2024 Roster (Enter Antonio Reeves & Tre Mitchell)

[GOCAT15]

It would be interesting to know the truth about anything Cal is thinking. And what y'all hear and see is most likely not the truth. Cal plays this game with us every year before and during the season. Truth is one thing we counted on from our Coach and recruits years ago, but is absent now. Such is our world.

Yea, I get that some things have to be held tight against the vest but just a little honest truth would be nice every once in awhile.

[lilproUK98]

Always some drama/concerns before during and after the season. Some seasons more so than others.

Yes. UK basketball has become exhausting and just not worth much of my time at this point. It may be more interesting to me again someday, but it just isn't a priority for me much anymore. I'll watch and want them to win, but with Cal, I just can't get too invested nearly as much anymore.

[Jody Porter]

The Kobe Brown stuff on Twitter has been kind of funny. I definitely don't think there's anything to it. Just some dude decided, for whatever reason, that he was gonna troll Missouri fans. And you know what, I can respect that. It worked.

[Spiritof96]

Yes. UK basketball has become exhausting and just not worth much of my time at this point. It may be more interesting to me again someday, but it just isn't a priority for me much anymore. I'll watch and want them to win, but with Cal, I just can't get too invested nearly as much anymore.

There is no question that he has damaged the brand.

[Joneslab]

The Kobe Brown stuff on Twitter has been kind of funny. I definitely don't think there's anything to it. Just some dude decided, for whatever reason, that he was gonna troll Missouri fans. And you know what, I can respect that. It worked.

That Twitter feed that mentioned it has "been right before" (according to Rivals guys) but I *believe* he was also calling Dickinson to UK just last week. There've been several of those guys over the years: dudes who probably do "know somebody" loosely affiliated with the program but also are unafraid of just throwing stuff against the wall sometimes.

Tucker says Brown is likely to stay in the draft.

[George]

That Twitter feed that mentioned it has "been right before" (according to Rivals guys) but I *believe* he was also calling Dickinson to UK just last week. There've been several of those guys over the years: dudes who probably do "know somebody" loosely affiliated with the program but also are unafraid of just throwing stuff against the wall sometimes.

Tucker says Brown is likely to stay in the draft.

That Twitter feed is Marc Maggard.

[Joneslab]

That Twitter feed is Marc Maggard.

Oh, okay. Wow.

[Joneslab]

There is no question that he has damaged the brand.

Yeah, agree.

This isn't really a devil's advocate but just a thought: Cal *did* rescue the brand when it was about as low as it had been since Shame. He brought it up to a pretty ridiculous level, probably the highest it had ever been even during the Pitino years. (Not saying Cal was "better" than Pitino even in his best years here, but the brand was unbelievably valuable.)

That means nothing, just a thought. I assumed with this recruiting class the brand would begin to creep up again, but because we can't keep anyone in the program everything is always so unstable--which damages the brand. And then you get farther and farther away from a Final Four.

So yeah, Kentucky is kinda like it was in 2007 or so. Just sorta mediocre as far as the brand goes. Certainly not in any way special.

[DA#23]

# Embellishment

[Joneslab]

# Embellishment

Nah. It's embellishment when people squeal "I ain't had no fun since 2019!" like we didn't just see us field a team with the Naismith winner a season ago. I mean come on.

The brand doesn't improve though just because a regular season is fun and you lose in the first round. The brand in fact came out way worse because of that.

It was still fun to watch...while it lasted.

The 2003-2004 team was the most fun I've probably had as a UK fan. They lost in the second round. How'd that team impact the "Kentucky brand"?

[Joneslab]

Kentucky has reached out to Kansas back-up center Zuby Eliofor, who's currently in the portal. He played a very minor role last year for them. Averaged 2 and 1.

You would hope that's just a gambit to bring in some size and muscle rather than an indication he might have to play a lot.

[Spiritof96]

Yeah, agree.

This isn't really a devil's advocate but just a thought: Cal *did* rescue the brand when it was about as low as it had been since Shame. He brought it up to a pretty ridiculous level, probably the highest it had ever been even during the Pitino years. (Not saying Cal was "better" than Pitino even in his best years here, but the brand was unbelievably valuable.)

That means nothing, just a thought. I assumed with this recruiting class the brand would begin to creep up again, but because we can't keep anyone in the program everything is always so unstable--which damages the brand. And then you get farther and farther away from a Final Four.

So yeah, Kentucky is kinda like it was in 2007 or so. Just sorta mediocre as far as the brand goes. Certainly not in any way special.

You are 100% correct. I liken it to high profile CEO's who are great until they aren't.

[GOCAT15]

Kentucky has reached out to Kansas back-up center Zuby Eliofor, who's currently in the portal. He played a very minor role last year for them. Averaged 2 and 1.

You would hope that's just a gambit to bring in some size and muscle rather than an indication he might have to play a lot.

But it sure is a tell tale sign that Cal knows we need bodies and is probably started to actually get concerned. Whether we want it to or not it sure shows the difference levels our two programs are at right now when one is grabbing the best player in the portal and we are reaching out to a guy like this from their team.

[lilproUK98]

Kentucky has reached out to Kansas back-up center Zuby Eliofor, who's currently in the portal. He played a very minor role last year for them. Averaged 2 and 1.

You would hope that's just a gambit to bring in some size and muscle rather than an indication he might have to play a lot.

I wanted UK to recruit him out of HS. I like his game.

[DA#23]

The brand doesn't improve though just because a regular season is fun and you lose in the first round. The brand in fact came out way worse because of that.

The 2003-2004 team was the most fun I've probably had as a UK fan. They lost in the second round. How'd that team impact the "Kentucky brand"?

We came out with the number 1 recruiting class...that the staff failed to bookend those guys with appropriate-for-UK recruiting efforts is a different discussion.

How did 2004 impact the brand? They won a bunch of games, they were a 1 seed, they didn't help us fall out of lead for winningest program in the sport, they were SEC East Champs and won the SEC tourney.

They did the things, darn near all of the things, that have built this brand. They did the things necessary to sustain the brand. They simply fell to this pg named Squeaky, a young hungry coach named Mike Anderson, didn't hang at least a FF banner.

This is actually an interesting post from Will, at least to me, because I unfortunately hear our Coach narrating as I read it. The regular season matters, the conference tournament, the NCAA's...all of it matters. John Calipari unfortunately has devalued the regular season and even the conference tournament since he was hired because he puts all of the eggs in the big basket. That's pretty tolerable when we're right there in the FF and with a true chance to hang title banners.

When we aren't and you're getting spanked in the regular season by a numerous amount of teams? Well...it's hurting the brand. 2004 helped the brand and just came up a little short. Last few seasons aren't helping the brand, and in fact are greatly tarnishing it both subjectively and objectively.

That's no embellishment, either.