WHO IS STAYING? (ANSWER: Green, Richards, Washington, Baker)

[J.Jennings]

That's not where Kentucky needs to be.

You can recruit high four-star/five-star players and not lose them all like this. Other programs do it.

If Kentucky gets into the game of recruiting like mid-majors we'll be right back where we were in the latter part of Tubby's tenure. You have to have great players. But you also have to find a way to keep the not-so-great players in school so that when they get into their twenties they have a shot at being great.

That's doable. In fact John Calipari himself was doing some of that early on. It seems with the last two teams though that things have slipped and we aren't getting many great players AND we're losing the not-so-great players.

Not good.

Not even sure why i am replying to this, no way in my right mind am i suggesting recruit all in state kids and 2 to 3 star players. I do agree that Cal has done a very poor job of convincing bordeline kids to stay when in reality they do indeed need to come back. Jackson came back to Carolina and unless something has changed, i expect Bolden back to Duke.

I think a good start as suggested yesterday would be to find more instate kids who can develop in time and contribute and give you depth, experience, passion, and hello, LOYALTY to the University of Kentucky and us paying UK customer fans............

[J.Jennings]

Matt Jones‏ @KySportsRadio 40s41 seconds agoSource tells KSR that Calipari met yesterday with Quade Green to tell him he wants Green to return and be a leader for next year’s team

Bout time he RE RECRUITS our own if true....

[J.Jennings]

Of the starters on the last two national champions, six of the ten were former five star players. Nine of the ten were either four star or five star players.

Villanova 2018
Jalen Brunson - Five Star
Mikal Bridges - Four Star
Phil Booth - Four Star
Eric Paschall - Three Star
Omari Spellman - Five Star

North Carolina 2017
Joel Berry - Four Star
Theo Pinson - Five Star
Justin Jackson - Five Star
Isaiah Hicks - Five Star
Kennedy Meeks - Five Star

Problem with Kentucky is if you play one year and do not go pro, for the most part you are labeled a FAILED EXPERIMENT and the previous year of experience that you did obtian is thrown out the window because you just got recruited over and there is no guarantee you are going to get PT with Cal because as we all know, he is loyal and lives and dies with his incoming proud freshman class, it's his selling ticket, he will always let them play and play and play through mistakes with a fairytale dream it will all click in the end.............


I admit a little harsh and dramatic but Cal lives and dies with his freshman groups....

[Joneslab]

Not even sure why i am replying to this, no way in my right mind am i suggesting recruit all in state kids and 2 to 3 star players. I do agree that Cal has done a very poor job of convincing bordeline kids to stay when in reality they do indeed need to come back. Jackson came back to Carolina and unless something has changed, i expect Bolden back to Duke.

Bolden and Jackson are two completely different calibers of player.

Bolden is a role player who averaged 4 points a game last year. Jackson was a college star.

I was never sure how they returned Jackson even once to North Carolina, let alone twice. It came out after his sophomore year that Roy Williams had to talk him into coming back to school. Cal won't do that, clearly, and that's likely the beginning of the issue.

But even Marques Bolden wouldn't return to Kentucky at this point, probably. That's why it's frustrating, at least to me. Hell I can tolerate losing Shai and those guys. Go out and make money. Good for them. It's the players like Quade who would rather transfer, sit out a year, and start over, than come back to UK. That's troubling.

[J.Jennings]

Here what i say, forget all the 5 star hype because sometimes those ratings are not accurate. What i have told you folks for year, give me a scouting report on the size of a kids heart and his desire to win, you can't put a number on it. I could care less if it 3 4 5 or hell, a 8 star. Can you play basketball? Can you shoot the rock? Are you smart enough to learn a offense and play within yourself? Can you lock down and keep your man in check and win that battle? Based off what just happened in this NCAA tournament, not a huge differene in a 3, 4, or 5 unless you are that 5 star who everybody and they momma knows is a star. You have five star and then you have 5 stars who are truly game changers....

[Joneslab]

Here what i say, forget all the 5 star hype because sometimes those ratings are not accurate. What i have told you folks for year, give me a scouting report on the size of a kids heart and his desire to win, you can't put a number on it. I could care less if it 3 4 5 or hell, a 8 star. Can you play basketball? Can you shoot the rock? Are you smart enough to learn a offense and play within yourself? Can you lock down and keep your man in check and win that battle? Based off what just happened in this NCAA tournament, not a huge differene in a 3, 4, or 5 unless you are that 5 star who everybody and they momma knows is a star. You have five star and then you have 5 stars who are truly game changers....

With all the amenities UK has and its massive recruiting budget, you have to recruit five-star players with the bulk of time the NCAA allots.

There are players who are mis-ranked though, and a good coach can find those guys. I actually think Cal has done a good job of that. I think he's one of the better talent scouts in the college game.

It's just gotten to the point where he can't keep anybody. You could recruit down or grab some local kids, but all of that won't matter if he can't get the Quade Greens of the world from transferring. That's the very kind of player you'd get if you did recruit down...and you still might not keep him in the program.

It is true that all five-star players aren't built alike. There are FIVE-STARS and then there are your more pedestrian five-stars. Cal got the lower-case types last year...and is still going to lose some of them.

[J.Jennings]

Bolden and Jackson are two completely different calibers of player.

Bolden is a role player who averaged 4 points a game last year. Jackson was a college star.

I was never sure how they returned Jackson even once to North Carolina, let alone twice. It came out after his sophomore year that Roy Williams had to talk him into coming back to school. Cal won't do that, clearly, and that's likely the beginning of the issue.

