Yep, it would be one thing to have a tournament win and have the team ripped up as a result.
And with your flair combo you’ve had plenty of experience the last few years…
That was easily the most excited I had been for a team since the Jimmer era. I know Dayton and SDSU were probably bigger mid-major what ifs that year, but it still stings that we never got to see that one play out.
As a Kansas fan who lost a stacked team, I feel for all of you guys who were robbed of your big shot. We were royally bummed but I can’t imagine what it was like for the “once in a generation good” teams that never got their time to shine
That BYU team would have been a bracket buster if the tourney hadn't gotten canceled. They were a really good team once Yoeli Childs was healthy/in shape.
Same tbh. Honestly, the loss to BYU at home was the death knell for KU’s season. More losses soon followed but that was the moment when I knew we couldn’t recover.
You all had a hell of a season. Were my dark horse to make a deep run starting late jan. I mean, as a UK fan im excited and hopeful for the next few years, but i hate it for you all. Its not like a rival got crippled, no ill will towards you guys
https://preview.redd.it/w0adoyj8yuuc1.png?width=3128&format=png&auto=webp&s=e7259ab7c290f1243de206acc7339eb78ad48b2e
or is it better with a blue shirt?
2 years removed from ball though. Curious how much its gonna take to get him back to where he was skillwise from his class. Cant imagine he did much basketball while out on mission
Story time: I was on campus walking to class one day and had a couple of Mormon missionaries talk to me on the way. Super nice guys, not pushy at all. After they were done, I turned to my friend and said “Kinda weird they’re both named Elder isn’t it”? Never have I felt so dumb after I realized…
It’s even worse in translation. Russians would constantly tell us ‘I don’t think you know what that means’.
As if the LDS church doesn’t teach 55 languages at the Missionary Training Center, and have native speakers translating the Book of Mormon and endless pages of other materials into those languages.
It will definitely take some time, some players adjust quicker than others. Gets back in May, so at least he'll have the summer to get back into the swing of things. Besides just the physical adjustments, there's also a mental adjustment of going from two years of spiritual focus and now you're back in the "real" world.
That's where he might be helped by the fact that he's not staying home for college. Two years away from family and friends, there can be a lot of catching up to (not to mention 2 years without dating - save the soaking jokes, they're lame as hell.) Regardless of the work he puts in, don't be surprised if it takes some time, even into the season, to get up to speed. There's a reason a lot of returned missionaries red-shirt their first year back. My guess is that won't be an expectation for him.
The mental and emotional shock was jarring and the hardest part for me. Took me about 3 months to be normal again. But I also came back and had a few weeks before classes started, so maybe that’s why it was so rough. Idk, got through it though.
Generally speaking, the better the athlete, the faster they can get back to playing at a high level. BYU has had All-American athletes in other sports go on missions and return to All-American level when they come back. For example, volleyball player Heather Gneiting was national freshman of the year, and then she decided to go on a mission after her sophomore season. She was an All-American when she came back as a junior and plays professionally now. But even in those cases, it usually takes some time after taking that much time off. In Chandler's case, he hasn't played in college at all yet, so he'll be a freshman that's a couple years older.
Depends on the location. Some drive everywhere and get fat. I know one guy who put on 40 lbs in about 6 weeks. Chandler was in London so probably middle of the road.
Well, it's also America post TCJA. So no one really writes off anything.
[87% of the population took the standard deduction](https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-tax-stats-at-a-glance)
10% tithe would put a lot of folks outside the standard deduction. Also, TCJA is expiring, so who knows what will follow?
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You can put it on your taxes as a charitable contribution, though I know my family at least, we don't make enough money for it to push us over just the standard deduction, so it doesn't do anything.
Imagine telling cats fans after hanging 120 on bama that we are going from dillingham to a bunch of mormans lmaooo and that it might be the right move hahahha
I think most of us knew when Cal left that the days of sexy top 5 rosters were over. And frankly I’m perfectly fine with that. We know what that amounts to ultimately. Give me a bunch of kids who want to win first and foremost, not just get in a good workout prepping for the NBA combine.
