We need a dude

[bleedsblue5]

Trying to be mostly positive here, it's hard but I am trying.
I like most of our additions, but it seems like a lot of last year with a ton of role players and no dude's (one could argue Oweh but he was a role player before and just evolved).

I am fine with the roster but we need 1 DUDE, someone that when the offense looks like crap you can give the ball 2 and he can go get a shot off.

Pope imo needs to stop what he is doing, go look at what is left and throw the rest of the cash he is allowed at 1 guy.
The rest is good enough barring injuries.

 

[meteordealer]

It would be better to throw that cash at Pearl or Donovan.

 

[USARMYWILDCAT]

I think at this point what we need most is a new coach. It’s just gonna be rinse and repeat if we stay on this path.

 

[BBNSZN914]

It would be better to throw that cash at Pearl or Donovan.

Pearl is not a serious candidate bc he walked away from his team right before the season presumably for health reasons. That’s a nonstarter.

 

[chroix]

Pearl is not a serious candidate bc he walked away from his team right before the season presumably for health reasons. That’s a nonstarter.

Yeah pulling that move here and forcing your kid into the role would definitely not fly here.

 

[TTTblue24]

We should have went after Harris to replace Oweh but he put all his eggs in the stokes basket & probably cost us Holt and others from us as well.

 

[jeffky]

Who knows I do believe this will be popes last year . However ,with diallo and Wilkins I do believe the ball movement will be much better .if we can somehow let pope know that Moreno can knock down mid range jumpers that will give us more offensive production too.

 

[Monday Nitro]

Constant movement and no "ball stopper."

Working out for the Rockets the last 2 games since Durant gave up.

 

[UKCowboys]

We should have went after Harris to replace Oweh but he put all his eggs in the stokes basket & probably cost us Holt and others from us as well.

That is true, but that said, if he had, Pope would have still gotten killed on here daily for not going all in on Stokes

 

[Yardeth]

Going all by in is one thing, but not stopping after he has decided to go to Kansas and wasting another month on him is ridiculous. Pope can’t close a door!

 

[Bill_the_cat]

The problem with "a dude" is the only 2 out there are Harris and Momcilovic. Both are SFs, which is the position most ready for next year in Williams and Hawthorne.

 

[philstat]

The guy Pope watched the other day in Israel is a T-800 model, yeah, he didn’t score a single point, though his tenacity and motor are second to none, his nickname is The Iron Curtain, he drapes opposing players with his defense.

 

[bleedsblue5]

I mean ya I mostly agree on the coach, but since we know that is not changing we still need a DUDE.

If you had to guess though, if we didn't add anyone else who would be the dude currently?
Wilkins would be my guess

 

[Crestcat]

That is true, but that said, if he had, Pope would have still gotten killed on here daily for not going all in on Stokes

It was a no win situation, damned if you do and damned if you don't. The Pope sucks people would have been pissed either way.

 

[TheApostleSaulSmith]

No. New coach

 

[loublue22_rivals308424]

There are no dudes left, and even if there was, Pope certainly isn't beating anyone for them.

 

[St.Patterson_54_]

We are past the point of getting any shocking additions. At this point we're down to random Euros and lame depth pieces, I'm afraid. Then we will endure a long dead period until October, where we a) all get excited that some players are better than we expected and then b) endure a very mediocre season until we c) miss the tourney or get put out early and then d) do what we should have done this offseason.

 

[cornbreadnmilk]

The problem with "a dude" is the only 2 out there are Harris and Momcilovic. Both are SFs, which is the position most ready for next year in Williams and Hawthorne.

Kam and Hawthorne aren't the answer. Hawthorne wasn't even good enough to play in last season's mess.

 

[Aike]

Wilkins went for 24+ nine times last year. Had games of 33 and 34.

Will that translate to this level? Will he make a leap?

How good is Hawthorne?

I mean, we really don’t know about a lot of this stuff until we see the team play together.

I know it’s fun to bag on Pope, and in a lot of ways he deserves it, but I don’t think it’s really fair to bag on the team he’s constructed until we see them play games.

It’s frustrating that we’re in the hyper-pay era and we see other teams constructing clearly deep and talented rosters. I’m just too much of an optimist to allow myself to believe that we have no shot.

Let’s lace them up. See what they’re made of. And if it’s still not good enough we should move on from Pope.

But if this team plays with maximum effort and they just aren’t quite good enough, I’m certainly not going to blame them. One of my favorite teams of all time went 14-14.

