Rippey

20MRoster

All-Conference
Nov 16, 2018
875
1,625
88
Any 5 star with serious pro aspirations would be much better off on Duke's bench than playing for Pope. Pope's best (and probably ONLY) hope now is to hammer that 30-50 range (guys like Hawthorne) and try to find a Herro, SGA, Booker. Couple of posters said this yesterday.

Unfortunately, there's no evidence Pope has any acumen in the type of player evaluation needed to consistently succeed at a Final Four level with the above model.
 

yoshukai

Heisman
Dec 21, 2002
29,790
42,237
102
Could we pluck him somehow. Foster, Boozer now Blackwell. They also have Howard coming in. It appears to be a crowded backcourt and doesn’t look like he will start. I know it’s wishful thinking but, it would be nice.
Even if we were to ”flip” him , both our guard commitments would leave. That’s the way it works for Mark Pope .

Besides , guard play isn’t what is going to lose us 15+ games next year. It appears to be our front court .
 

Smeegs

All-Conference
Nov 19, 2025
658
1,869
93
Read an article where Foster and Rippey would be the starting backcourt.
Then I guess they’ll be starting a three guard lineup, because there’s no way Blackwell’s going there to come off the bench. Nor can I see Cayden Boozer accepting mere 4th guard minutes.

It ain’t gonna be easy keeping all four of those guys happy with playing time.
 
Oct 23, 2025
320
405
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Could we pluck him somehow. Foster, Boozer now Blackwell. They also have Howard coming in. It appears to be a crowded backcourt and doesn’t look like he will start. I know it’s wishful thinking but, it would be nice.
His dad was really excited about the Blackwell news. Sounds like he's fine with his son sitting on the bench.
 
Oct 23, 2025
320
405
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Then I guess they’ll be starting a three guard lineup, because there’s no way Blackwell’s going there to come off the bench. Nor can I see Cayden Boozer accepting mere 4th guard minutes.

It ain’t gonna be easy keeping all four of those guys happy with playing time.
You think Dame Sarr and Bryce Howard will both be on the bench?
 
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Padsfs07

All-Conference
Jan 19, 2013
3,613
3,331
108
Then I guess they’ll be starting a three guard lineup, because there’s no way Blackwell’s going there to come off the bench. Nor can I see Cayden Boozer accepting mere 4th guard minutes.

It ain’t gonna be easy keeping all four of those guys happy with playing time.


Dame Sarr and Bryson Howard (top 12 recruit) also at the 3.
 

Reggie Noble

Junior
Jul 5, 2025
176
237
43
Then I guess they’ll be starting a three guard lineup, because there’s no way Blackwell’s going there to come off the bench. Nor can I see Cayden Boozer accepting mere 4th guard minutes.

It ain’t gonna be easy keeping all four of those guys happy with playing time.
Dame Sarr not coming of the bench either, which would have to happen in a three guard offense. Imo.
 

RedwoodHigh

Senior
Nov 18, 2025
590
825
93
Then I guess they’ll be starting a three guard lineup, because there’s no way Blackwell’s going there to come off the bench. Nor can I see Cayden Boozer accepting mere 4th guard minutes.

It ain’t gonna be easy keeping all four of those guys happy with playing time.
But many on this board wanted Ky to recruit former starters & 4-5 stars as “BENCH PIECES”.
Duke understands injuries & fouls better than Pope & Co. We played a 3 guard starting lineup for most of the SEC season. Kam considers himself a guard & Stokes wants to be “point forward “.
Winning 30 games keeps everyone Happy- Rippey staying at Duke will help him become a lotto pick in 2028.
I Still Hate Christian Laetner💩🖤
 

brooke0402

Freshman
Jul 29, 2002
46
60
18
Then I guess they’ll be starting a three guard lineup, because there’s no way Blackwell’s going there to come off the bench. Nor can I see Cayden Boozer accepting mere 4th guard minutes.

It ain’t gonna be easy keeping all four of those guys happy with playing time.