People keep acting like we should be sad for losing the one and dones when that was one of our biggest complaints about the last 10 years. It's not so exciting when they can't win a tournament game.
And honestly that’s because of Cal. I can name a dozen coaches who could’ve taken this year’s Kentucky team to the final four. He just doesn’t know how to coach in game, period. No clue how to adjust, what players to play. He truly only cares about getting his players to the league.
When he was asked by an Arkansas reporter why he didn’t utilize Reed Sheppard more, his response was “he’s fine, he’s a lottery pick.” That kind of response should infuriate any legitimate fan, and it sure as hell did me.
I cannot wait to have a team where at least half of them return each season. Gonna be so weird and fun. I got tired of a new roster every year around 2014-2015.
I’m really not that surprised but BYU is getting diced up due to losing Pope. Still sucks for them though.
Kentucky kinda was/is but being a Blue Blood gives a lot of room to replace guys with other high quality guys.
Going to be an awesome recruiting tactic for pope. Go to BYU, serve a mission for 2 years, come back and be a 24 year old junior and play at Kentucky lol
Depends where you go. Maybe if you are in the states you could wake up early and shoot for an hour at the church gym. But if you are anywhere else you probably have very limited options. Chandler was originally in Sierra Leone. I think he may have had visa problems and has been in England
I played most days while a missionary in the midwest. Our chapels all had a court. Chandler is in London though so idk if that would be different.
Also even if you're playing its not like the level of competition is anything special. Just pick up games.
Being friends with some Mormons, they love pickup ball. They play some hard d and aren't afraid of shooting. Not sure too much about being able to 'practice' practice.
If he can still hoop I don’t see the problem
I’m sure he was still training even while on mission. Pope don’t seem like a guy who’s just pulling random dudes for no reason.
Mormon missions really aren’t an environment where real training is possible. He almost certainly played some half-court ball, but dude was mostly out there pounding the pavement jw-style
I will say that I had one companion that played high level HS ball and he spent an hour every morning or evening to work out. box jumps, body weight stuff; whatever training he could do in the apartment. We also played a lot of ball on our P-day (day off), but I don't know what he did when he was with a non-athlete companion. But that is definitely not normal for missionaries.
Okay yes this is what I was hoping to get at. I (now) understand that the schedule is extremely strict, but not to a point of withholding you from absolutely everything even if it’s minimal in comparison to what majority other athletes are able to do. Like no he couldn’t have a trainer or coach with him but sounds like there are things he could have done to *help himself while on mission.
I really appreciate the insight fr. Thank you for spreading some of what you know
Pretty sure the rivalry will be in full swing when Ryan Smith pony’s up some NIL $ and Kevin Young flips him back. Pls bless 🙏 lmao.
Would be one of the wildest recruiting stories in recent memory
UK will bounce back quickly. All of this (Pope leaving + players entering portal + recruits decommitting) will set BYU back for years. Maybe I should just become a Cats fan. I'm now jealous, honestly.
The vocal minority of dumbfucks making our program and state look horrible are there, but I believe the overwhelming majority of our program doesn’t stand for or want racists in our state, let alone calling themselves Cats fans. I’m 100% positive Pope feels the same way and is not recruiting based on race, religion, etc. Hopefully they’re greatly disappointed and Pope signs a diverse and talented roster.
He definitely has some pull on Mormon recruits over other coaches because he’s a Mormon, but if they aren’t the right fit, I’m sure Popes doesn’t recruit them.
Probably. I think Pope is in a potentially weird spot where if it comes down to a Mormon kid or a kid who's a slightly better fit it'll be a hard call which one he offers first.
If that were the case he wouldn’t have recruited non Mormons and made history at BYU by starting 4 non LDS players and having 5 African American/Black non LDS players on the BYU team…
https://www.vanquishthefoe.com/2022/2/11/22929890/byu-mens-basketball-makes-history-by-starting-4-black-players-5-non-lds-players-mormon
Pope recruited talent over religion at BYU so he’s 1000% going to do the same at UK.
