Mark Pope and Kentucky basketball are VERY underrated! | Kentucky Wildcats Podcast

Mark Pope and Kentucky basketball are VERY underrated! | Kentucky Wildcats Podcast

Kentucky has done nearly everything they can to build their roster into a legitimate Contender heading into the season and yet somehow there are folks out there that still are underrating Mark Pope and the wild cats you are locked on Kentucky your daily podcast on the Kentucky Wildcats part of the locked on podcast Network your team everyday all right what’s going on Big Blue Nation welcome on into locked on Kentucky or daily Kentucky Wildcats podcast I’m your host Lance DAW and on today’s episode of Locked on Kentucky we’re going to be talking about the wild cats the roster that they have put together and how it fits in in the SEC in my opinion there are too many opinions out there that are heavily underrating Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats going to talk about why on today’s episode as well as Cameron Boozer who has EXP expressed interest in Kentucky basketball the wild cats have not reached out to him but they have reached out to his twin brother thank you so much for making lockon Kentucky your first listen every single day want to remind everyone out there that we are free and available on all platforms and if you are watching on YouTube I would greatly appreciate it if you subscribed to the show and if you are listening on podcast I would also appreciate it if you subscribed there as well all right so let’s go ahead and get into it I believe Kentucky basketball is still heavily underrated heading into this off season the summer of 2024 I believe that the Wildcats roster in its current state is pretty dang strong and with the addition of potentially Jackson Robinson or maybe a Wugga popler I think it will look very complete and will be a legitimate contender in the SEC this upcoming season unfortunately an outlet like 247 Sports does not seem to agree according to Isaac Trotter who recently released his way too early SEC basketball Power Rankings the Kentucky Wildcats don’t even crack the top five in the SEC in fact they are ranked number seven in the latest SEC basketball Power Rankings personally I would put Kentucky a lot higher because I believe relative to some other standouts in this conference I think Kentucky is already a more cohesive product on paper despite literally being made up of a hodg podge of transfers and a new head coach so let’s look briefly here through the other rosters and talk about where Kentucky is at relative to them at the very top of the SEC Power Rankings that the uh that 247 Sports and Trotter put out just recently are the Auburn Tigers now Auburn this offseason has done everything they can to kind of retool their backcourt after having an underwhelming end to the season specifically because of that unit they went out and got a couple of different transfers to pair with guard Denver Jones who is staying Aiden Don Aiden Holloway Trey Donaldson are going to be gone JP Pages a high-profile score from Ferman is coming in and then Janai broom and Dylan Cardwell their onew punch at Center are also going to be returning so Auburn definitely deserves to be near the top of these rankings or possibly even number one I think compared to a roster like kuy Auburn is right now just a little bit more cohesive obviously because of just how much experience they have on their current roster but we start to kind of have some arguments here as we get further down the list at number two is Alabama and speaking of Aiden Holloway who transferred out of Auburn he actually ended up at Alabama so he is projected to be their starting point guard next season according to 247 Sports um a statistically inefficient undersized former five-star who also cannot play defense I’d be curious to see how the Crimson Tide utilize him if they’d be willing to actually start him or if they’d want him to come off the bench in a more um more limited role I should say but they’re bringing back Latrell Rell Chris Youngblood coming in from Southern Southern uh Florida really really solid player there um proven outside shooter Grant Nelson has also announced his return and then Rutger Center a player that Kentucky wanted uh in the transfer portal Cliff Amore is also playing for the Alabama Crimson Tide also learon Fillin uh phin I believe a very very solid high-profile scorer out of the high school ranks he is going to be playing for Alabama Jaren Stevenson is here um Darren Reed aan Chelle two top options through the high school ranks as well um Houston transfer uh or excuse me pepper9 transfer Houston Mallet also another really really solid shooter so this Alabama roster I think improved overall um defensively I I think especially especially so um the shooting at point guard I think is a major question I don’t know if Hollow is going to be able to provide them for that or provide that to them I would probably look elsewhere as far as starting options there at the point um but overall this is a good roster this is a very very very good roster one that I think Kentucky could absolutely compete with then you look at Tennessee zakai zegler is back Chaz lanir going to be playing either the two or the three um Jordan gainy or Jami mhack will will play start rather I say I should say alongside him uh just depending on what Rick Barnes and& company want to do also another very solid uh High School piece Cameron Carr is here um Tennessee solves its Rim protection by replacing Toby aawa and Jonas Adu with Rock Solid Ohio State transfer Felix okara who is really really solid uh at that position as well very consistent at Ohio State uh it’s a good starting five I think in my opinion when you look at Tennessee especially with the addition of Chaz lanir but it doesn’t necessarily wow me and this is something that we had a major problem with with the Tennessee