"Who's Coming to Kentucky?" Thread (UPDATE: Kentucky Lands Jaxson Robinson!)

[JFCats22]

I like what Pope has put together and am glad Noah is onboard as well. But, as it stands, I don't think this is a very good team.

A lot of good players but I don't see anyone who is great or who can take over when needed. That is why some combination of Robinson, Lanier or a mystery guy is so important. You have to have 1-2 studs to be a very good team and we need to get a big time guy to finish the roster out.

[Joneslab]

Definitely looks like they need offensive punch.

With Lanier and Robinson they sorta look like a preseason top 25-ish team. But really when you build a team like this of journeymen type guys, you never know. Arkansas last season is a good example where the thing can go haywire. Missouri two years ago is an example of how something like this can work out.

A lot of unknown in constructing a team this way.

[Joneslab]

And I also think UK fans by and large need a paradigm shift when they think about roster-building. I notice some fans (probably younger) pounding on guys like Kyle Tucker and basically telling him the roster sucks. First, why do that? But second, what Tucker is saying on social media about the difference between Pope and Cal needs to be really digested by fans. Or else they're going to be just concerned all the time, and why even come to social media or message boards if you're concerned or in angst? This is supposed to be fun.

The thing fans need to understand is we're in a different era now just in terms of how talent is going to be used. Not saying Pope is going to nail it as a coach, that's to be decided. But the days of just racking up elite players are likely over. He's going to look for fit way more than Cal did. And I think he's going to be more discerning about the players he goes after because he plays a very particular kind of system.

In the Cal days we had to pin everything we had on him getting all those top-ranked players. Because we knew two things: one, Cal was going to struggle with coaching in his last few years. And more than that, he was going to lose everybody. So because we had no experience at all everything was about getting those elite recruits.

This is different. This is going to be more of a system. There's not going to be a need going forward for us to sit there and crush our refresh buttons on all these recruiting battles. If he wins, it's going to be through coaching, continuity in the program, and getting the right players rather than the best players.

[CATHYnKY]

Was in the car this morning and listening to Matt Jones interview Noah. Said playing at UK has been a dream of his. He wore a UK sweatshirt to school today. Said a lot of kids had on their UK gear. Love it when they WANT to be here because it is Kentucky. Also said his family has had football season tickets for 62 years. I’ve only had them fr 55 years 😛 Love this kid already!

[Matt Dillon]

Was in the car this morning and listening to Matt Jones interview Noah. Said playing at UK has been a dream of his. He wore a UK sweatshirt to school today. Said a lot of kids had on their UK gear. Love it when they WANT to be here because it is Kentucky. Also said his family has had football season tickets for 62 years. I’ve only had them fr 55 years 😛 Love this kid already!

His grandfather, Perky Bryant, played fb for UK in 61', 62', and 63'. He was quite good in fact.

[KentuckyWild2020]

And I also think UK fans by and large need a paradigm shift when they think about roster-building. I notice some fans (probably younger) pounding on guys like Kyle Tucker and basically telling him the roster sucks. First, why do that? But second, what Tucker is saying on social media about the difference between Pope and Cal needs to be really digested by fans. Or else they're going to be just concerned all the time, and why even come to social media or message boards if you're concerned or in angst? This is supposed to be fun.

The thing fans need to understand is we're in a different era now just in terms of how talent is going to be used. Not saying Pope is going to nail it as a coach, that's to be decided. But the days of just racking up elite players are likely over. He's going to look for fit way more than Cal did. And I think he's going to be more discerning about the players he goes after because he plays a very particular kind of system.

In the Cal days we had to pin everything we had on him getting all those top-ranked players. Because we knew two things: one, Cal was going to struggle with coaching in his last few years. And more than that, he was going to lose everybody. So because we had no experience at all everything was about getting those elite recruits.

This is different. This is going to be more of a system. There's not going to be a need going forward for us to sit there and crush our refresh buttons on all these recruiting battles. If he wins, it's going to be through coaching, continuity in the program, and getting the right players rather than the best players.

Well said...


Kentucky had good teams late 70's and first part of the 80's until the wheels fell off with the sanctions. For the most part, the late 80's and early 90's I viewed my Kentucky teams as the underdogs on most nights until Pitino had it rolling in the mid 90's.

With that being said, kind of feel like we are back to the underdog days of Kentucky basketball. Not top notch high profile recruits and the way Cal was abused the past 5 years, nobody fears the name Kentucky anymore. I will root for Pope and this team now more than I ever have. Games will probably mean a little more to me, I actually miss that, been missing it for years...

[Joneslab]

My favorite teams were the early 2000s Tubby teams. He was pretty discerning in who he looked for. Got his share of big-time recruits early, but in the middle of his run he was getting what were essentially "system" guys.