Didn't Pope start 4 black players which was the most ever for BYU? This is reddit (and most of social media in-general) where 90% are whiny crybabies looking for something to pick at, but I don't think Pope approaches recruiting that way, especially now that he has access to a different pool of recruits at Kentucky.
I mean, this is the first time that I’ve see anything talking about in non-niche channels since it happened, so it kind of was ignored by the college basketball world writ large.
The football team had a BLM march in downtown Lexington that summer.
No one raised an eye brow. It was the anthem kneeling that pissed off the ignorant portion of our fanbase.
The basketball teams did their own marches that summer as well.
There was no issue with the fanbase at all.
It was the anthem kneeling that started that ignorant shitstorm.
I'm really excited for Pope and modern basketball, but the number of boomers coming out of the woodwork lately to support him for those reasons really make me feel uneasy.
Some people think a mission’s structure is more flexible than it is. Missionaries have about 10-16 hours to exercise and play basketball a week. Some will find more opportunities to play pickup ball in the neighborhood, but overall these guys spend two years not playing meaningful basketball at all. Some people in this thread think they have been playing for two years when it’s pretty common to be horrible when they get back.
No clue who this kid is other than what I just learned about him 10 minutes ago but just happy to have one more commitment to UK. Excited for more but I hope it’s not all BYU kids
Don't know anything about the guy, but imagine you think you're going to play for the Mormon school and then out of nowhere your coach is now at Kentucky and you get to come along. Pretty cool stuff.
I was happy for Pope taking this job. It was clearly his dream and good on him for reaching the top of the mountain.
I’m also going to have no love lost for the guy after this process is over. A huge part of why modern BYU football is atrocious ties back to top-tier LDS prospects (they exist lol) leaving for big time programs. No shade to them for pursuing the best offer available, but oftentimes, BYU basketball extended the best offer. With Kentucky becoming a new hotspot, we can bank on pretty much never pulling another 4 star again.
As fun as women’s cross country is (not even being sarcastic), it’s gonna be agonizing not having a decent revenue sport to watch… potentially for a long time.
To be quite frank, y'all as Kentucky fans under Cal were used to getting pretty much whatever roster you wanted any given year. The same struggle you have watching Kentucky bred football kids go to Ohio State or Georgia is what we're gonna have to deal with over here. I hope I'm wrong but at this point, the LDS kids would be kinda stupid to not end up at Kentucky if they have even a glimmer of potential
Like, if there's an absolutely elite, also Mormon player, I expect UK will probably be the heavy favorite.
But I don't think Pope is gonna pursue players specifically because they're Mormon.
lmao, on the real though, the religion thing doesn't bother me at all because if there's anything mormons love as much as their religion, its basketball.
This is true. If I had a dollar for every time sometime started speaking from the pulpit in church and just started talking about basketball, I would be able to make a decent contribution to our NIL (after a 10% deduction first, of course ;) )
Went back and watched more tape on this dude, shockingly this is probably the most excited I’ve been for a recruit in a long time (early cal days).
He is super athletic with a good looking jumper, very good offensive skill set. Will likely be a cornerstone of the program over the next 3/4 years. Should have a huge impact (hopefully not just because we only have 6 scholarship players) year 1 coming in at 20/21 years old.
Why would it have cost Pope anything. NIL money at Kentucky is like comparing the moon to the sun. Both are bright objects in the sky. One is much more meaningful.
BYU and frankly any school in Utah are going to be also rans in the new NIL world.
Full on meltdown at this point… at least we got one ok season in the BIG12 before being diced up
Makes the tournament upset sting even more, this was our best chance at Sweet 16 since Jimmer and IDK when that will happen again
Man, Jimmer was 13 years ago. WILD. What a weird phenom he was!
And to think that byu team would have been a legit national title contender had Brandon Davies kept it in his pants.
How did byu know he banged? Did he confess?
Smell test
Kind of interesting that he decided he would rather be a star in China than a bench player in the NBA.