Volunteers season ago is Dalton connect the excellent wing for the volunteers where he was essentially the entire team and if he was not going on offense or excuse me Tennessee didn’t have a ton of options outside of him that could really score the basketball consistently and this is where I start to have gripes with the list I think Kentucky when they do land Jackson Robinson is a top three team in the SEC on paper they have experience they have Shooters and they have defense they have legit perimeter defense when it comes to Lamont Butler and egga O and then you look at their roster down low Brandon Garrison Amari Williams two very legitimate prospects there defensively that provide some punch and then on top of that oh you went out and got the best three-point shooter in the country and then you also got a 44% three-point shooter and Kirk caresa who was statistically in the 99th percentile of catch and shoot players you were and then Andrew Carr who’s also a good three-point shooter in his own right you are going to have players up and down this roster that can knock down the outside shot play with Tempo everything fits on paper what Mark Pope wants to do this is a roster that personnel-wise I thought would take a few years to kind of develop into what pope wants it to be and right off the bat Kentucky was able to get some different pieces in the transfer portal that I think collectively make a cohesive product that fits and is tailored to what this staff is going to run and I I think that really does need to be taken into account here when you start to look at the some of these other rosters instead of looking at the oh five stars or oh returning players you need to really start to think about how cohesive of a product are they as a program and how are they going to be able to compete in this conference specifically against teams like Kentucky teams like Auburn teams like Alabama I would put Kentucky as high as three here maybe there’s a little bias infused in there but once you get past three I I think that you really do start to see some some flaws potentially or an argument at least that could be made for the wild cats number four uh 24/7 Sports has Texas A&M now you guys know how I feel about Texas A&M they have been Kentucky’s Kryptonite for a hot minute here and they bring back a number of players from a season ago that just couldn’t shoot and that’s kind of where it starts and ends for me Wade Taylor is back Manny oosaki is back Solomon Washington is back Henry Coleman Anderson Garcia Jace Carter all of these players that were here a season ago have returned and this team could not shoot a lick a season ago and they were really really hyped up to begin the season in fact I believe they were top five preseason to begin the year and then they finished 21 and 15 they were at 1.5 and 13 and really needed to get hot towards the end of the season to even make the NCAA tournament statistically on the offensive side of the ball they were one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the nation they also were 311th nationally in twoo field goal percentage but they were the best team in the country in offensive rebounds I just don’t think that that is enough right there to give Texas A&M a top four spot in the SEC they just were simply not that good a season ago and with revamped roster surrounding them kuy included I don’t think I would place them higher than the wild cats just because they haven’t really proven anything at all I would put Texas A&M in the top half of the league I would not put them at four at number five you have Florida who brings back Walter Clayton Jr will Richard as well uh Elijah Martin is coming in here big time addition two front Court pieces and Alex Kone and Thomas Hall are also returning Washington State transfer Ruben chin yellu is also going to be huge down low for the uh for the Gators um this is a I think a deep roster this is a roster that has a lot of unknown names at as well I do trust Todd golden and I’ve said it over and over on this show I think he’s a good coach I think he’d be a good candidate for Kentucky way down the line here I thought he would have been a potential candidate for Kentucky to look at during this pass coaching search what I put them over the Kentucky Wildcats and the roster that they have put together I don’t think I would I think that what Kentucky currently has top to bottom they have players that fit every position that fit every need and once they get out on the floor because of their experience I think they’re going to shine and the team that is right above the wild cats I’m not really thrilled about either for reasons that you may already know the Arkansas Razer backs listed at number six in the SEC above the Kentucky Wildcats Boogie flan Janelle Davis Carter KNX adier and Jonas Adu are the projected starting the projected starting five Billy Richmond and zvonimir evasic coming off the bench this is also you also DJ Wagner uh coming in here so he will start most likely over fland which is good good luck Arkansas fans just just dealing with the way that the starting lineup is going to be rotated but point being here this is essentially cow and the Hogs running it back with the with most of Kentucky staff from a season ago with most of their recruits coming in and a few of their transfers on roster a season ago that didn’t really provide a lot of value relative to the players that have left for good that left the wild cats for good and didn’t come to the Hogs Rob Dillingham Reed Shepard Antonio Reeves those were the three players that made this team run everybody else for tearing this took a back seat in terms of value Wagner I still believe has potential statistically the least efficient guard out of the four that Kentucky had Boogie fland high-profile five-star crafty fun energetic will probably be the team’s best shooter despite shooting 30% during