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My two cents...no inside info...the peep holding the money bag kept them shut until Calipari was gone...then dropped some change once Pope got here, then opened the purse strings fully once they saw what Pope could do and how he rallied the fanbase...
But this is the conspiracy theorist in meComment
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Since I'm late to the party...wishing Travis Perry all the luck. Hope he finds a spot at Ole Miss(that's what I last saw)
Hate to see him go...
Scan the pages I've missed but I thought it was odd that he waited so long.
Question: if the portal closed on the 22nd can teams still pick kids up?? Is it no one can enter?Last edited by Mr.Nezzer; 04-24-2025, 02:47 PM.Comment
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I think that's the most likely scenario. Cal had rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. The way he handled Oscar with the Craft family really seemed to be the final nail with them. I think donors were skeptical (as most of us were) of the Pope hire considering he had never won a tournament game. They saw the success he could have with a team put together with an average number in a short time and the injuries on top of it and realized he's worth buying in to.Comment
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I heard from somebody in Frankfort that a reason (and I'm sure there were others) Cal and Kelly Craft fell out is because Cal didn't really want to be openly political, and Kelly obviously at the time was working in the Trump administration. Her entire adult life has been political. Cal is...not really aligned with her politics, to put it lightly. So the two had a split around the time she ran for governor and never got it back together.
I know a lot about Kelly Craft on the surface because I've written several things about her for the state legislature. I would not agree with her politics, but I respect her. And obviously she has a deep love for Kentucky athletics, and I think that's genuine. Before she was a political operator, she was an avid backer of the University of Kentucky.
So I respect Pope for trying to foster that relationship. Obviously good things have come--and will come--out of it for UK. Do I love seeing Ron DeSantis sitting over there at UK games? Not really. But there are worse things in the world to get upset about. Also, Kentucky beat the national champion when DeSantis was over there, so maybe we need to bring him back.Comment
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You would think that Craft would have preferred to keep the political stuff separate, knowing that Cal is an east coast liberal.
Did she think she was going to blackmail him into stumping for Trump in a UK quarter zip on ESPN? The miscalculations of her nutso-right campaign indicated that she wasn't a particularly savvy political operator.
I dont know (or care) Pope's political leanings, but he doesn't seem like the kind of guy to work politics into the Kentucky job, either.Comment
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I think Pope is simply much more interested in winning than Late Era Cal was. He likely knew about the Craft/Cal beef years ago, and knew that as soon as he took the job that you have to repair that rift.
There were games this season that they won, and the very first thing he did I noticed was go over and talk to Kelly Craft. He knows the deal.Comment
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Goodman doubling down on his comments about Kentucky's NIL, says it was almost double that of every other program.
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Travis Perry will end up being a decent player if not this year but in years to come in my opinion. Unfortunately today the expectations of a freshman is in many ways unrealistic even for the top the 5 star players coming in. Back in the day you came in worked hard developed and sat for two years unless you was special.
Anyways, Travis Perry chose to leave and that's on him.Comment
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Perry was probably at too high of a level for him, but in fairness he was having to learn a totally new position. To go from being a guy who shot the ball almost every time he had it in HS to having to facilitate the offense at Kentucky, in that SEC...that was tough.
He did okay. Not great, not awful. Had two or three admirable games. Struggled late as Chandler surged. About what you would expect.
I think he can be a good player for somebody down the road. He'll be a lethal offensive punch off the bench when he gets stronger and can hang in more defensively. As it was, he gave up so much defensively that to play him you were playing with fire a lot of times.Comment
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Meanwhile, Mark Pope is everywhere trying to build for the future.
Guy's work ethic is incredible. He's the polar opposite of what Cal became after COVID.Comment
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ESPN and Jonathan Givony have Otega Oweh at # 77 in its latest NBA mock draft.Comment
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Albany coach has a novel way to fix the portal: take high-major transfers, work with them to get them better for two years, then send them back to their original school.
Interesting...but also kind of hilarious. "Yes, give ME all those high-major transfers! I'll fix them for you...while I win my conference behind them and make huge amounts of cash for myself while doing so."
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Yes, teams can sign players currently in the portal. However, under current guidelines a player who transfers without being in the portal would have to sit out. Grad transfers can enter the portal at any time. and if there is a head coach change players have a 30 day period to enter the portal. A couple of days ago, i would have agreed with you re going to court. Seems like the NCAA always either loses or caves. However, the NCAA recently prevailed in the case of four football players who sued for an additional year of eligibility. Here is a link if your interested: https://www.espn.com/college-footbal...-ncaa-nc-courtComment
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