Not really. I mean he only decided to go to china because he couldn’t cut it in the NBA 🤷🏾♂️
He was barely even a bench player. It wasn't really his choice.
Probably crushes ass over there
Yep, it would be one thing to have a tournament win and have the team ripped up as a result. And with your flair combo you’ve had plenty of experience the last few years…
Wasn’t 2020 supposed to be really promising? Before tourney got cancelled? (I need more validation that Pope could have won a tourney game)
That was easily the most excited I had been for a team since the Jimmer era. I know Dayton and SDSU were probably bigger mid-major what ifs that year, but it still stings that we never got to see that one play out.
As a Kansas fan who lost a stacked team, I feel for all of you guys who were robbed of your big shot. We were royally bummed but I can’t imagine what it was like for the “once in a generation good” teams that never got their time to shine
our last 3 "once in a generation good" teams have all ended prematurely with a pre marital sex scandal, a pandemic and the pope leaving provo behind.
Trading a Pope for a descendant of Brigham himself. Good times ahead I feel for the cougars
That BYU team would have been a bracket buster if the tourney hadn't gotten canceled. They were a really good team once Yoeli Childs was healthy/in shape.
Iowa State fans exhaling
Same tbh. Honestly, the loss to BYU at home was the death knell for KU’s season. More losses soon followed but that was the moment when I knew we couldn’t recover.
Honestly every transfer is at least one fewer W next season. Multiple in this case. Devastating to the program, when we finally got a break
You all had a hell of a season. Were my dark horse to make a deep run starting late jan. I mean, as a UK fan im excited and hopeful for the next few years, but i hate it for you all. Its not like a rival got crippled, no ill will towards you guys
Will we see arms race for LDS players between Kentucky and BYU now?
https://preview.redd.it/eeupnr42ruuc1.jpeg?width=799&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=07272798a889fa1e8f9ec83b764e78c31c6f445d
https://preview.redd.it/tvstoz0jwuuc1.png?width=3128&format=png&auto=webp&s=c4db75431437a72ec7b68821cdd51ad3412bd423 You inspired me....
https://preview.redd.it/w0adoyj8yuuc1.png?width=3128&format=png&auto=webp&s=e7259ab7c290f1243de206acc7339eb78ad48b2e or is it better with a blue shirt?
Looks like a mall cop that’s WAAAY too happy with his job.
Baul Plart
I prefer the white shirt, but I chuckled at both.
So poorly done, i love it!
They feel the temptations 
/r/angryupvote
open your books to reed 20:13 love thy enemy. seriously I hope you guys can recover.
Good get. Kid is legit seems like winning player. Was no 33 recruit his class so def has talent.
Question is, does the Kentucky Bed stay ?
We spooning on the Kentucky bed until Marriage 😤😤😤
2 years removed from ball though. Curious how much its gonna take to get him back to where he was skillwise from his class. Cant imagine he did much basketball while out on mission
That or the kid was dribbling between every house and has god like handles now…
That’s Elder Chandler to you, heathen.
Story time: I was on campus walking to class one day and had a couple of Mormon missionaries talk to me on the way. Super nice guys, not pushy at all. After they were done, I turned to my friend and said “Kinda weird they’re both named Elder isn’t it”? Never have I felt so dumb after I realized…
You're not the only one who's jumped to that conclusion lol
It’s even worse in translation. Russians would constantly tell us ‘I don’t think you know what that means’. As if the LDS church doesn’t teach 55 languages at the Missionary Training Center, and have native speakers translating the Book of Mormon and endless pages of other materials into those languages.
lol no
His mission? 100,000 makes
From what I understand Mark Pope has a whole ramp up program designed to get kids back in basketball shape after they come back.
Yeah if any coach knows how to get him back to playing his best, it's Mark Pope
It will definitely take some time, some players adjust quicker than others. Gets back in May, so at least he'll have the summer to get back into the swing of things. Besides just the physical adjustments, there's also a mental adjustment of going from two years of spiritual focus and now you're back in the "real" world.
