Portal

[Pobilly]

Rob did what he wanted, got an offer from UK, BYU either matched or got closer and Rob is now happy with the money he will be getting. Good for him. Next up. Who knows.

[JFCats22]

Fire Pope today!!! Enough is enough

[EKYCat]

Agree with this, but that's not what I was referring to. I was talking about all the extreme over reactions specifically to unfounded rumors being spread by talking heads who just need clicks. All the doom and gloom because someone starts saying the it looks like Player X might be considering someone else, etc. It's ridiculous.

The Wright rumors aren't unfounded. He's staying at BYU. A guy that was reportedly a done deal and he gets to campus and realizes pretty quickly "this ain't for me."
1 commit for 2026-2027. When is enough going to be enough with Pope for you? Serious question.

[Pobilly]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcOfFZuNxfc

Goodman and field of 68 reported. Wright back at BYU.

[WeWant9]

Wright back to BYU. That one stings UKHoops01

[WeWant9]

All I know is we have plenty of openings and PT, and more than likely a decent amount of money to spend. Since the end of the season, we lost two assistants and a lot of players. So far, we have added one new assistant and his 4* son. Other schools are signing guys left and right, while we seem to swing from positive to negative news. Who knows, maybe Pope is playing 6D chess and we will have a slew of commitments in one day.

[Cawood86]

It's been this way for as long as I can remember. Any time your favorite team is trending downward you have three camps. You have those that are trying to stay positive appealing for calm, then you have those on the other end of the spectrum in full meltdown mode, and you have those like me that, since I can't do anything about it, choose to take a wait and see approach.

Nothing else I can do otherwise. This portal creates chaos and lots of bogus rumors. No idea how things will go. Hopeful. Seems that things move slowly for some reason right now.

[Pete Hogwallop]

Well there are some pretty strong indicators of our trend to irrelevancy without needing anything from internet talking heads. A few things that we know for sure—come next March it will have been 15 years since our last title, 12 years since we made a Final 4, 8 years since even an Elite 8. And we do know at this moment who is committed to play next year.

Unless one considers having a hall of fame coach with the no. 1 recruiting class—2023–to make you stand out on the national scene there hasn’t been a lot to hang your hat on or a big reason to feel we’re about to pull out of it. Kind of feels like IU’s fall a couple decades ago.

But, sure, there’s a chance Pope signs some studs and they stay healthy and things get better soon. I am not one of those rooting against it so that he gets fired. I want very badly to be a contender again. I miss the excitement in a bad way. I feel like my kids have grown up with no understnding why UK basketball means so much to me. We’ve been just another team for a long time now.

And yes I do believe that our player buying funds are more than most programs have. I do believe that most schools invest more in football as the cash cow for athletics. It makes sense that that would be the case.

Go Cats! Go Pope!

Agree with this, but that's not what I was referring to. I was talking about all the extreme over reactions specifically to unfounded rumors being spread by talking heads who just need clicks. All the doom and gloom because someone starts saying the it looks like Player X might be considering someone else, etc. It's ridiculous.

[Matt Dillon]

It's been this way for as long as I can remember. Any time your favorite team is trending downward you have three camps. You have those that are trying to stay positive appealing for calm, then you have those on the other end of the spectrum in full meltdown mode, and you have those like me that, since I can't do anything about it, choose to take a wait and see approach.

[Rondo#9]

Mitch's ego is the problem. The guy obviously has never been in sales and couldn't make it in sales, since he can't handle rejection. He gets turned down once or twice and goes into panic mode and wants to hear a yes...so he settles for a coach like Pope rather than patiently seeking out the best and right candidate for the job.

I wanted to give Pope a fair chance, and I feel like I have. I was fine with his first year... everything from the players he brought in at the last minute and the season results. He won a lot of tough games and had UK being viewed as respectable. But man...year 2 was not kind to him... and he brought an awful lot of it onto himself. One of Pope's problems is he loves to talk. And sometimes saying nothing is the best thing to do, but he can't help himself. In an effort to diffuse a small fire, often times he makes it worse by seeming to throw gasoline on it.

Anyway, Pope shouldn't have been put in this position, that's on Mitch. I don't think any of us can blame Pope for wanting to take his dream job, but we can blame Mitch for putting him in that situation in the first place.

Agree 100%

I don't blame Pope at all. He should've taken his dream job and he's doing the best he can. Can't say the same for Calipari in his last 5 years though. He lost his fire and only cared about getting a few more guys into the NBA. He couldn't have cared less about bringing another Championship to UK.

But enough of that. Can't change the spot we're in now. Getting back on topic; hopefully we see a couple commits by the end of the week. That's all I got to say about it, I'm just going to sit back and watch how it all unfolds in the next 10 days.