But even Marques Bolden wouldn't return to Kentucky at this point, probably. That's why it's frustrating, at least to me. Hell I can tolerate losing Shai and those guys. Go out and make money. Good for them. It's the players like Quade who would rather transfer, sit out a year, and start over, than come back to UK. That's troubling.

But at one time Bolden was the next BIG THING 5 star CAN'T MISS RECRUIT. Still i agree with you, if Bolden would have came to Kentucky, he would have been gone after his first year and let's be real, he's garbage.....


As for Green, he probably knows Cal is a D. Rose orWall away from having to ride the pine sit on the bench and waste a college career, i actually do get it....

[Joneslab]

As for Green, he probably knows Cal is a D. Rose orWall away from having to ride the pine sit on the bench and waste a college career, i actually do get it....

There is nobody on next year's roster who is like that though. That's the whole problem. There are a ton of minutes for Quade. He should be a starter next year.

And if it's a matter of playing point guard, then he could compete for that spot like anybody else. That these players both want to be rich professional basketball players and yet don't want to get in there and try to win a spot in a college program is one of the more frustrating things about all this.

[J.Jennings]

With all the amenities UK has and its massive recruiting budget, you have to recruit five-star players with the bulk of time the NCAA allots.

There are players who are mis-ranked though, and a good coach can find those guys. I actually think Cal has done a good job of that. I think he's one of the better talent scouts in the college game.

It's just gotten to the point where he can't keep anybody. You could recruit down or grab some local kids, but all of that won't matter if he can't get the Quade Greens of the world from transferring. That's the very kind of player you'd get if you did recruit down...and you still might not keep him in the program.

It is true that all five-star players aren't built alike. There are FIVE-STARS and then there are your more pedestrian five-stars. Cal got the lower-case types last year...and is still going to lose some of them.

Couple of things here for the future. I hope Cal can brand it big enough for the next man up to come in and use all what has been built including the NBA players, KENTUCKY, and everything else involved to still get the cream of the crops but also be wise enough to recruit long term depth. Most importantly, i hope the next man up can coach his arse off on the sidelines and have teams against the wall. I get tired of the "throw it up" and let's fight it out JUNK BASKETBALL lol lol lol lol lol

Can't forget about the JUNK lol lol

[J.Jennings]

There is nobody on next year's roster who is like that though. That's the whole problem. There are a ton of minutes for Quade. He should be a starter next year.

And if it's a matter of playing point guard, then he could compete for that spot like anybody else. That these players both want to be rich professional basketball players and yet don't want to get in there and try to win a spot in a college program is one of the more frustrating things about all this.

I actually hope Green comes back and yes, he also reminds me of G. Fitch even though i wasn't the biggest Fitch fan but still, he was a 3 star baller lol lol lol lol

[catfaninin]

There are no guarantees even if you assemble a superteam. Kentucky fans know that better than anyone.

But Duke lost on a last-second shot to get to the Final Four. That's a true case of "stuff happens," as Catatonic was saying above.

It's different when you lose 11 and get bumped in the Sweet Sixteen. And I'm not even arguing that that's a bad season. What is shocking is that we might go through that season only to have the roster just disperse.

I can only speak for myself, but I certainly don't want any guarantees. But I do want Kentucky in the best possible situation so we can contend. If your roster crumbles then you won't contend.

I don't disagree.

But Duke was supposed to have that superteam. When Bagley committed everyone was ready to give them the trophy. Same this year with Williamson.

I'm not sure what the answer is. I do think Cal should spend less time talking NBA and more time trying to get players to stay. But in the end he can't tie them to a tree and make them stay.

[catfaninin]

Problem with Kentucky is if you play one year and do not go pro, for the most part you are labeled a FAILED EXPERIMENT and the previous year of experience that you did obtian is thrown out the window because you just got recruited over and there is no guarantee you are going to get PT with Cal because as we all know, he is loyal and lives and dies with his incoming proud freshman class, it's his selling ticket, he will always let them play and play and play through mistakes with a fairytale dream it will all click in the end.............


I admit a little harsh and dramatic but Cal lives and dies with his freshman groups....

So what is he supposed to do? Not go out and recruit players because it might hurt the feelings of the ones already here?

If the upper class players are better I have no doubt they will play. Jones, Miller, Cauley- Stein. There is a list of guys who stayed and didn't sit because there were freshman.

[KCKUKFan]

We've now heard reports that Cal actively re-recruited Green AND Knox.

And I'm sure he's told Washington, Gabriel, Vanderbilt, etc. that they should return if they don't get the right feedback from the combines.

Players leaving after two years to play overseas or transferring is a troubling trend, but I'm not sure what else Cal is supposed to do.

[J.Jennings]

Through all of this the one thing absolutely do not want to do is LOWER MY EXPECTATIONS as a Kentucky fan because if i do ,i lose . Cal is making it very hard with all this constant turnover and as a fan i feel powerless.It's almost as if i accept things for they way they or you fans are "CRAZY", safe to say Cal's expecations and greatness is different than the fans. I get the feeling it's almost like " i accepted your crap hole job" and "best be glad i am here" so go to the corner and stick your nose in it or go back to TUBBY SMITH days in the end..........

[Joneslab]

If the upper class players are better I have no doubt they will play. Jones, Miller, Cauley- Stein. There is a list of guys who stayed and didn't sit because there were freshman.

This is what I always say when somebody gets on "They all leave every year."

They don't all leave every year. We've had crucial returnees.

I think this team will as well but you need more than just Vanderbilt and Richards.

The "if you come here then you'll be a one-and-done" pitch that Cal undoubtedly uses probably plants a poison seed with some of these players. It's increasingly gotten worse, I imagine, because of the enormous success past freshmen have had in the NBA.

Cal may actually be recruiting guys back, it just might not be working. He might be getting victimized by his own success in some ways.