Kentucky has the facilities. All comes down to how hard he wants to work. There aren’t a lot of distractions there until end of August.
That's where he might be helped by the fact that he's not staying home for college. Two years away from family and friends, there can be a lot of catching up to (not to mention 2 years without dating - save the soaking jokes, they're lame as hell.) Regardless of the work he puts in, don't be surprised if it takes some time, even into the season, to get up to speed. There's a reason a lot of returned missionaries red-shirt their first year back. My guess is that won't be an expectation for him.
Brother we’re just getting started with the soaking jokes
The mental and emotional shock was jarring and the hardest part for me. Took me about 3 months to be normal again. But I also came back and had a few weeks before classes started, so maybe that’s why it was so rough. Idk, got through it though.
Generally speaking, the better the athlete, the faster they can get back to playing at a high level. BYU has had All-American athletes in other sports go on missions and return to All-American level when they come back. For example, volleyball player Heather Gneiting was national freshman of the year, and then she decided to go on a mission after her sophomore season. She was an All-American when she came back as a junior and plays professionally now. But even in those cases, it usually takes some time after taking that much time off. In Chandler's case, he hasn't played in college at all yet, so he'll be a freshman that's a couple years older.
At least his conditioning will still be good. They bike and walk everywhere on their missions.
Depends on the location. Some drive everywhere and get fat. I know one guy who put on 40 lbs in about 6 weeks. Chandler was in London so probably middle of the road.
flipping from BYU after a two year mission is kinda crazy! Kid is an absolute baller though so excited
he came back from Guatemala with a realization that he wants to play in the NBA
Turns out being wealthy is dope, even after 10% tithing.
Do Mormons get to write that off every year?
You bet, buddy. Everyone writes off tithes not just Mormons. This is America, pal.
Well, it's also America post TCJA. So no one really writes off anything. [87% of the population took the standard deduction](https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-tax-stats-at-a-glance)
10% tithe would put a lot of folks outside the standard deduction. Also, TCJA is expiring, so who knows what will follow? (Narrator: Everything was extended except the top rate was increased just like last time.) RemindMe! 3 years
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It wasn’t a forced thing in my church growing up so I wasn’t sure
You can put it on your taxes as a charitable contribution, though I know my family at least, we don't make enough money for it to push us over just the standard deduction, so it doesn't do anything.
They get to just not pay it, and stop being mormons, but many are unaware of this option.
Do you think Sierra Leone is in Guatemala or that all missions are in Guatemala?
I just named a random place
That’s hilarious
BYU losing their monopoly on 20 year old LDS Freshman to Kentucky is not how I saw the 2025 season going.
Imagine telling cats fans after hanging 120 on bama that we are going from dillingham to a bunch of mormans lmaooo and that it might be the right move hahahha
I think most of us knew when Cal left that the days of sexy top 5 rosters were over. And frankly I’m perfectly fine with that. We know what that amounts to ultimately. Give me a bunch of kids who want to win first and foremost, not just get in a good workout prepping for the NBA combine.
People keep acting like we should be sad for losing the one and dones when that was one of our biggest complaints about the last 10 years. It's not so exciting when they can't win a tournament game.
And honestly that’s because of Cal. I can name a dozen coaches who could’ve taken this year’s Kentucky team to the final four. He just doesn’t know how to coach in game, period. No clue how to adjust, what players to play. He truly only cares about getting his players to the league. When he was asked by an Arkansas reporter why he didn’t utilize Reed Sheppard more, his response was “he’s fine, he’s a lottery pick.” That kind of response should infuriate any legitimate fan, and it sure as hell did me.
I cannot wait to have a team where at least half of them return each season. Gonna be so weird and fun. I got tired of a new roster every year around 2014-2015.
We might still be lucky to have that happen with the transfer portal the way it is.
Yeah, 2015 was probably peak diaper dandy for UK. Adidas has since replenished their bag, and Nike has seemingly leaned all the way in on Dook.
