I didn’t love it either. But I accepted that at the time it was probably the right move with the state of the program. Maybe Oats is too. But he’s nowhere near the recruiter Cal was and still is. And I’d still be happier with a guy as accomplished without the baggage. Not sure why a program like UK has to settle for less than exactly the right guy. The one constant to that seems to be Mitch.
What happened with Jasper
- Thread starter gabbizon
- Start date
Really? The next two seasons after that we went to two straight final fours, a national championship game and had a 38-1 season. That’s an odd definition of “downhill.”
Downhill didn’t begin until a few years after the NIT season.
Think he's talking about Oats. Which also isn't accurate. The dude's at Alabama.
We always held Calipari responsible for not developing players, why would Pope get a pass?
Stop judging people. The police cleared him. He broke no laws. He’s no more guilty than a shop who sells a gun to someone who commits a murder. Either we can have guns and only the shooter is responsible or not. You can’t have it both ways only when you want it.
Who's responsible for developing players? Because I haven't seen any progress in fact Jasper seems to be headed the opposite direction. Whoever is ultimately responsible of recruiting and development should be fired today
I know that you don’t have to get steals to be a good defensive player but the the fact that we are 27 games in and he has a grand total of THREE steals for the entire year is kinda astonishing.lol
Who rated him a 5-star, should have credentials pulled.
lol. He physically took a gun to a guy he knew was planning to shoot somebody with it. It has zero to do with gun rights. And Oats blew it off just like you are. Someone lost their life. They may have even deserved it. That doesn’t make it less immoral.
No, thank you. I do not want him at UK. He is just exactly like Pope, except he can at least get some talent. They play zero defense as well and some of his decision with off court issues with players I don't want near the UK program. The only reason most here want him is because he has owned Pope and done it in big fashion. I would rather have Will Wade, the former LSU coach and current McNeese State coach, who has them sitting at 23-5 right now. The thing he got in trouble for at LSU is now legal.
Long post below, but gotta vent:
Was hoping he'd have a better year, but I was not a fan of him as a recruit. He's still got some skill and can certainly improve a great deal to become a really impactful college player, but I would not be worried about him going to Alabama or UNC and magically developing into a 1st round pick.
There were lots of red flags coming in.
1) Having a pretty iffy summer circuit in 2025 and then going to OTE (and getting routinely outplayed by guys like Eli Ellis) instead of some of the better prep schools.
2) Saying he grew up a UNC fan (given his family connections to the University and growing up in Lexington at the time he did during peak Cal - this is just weird contrarian sh*t. Anyone who grew up here knew kids like this in school and they were not kids you wanted to go to war with.
3) Saying D'Angelo Russell is who he modeled his game after. Come on.
Watching him in high school I saw someone who played soft, didn't have an elite first step or top end speed, was not a high level decision maker, and was usually hidden on defense. He's a undersized 2 who you wish was a 1.
Last thing, but an important point to note when projecting player growth at this stage, is that he was a hold back and significantly older than many of his peers. He's gonna be 20 next month. Here's how much older he is than some of the guys he was ranked near and who we've seen perform on the college stage.
Cam Boozer / 1 year 4 months
Chris Cenac / 11 months
AJ Dybantsa / 10 months
Darryn Peterson / 10 months
Kingston Flemings / 10 months
Koa Peat / 10 months
Nate Ament / 9 months
Malachi Moreno / 8 months
Darius Acuff / 8 months
Meleek Thomas / 5 months
Caleb Wilson / 4 months
This is why I'm not worried about him magically becoming a stud somewhere else next year. If he was 17, it'd be one thing, but an almost 20 year old freshman should have a physical advantage.
I’m afraid Pope felt like he had to keep a 5* KY kid home because of the dumb fans and overpaid to do so. Pretty much confirmed this kid is getting over a million and even with multiple injuries, we're at the end of the season and he's unplayable for the most part. I still don't believe the 22 million number, but it's clear there were big mistakes in evaluation and negotiation.
Was hoping he'd have a better year, but I was not a fan of him as a recruit. He's still got some skill and can certainly improve a great deal to become a really impactful college player, but I would not be worried about him going to Alabama or UNC and magically developing into a 1st round pick.
