DragonFire

Jason Frakes said he declined an invitation.

Central won't return anyone that was starting by the end of the year. Top five scorers are all gone. Leading returning scorer is going to be Jarek Kirk (4.6 PPG). Sophomore Armani Byrd (2.9 PPG) will be counted on to take the next step. Dominique Anthony (2.0 PPG) saw an uptick in minutes at the end of the year. They'll also gain Kash Carter, another sophomore, at some point. I forget when he played last for East, but it'll be a calendar year past that point. Central has a lot of talent in the younger classes, but at moment, next year would be expected to be a gap year, in much the same way that 2021 was. The elephant in the room on that one is that who they have today may not be who they have to start the school year or by the time the season starts. This time last year, neither Drevin Bratton or Elijah Howard were at Central yet. So we'll see if anyone shows up. We've seen players gravitate to the region champs before.

Saw another ranking, this from the Sporting Times: https://x.com/sportingtimes/status/1781325825960272202 I'm slightly more inclined to agree with that one.

Familiarity breeds complacency.

Well it would have been a bad sign for him to not "win" the press conference - but that was an awesome press conference.

I 100% cannot see what Sheppard can do to improve his draft stock more than it is right now. I don't think I've seen him projected below 7th in any mock, and currently as high as 3rd. This is a very weak class - he could have a great year next year at Kentucky and slide backward. By far one of the things I respected most about Cal is that he put the player's future above everything else. Yes, it was frustrating at times. But he knew that most likely they'd harm themselves to pass on the opportunity, and he forced them to make the right choice. Sheppard needs to go (even though frankly, he isn't NBA ready).

I sure hope they didn’t do it because of that - because he’s not staying.

Was he excited about Billy G as well? Because here today, feels awfully familiar to that one. And when that went up in flames, he begrudgingly went to the guy a lot wanted two years prior.

Well at least there is that. I’m sure they leaked that now because of what they’re seeing in reactions to this monstrosity of a (potential) hire.

When everyone is surprised…. not a good sign.

I don’t blame Mitch for the rejections, and in fact laud him for those pursuits. But to use the analogy, he swung for the fences for his first two strikes and then laid down a bunt just to get contact. He better hope it doesn’t roll foul and he manages to get on base. Maybe gets a steal and a couple of passed balls to round the bases.

It’s A way to go, but it’s risky. If this goes poorly, Barnhart is most assuredly out. Also RE: Hurley, he wasn’t an alum at UConn, so clearly something else got him the job. Does anyone believe Pope sniffs this job if he’s not a UK alum? I mean ANYONE?

He’s a body who can go ahead and start working as compared to the worry of waiting on someone like Donovan. Best I got.

There’s a lot of Billy G in this hire so yeah, maybe that’s true. Unfortunately, that may be too kind given that Billy had actually won some NCAA tournament games before coming.

Reeks of panic. Not to mention, this is a guy you can get in a week, two weeks, month from now. I get you’re worried about players and the portal but holy cow. I’m sticking with the belief that the change was needed but man…. this is a potential faceplant. I immediately thought of Doherty at North Carolina. That’s not a good thing.

We went through all this "offered" crap with Alabama. Alabama claimed that the only guy offered was the one who accepted the job. I'd say that's because no one is offering the job unless they're certain it's a yes, so that they can say exactly this. Drew probably wasn't offered (wink), but he was offered.

He never did track down those real killers. He must never have looked in the mirror.

Of the more realistic names, he was top of my list. Of course, supposedly he was never even in the running per the "sources", but I still hoped.

He definitely was. And if I had to do it over again, I would wish he rode off into the NBA or something after 2020, and there’s really be no downside to his legacy. The last four years just weren’t great, and made clear that things had grown stale. Cal didn’t seem willing to change either - him maintaining the same staff was a real red flag.

I mean, I’m joking around, but seriously, I’d take another Billy G if it meant that five years from now UK had a title. Why wouldn’t someone! But I do expect Kentucky will be in for rough waters next year. Still, as I’ve said repeatedly, it really was just time for a change for both sides. Things run their course - Cal and Kentucky ran their course.

If you’re telling me that they could have two bad years and then queue up the next national title winning coach at Kentucky, I think I’d take that deal. Because that’s what happened with Billy G.

I don’t believe they’ll be hiring the Trojan horse they sent west….

The cold reality of next year will be tough though. Because unless the new coach manages to bring a lot with him, Kentucky may have some real struggles. There’s no way they’re holding this class.

It will be a bittersweet ending if he goes, but eventually, this will be right move for both parties. Kentucky will not be in good shape next year as a result, but that is likely the case whenever Cal goes, by the very nature of how he constructs his teams.

1997 Kentucky is only defending champ to make it back and lose the final since 1963 (when Cincy lost in their attempt to three peat). History and current play are definitely on UConn’s side.