Fan investment

[justafan]

No good UK fan sets that wedding on a day when UK is playing. If they do, they deserve to be dog cussed.

My daughter, apathetic toward sports and owner of several UofL shirts, wouldn't even do that. My son is like me: we'd look at the dang calendar first VERY closely. If it's more of a far-flung relative, like a cousin? Ha ha, get out of here. I'll send a gift basket.

So this is where I post "that is wild" and we laugh and move on.

[EKYCat]

I keep tabs on our guys in the NBA. My son is a big KAT fan so we check in on him regularly. Same with the others. I love it that UK is overwhelmingly represented in that league. I understand why folks might not like watching the pro game, but to have zero interest in a kid who put the jersey on and laid it on the line for UK is foreign to me.

[justafan]

I do think there's a type of poster/fan who gets more into recruiting than the games. You don't see that here but on Rivals you'll see it. I.e. guys who just seem to be living for next season all the time. That's kinda weird.

This is where I disagree - its not weird to me. I wouldn't do it as its not enjoyable to me. Each fan has their level of fandom. If someone wants to track stats for the top 20 KY HS players - hey so be it. Not my thing.

If someone wants to skip kids' weddings because UK is playing that day, meh, priorities are different.

Can I skip because I don't like the parents of the person marrying into the family?

[justafan]

If my daughter plans her wedding on a UK game day, I failed as a father.

This is wild.

[George]

Nope - I have no illusions that people enjoy tracking down each and every recruit. Have fun!

Yeah, but you made that statement in a flippant way that suggests a person is silly or desperate for following recruiting, in a thread about recruiting.

[Matt Dillon]

I'm like justafan where my interest is concerned. There are different levels of fandom. Some are a lot more invested than others. That doesn't mean the lesser invested ones aren't fans or are a problem for the program.

[Joneslab]

This is where I disagree - its not weird to me. I wouldn't do it as its not enjoyable to me. Each fan has their level of fandom. If someone wants to track stats for the top 20 KY HS players - hey so be it. Not my thing.

That's fine.

But it's different than your post above. You wrote, "No investment in the players in the last 10 years."

That's a much different thing than you're saying there and a far cry from simply "not my thing."

But I have seen some version of it, mostly from the older folks in the fanbase. It's a close cousin of "The players were just mercenaries," or etc. I've seen posters here, right here among us, arguing the players really didn't care in the Cal era.

I usually show them the video of Bam and Fox crying in the locker room.

And in the NIL era, a person could argue that they're *all* mercenaries, from the role players to the stars. The old-fashioned idea that they'd come here for the glory of the tradition is so antiquated it's almost silly. However several of the players on this year's team have talked about the tradition at UK, and that's about as close as you're going to get to the old "name on the front of the jersey" thing these days.

[Joneslab]

I'm like justafan where my interest is concerned. There are different levels of fandom. Some are a lot more invested than others. That doesn't mean the lesser invested ones aren't fans or are a problem for the program.

There is a certain kind of fan though who likes to lean into the detached level of investment.

A fan telling you "I don't really care that much" is fine, because what we're doing here isn't saving the world or curing cancer. But a fan telling you "I don't care that much" can be annoying...because it begs a question about what in the world you're doing here.

That said, I don't think that's what justafan was saying. I don't understand how the wedding comment really even came into the conversation and seems to be a different thing altogether. There are untold thousands of UK fans who are huge fans...but don't follow recruiting whatsoever.

[justafan]

Yeah, but you made that statement in a flippant way that suggests a person is silly or desperate for following recruiting, in a thread about recruiting.

I 100% did not mean it that way and I remind people that "tone" is hard to discern in text.

If I used the wrong words to give that impression, absolutely did not mean to. I see what fans enjoy and (again, barring posting on players feeds mean things) go for it.

To pick at Will I could ask - if I said "its wild that fans track HS recruits" would that sound the same, better, or worse?

Nope - no one can question my questioning of fandom. To each their own, hope you're having fun. I try to have fun in mine.

To be fair to me, maybe my not remembering that player went to Providence (whats his name ) is just a manifestation of me sucking at remembering names. I would like to believe if I'm exposed to a player for more than a year or so, I'm more likely to remember them. Still doesn't mean I'm going to follow them to their next team. Good luck though!

[George]

I 100% did not mean it that way and I remind people that "tone" is hard to discern in text.

If I used the wrong words to give that impression, absolutely did not mean to. I see what fans enjoy and (again, barring posting on players feeds mean things) go for it.