There were lots of red flags coming in.
1) Having a pretty iffy summer circuit in 2025 and then going to OTE (and getting routinely outplayed by guys like Eli Ellis) instead of some of the better prep schools.
2) Saying he grew up a UNC fan (given his family connections to the University and growing up in Lexington at the time he did during peak Cal - this is just weird contrarian sh*t. Anyone who grew up here knew kids like this in school and they were not kids you wanted to go to war with.
3) Saying D'Angelo Russell is who he modeled his game after. Come on.
Watching him in high school I saw someone who played soft, didn't have an elite first step or top end speed, was not a high level decision maker, and was usually hidden on defense. He's a undersized 2 who you wish was a 1.
Last thing, but an important point to note when projecting player growth at this stage, is that he was a hold back and significantly older than many of his peers. He's gonna be 20 next month. Here's how much older he is than some of the guys he was ranked near and who we've seen perform on the college stage.
Cam Boozer / 1 year 4 months
Chris Cenac / 11 months
AJ Dybantsa / 10 months
Darryn Peterson / 10 months
Kingston Flemings / 10 months
Koa Peat / 10 months
Nate Ament / 9 months
Malachi Moreno / 8 months
Darius Acuff / 8 months
Meleek Thomas / 5 months
Caleb Wilson / 4 months
This is why I'm not worried about him magically becoming a stud somewhere else next year. If he was 17, it'd be one thing, but an almost 20 year old freshman should have a physical advantage.
I’m afraid Pope felt like he had to keep a 5* KY kid home because of the dumb fans and overpaid to do so. Pretty much confirmed this kid is getting over a million and even with multiple injuries, we're at the end of the season and he's unplayable for the most part. I still don't believe the 22 million number, but it's clear there were big mistakes in evaluation and negotiation.
Sorry that is not how it happened. He drove his car back to pick them up and a gun was in his backseat. There is zero evidence to suggest he knew the gun was even in his car much less than it would be used to potentially murder someone.
He simply isn’t strong enough to compete in any major conference. Needs strength training in a bad way.
Who held him accountable for something that didn’t happen
Players got better playing for Cal. Cal had faults like everyone. But that wasn’t one.
Jasper and Garrison are enigmas to me. They both have skills but never can be consistent.
I hope Mark can get some guys who keep their heads in the game and play team ball.
Last night was a disappointing loss that hurt our seeding from where we were before the game. We had the game in our hands and blew it. Refs or not.
Hes a combo alright. A combo of selfish and useless.
He has zero strength. He plays WAY too high, which is why he gets ripped so easy. Shoots waaaay too often. Plays with zero athletic base.
I cant believe Pope banked on him being a contributor and backup pg.
We all talked for years about how we hated the one and done and how we all wished we had player retention. Well, Jasper Johnson is the type of player that you retain and develop. The second a kid isn’t dominant, our fans want to run him off.
JJ has a lot of skill, but the game is too big and fast for him right now, but by his junior year, he will be exceptional.
These fans wont be happy unless Fox, Monk and Bam type players skip the draft 2 years in a row just to return to Kentucky.
I’m sorry but the very moment I heard about a native Kentuckian and son of a Wildcat legend growing up a Tar Heel fan, red flags were raised.
We have some of the best fans but some of the very very worst. Many hang out right hete on this site
Quickley was so much further along after one year it’s not even funny.
He needs to do that just to play D1 basketball. Right now pros should be miles down the road for him.
There are probably 30 guards in the portal more equipped to make an impact next year than him.
He’s not equipped to be a star anywhere. He may be the most physically unready guard at Kentucky that I can ever remember.
I’m pretty sure that’s not what he testified to in court. And he settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the victims family. But yeah. The gun was probably just hidden underneath his choir book in the back seat. And the mocking pat down ritual he did with teammates during introductions was just an innocent carefree kid exhibiting the joy of life.
Last edited:
Maybe he would have benefited from an extra year of prep to get stronger? He has a sweet shot from 3 but when he free-wheels with ball all over the place, he looks like one of those skinny air dummies in front of car lots. But more importantly, he prob needs some schooling on team work as do most of the players nowadays...it's all about what I can do with the ball versus strategizing on the best way to get it where it needs to be.