2025-26 Roster Chatter (UPDATE: Oweh Returns, Roster Complete)

[EKYCat]

And they would, and the product would suffer. That's why you see players unions in professional sports, which is likely what would happen in this case.

[Mr.Nezzer]

Just saw something that said Pope was having a Zoom with Vytorius Miller from LSU.
FWIW

[KCKUKFan]

Just saw something that said Pope was having a Zoom with Vytorius Miller from LSU.
FWIW

Make em say UGGGGGGH

[EKYCat]

Make em say UGGGGGGH

Na na na na

[KentuckyWild2020]

Duke has a once in a generation type of player there.

Even with Knueppel and the center, that team can't win it if not for Flagg. He's a world-altering sort of talent.

I'm not sure that's an argument for one-and-dones, because to chase that you'd have to be able to get that kind of player...and there's one of him roughly every five years or so.



It would be very hard to put a lot of those players in Pope's system.

Even if we could suspend disbelief and assume they'd come here, you'd have to assume that they would be willing to play in such a way that's more orchestrated and team-first and not contingent on them doing all they can individually to get themselves drafted.

Of course the top of the top--Wall, Davis, Towns, Fox, Monk--would be fine. But I'm not sure it would be a winner for the way he coaches.

There's a reason we had success this year: older players buying in. Same reason a place like Houston has the success they do. They're always very old, and those players are the ones who give you complete buy-in. If you get professional (NBA or NBA-adjacent) talent AND buy-in AND they stay healthy...well, that's how you win titles with this.

I agree, we still need experienced grown men.

Yet if Duke wins with 3 starting freshman, hold my 🍺. They will have done it with 3 starting freshman, 60%.

Doesn't matter what you or I think or believe, Duke will be a National Champion,they will care less if it's all one and done.

Cooper Is a great college player but it remains to be seen if he's a true generational franchise player next level. He will have his man hood tested effective immediately October this year..

[Catsrock]

Just looking across college basketball this season and thinking about the best transfers (and these are guys who only came into new teams this season, not ones who'd transferred before), you don't see a lot of guys who were stars before moving. The Hunter Dickinsons of the world are still very rare, even in the portal era.

(And these are just off the top of my head, I obviously may've missed a few. Also of note, none of our transfers are listed here.)

20. Tucker DeVries: was thought by some to be the best transfer on the market last season. Very good but didn't quite live up to billing

19. Deivon Smith, St. John's: solid year, moments of brilliance, wasn't 100% healthy

18. Elijah Hawkins, Texas Tech: solid year on a very good team

17. Zeke Mayo: not nearly the player Kansas thought they were getting, but a starter on an NCAA Tournament Big XII team

16. Arthur Kaluma, Texas: on his third team, flashes of greatness but got drowned out by Tre Johnson

15. Frankie Fidler, Michigan St.: a mainstay on a really good team

14. Johnell Davis: arguably the most "disappointing" of the transfer class only because he came in with such high expectations

13. Tyrese Hunter, Memphis: one of the nation's best three-point shooters

12. Khalif Battle, Gonzaga: one of the most sought-after transfers, was up and down but had a strong second half

11. Sion James, Duke: would've been a standout on any other team

10: Malik Dia, Ole Miss: very good offensive center, one of the best in America

9. Andrew Stojakovic: not on a good team but one of the nation's elite offensive players

8. Mark Mitchell, Missouri: at times the most dominant big man in the SEC

7. Vlad Goldin, Michigan: elite, old school big

6. Chaz Lanier: very good...but probably not as consistent as Tennessee fans thought he'd be

5. Danny Wolf, Michigan: tremendous player, exceeded all expecations

4. Cliff Omoruyi, Alabama: elite defender and rebounder, was exactly as advertised

3. Kadary Richmond, St. John's: again, pretty much exactly as advertised

2. Chucky Hepburn, Louisville: at times one of the nation's best scoring point guards

1. JT Toppin, Texas Tech: the gem of the class

Nelly (wink, wink Jimmy Dykes) Davis simply chose poorly. Went where Cal had a McD’s guy ahead of him at PG. Actually started to see some flashes of who Davis is when Fland went down.

[KCKUKFan]

Trilly says he means UT over UK for Gillespie.

So rick Barnes isn't retiring lol

[Mr.Nezzer]

Saw this on my IG feed from KSR....TFWIW

[EKYCat]

I agree, we still need experienced grown men.

Yet if Duke wins with 3 starting freshman, hold my 🍺. They will have done it with 3 starting freshman, 60%.

Doesn't matter what you or I think or believe, Duke will be a National Champion,they will care less if it's all one and done.

Cooper Is a great college player but it remains to be seen if he's a true generational franchise player next level. He will have his man hood tested effective immediately October this year..

What he does in the pros is irrelevant to this argument. He is a once every few years year college player. There have been a ton of great college players lead their teams to a national title that didn't work out in the pros. Laettner, Hurley to name a couple. For the record, I don't think Flagg is going to be one of those guys. He's going to go number 1 in the draft and he's going to have a very nice pro career. I also don't think it's "Duke's title to lose." I think all 4 teams have just as good a shot as the other. Duke and Houston will be an interesting game just based on how Houston is going to play them. The guys on that team look like they're 35 years old.

