henderson to Miami, then Khamenia and Harris got squeezed out (not unlike Foster and Evans two years ago)
The transfers they get are mostly backfill types like Sheffield, Brown, Gillis, Scott, and Ufochukwu ~ The Belmont guy will probably be the same ~ Scharnowski.
So their second string will be Boozer, Rippey, Howard, redshirt freshman Wilkins, and Scharnowski. My guess is Howard and Wilkins get squeezed out.
Also, we haven't heard what Dame Sarr will do.
The transfers they get are mostly backfill types like Sheffield, Brown, Gillis, Scott, and Ufochukwu ~ The Belmont guy will probably be the same ~ Scharnowski.
So their second string will be Boozer, Rippey, Howard, redshirt freshman Wilkins, and Scharnowski. My guess is Howard and Wilkins get squeezed out.
Also, we haven't heard what Dame Sarr will do.
Sadly this is true. Duke, Florida, Uconn, Michigan, Illinois, they have all loaded up.
Now, some of the other final four teams had Stojakovic (Illinois) who many here didn't want after he played at Cal and Stanford, nor Aday Mara (Michigan) who came over after poor seasons at UCLA.
The key is having 7-8 high-quality players from a mix of transfers, returnees, and 5-star freshmen (even Michigan got a couple as upperclassmen in Cadeau and Johnson).
The key is having 7-8 high-quality players from a mix of transfers, returnees, and 5-star freshmen (even Michigan got a couple as upperclassmen in Cadeau and Johnson).
Nobody’s recruiting compares to Dukes . Not even Calipari’s . They are a different level than everyone else. Thankfully that doesn’t guarantee championships .
It just guarantees repeated back-to-back-to-back-to-back 1 seeds every year which vastly improves your chances.
NIL has balanced the playing field. We lost one of the main players we wanted to Providence of all places. Every school has money, most have decent enough facilities. The most important thing going forward to stay relevant is a competent GM that can manage the team and run it like a professional business. A competent coach that has attractive things that he can sell(trophies, nba ties, former players). And possibly other perks like financial planning and investments brokers for these kids. The cool factor, like uniforms and buzz around the program helps also so a top notch marketing team. Money is gonna be available for the top players at any school.
Right,but nobody else is going to recruit at Dukes level. Just not going to happen.