the ebl circuit that he participated in I think he’s going to be good Carter Knox not a great shooter adier does not like to take out shots Jonas Adu doesn’t take outside shots Billy Richmond not a good three-point shooter zir evasic was not utilized enough frankly I think that fland and evasic are probably your best two outside options as of right now and they only have seven players seven or eight players on their roster right now I I I think Kentucky right now is a more cohesive product we’ve talked about that already on the show the addition of DJ Wagner does not Chang my mind I think Kentucky right now is a better Raw than Arkansas is and frankly as we’re getting into x x andos you and I would probably agree Mark Pope is better than John caliper is and the fact that caliper is having to work with a roster are full of players that cannot score the basketball efficiently like they could a season ago it does give me some concern especially whenever you start to stack them up against teams like Tennessee Florida Alabama Auburn you look underneath Kentucky and Arkansas at number eight you have Miss and frankly I think that’s a better roster than the Razer backs right now they brought in Virginia Tech transfer sha padulla Jaylen Murray is back Dre Davis transferred in from Sean Hall breakfield is here Malik Dia is also here Matthew Morell could potentially return and if he does this is a very very good the high-profile Center John bowl is coming in this is a good roster I think that will prove that Chris beard and Company can actually kind of bring this program back into relevancy over the next few years because of the ability to recruit the portal and kind of get kids to buy into their system that is more defense oriented I I would say in my opinion or it’s known for that that’s that’s that’s its calling card the wild cats at number seven with karesa Butler egga o Kobe Brea Andrew Carr Amari Williams Brandon Garrison anley Almanor I think this is a deeper roster than than most of the ones that we just discussed outside of Auburn and Alabama I think that there could be an argument made that Kentucky should be as high as three but at the end of the day I think you would agree the wild cats right now are severely underrated in the SEC this is a much more cohesive team than I think people are giving them credit for and time will show ky’s going to be kuy’s going to be good I I believe they will be good coming out of the gate let me know what you think in the comments below are the Kentucky Wildcats overrated are the Kentucky Wildcats underrated red you can let me know also at lockon UK on Twitter all right Cameron Boozer the number two player in the 2025 class festar forward is he potentially interested in the Kentucky Wildcats alongside his twin brother going to talk about that in just a second before we do that though I want to tell you guys about our friends over at eBay Motors passion drive and patience what brings home winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive and eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance from superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you are into speed power or style eBay Motors has got you covered with over 122 million parts for 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out talk about all things Kentucky football basketball baseball is the number two overall seed in the NCAA tournament super excited about that we’ll see what happens with the bat cats if they’re able to get things going in their Regal I believe with Indiana State and Illinois in there as well she’ll be an interesting interesting Lexington Regional but if you want to go there it’s free at lore on Twitter is where you can find me all right Kentucky has not officially reached out to Cameron Boozer the five-star Prospect brother of Kaden Boozer who is also a five-star point guard that the Wildcats have reached out to but according to Cameron he does want to see some interest from the Kentucky Wild cats especially after taking a visit with his brother way back in September he recently talked with ksr about uh the Kentucky Wildcats and Mark Pope and he said this we haven’t really spoken yet but coach Pope talked to my mom earlier we’ll see what happens there like I said before it’s still a whole new recruiting process I haven’t really spoken to him and I don’t really know what he is about I don’t know the playing style he runs or anything like that so it’s a still a whole new process if he were to reach out to me Kentucky is one of the best facilities I’ve seen I haven’t really seen much of their playing style but I’m sure he’s a great coach we’ll see where that goes according to Cameron Boozer he wants to see more out of the Kentucky Wildcats and wants to learn about the Wild Cats In fact when talking about the different teams recruiting him right now he said Duke Florida Miami Michigan Arkansas is in there Kentucky might get in there a little bit but those are the main schools North Carolina also so those are the schools that are currently recruiting festar forward Cameron Boozer we’ve talked about him a little bit here before on the show just to give you an idea 6’9 235 lb power forward I swear before I looked this kid up on 247 Sports just to see his rankings I went and watched some of his highlight reel and I said man that really reminds me Apollo benero like almost 28 and then if you’re on 24/7 Sports and you scroll down to The Scouting Report Eric bossy national basketball director of 247 Sports has the comparison the player comp Paulo benero a former of the Duke Blue Devils in case you don’t know Boozer is the son of former NBA All-Star and Duke star Carlos Boozer again also brother of a five-star in Kaden Boozer highly skilled front Court player who has all the tools you would want from a modern power forward 6 fo9 235 lbs big strong physical and just again I know I keep