[KentuckyWild2020]

What he does in the pros is irrelevant to this argument. He is a once every few years year college player. There have been a ton of great college players lead their teams to a national title that didn't work out in the pros. Laettner, Hurley to name a couple. For the record, I don't think Flagg is going to be one of those guys. He's going to go number 1 in the draft and he's going to have a very nice pro career. I also don't think it's "Duke's title to lose." I think all 4 teams have just as good a shot as the other. Duke and Houston will be an interesting game just based on how Houston is going to play them. The guys on that team look like they're 35 years old.

Again, let's start from the beginning.

If Duke and it's 3 freshman win a National title , it dont matter, one and is alive and well.,you think Duke cares??

You or anyone else can argue all you want. Write a essay, write a book, research every statical stat you you want but it won't matter, Duke will be the 2025 Champion while Kentuckys last title was well over a decade ago and counting.


As I said, a few coaches in the game could have taken Calipari's 50 plus NBA recruits and more than likely won a few titles with one and dones mixed with the vets in the right system with the right coaching.


If Duke does manage to blow it like they did a few years ago, that's on them. How do you not take advantage of a so called generational talent?

Wembanyama is a generational talent, don't get it twisted.

Flagg will be decent in a no touch 3 point shooting league if his shots is falling.

[Joneslab]

Flagg's one of the more fluid athletes the college game has seen in some time. Can guard five positions. Deceptively strong. Dribbles like a guard. And like A. Davis he's solid, doesn't make a ton of mistakes for how young he is. Just turned 18.

I think he'll be a superstar in the NBA. No reason to think he won't. Unreal talent.

I hope Duke models their program on him, because I'm not sure it can work as long as the game stays like this. You'd have to get players like him for it to work, and I don't think there are enough like him out there. So Duke will have to pay the one-and-dones *and* pay elite portal players...and that's tough. I think it's a bad business model even if it nets them a title in 2025, which I suspect it will, unfortunately.

It isn't the way to go forward with this many older players showing up on rosters all across the country. Nor can many programs accomplish it even if they wanted to. Duke might be the only one. Mark Pope couldn't exist up there with the incoming freshmen talent you have to assemble. Not that kind of recruiter, not his MO.

[justafan]

Thats exactly how it works in the real world. If I want to work for Ford, Amazon, whatever company, they will offer a certain rate. If it doesn't satisfy people look elsewhere.
Much the same if the NCAA set a rate and these kids weren't happy they could go G league or overseas.

What’s you’re suggesting is collusion. You cannot artificially skew the market against one side (unless you’re selling gasoline 😎). The ruling is that ncaa cannot place limits on students’ ability to make money. So, a university can say “we’re not paying anyone more than minimum wage” and they’ll get no players because they’ll go to other places. But if the universities collude and all agree on that rate then that’s a no no.

It also still doesn’t prevent businesses and individuals from paying players whatever they want.

What you’re suggesting is that Ford, Toyota, Nissan, etc all agree to salary limits.

[EKYCat]

Flagg will be decent in a no touch 3 point shooting league if his shots is falling.

The no touch 3 point shooting league that's going to test his manhood in October?
I get what you're saying. I don't, however, believe that the one and done model is alive and well simply because one and done left the building (for the most part) with the transfer portal and NIL. And also, there was only one program that was fully utilizing one and done and it netted a single title. And even then, that team had experience in Jones, Miller, and Lamb. K couldn't do it with RJ Barrett and Zion. Cal couldn't do it with Towns and Booker. Cal probably couldn't have done it with the 1998 Bulls honestly.

[EKYCat]

What’s you’re suggesting is collusion. You cannot artificially skew the market against one side (unless you’re selling gasoline 😎). The ruling is that ncaa cannot place limits on students’ ability to make money. So, a university can say “we’re not paying anyone more than minimum wage” and they’ll get no players because they’ll go to other places. But if the universities collude and all agree on that rate then that’s a no no.

It also still doesn’t prevent businesses and individuals from paying players whatever they want.

What you’re suggesting is that Ford, Toyota, Nissan, etc all agree to salary limits.

And honestly, do we as Kentucky fans, want a limit? I'd have to think our ability to pay basketball players is better than the South Carolinas or Missouris of the world. At the end of the day, it's a battle of bluebloods like it always has been. UK, Duke, Kansas, UNC, UCLA are all going to compete for the top level talent whether they're incoming freshmen or portal players on their last year of eligibility.

[Joneslab]

The no touch 3 point shooting league that's going to test his manhood in October?
I get what you're saying. I don't, however, believe that the one and done model is alive and well simply because one and done left the building (for the most part) with the transfer portal and NIL. And also, there was only one program that was fully utilizing one and done and it netted a single title. And even then, that team had experience in Jones, Miller, and Lamb. K couldn't do it with RJ Barrett and Zion. Cal couldn't do it with Towns and Booker. Cal probably couldn't have done it with the 1998 Bulls honestly.

Yeah, this is a good point. For all the "the game has changed and gotten unbelievably old," the truth is that the one-and-done model has always been problematic.

It was always blamed on Cal's coaching. But it could be that it's just really hard regardless of who's over there on the sideline.

This title Duke may win and our title in '12 are the only two. And now we've had years of the one-and-done experiment.

Now if you turn around next season and there's Duke again with the Boozers and Henderson and those guys? Then yeah, you can say they debunked what I'm saying. But I don't think it'll turn out like that unless they get Knoeppel and Maluach to return.