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Author
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Topic: Next up
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Bama Cat
Player
Member # 153
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posted 05-05-2024 09:12 PM
It's been a quiet week with no signings since last weekend. But Pope is working behind the scenes I'll assure you. Here are just a few of the current possibilities.
No.1 is Jaxson Robinson now that he's announced for the transfer pool. He is the shooter that Pope wants. I have a sneaky feeling he will be the next to commit.
No.2 is Achor Achor from Samford. He is a big body that can score. He's fairly new on the want list but that is what Pope does. He keeps a name quiet until he is ready to strike.
No.3 is Jordan Lathan from Moehead State. Not much publicity but he's from KY and he can score the ball. He is my dark horse if he can't get his top choices. Or he could be a pick to fill out the roster at the end.
Posts: 14199 | From: berea, ky, usa | Registered: Sep 1999
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ukman
Player
Member # 3032
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posted 05-06-2024 05:21 PM
I wish we could get Kadary Richmond, but I trust Pope with putting the pieces together. It will be interesting to see who becomes the go to guy and our main scoring threat.
Posts: 5446 | From: georgia | Registered: Jan 2009
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Bama Cat
Player
Member # 153
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posted 05-06-2024 07:58 PM
I've gotten spoiled. It's been too long between new players committing. I'll just have to wait. It is surprising me that Pope is not getting more respect for who he is picking up. We are just rated too low in both the building of the roster and ranking in the early bracketology. Can't wait to see who we add. I now think we will probably have a full 13 players this year. There will be a couple project I imagine, with two or three years remaining.
Posts: 14199 | From: berea, ky, usa | Registered: Sep 1999
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Bama Cat
Player
Member # 153
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posted 05-06-2024 08:00 PM
I've gotten spoiled. It's been too long between new players committing. I'll just have to wait. It is surprising me that Pope is not getting more respect for who he is picking up. We are just rated too low in both the building of the roster and ranking in the early bracketology. Can't wait to see who we add. I now think we will probably have a full 13 players this year. There will be a couple project I imagine, with two or three years remaining.
Posts: 14199 | From: berea, ky, usa | Registered: Sep 1999
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Trey Ball
Administrator
Member # 332
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posted 05-06-2024 09:58 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Bama Cat:
It is surprising me that Pope is not getting more respect for who he is picking up. We are just rated too low in both the building of the roster and ranking in the early bracketology.
I don't see that at all. I think they may even be over rewarding him and I am good with that.
For him to get 8 guys who are all average to above average college players to commit to UK in two weeks is an incredible job. UK had one player signed when he came in and Pope had to basically re-recruit him to stay as well.
Same thing for Cal at Arkansas, except he had it much easier, he just took all his players and signees with him and added Davis and Aidoo to the mix.
It really is incredible what Pope as managed to accomplish. UK was basically looking at a 6 to 7 win season in my opinion and now they can at least compete with the job that Pope has done in the portal.
[ 05-06-2024, 10:48 PM: Message edited by: Trey Ball ]
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Wife's Mad. Told me we never talk anymore. And just last nite while watching super bowl told her 2 or 3 times to get me a coke and popcorn. Also told her not to forget to take out trash in the morning. Ain't that something. Also told me I was too indecisive. Can't figure out what to do about that. One nice thing I guess. She called me a pro crastinator. Don't know what a crastinator is but I guess I'm a good one for her to call me a pro. Gonna wait til tomorrow to look that up though. I love her but somrtimes can't help but thinking I should have told uncle Junior to keep his coon hound pup and stevens double barrel and also his youngest daughter.
redbone
Posts: 11580 | From: IN, USA | Registered: Dec 1999
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Bama Cat
Player
Member # 153
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posted 05-06-2024 10:09 PM
That's what I was trying to say. Maybe I didn't get the point over. He has done a great job building a new team but he's not getting much credit for what he has done in a short time. It's like these new members of UK haven't proved anything in 1 to 4 years playing for other teams. Pope wouldn't have signed them if he didn't think they could play. We'll just have to wait and see how much better they perform than what they have been credited at this time.
