okie1

The new found energy in U of L and KY programs have been a breath of fresh air that the rivalry needed.  I know very little about a lot of these players, but it looks on paper like UK and U of L have put together similar rosters.  

Kelsey has definately been relentless and killing it ...College basketball is better when UK and U of L are both top 10-20 basketball teams year in and year out!

I wonder if Inmon has ever played girls who came to DCA after high school began over some girls who have been there longer.  Inmon is a piece of work.

It's a month after the season...If they were unhappy about the results they got, why not pull the plug right after the season.  Just my thoughts...Steve Adams may have been interested in that job, Ed Mckinney....

But if there are some back table discussions and an oppurtunity comes up to bring in a "better" coach, you make the move now.  This is all speculation on my part.

Would Jeff Jackson be interested in this position?  I think he can retire and if I am not mistaken he coached UHA back in the day, so he knows how the private school deal works.

The timing of this move suggest they already have someone lined up IMO.

I listened to a Podcast with Lee Anne Pope that she had done last year...they are a unique family and I didn't realize Pope studied for LSAT MCAT and GRE while playing in the NBA as a journeyman player for 10 years and only had 1 guaranteed contract in 10 years.  

His story is quite appealing and when he hangs mulitple banners in Rupp, it will only get better!

21 hours ago, 12th Region Fan said:

I feel like this is a home run hire. A guy who knows how to build a program. Someone who has a won a lot. And a guy that always has his teams playing their best basketball at the right time. Congrats to the Colts and Coach Adams! 

Plus West normally has some tallent and he doesn't have to deal with deep football playoff runs.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

18 hours ago, TheDeuce said:

 

Another plant by UK.  Have him redshirt and take some U of L money, have surgery, then enter portal next year and come to UK!

11 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

I don't subscribe to the whole UK working to sabotage UofL narrative, but KP was 100% a plant and you can't convince me otherwise. 

The U of L job was in such a great place when Payne took it...they could have had their pick of top coaches.  Good thing Payne and Cal pulled that off!

1 hour ago, bugatti said:

For fun, I went back to 2018 to see where UK stacked up against others in FG%. The two outlier years for shooting % were this season (6th in the country) and the goofy COVID season (284th in the country). Averaging out the other years, UK is at 53 out of 363 teams. That would put them around the 85 percentile mark for this duration. Other variables could be considered such as 3 pt %, FT%, level of competition, skill level of own players, etc., but saying UK is traditionally terrible when it comes to shooting the ball is not supported by the data. And these measurements have supposedly been the dark years of UK basketball under Calipari. But perception often becomes reality with these things.

My guess is if I did all of Cal's years at UK, they would be much higher than 53rd.

Cal's message got stale and his last couple of teams underachieved in March...however, the guy is a top tier Coach and recruiter.  I don't know how anyone can seriously argue that.  Cal also did a great job of getting stars to play team ball for the most part.

Cal tried the portal with Grady, Sestina, Big O, Frederick, Reeves, Mitchell ( I may be leaving some out)...I don't think that was lost on him...

But it is apparrent now that BBN was ready for a change and behind the scenes, Cal had worn thin on a lot of folks.

Quiet on this one...One of the better 12th region jobs.

Cal is a master at the puppet strings...I wouldn't at all be suprised if Wagner and Flands decision day after the presser weren't somewhat intentional to take some air out of the ball.

Pope needs a recruiting win soon!

8 minutes ago, ChickenWyngz said:

You realize they can’t remove NIL money once it’s signed based on playing time, etc. right?

I did not, but that makes sense.  I don't even remember the dynamics of that whole situation (I guess I had already checked out).  I just remember that was maybe the first year of the NIL stuff and UK basktball had a collective, and he was suposedly still getting paid.  

14 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

Cal is not the one that decided for Sharpe not to play. Sharpe is the one who chose not to play. 

Cal allowed him to stay on the bench and use up NIL money and UK resources.

Yesterday's press confernce just shows how much BBN had become disconnected with basketball program.  

Kudos to Mitch for realizing exactly what UK needed at this time.  Pope's success will untimately come down to how he is able to construct his roster year and year out.  His ability to Coach and communicate with a team are not concerns of mine.

I hope this is true, let's get a couple of these big games back to home and home series and bolster our Home schedule.

8 minutes ago, 98NCCalum said:

It's amazing how much better of a coach he has become in the last 12 hours! 

The Kentucky Effect!!  UK makes the Coach, not the other way around!

10 minutes ago, FrankNicodemus said:

I mean seriously, this is AWESOME!!!!!

The Pelphrey story makes me watery eyed…

This is UK, Let’s GO!!!!

Wow, I am not sure I would have ever expected this from Pitino!!  Let's GO!

This is going to be a great hire!  He will give UK fans everything they have been clamoring for the past 5 years.  

10 hours ago, ChuckT said:

Raise your hand if you think Mark Pope can out Coach any of the following:
Nate Oates
Rick Barnes
Chris Beard
Buzz Williams
Cal

I don’t get it.   

Smells like a panic hire!!

I am raising my hand.  He out coached Self and a few others this year!

I would rather give Greg Kampe $2.5 million a year and give him 10 million a  year to get players🙂

2 minutes ago, All State Baseball said:

 

 

AI?

4 minutes ago, All State Baseball said:

What KSR is reporting. 

That number makes sense...Craft was willing to buy Cal out...8.5 million university money, 32 milliion buyout money over 8 years.

5 minutes ago, All State Baseball said:

Offer to Hurley is 8 year $100MIL

You can't say Mitch ain't trying!

Just now, TheDeuce said:

Was UK actively pursuing him?

I don't know...maybe there was going to be an original 4 that UK targetted.

There is no telling the amount of talk there is between folks in these situations.

4 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

Probably. 

The narrative I'm not accepting that some are trying to push (not here) is that UK wasn't turned down because they didn't "offer." The offer is the courting of the candidate. 

So did Oates turn down KY by offering his statement?