 

[TouchdownKy]

This team has many unknowns but does have potential.
We could use more rebounding, interior D, and shooting.
I do believe we will sign 1 or 2 more contributors that will help improve in those areas. Time is on our side and many more opportunities will most likely arise.

 

[Cats_2010]

It was a no win situation, damned if you do and damned if you don't. The Pope sucks people would have been pissed either way.

I was pissed Pope kept recruiting him. It was obvious to everyone stokes wasn’t coming here and didn’t want to come here. Hes an ok player but he’s not that damn good. I would have pulled his offer months ago and moved on. Pope doesn’t know how to be an *** which is one of many reasons he is failing here in grand fashion.

 

[howitis_rivals115807]

I was pissed Pope kept recruiting him. It was obvious to everyone stokes wasn’t coming here and didn’t want to come here. Hes an ok player but he’s not that damn good. I would have pulled his offer months ago and moved on. Pope doesn’t know how to be an *** which is one of many reasons he is failing here in grand fashion.

I don't think there is a single top 40 recruit that would play for Pope.

 

[UKCowboys]

Wilkins went for 24+ nine times last year. Had games of 33 and 34.

Will that translate to this level? Will he make a leap?

How good is Hawthorne?

I mean, we really don’t know about a lot of this stuff until we see the team play together.

I know it’s fun to bag on Pope, and in a lot of ways he deserves it, but I don’t think it’s really fair to bag on the team he’s constructed until we see them play games.

It’s frustrating that we’re in the hyper-pay era and we see other teams constructing clearly deep and talented rosters. I’m just too much of an optimist to allow myself to believe that we have no shot.

Let’s lace them up. See what they’re made of. And if it’s still not good enough we should move on from Pope.

But if this team plays with maximum effort and they just aren’t quite good enough, I’m certainly not going to blame them. One of my favorite teams of all time went 14-14.

Folks on here got used to having the best recruiter ever at UK. Then thay same coach would fold up unless he had the most talent in the game. So now, when we aren't a top ranked recruiting class, they assume we will suck.
Pope has brought in some pretty good teams. He has had massive injury issues both years. I would like to see how we look without losing 2-3 starters per year just once.

 

[kyhankypanky]

The problem with "a dude" is the only 2 out there are Harris and Momcilovic. Both are SFs, which is the position most ready for next year in Williams and Hawthorne.

Williams and Hawthorne should not dissuade you from recruiting a stud at the 3. That is the nicest way I can say it.

 

[Jtf2217]

I'm a dude, he's a dude, she's a dude cause we're all dudes hey.

 

[ulrey]

It would be better to throw that cash at Pearl or Donovan.

Make Stevens say no!

 

[Aike]

Folks on here got used to having the best recruiter ever at UK. Then thay same coach would fold up unless he had the most talent in the game. So now, when we aren't a top ranked recruiting class, they assume we will suck.
Pope has brought in some pretty good teams. He has had massive injury issues both years. I would like to see how we look without losing 2-3 starters per year just once.

I’m not that high on Pope because even though I believe that he “understands the assignment,” it doesn’t seem like he can sell that vision to others.

I’m not discounting the impact of injuries. But I’m talking about selling recruits as well as selling his players on giving max effort 100% of the time.

You can’t be Kentucky and expect to compete for one seeds, then lay as many eggs as Pope’s teams do.

All that said, I haven’t seen this team play yet! I like Kam, and he wants to be here. I haven’t seen Hawthorne, and he wants to be here.

If 3-4 of the other guys click this could end up being a special team. We really don’t know. And I’m not going to wallow in misery all summer expecting us to suck. Give me until at least mid-December.

 

[JPFisher]

IIRC, we currently have six or more players on this team who have 30+ games of D1 experience as a starter.

I don't see the team of role players line working out like last year. To me, we have a team of guys who will know their role, but not a team of role players, if that makes sense.

We could use a star, sure, but I'm not sure they aren't already on the team. I'm really high on Wilkins and Williams and I want to see what Hawthorne can do. Malachi will hopefully take a step up this year, and he's shown a ton of promise.

So yeah, we could use a Momcilovic (sp?) or a 5* from high school, but I don't think we need another dude. Who knows? Hard to tell what we do or don't need since we haven't ever seen a Pope team with a functioning PG for the entire year.

 

[Catlogic1552]

The guy Pope watched the other day in Israel is a T-800 model, yeah, he didn’t score a single point, though his tenacity and motor are second to none, his nickname is The Iron Curtain, he drapes opposing players with his defense.

I guess thats why he had 4 fouls in 11 minutes.

 

[UKCowboys]

I’m not that high on Pope because even though I believe that he “understands the assignment,” it doesn’t seem like he can sell that vision to others.