Posts: 14199 | From: berea, ky, usa | Registered: Sep 1999
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Trey Ball
Administrator
Member # 332
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posted 05-06-2024 11:05 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Bama Cat:
He has done a great job building a new team but he's not getting much credit for what he has done in a short time.
I guess I am confused. I think the media/bracketologist have definitely recognized the job he has done and that is why I think they are probably going out on a limb saying UK will be a #8/#9 seed.
Like I said he has a team that can compete. Can he compete for a national championship with this roster? Not a chance in my opinion. I don't even think that he can compete for a Top 4 finish in the SEC with this roster, but I think he can compete to finish 0.500 in the conference and maybe finish 6th or 7th. As I stated last week he has recruited a defensive centric team, which I think is good, and hopefully he can teach them how to play his offensive style. Right now he does not have a player on the roster that can create their own shot. That is what he is trying to add with these last few moves. I don't think the kid from BYU is a "create your own shot/create for other type of player" from what I have read. He is a system guy.
Let's be honest. After Cal left and all the players left. UK and Arkansas had the two least talented rosters in the SEC because neither team had a player. Arkansas had a head start because you figured UK players would follow Cal and most did. So UK was the doormat of the SEC.
Now they can "compete". I think it probably comes down to our definitions of compete. Mine is they will be in a lot of close games and probably lose at least half of those and probably almost lose all of them on the road.
UK is staring a 12 to 14 loss season in the face. They were staring a 20+ loss season in the face a few weeks ago.
Right now UK probably has the 9th or 10th best roster in the SEC behind:
Auburn/Alabama/Tennessee/Texas A&M/Texas/Arkansas/Ole Miss/Miss State
I think they are right there with Florida/South Carolina/Georgia and clearly better than Oklahoma/LSU/Missouri/Vanderbilt.
That is me just being objective about the rosters that I currently see. Could UK sneak past Ole Miss/Miss State/Texas? I think they could, but I don't see them having a better roster than Auburn/Alabama/Tennessee/Arkansas/Texas A&M no matter who Pope adds here at the end.
So what seed does the 6th thru 9th place team in the SEC generally get in the NCAA Tournament? Somewhere between #9 to play in game to being left out completely. The media believe Pope has UK positioned to be in 6th/7th place finish in the SEC and getting the #8/#9 seed. I think that is the media saying he has done a great job.
[ 05-06-2024, 11:13 PM: Message edited by: Trey Ball ]
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Wife's Mad. Told me we never talk anymore. And just last nite while watching super bowl told her 2 or 3 times to get me a coke and popcorn. Also told her not to forget to take out trash in the morning. Ain't that something. Also told me I was too indecisive. Can't figure out what to do about that. One nice thing I guess. She called me a pro crastinator. Don't know what a crastinator is but I guess I'm a good one for her to call me a pro. Gonna wait til tomorrow to look that up though. I love her but somrtimes can't help but thinking I should have told uncle Junior to keep his coon hound pup and stevens double barrel and also his youngest daughter.
redbone
Posts: 11580 | From: IN, USA | Registered: Dec 1999
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Bama Cat
Player
Member # 153
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posted 05-07-2024 11:06 AM
And I am still convinced that he has stolen some players that are good enough that other good teams wanted them. His biggest proble3m will be to get them to learn to play together and be as unselfish as last seasons team was. His second problem will be can these good shooters make their shots or will they fall flat on their face like some from last year did at times. His players have got to make their shots at a good pace and not all of them go cold in the same game. There will not be room for error and I hope all of them have their best year ever. In the end they may fall flat on their face or they may win a lot of games they shouldn't.
Posts: 14199 | From: berea, ky, usa | Registered: Sep 1999
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