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[Trueblujr]

At this Point, Pope could land the Next Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan and people would still talk about him wiffing on Moses Malone, LeBron James and Doogie Howser.

There at this point is PDS (Pope derangement syndrome) almost as bad as TDS.

I am not happy where we are but heck I sure as heck am not going to worry about a player that is a short Center (at 6'8" ). I am not going to worry about a kid (Stokes) that was never going to play here and is a cancer on teams he has been on.

I will continue to wait till Pope states the roster is complete and we are running with the 12 to 15 players we have signed. Then Heck I am going to wait and see if they can win any games before getting all down on this coming years team.

I’m with you somewhat, in that I’m still in a wait and see mode, but time and options are running thin at the moment. I’m not going to sit here and think Pope has something up his sleeve we aren’t aware of yet. Folks want to blame the JMI deal or complain that we’ve lost our clout as a blueblood. I’m beginning to think neither of those are the case and the longer this drags out, we have to take a harder look at where the blame really lays. Stein doesn’t seem to be hindered by these same issues, he’s assembling a historically good 2027 recruiting class. Kenny Brooks seems to be able to get who he’s wanting by and large as well. Something isn’t quite adding up. The state of our men’s Basketball program is just not very strong right now.

[EKYCat]

At this Point, Pope could land the Next Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan and people would still talk about him wiffing on Moses Malone, LeBron James and Doogie Howser.

There at this point is PDS (Pope derangement syndrome) almost as bad as TDS.

I am not happy where we are but heck I sure as heck am not going to worry about a player that is a short Center (at 6'8" ). I am not going to worry about a kid (Stokes) that was never going to play here and is a cancer on teams he has been on.

I will continue to wait till Pope states the roster is complete and we are running with the 12 to 15 players we have signed. Then Heck I am going to wait and see if they can win any games before getting all down on this coming years team.

Come on, man. Not at all what any of us are saying. It's just disconcerting that you host 14 or something of the top 20 available players and you land exactly ZERO. I'll say it again. I don't need to see the report card to know what it is when the kids are bringing home bad test grades.

[Matt Dillon]

I’m with you somewhat, in that I’m still in a wait and see mode, but time and options are running thin at the moment. I’m not going to sit here and think Pope has something up his sleeve we aren’t aware of yet. Folks want to blame the JMI deal or complain that we’ve lost our clout as a blueblood. I’m beginning to think neither of those are the case and the longer this drags out, we have to take a harder look at where the blame really lays. Stein doesn’t seem to be hindered by these same issues, he’s assembling a historically good 2027 recruiting class. Kenny Brooks seems to be able to get who he’s wanting by and large as well. Something isn’t quite adding up. The state of our men’s Basketball program is just not very strong right now.

I'm in wait and see mode as well simply because I don't see any point in being otherwise since I can't do anything about the situation anyway. You make a very valid point about coaches Stein and Brooks, especially coach Brooks. I don't know what the NIL budget is for any of UK's coaches, but I feel like it's safe to say women's bb is a lot less than men's bb and fb.

[Pobilly]

Come on, man. Not at all what any of us are saying. It's just disconcerting that you host 14 or something of the top 20 available players and you land exactly ZERO. I'll say it again. I don't need to see the report card to know what it is when the kids are bringing home bad test grades.

I agree if you have an F at mid term you are most likely to have an F as the final grade.

That being said, it is up to the student to make up work, do better work between the mid term and the finals. Yes there is only so much time and time is running out. I do not believe that options are running out. The world is a big place full of very good hidden talents. There are still going to be options for the players in the draft.

Now will Pope get anyone else. Probably some players somewhere. Will they be our top option (meaning the fans). I highly doubt it.

With all that said: does Pope get guys he can coach up and can he overachieve. Yes he proved that year 1.

He also proved year 2 he cannot coach other types of players, or we really had some conflicts of personality or character this past season.

I will continue to wait and see. Personally I think we will be a middling team this year right now. Get one really good player (reclass/draft guy or international) and we can be very good, not great but very good. Is that good enough for UK Fans, no. Would it keep here for year 4, probably.

[WeWant9]

I am not in the streets flipping cars and lighting fires to garbage cans, but I feel this off-season has gone pretty poorly. I just look at the current top programs, our rivals, other SEC schools and we seem to be lagging behind them.