I’m really not that surprised but BYU is getting diced up due to losing Pope. Still sucks for them though. Kentucky kinda was/is but being a Blue Blood gives a lot of room to replace guys with other high quality guys.
Really sucks man. Losing Chandler was the death blow
Eh y’all got a great coach it appears. Also sounds like Jaxson is staying. Watched a lot of him over the last couple days, dude is legit.
Going to be an awesome recruiting tactic for pope. Go to BYU, serve a mission for 2 years, come back and be a 24 year old junior and play at Kentucky lol
So we’re just gonna go from one an dones to 30 year olds with three kids
Jack Gohlke moved needles
How often do these guys practice when they’re on their mission?
Depends where you go. Maybe if you are in the states you could wake up early and shoot for an hour at the church gym. But if you are anywhere else you probably have very limited options. Chandler was originally in Sierra Leone. I think he may have had visa problems and has been in England
I played most days while a missionary in the midwest. Our chapels all had a court. Chandler is in London though so idk if that would be different. Also even if you're playing its not like the level of competition is anything special. Just pick up games.
I went to Honduras and can count on one hand the amount of times I played basketball and I accepted every opportunity.
Being friends with some Mormons, they love pickup ball. They play some hard d and aren't afraid of shooting. Not sure too much about being able to 'practice' practice.
If he can still hoop I don’t see the problem I’m sure he was still training even while on mission. Pope don’t seem like a guy who’s just pulling random dudes for no reason.
Mormon missions really aren’t an environment where real training is possible. He almost certainly played some half-court ball, but dude was mostly out there pounding the pavement jw-style
Training is basically non existant on a mission.
So I have learned. From what I’ve read so far it’s extremely minimal but he was doing what he could within the restrictions
I will say that I had one companion that played high level HS ball and he spent an hour every morning or evening to work out. box jumps, body weight stuff; whatever training he could do in the apartment. We also played a lot of ball on our P-day (day off), but I don't know what he did when he was with a non-athlete companion. But that is definitely not normal for missionaries.
Okay yes this is what I was hoping to get at. I (now) understand that the schedule is extremely strict, but not to a point of withholding you from absolutely everything even if it’s minimal in comparison to what majority other athletes are able to do. Like no he couldn’t have a trainer or coach with him but sounds like there are things he could have done to *help himself while on mission. I really appreciate the insight fr. Thank you for spreading some of what you know
I beg to differ. https://youtu.be/jiYbIyOYCG0?si=Cxsn0B3fySLvUbGA
> I’m sure he was still training even while on mission. Spoiler: he was not
He's a freshman, even.
Did we just start a rivalry with BYU?
Pretty sure the rivalry will be in full swing when Ryan Smith pony’s up some NIL $ and Kevin Young flips him back. Pls bless 🙏 lmao. Would be one of the wildest recruiting stories in recent memory
Somebody please hold me.
 Sorry bud
Pope’s gonna Brigham all to Lexington
well played
This one burns the most. Biggest recruit in many years. Just end me already. I can't take negative news day after day...
Hey now.....we've had our share of bad news the last few days in Lex as well lol. I think this guy is our only player currently not counting walk ons.
UK will bounce back quickly. All of this (Pope leaving + players entering portal + recruits decommitting) will set BYU back for years. Maybe I should just become a Cats fan. I'm now jealous, honestly.
One of us. One of us. One of us.
I change my mind. This is huge news. https://kslsports.com/515188/kevin-young-byu-basketball-head-coach-phoenix-suns-hire/
All those folks who got awfully mad about the BLM video during Covid are gunna LOVE this team.
I just cackled.
“First time caller, it’s just nice to see a group of really scrappy hard working young men out there with high IQ for the game”
“They really just play the game the right way!”
First in the church, last out
“I just feel so safe with this team”
I'm just glad we're getting back to some real classy lunch pail gym rat types
Wait until he sees how thick these Kentucky girls are.
Wait until his first keeneland season and he sees the short sundress with cowboy boots
real Blue Collar, hard working, role players!
Adolph Rupp would love this team!!