Thing is, that great 2003 team was bolstered by Keith Bogans, arguably the best player out of his hs class.

So you can't miss on every elite prospect. But you don't have to recruit like Cal to win. Kansas is probably the paradigm I'd like to see Pope model himself most after, particularly with the way Kansas has been able to keep players.

Whether Pope will have success here likely won't come down to recruiting as much as it will old-fashioned player retention.

[KentuckyWild2020]

His grandfather, Perky Bryant, played fb for UK in 61', 62', and 63'. He was quite good in fact.

If this was 10 years ago and things where as it stands now, this team would have Reed Perry and Noah, wouldn't that be something??

I wish Reed success and hope he left it all out there on the floor. Not sure how his rookie season will go with the new adjustment of playing in the league but there will probably be a small part of him who will reflect back on what could have been at Kentucky...

[KentuckyWild2020]

My favorite teams were the early 2000s Tubby teams. He was pretty discerning in who he looked for. Got his share of big-time recruits early, but in the middle of his run he was getting what were essentially "system" guys.

Thing is, that great 2003 team was bolstered by Keith Bogans, arguably the best player out of his hs class.

So you can't miss on every elite prospect. But you don't have to recruit like Cal to win. Kansas is probably the paradigm I'd like to see Pope model himself most after, particularly with the way Kansas has been able to keep players.

Whether Pope will have success here likely won't come down to recruiting as much as it will old-fashioned player retention.

I agree, still need a game changer maybe two to really solidify it all and make it stick.

I think Pope will get those but only what he needs to fit his system, not just a handful trying to be creative and make it work year to year, he will recruit what he needs...

[Jload]

We might already have a game changer. There is no way to tell how some of our guys might react to Popes offense,plus we actually appear to have some guys who play defense, something not seen here in a few years. Who predicted Dalton K would blossom into SEC player of year when he moved to UT. I have seen so many supposed game changers bust out in last few years that I'm willing to wait and see how what we have actually plays before I worry to much.The college guys on our roster right now have a combined scoring average of 76 points. Any input from our freshman and we are up in the 80s. With a good defensive club that will win slot of ballgames.

[Joneslab]

We might already have a game changer. There is no way to tell how some of our guys might react to Popes offense,plus we actually appear to have some guys who play defense, something not seen here in a few years. Who predicted Dalton K would blossom into SEC player of year when he moved to UT. I have seen so many supposed game changers bust out in last few years that I'm willing to wait and see how what we have actually plays before I worry to much.The college guys on our roster right now have a combined scoring average of 76 points. Any input from our freshman and we are up in the 80s. With a good defensive club that will win slot of ballgames.

Good points.

If you're looking for UK to compete this year--and we all want that, obviously--then you hope for these guys to continue their trajectories and make big jumps from last year to this coming year. That happens a lot in the college game when guys get older. Look at what Antonio Reeves became this year, for instance. Wildly different player. Maybe we see a guy or two do that on this team and Pope has a really good first year.

But aside from that, he's clearly missing that scoring wing that most high-level college teams have. I would imagine Robinson being so lethal off the bench last year is one of the reasons BYU competed like they did in the Big XII. I'd love to have him.

[Joneslab]

Another thing he appears to be missing is a rebound-attacking forward. You see a bunch of those across the SEC. Think of South Carolina last year.

However I'm not sure those types of players fit in the zoom so we might not see that very often in the Pope era. Those players tended to hurt us in the Cal era, mainly because we were always so young.

[KCKUKFan]

Another thing he appears to be missing is a rebound-attacking forward. You see a bunch of those across the SEC. Think of South Carolina last year.

However I'm not sure those types of players fit in the zoom so we might not see that very often in the Pope era. Those players tended to hurt us in the Cal era, mainly because we were always so young.

I'm thinking we're going to be old and physical enough that we won't really need that rebound-attacking forward.

[KentuckyWild2020]

We might already have a game changer. There is no way to tell how some of our guys might react to Popes offense,plus we actually appear to have some guys who play defense, something not seen here in a few years. Who predicted Dalton K would blossom into SEC player of year when he moved to UT. I have seen so many supposed game changers bust out in last few years that I'm willing to wait and see how what we have actually plays before I worry to much.The college guys on our roster right now have a combined scoring average of 76 points. Any input from our freshman and we are up in the 80s. With a good defensive club that will win slot of ballgames.

Mark Pope says Assistant Coach Jason Hart walked into his office the other day and said:

“I watched film on this Travis Perry (kid) last night and that kid is a baller.”

[Joneslab]

I'm thinking we're going to be old and physical enough that we won't really need that rebound-attacking forward.

The type of guy I'm talking about is likely a bench/end of rotation guy just to give us a little more size. As it stands now it looks like Andrew Carr's gonna have to play a lot.