If Mark Pope wins the National Championship, will anyone care if he ever got a Top 5 recruit?
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"I am the punishment of God. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you."
Genghis Khan -
Nada.Going forward, Christian Laettner volunteers to catch any dildos flung on a basketball court - or anywhere else. -
To answer the question, of course not. Winning is what matters.Comment
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Championships is what matters recruiting banners not so much.Comment
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No and I am not too concerned with those anyways. I have nothing against onds, but I feel their impact is less and less in this current era.Comment
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No.Comment
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Nope, would rather have a team of grown men that have proved themselves. The Anthony Davis's are such diamonds in the rough that the odds of getting a game changing OAD is such a gamble, especially with costs associated with them. Much rather have a team full of great "college" players that are second round draft picks that really care about winning and Kentucky basketball.
And of course no matter who the coach is, we are rooting for championships, but I'm sure I'm in the majority when I say I've never wanted a coach to succeed more than I do Mr. Pope. I hope he hangs a few banners and leaves here a legend.Comment
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When*Comment
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The BS of the
Calipari era is over. Winning games and competing for championships are what matters.
high school recruits have much less impact now with the transfer rules. Don't care if we ever make HS recruits a priority again. Coach pope has proven that he can put a competitive team together without them
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Not at all, hanging banners is all that matters.
With that being said, I am a NBA Celtics fan. Even though the Celtics never benefited from some of Cal's top one and done players, it's still been pretty the past decade watching players that came through Kentucky in the NBA.
No matter how Pope chooses to get there, we still have to have that star studded talent that's just better and above the rest. If players came and stayed a few years then I could see a team full of system players playing for a title but with one and done NIL, still need elite talent to come here and buy in for a year maybe two.
Don't get me wrong, one and done sucked, I hated it. Especially when you think "what could of been" with players like Wall, Cousins, Davis etc. Could you imagine if some of those guys had stayed in college a few years at Kentucky? I don't think even Cal could have messed that up with all that talent.
Now that the Cal one and done is over, it's still one and done NIL year to year. Who knows who will stay or who will leave these days? The biggest difference now in my opinion is that we actually have a coach who will analyze a players talents strengths and weaknesses to put them in a position to succeed in the system.
On a final note, Pope wins a title I think recruiting the top players gets easier for him.Comment
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Feels like bait...Comment
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Nah....I keep reading stuff like "he can't recruit the top talent" on On3, ESPN, SDS, SI and other places and that he needs to prove that he can BUT I don't know a single person who gives a hoot about Top 5 talent as long as he wins.
I looked it up. Top 5 hasn't mattered for the most part.
However, no team in the past 20 years or so has won it all without Five Star talent on the roster. Pope has recruited a couple of Five Stars, though.
Plus, we're just entering the Transfer Era and who knows how much that will lessen the influence of Five Star HS talent.
It's a changing landscape.
I just wonder where all this "Pope must recruit a top 5 talent" stuff is coming from."I am the punishment of God. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you."
Genghis KhanComment
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Exactly. As a bit of an 'old-timer' as I approach 60, I have the luxury of watching Hall, Pitino, Smith, etc. coached teams and watching those players, style of play, approach to team building, etc., that many younger fans haven't experienced. I've been kind of shocked to see how much some fans care about "recruiting banners" and bragging about "top recruiting classes". It's amazed me how much emphasis has been put on recruiting BY SOME! But then it dawned on me...there's probably an awful lot of fans under the age of 30 that post online that don't know any different! They grew up with the "Calipari way" and that's all they know and all they've ever known, so of course they're going to want that to continue somewhat....even though it was proven to be a losing formula. The further Cal got away from experience and started relying almost solely on freshman the worse the results were.... and that's not opinion, we've now got a 15 year track record to look back on for proof.Comment
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