I’m not discounting the impact of injuries. But I’m talking about selling recruits as well as selling his players on giving max effort 100% of the time.

You can’t be Kentucky and expect to compete for one seeds, then lay as many eggs as Pope’s teams do.

All that said, I haven’t seen this team play yet! I like Kam, and he wants to be here. I haven’t seen Hawthorne, and he wants to be here.

If 3-4 of the other guys click this could end up being a special team. We really don’t know. And I’m not going to wallow in misery all summer expecting us to suck. Give me until at least mid-December.

Man thats where I am at. Same with last season. We got blown out a few times, but the team won some big games too. In the end, it shouldn't have been enough to save Popes job, but I still enjoyed pulling for the kids. This years team has a lot of unknown, but that could swing both ways

 

[Chuckinden]

It would be better to throw that cash at Pearl or Donovan.

Might well stop wishing for something that's not happening this year.

 

[Tri-Countycat]

Well, if these super elite players that are currently in the draft decide to come back to college they will be looking for one of three things. 1) to win a championship 2) a coach that will help them improve their stock 3)a huge bag of money. You can eliminate UK for points 1 and 2 and if we get a player because of #3 it is against the Pope philosophy that he hollowly shares of playing for the name on the front of the jersey. Dragging his feet and foolishly hoping to land Stokes has put this staff in a very, very tough spot.

 

[JHBr]

I guess thats why he had 4 fouls in 11 minutes.

Maybe that would only translate to 3 in the SEC.

 

[D1JA]

This dude enough for ya?

 

[Goingfor9]

Trying to be mostly positive here, it's hard but I am trying.
I like most of our additions, but it seems like a lot of last year with a ton of role players and no dude's (one could argue Oweh but he was a role player before and just evolved).

I am fine with the roster but we need 1 DUDE, someone that when the offense looks like crap you can give the ball 2 and he can go get a shot off.

Pope imo needs to stop what he is doing, go look at what is left and throw the rest of the cash he is allowed at 1 guy.
The rest is good enough barring injuries.

Players DO NoT want to play for pope. That’s just the bottomline. Pope isn’t getting any “dudes” i mean what does that even mean. It’s a Jimmy dykes construct. If it means a 5* caliber player then it’s not happening. If it’s a guy getting bounce d by the draft not named moreno pipe isn’t gettting any of those. He has concedes next season hoping he can earn a 4th year by landing a couple recruits. It’s not happy. Pope is finished. The negativity toward the man by recruits and theyre talking about pope in very bad way that will pretty much seal popes fate. People complain about the pope posts but let’s be real. The guy was trolled by the number 1 recruit and now UK is the butt of jokes. And donors are done with pope. Stokes was his test. He’s not getting 4-5 million for another 1 year guy who will ride the pine injured half the time with an embellished injury. Because like cal always said “i can’t hide you at Kentucky”.

 

[AllBall]

I'm a dude, he's a dude, she's a dude cause we're all dudes hey.

Maybe we get a Hey Dude endorsement.

 

[VC99]

Trying to be mostly positive here, it's hard but I am trying.
I like most of our additions, but it seems like a lot of last year with a ton of role players and no dude's (one could argue Oweh but he was a role player before and just evolved).

I am fine with the roster but we need 1 DUDE, someone that when the offense looks like crap you can give the ball 2 and he can go get a shot off.

Pope imo needs to stop what he is doing, go look at what is left and throw the rest of the cash he is allowed at 1 guy.
The rest is good enough barring injuries.

You're looking for a dude?

 

[AllBall]

I guess thats why he had 4 fouls in 11 minutes.

If he's a backup or only playing 20 mins then let him be aggressive. We need the tenacity and physicality. Hopefully, it spills over.

Getting scored on should pi$$ you off. Take pride on that side of the floor. Better yet try to steal the ball. UK hasn't imposed their will on defense in a very long time.

 

[Anon722013]

They're ere only a handful of dudes this year in the portal . Only one left Graves isn't a dude kid from Iowa State was the second best on his team he isn't one either.

 

[seccats04]

If he's a backup or only playing 20 mins then let him be aggressive. We need the tenacity and physicality. Hopefully, it spills over.

Getting scored on should pi$$ you off. Take pride on that side of the floor. Better yet try to steal the ball. UK hasn't imposed their will on defense in a very long time.

Well, hate to break it to ya, but I just read this guy couldn't guard a traffic cone. Just because he fould a lot doesn't mean he's aggressive on defense. It probably just means he can't move his feet quick enough to not foul.