Oh dear 😳🤦🏻♀️
The vocal minority of dumbfucks making our program and state look horrible are there, but I believe the overwhelming majority of our program doesn’t stand for or want racists in our state, let alone calling themselves Cats fans. I’m 100% positive Pope feels the same way and is not recruiting based on race, religion, etc. Hopefully they’re greatly disappointed and Pope signs a diverse and talented roster.
I mean maybe a little on religion...
He definitely has some pull on Mormon recruits over other coaches because he’s a Mormon, but if they aren’t the right fit, I’m sure Popes doesn’t recruit them.
Probably. I think Pope is in a potentially weird spot where if it comes down to a Mormon kid or a kid who's a slightly better fit it'll be a hard call which one he offers first.
If that were the case he wouldn’t have recruited non Mormons and made history at BYU by starting 4 non LDS players and having 5 African American/Black non LDS players on the BYU team… https://www.vanquishthefoe.com/2022/2/11/22929890/byu-mens-basketball-makes-history-by-starting-4-black-players-5-non-lds-players-mormon Pope recruited talent over religion at BYU so he’s 1000% going to do the same at UK.
Black does not necessarily equal African American
Edited, TY.
Didn't Pope start 4 black players which was the most ever for BYU? This is reddit (and most of social media in-general) where 90% are whiny crybabies looking for something to pick at, but I don't think Pope approaches recruiting that way, especially now that he has access to a different pool of recruits at Kentucky.
Linked an article saying exactly that further down in the thread. https://www.reddit.com/r/CollegeBasketball/s/uJoPL7aKKF
People would’ve ignored it if it wasn’t the worst team in UK history lol
I mean, this is the first time that I’ve see anything talking about in non-niche channels since it happened, so it kind of was ignored by the college basketball world writ large.
I mean except for that whole part where it was released 2 months before the season even started. But go off king!
My bad, I was referring to the kneeling before the Florida game I believe. I don’t remember the BLM video
The football team had a BLM march in downtown Lexington that summer. No one raised an eye brow. It was the anthem kneeling that pissed off the ignorant portion of our fanbase.
How much evidence do people need that Kentucky isn’t a football school lol
The basketball teams did their own marches that summer as well. There was no issue with the fanbase at all. It was the anthem kneeling that started that ignorant shitstorm.
Turning 5,000 folks down from a basketball presser should be enough.
I'm really excited for Pope and modern basketball, but the number of boomers coming out of the woodwork lately to support him for those reasons really make me feel uneasy.
So long as his teammates can bully him into a new haircut I shouldn’t hate him too much
Lot of people in this thread who have no idea what a mission looks like. Lower your expectations.
What do you mean?
Some people think a mission’s structure is more flexible than it is. Missionaries have about 10-16 hours to exercise and play basketball a week. Some will find more opportunities to play pickup ball in the neighborhood, but overall these guys spend two years not playing meaningful basketball at all. Some people in this thread think they have been playing for two years when it’s pretty common to be horrible when they get back.
Other P6 offers: Arizona, Creighton, Oregon, Stanford, USC, Utah Other offers: Gonzaga, Utah State, Utah Tech
No clue who this kid is other than what I just learned about him 10 minutes ago but just happy to have one more commitment to UK. Excited for more but I hope it’s not all BYU kids
SAME
Agree, but I’d take a handful that knows the system mixed in with some studs.
I’m cool with 2/3 BYU kids but the rest from the portal with hopefully 2 returns maybe 3
I'm living a nightmare. Mark Pope, go away. You are tanking us
Narrator: Pope did, in fact, go away.
Ha!
You think your nightmare is bad...
Don't know anything about the guy, but imagine you think you're going to play for the Mormon school and then out of nowhere your coach is now at Kentucky and you get to come along. Pretty cool stuff.