To pick at Will I could ask - if I said "its wild that fans track HS recruits" would that sound the same, better, or worse?

Nope - no one can question my questioning of fandom. To each their own, hope you're having fun. I try to have fun in mine.

To be fair to me, maybe my not remembering that player went to Providence (whats his name ) is just a manifestation of me sucking at remembering names. I would like to believe if I'm exposed to a player for more than a year or so, I'm more likely to remember them. Still doesn't mean I'm going to follow them to their next team. Good luck though!

Bryce Hopkins, who, oddly enough, might transfer to Arkansas to reunite with Cal after leaving Kentucky because Cal didn't, and I quote, "coddle him enough."

He'll probably wind up at Georgetown, but yes, Arkansas is apparently a real option. Couldn't believe it.

[justafan]

That's fine.

But it's different than your post above. You wrote, "No investment in the players in the last 10 years."

Agreed that I did not qualify my statement and it definitely gave the wrong impression. I won't edit it as I think there were plenty of replies and I don't want to confuse anyone.

"No investment in the short-term players after they left due to the revolving door that was Cal's program". I wish them well but don't track their situations.

I'm super curious now, sorry to drag this on - are there people here "invested" in the player that came, collected his NIL, sat the bench apparently of his own free will, and then left? I'm not saying the other are the same (those that played) - I'm just getting a level of investment from yall. I 100% can't remember his name, because he didn't play, and I'm terrible with names.

[teamchemistry15]

I don't understand how UK fans can have no attachment to the players, no matter how long they're here .

It sounds like your problem is with the system moreso than the player.

If a kid puts Kentucky on his chest and plays hard for us, I don't care if he's a one and done or a sixth year senior.

I agree with you but we seemingly have a monster section of the fan base that go wild when a kid who played for Cal rocks and Arkansas shirt. I really disliked how Cal pushed kids away who should've returned, but that's not their fault. They played at UK. They're also allowed to support their coach who recruited them, coached them, traveled with them, mentored them, got to know their families, etc

[Joneslab]

To pick at Will I could ask - if I said "its wild that fans track HS recruits" would that sound the same, better, or worse?

Depends on what you mean by "track."

There's a whole cabin industry of recruiting analysis that's been going on for probably four decades, which of course the internet put on steroids. If you wanted to, you could find out the entire family history of virtually every blue chip recruiting in the class of 2025.

To immerse in all that is, indeed, wild.

But it's kind of a game within the game. And if you like high school basketball generally, and if you like knowing who the players are before they come to UK, I can absolutely see getting invested in that just a little bit.

I mean we have a whole history here on WCN, and especially of WCF, of people literally pretending to be recruiting experts. Way back in the day there was a guy who was freely shelling out coded information to us like we were characters in the Da Vinci Code, and it turned out his source was Tubby's administrative assistant. (And all the info turned out to be wrong.)

So it's something a lot of UK fans get interested in, at least a little.

But if you mean "track" like reach out to them on social media, pay NIL money to try and lure them here (which fans can now do), travel far distances to see them on your own dime, spend more time watching them than you do players on the current team...then yeah, that's a little wild for sure.

[KCKUKFan]

That's fine.

But it's different than your post above. You wrote, "No investment in the players in the last 10 years."

That's a much different thing than you're saying there and a far cry from simply "not my thing."

But I have seen some version of it, mostly from the older folks in the fanbase. It's a close cousin of "The players were just mercenaries," or etc. I've seen posters here, right here among us, arguing the players really didn't care in the Cal era.

I usually show them the video of Bam and Fox crying in the locker room.

And in the NIL era, a person could argue that they're *all* mercenaries, from the role players to the stars. The old-fashioned idea that they'd come here for the glory of the tradition is so antiquated it's almost silly. However several of the players on this year's team have talked about the tradition at UK, and that's about as close as you're going to get to the old "name on the front of the jersey" thing these days.

And that's only because Pope drills it in their heads.

[George]

Agreed that I did not qualify my statement and it definitely gave the wrong impression. I won't edit it as I think there were plenty of replies and I don't want to confuse anyone.

"No investment in the short-term players after they left due to the revolving door that was Cal's program". I wish them well but don't track their situations.

I'm super curious now, sorry to drag this on - are there people here "invested" in the player that came, collected his NIL, sat the bench apparently of his own free will, and then left? I'm not saying the other are the same (those that played) - I'm just getting a level of investment from yall. I 100% can't remember his name, because he didn't play, and I'm terrible with names.

What are we talking about, exactly? Shaedon Sharpe? Kriisa? Or simply the role players who get the scraps?