Washington State guard Jerone Morton will visit Kentucky on Friday, April 24.

2 hours ago, GOREDDEVILS said:

Washington State guard Jerone Morton will visit Kentucky on Friday, April 24.

He was outstanding at George Rogers Clark.  Very impressed with him in high school, but IMO he is not someone who should be at Kentucky.

What is our Coach Pope doing?  

32 minutes ago, DragonFire said:

He was outstanding at George Rogers Clark.  Very impressed with him in high school, but IMO he is not someone who should be at Kentucky.

He's bringing kids in that Billy Clyde would like.  Some of the kids might play at Transy.

Coach Pitino and St. John’s came in late, and were able to get Freeman. 

Just now, futurecoach said:

Coach Pitino and St. John’s came in late, and were able to get Freeman. 

Barring some unexpected last minute portal entries, a Stokes miracle, or players pulling out of the draft, UK is in deep deep trouble next season.  Pope is likely finished.  I like the guy, but the quotes from Freeman about wanting to play for a coach that would push him are pretty telling.  It's also on him not having a GM or recruiting coordinator until a few weeks before the portal opened.  Pope's running of the program has been a huge disappointment.  He seems to be a solid game coach, but this job is just too big for him.   

2 minutes ago, Carl Spackler said:

Barring some unexpected last minute portal entries, a Stokes miracle, or players pulling out of the draft, UK is in deep deep trouble next season.  Pope is likely finished.  I like the guy, but the quotes from Freeman about wanting to play for a coach that would push him are pretty telling.  It's also on him not having a GM or recruiting coordinator until a few weeks before the portal opened.  Pope's running of the program has been a huge disappointment.  He seems to be a solid game coach, but this job is just too big for him.   

Yep. In today’s world the coach and money is what lands recruits, not the name on jersey. In fact even ten to twenty years ago the coach is what landed players not the name on a jersey. Kentucky and fans need to realize that you need a top coach to get the players. The Kentucky name may get a player to consider you, but it’s not going to close the deal. 
 

Quite honestly I know fans freaked out about Calipari saying how he wants to help get kids in the NBA more than winning. To me it’s funny how people don’t realize that simply him being a salesman to help recruit. Calipari definitely wants to win, and what gives him the best chance to win is getting top players. So he sells the idea of him getting players into the NBA. 
 

Pope is a nice guy and probably to honest. His sales pitch is probably simply talking about UK history, and saying here players need to care more about the name on the front the back. Which is what you want once they are here. However, that isn’t a great sales pitch in closing people. 

It is what it is, Pope will either pull in some more big time players and win big or have a bad year and be fired.

Not quite panic time. Still a lot of players and time left. But ....

If it is any consolation, here are current portal rankings of the "blue bloods" by on3:

Duke 63

Kansas 64

UNC 71

UK 73

https://www.on3.com/transfer-portal/team-rankings/basketball/2026/

7 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

Not quite panic time. Still a lot of players and time left. But ....

If it is any consolation, here are current portal rankings of the "blue bloods" by on3:

Duke 63

Kansas 64

UNC 71

UK 73

https://www.on3.com/transfer-portal/team-rankings/basketball/2026/

While that may be their ranking on the portal however Duke is ranked #1 in the country in incoming freshman and Kansas is either 4th or 5th. The sad news is that UNC is ranked #69 and Kentucky #91 on incoming freshmen which is just horrible.

9 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

Not quite panic time. Still a lot of players and time left. But ....

If it is any consolation, here are current portal rankings of the "blue bloods" by on3:

Duke 63

Kansas 64

UNC 71

UK 73

https://www.on3.com/transfer-portal/team-rankings/basketball/2026/

If the Iowa State transfer doesn't go pro. Then I think Pope needs to do whatever it takes to get him. As he would be the perfect fit for Pope's offense, and honestly probably a better fit than Freeman would have been. So there are still guys to be had, as you mentioned. However, he needs to make sure he finds the right ones and also then be able to close them and get them here. 

10 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

Not quite panic time. Still a lot of players and time left. But ....

If it is any consolation, here are current portal rankings of the "blue bloods" by on3:

Duke 63

Kansas 64

UNC 71

UK 73

https://www.on3.com/transfer-portal/team-rankings/basketball/2026/

Beginning to look like with the exception of Duke, the blue bloods are on the way out.  Until Duke loses their ability to secure the top high school kids, they will remain the lone blue blood.

1 hour ago, futurecoach said:

If the Iowa State transfer doesn't go pro. Then I think Pope needs to do whatever it takes to get him. As he would be the perfect fit for Pope's offense, and honestly probably a better fit than Freeman would have been. So there are still guys to be had, as you mentioned. However, he needs to make sure he finds the right ones and also then be able to close them and get them here. 

Really, what are the odds of that happening?

10 minutes ago, 4 Quarters said:

Really, what are the odds of that happening?

Considering how he has missed on a lot of his top targets, probably not great lol. However, UK at that point may have the most money to offer him, plus would fit the system really well. 

Braydon Hawthorne will return to Kentucky in 2026-2027 per KSR.