But many on this board wanted Ky to recruit former starters & 4-5 stars as “BENCH PIECES”.
Duke understands injuries & fouls better than Pope & Co. We played a 3 guard starting lineup for most of the SEC season. Kam considers himself a guard & Stokes wants to be “point forward “.
Winning 30 games keeps everyone Happy- Rippey staying at Duke will help him become a lotto pick in 2028.
I Still Hate Christian Laetner💩🖤
They also have Howard. 5 guards is gonna be a problem. U think Boozer came back to ride the pine.
 
Aug 10, 2025
200
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But many on this board wanted Ky to recruit former starters & 4-5 stars as “BENCH PIECES”.
Duke understands injuries & fouls better than Pope & Co. We played a 3 guard starting lineup for most of the SEC season. Kam considers himself a guard & Stokes wants to be “point forward “.
Winning 30 games keeps everyone Happy- Rippey staying at Duke will help him become a lotto pick in 2028.
I Still Hate Christian Laetner💩🖤
Duke understanding fouls. Have you ever watched a Duke game.
 
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moses1uk

All-Conference
Jun 16, 2005
939
1,579
93
Could we pluck him somehow. Foster, Boozer now Blackwell. They also have Howard coming in. It appears to be a crowded backcourt and doesn’t look like he will start. I know it’s wishful thinking but, it would be nice.
You don’t understand how NIL works . He got screwed but he’s signed his contract so he can’t do anything
 

SkyPrince

All-Conference
Jul 7, 2025
610
1,002
93
I wish we had that problem, but anyone thinking there won’t be problems in the locker room is crazy.
Boozer
Foster
Rippey
Howard
Blackwell
Sarr
Evans

All those guys for 3 spots and all will want 25-30 min a game.
Good problem to have, but will be a problem.
Evans and Sarr have declared for the draft, correct?
 

BBNSZN914

Heisman
Apr 9, 2024
4,465
11,517
102
I wish we had that problem, but anyone thinking there won’t be problems in the locker room is crazy.
Boozer
Foster
Rippey
Howard
Blackwell
Sarr
Evans

All those guys for 3 spots and all will want 25-30 min a game.
Good problem to have, but will be a problem.
By god that looks like a gatdamn PLATOOOOOOOOOOOOON
 
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TFCat11

Heisman
Mar 25, 2019
6,031
10,833
108
Duke has a blank checkbook yearly, so they could sign the top 5 players every year if they so well wanted, and then sign the next best 5 to back up those first 5!

Duke is going to win multiple titles in the coming years, we might as well just accept it as self evident.

UK’s days of being King of the Hill died the day the NIL era started, it’s just going to take longer for some versus others to accept it.
 
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KyWideWes

Junior
Dec 11, 2025
151
280
63
You don’t understand how NIL works . He got screwed but he’s signed his contract so he can’t do anything
I think Duke had Blackwell for the past week but had him wait until the last minute to keep guys from entering the portal. They had very little time to decide to risk getting less money on the open market.
 
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Smeegs

All-Conference
Nov 19, 2025
658
1,869
93
I wish we had that problem, but anyone thinking there won’t be problems in the locker room is crazy.
Boozer
Foster
Rippey
Howard
Blackwell
Sarr
Evans

All those guys for 3 spots and all will want 25-30 min a game.
Good problem to have, but will be a problem.
Kinda reminiscent of the situation we had before the “platoon” season in 2015 where it looked like there was almost too much quality depth.

Seems crazy to me that all those guys would rather be part time bench players at Duke than full time starters at UK.
 

meteordealer

All-Conference
Nov 20, 2004
11,563
2,274
113
I wish we had that problem, but anyone thinking there won’t be problems in the locker room is crazy.
Boozer
Foster
Rippey
Howard
Blackwell
Sarr
Evans

All those guys for 3 spots and all will want 25-30 min a game.
Good problem to have, but will be a problem.
Why would they care about minutes? They are already getting millions of dollars. I wouldn't care if i ever saw the court.
 

brooke0402

Freshman
Jul 29, 2002
46
60
18
I think Duke had Blackwell for the past week but had him wait until the last minute to keep guys from entering the portal. They had very little time to decide to risk getting less money on the open market.
Rippey is a frosh and hasn’t signed his letter of intent.