2024 Roster (Enter Antonio Reeves & Tre Mitchell)

[SCBlu]

New portal addition Jordan Brown - Have we got a deal for you! Go get him Cal...........

Mid-Major Player of the Year and former UK recruit Jordan Brown enters the transfer portal (msn.com)
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[justford]

With musselman being his former coach, don’t know if that is good or bad thing.

[Joneslab]

Saw somebody say earlier it might be Oklahoma for him.

[TrueblueCATfan]

You and Downes are gonna be big sad when we're all riding the Muss Bus and you can't get on it.

Im not getting on that bus either.... I dont care how many times he takes his shirt off

[Joneslab]

Matt said multiple times Cal is still able to get good high school players to come to UK, convincing them this is the best place to go to make it to and be successful in the NBA.....it's literally everything else he's struggling with.

Well, he said a lot more than that. He said the program was in disarray and essentially implied people around the program had no idea what was going on because Cal had become basically unreachable.

I don't doubt that...but I'm just saying, if Kentucky has a good run here and pulls in Kaluma and these others then it's not a great look for Jones. Because the implication was essentially that the program was in complete dysfunction.

Not that anybody will remember those comments in a few days' time, really. I mean he's got a radio show because of his willingness to say controversial things. Just pointing out how that rant might've been a tad premature, possibly (hopefully).

[KentuckyWild2020]

If Cal somehow someway turns this around and lands what we have to have, i will eat crow but dang, why does it have to be so hard??

[George]

If Cal somehow someway turns this around and lands what we have to have, i will eat crow but dang, why does it have to be so hard??

It doesn’t. That’s the problem.

[Joneslab]

The incoming freshmen have made it a lot harder than it should've been IMO.

I mean here's Kaluma out there. What's the pitch if you're Kentucky? Of course the pitch is the same one they gave the Johnson guy, and it obviously didn't work. Kaluma might be more intrigued or the NIL offers might be more stacked now that we're desperate, but the situation we're asking these vets to walk into is just very tough.

[George]

The incoming freshmen have made it a lot harder than it should've been IMO.

I mean here's Kaluma out there. What's the pitch if you're Kentucky? Of course the pitch is the same one they gave the Johnson guy, and it obviously didn't work. Kaluma might be more intrigued or the NIL offers might be more stacked now that we're desperate, but the situation we're asking these vets to walk into is just very tough.

But I guarantee a lot of the potential transfers were/are better than the freshmen we have coming in.

Just like he said time and again he wouldn’t allow, Cal has let freshmen dictate every decision he makes. If he can’t find a way to change those expectations, he’ll never return to success.

[Joneslab]

But I guarantee a lot of the potential transfers were/are better than the freshmen we have coming in.

Maybe. But that's not really the point. Point is Cal has a history of giving the program over to freshmen, he talks openly about older players damaging the game (not an exact quote but close), he cuts viral content touting the freshmen class...the game Cal is playing is not really conducive to older players period. This particular class and the way he touted them, and then the exodus of virtually everybody from last year, makes it even tougher for him when he tries to hit the portal.

I will say this though: I like freshmen and think they can drive the bus. I always thought Cal was right about the foundation of his experiment. The reward is super high as we've seen here, but so is the risk. And that's true not just here but all over the country, every season. Take Brandon Miller or Jabari Smith off those teams the last two years and you've got a shell. I'm hoping we have a guy or two like that in this class. It's hard to find that kind of ceiling-level talent in the portal (though Cal did it with Oscar, ironically).

[Joneslab]

Also as far as being better, I’m convinced every basketball player at this level thinks he’s the greatest basketball player who ever basketballed.

My theory is that Cal has struck out in part due to the freshmen class but not because portal players don’t think they’re as good. I believe it’s more about Cal’s history and what he covets as a coach.

[40bill]

What is he coveting? There are times I see little rhyme or reason.
athletes that suddenly can't shoot? A team full of small forwards?

[Joneslab]

What is he coveting? There are times I see little rhyme or reason.
athletes that suddenly can't shoot? A team full of small forwards?

Covets freshmen.

Older guys and their people know that and have for years, and you have to think that’s at least part of why we’ve been in this position the last six weeks.

I think it’s also part of the reason why we’ll have so few returners. That story is way more complicated though.

[Lighthouse]

If Cal somehow someway turns this around and lands what we have to have, i will eat crow but dang, why does it have to be so hard??

I'm not eating crow no matter what happens because the Cal we have now is not the Cal we used to have, and he's the reason this is so hard. He knows we know, and we're not buying his mish-mash talk anymore. As a Kentucky fan I for sure hope he's able to turn this around, but no matter what happens, a lot of Kentucky fans won't forget.

[Joneslab]

I'm not eating crow no matter what happens because the Cal we have now is not the Cal we used to have, and he's the reason this is so hard. He knows we know, and we're not buying his mish-mash talk anymore. As a Kentucky fan I for sure hope he's able to turn this around, but no matter what happens, a lot of Kentucky fans won't forget.

I'd say if he went to a Final Four next year Kentucky fans would be pretty forgiving.

Problem is with the way the roster is built (as of 6/10/23) we'd need essentially a miracle for that to happen.