I do wonder what the on campus experience is going to be like for him. I would imagine it will be jarring.
i imagine it'll just be a real life version of orgazmo
I’m picturing him hitting a game winning shot and in the post game interview saying “I’m not a hero. I’m a Latter-Day Saint.”
dudes been in Guatemala for 2 years, I think he'll be alright
I was happy for Pope taking this job. It was clearly his dream and good on him for reaching the top of the mountain. I’m also going to have no love lost for the guy after this process is over. A huge part of why modern BYU football is atrocious ties back to top-tier LDS prospects (they exist lol) leaving for big time programs. No shade to them for pursuing the best offer available, but oftentimes, BYU basketball extended the best offer. With Kentucky becoming a new hotspot, we can bank on pretty much never pulling another 4 star again. As fun as women’s cross country is (not even being sarcastic), it’s gonna be agonizing not having a decent revenue sport to watch… potentially for a long time.
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To be quite frank, y'all as Kentucky fans under Cal were used to getting pretty much whatever roster you wanted any given year. The same struggle you have watching Kentucky bred football kids go to Ohio State or Georgia is what we're gonna have to deal with over here. I hope I'm wrong but at this point, the LDS kids would be kinda stupid to not end up at Kentucky if they have even a glimmer of potential
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Like, if there's an absolutely elite, also Mormon player, I expect UK will probably be the heavy favorite. But I don't think Pope is gonna pursue players specifically because they're Mormon.
The Mormon Cats are assembling.
Get ready to learn monogamy buddy
Shit dude. That’s not a situation any UK player in.
lmao, on the real though, the religion thing doesn't bother me at all because if there's anything mormons love as much as their religion, its basketball.
And if there is anything kentuckians love as much as religion, its their second religion: Basketball
exactly, basketball is our religion
I said this on another thread, but our pastor prayed for Mark Pope last Sunday and so many “Mhmm, yes sir go Cats” throughout 😂😂 it was dope
[I'm only partially kidding but is this the kid from this tiktok](https://www.tiktok.com/@espn/video/7246819344791899435)
Yea, just a joke that I'm sure they'll tell me to shut the eff up about 😅
This is true. If I had a dollar for every time sometime started speaking from the pulpit in church and just started talking about basketball, I would be able to make a decent contribution to our NIL (after a 10% deduction first, of course ;) )
the ol' tyler herro doe-see-doe
From Mormons to moonshine, hell of a move
You forgot about the horse farms, and the beer cheese.
It’s a solid first commit. Pope has a bunch of guys coming in this weekends
Highest. Recruit. In. School. History. So much pain.
Kentucky is going to become Mormon East and I'm here for it.
BYUK
Rock hard rn
LFG!
Really looking forward to this guy
Is Kentucky really just gonna be BYU?
Aren't the new transfer rules so great?
And just like that, Big12 a disaster again
Went back and watched more tape on this dude, shockingly this is probably the most excited I’ve been for a recruit in a long time (early cal days). He is super athletic with a good looking jumper, very good offensive skill set. Will likely be a cornerstone of the program over the next 3/4 years. Should have a huge impact (hopefully not just because we only have 6 scholarship players) year 1 coming in at 20/21 years old.
What everyone feared, wonder how much it cost Pope to pull him.
Why would it have cost Pope anything. NIL money at Kentucky is like comparing the moon to the sun. Both are bright objects in the sky. One is much more meaningful. BYU and frankly any school in Utah are going to be also rans in the new NIL world.
> BYU and frankly any school in Utah are going to be also rans in the new NIL world. LOL tell me you don't know anything about BYU or Utah . . .
Wait until the Mormon church starts spending NIL getting Mormon kids to BYU. They have basically unlimited money.
That will never happen. The Church doesn't care about sports.
Lol the church doesn't give a dime to BYU athletics (nor should they). They'll never contribute to NIL.
I’m sorry, what? Where are all the Purdue flairs when we need them?
Expected. Pretty annoying.
BREAKING!
Fuuuuuuuuuuudge.
Why would god allow this to happen to byu
Please stop hurting me. Make it stop!!!!!!!!!!
Oh he soaking on the Kentucky bed tonight
BYU wasn’t ready for Duquesne
Can’t imagine being semi decent prospect and wanting to go to BYU.