[UKHoops01]

I didn't quote it all. But All facts, great post. I don't put any stock in any of these insiders. I visit 2 websites just to stay in the loop. But like you said, it doesn't take a genius to see we're trending more towards the irrelevancy of IU than we are towards what we've historically been. Mitch has to be by far the biggest culprit behind UK's downfall. Can't stand that moron, this could have been avoidable if he was even semi-competent at his job.

Mitch's ego is the problem. The guy obviously has never been in sales and couldn't make it in sales, since he can't handle rejection. He gets turned down once or twice and goes into panic mode and wants to hear a yes...so he settles for a coach like Pope rather than patiently seeking out the best and right candidate for the job.

I wanted to give Pope a fair chance, and I feel like I have. I was fine with his first year... everything from the players he brought in at the last minute and the season results. He won a lot of tough games and had UK being viewed as respectable. But man...year 2 was not kind to him... and he brought an awful lot of it onto himself. One of Pope's problems is he loves to talk. And sometimes saying nothing is the best thing to do, but he can't help himself. In an effort to diffuse a small fire, often times he makes it worse by seeming to throw gasoline on it.

Anyway, Pope shouldn't have been put in this position, that's on Mitch. I don't think any of us can blame Pope for wanting to take his dream job, but we can blame Mitch for putting him in that situation in the first place.

[Rondo#9]

Well there are some pretty strong indicators of our trend to irrelevancy without needing anything from internet talking heads. A few things that we know for sure—come next March it will have been 15 years since our last title, 12 years since we made a Final 4, 8 years since even an Elite 8. And we do know at this moment who is committed to play next year.

Unless one considers having a hall of fame coach with the no. 1 recruiting class—2023–to make you stand out on the national scene there hasn’t been a lot to hang your hat on or a big reason to feel we’re about to pull out of it. Kind of feels like IU’s fall a couple decades ago.

I didn't quote it all. But All facts, great post. I don't put any stock in any of these insiders. I visit 2 websites just to stay in the loop. But like you said, it doesn't take a genius to see we're trending more towards the irrelevancy of IU than we are towards what we've historically been. Mitch has to be by far the biggest culprit behind UK's downfall. Can't stand that moron, this could have been avoidable if he was even semi-competent at his job.

[Tomcats1990]

Karter Knox to Louisville. Looking like no studs want anything to do with Pope. I don’t know what is going on but yeah it’s highly frustrating watching everyone grab guys and we sit in the corner waving large sums of money at anyone and everyone. Kentucky should be getting guys on a discount to come play here not the other way around.

[KentuckyWild2020]

If you are a true blue Kentucky fan and not concerned about all of this right now, SOMETHING IS WRONG!!!!!

What is going on, really?? Don't sugar coat it, don't try to "trust the process' bs, we are Kentucky may as well be Georgetown, Kentucky.

You get on the phone with Billy D. right now, you take all this stupid NIL money we are throwing out for scrubs and you make a deal.

You don't fire Pope, you let coach another year while Billy D. takes a break, gets re affiliated with college basketball, gets his staff in order. You start off October 27 with a bang.


If we thought this past year was bad, I don't think we seen nothing yet for the storm that is coming. EXPECTIONS MINUS 100, PULL THE PLUG, IT AINT WORKING!! If you can't keep a 3 maybe 4 star Chandler who is going to a team no better than Kentucky ( don't give me that he's from there cause it don't matter when you play college or pro ball). Also don't give me that WIFE talk either, don't these things have like 4 or 5 wives?????


Anyways, the thrill is gone.



I want to add to this post. The wife blah blah blah blah blah going back to UK to start a business with the money UK payed her husband that her husband used UK to make a name for himself and get BYU to open the bank.

We developed him, Pope gave him clock to shine and drive up his stock, he walks, so much for FRIENDS!!!!

I want to like Pope I do, he's a great person and he's a UK champion, Cut ties now before he never and I mean never wants to step foot back into Lexington again...

Seems like UK is just a news clip to drive up the stock. Same with Lanier last year and who knows else...

Almighty Kentucky can't even get a 3 star to sign up and play.

Brings me back to Travis Perry. For him to walk off and leave his state school, that should have been REG FLAG warning from the start, something aint right behind closed doors.

Is it Pope to friendly and players don't respect him???

Or, is he trying to play the Pitino hard core role and players are laughing at him??

Only a few coaches can get by with the hard core ways. Meaning certified resume coaches that have proven that it works by either wining game or having a track history of getting players to the league.. POPE IS NEITHER ONE!!!

[UKHoops01]

I do not know anything about this guy, but putting out there since you have asked on other options if no Freeman

Wasn't familiar with him, but after watching highlights and looking at stats I'd take him as a backup to Freeman. Looks like a more polished and athletic version of Andrew Carr. Wouldn't be bad as a depth piece, that's for sure....we need those, just like we need studs.