saying it when we talk about these high-profile players over the past few weeks we’ve really started to to discuss some truly fluid balanced and complete High School products across the board not just like by not just like by player but by like program across the ebl circuit you get to see teams full of really really smooth and Polished players who honestly it’s kind of surprising that they’re that good at that young of a level and then you see guys like Boozer and you understand oh this is why he’s a top three overall Prospect guys like AJ deona right guys like will Riley that we’ve talked about recently guys like Kaden Boozer who you watch and you just understand they fit their role they’re smooth they’re creative at times but they’re fluid they really do fit what’s going on in the high school setting which is sometimes very difficult to do especially at some of these AA and these different circuits they really do just fit in and they kind of take over the show he can shoot he can pass he can rebound he’s aggressive going to the rim he’s just a smooth player there’s nothing that’s like that’s crazy about him he doesn’t have like the ability to dunk like a center as far as just insane aggression but he can throw it down he’s not a pure outside shooter like somebody like a k caresa or a reed Shepard or somebody like that but he is definitely capable of knocking down outside shots he is definitely a very strong rebounder which should be expected for his position but there’s also touch there’s also again fluidity there is Polish there is the ability to finish with floaters and layups where you can see kind of a softer side to his game where not everything is so aggressive um that you really do get to see an allaround perfect product here I think in power forward Cameron Boozer out of again uh Miami Florida has a uh it has a former NBA great as a father has a very high-profile uh High School freshman as a brother or not High School freshman just a uh just a a high school senior I should say as a brother Duke Florida Florida State Kentucky Miami Arkansas um like I was mentioning earlier um the the team Michigan as well Kentucky these are the teams that are going to be recruiting him the guess right now is that he is a Duke lean but nothing has really been confirmed on that end I know that there were some different things going on at the beginning of his recruitment but there’s no crystal ball predictions there’s none for him or his brother and whenever we talked about his brother a couple of episodes to go I’m going to reiterate what I said there both of these kids are probably going to take their time over the next couple of months kind of taking visits deciding where they want to go if I’m not mistaken Kaden wants to make his decision before the the school season starts so that decision will be coming in the next few months but ky’s got to be able to get him on campus and kind of get him uh see where he’s at they will get him by the way early in June that that has been confirmed but getting Cameron on board as well if Mark Pope could somehow land both of these kids that would be a super super awesome deal for Kentucky not just in terms of the abilities that these two players have but also in terms of just hype I think people would be very excited about it and also that does bring in the question you know how much of of this does Kentucky basketball want to make their roster and I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing to have five stars on your roster but I also think it’s very important that you surround them with some veteran players and some guys that have experience things like Yukon has done in the past if you get a Cameron Boozer in and you start him at power forward and you surround him with a bunch of players that are have some varying degree of experience and can shoot and can also do their own things well at their own positions I think a guy like this would shine it’s the same thing with Will Riley if you get him at in at that forward spot if you end up letting him Rock whether that’s in a reclassification for this year or if it’s for next season I I think these guys would shine they are just so good at their own level it’s very hard to see them not performing well also final thing I want to note here the 247 Sports composite rating has him rated as a five-star. 9996 but the 247 Sports just the raw player rating has him as a perfect 100 which I believe is the second player in this class to be rated perfectly 100 alongside AJ deona Darren Peterson by the way number three uh in the in the country as a 6’5 shooting guard festar player that the Wildcats may be looking at not quite sure what’s happening there but we’ll keep you guys updated so let me know what you think about Boozer let me know what you think about the wild cats in the SEC you can leave all of that in the comments below all right that’s going to do it for today’s episode of Locked on Kentucky you can follow the show on Twitter at lockon UK you can follow me on Twitter at Lanore and you can follow the show over on Instagram that is at Kentucky podcast any questions comments concerns leave those in the YouTube comments below hit me on the socials I will see you all tomorrow for another episode of Locked on Kentucky hope you guys have a great rest of your day and God bless [Music]

Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats are currently very underrated.

On today’s episode of Locked On Kentucky, Lance Dawe takes a look at the SEC basketball landscape and discusses where Kentucky basketball should rank compared to some of the other high profile teams. The Auburn Tigers and the Alabama Crimson Tide should be at the top, but how far down should the Wildcats be ranked against the likes of the Tennessee Volunteers, Florida Gators, and Arkansas Razorbacks?

5-star Cameron Boozer wants to hear from Pope and Kentucky basketball. His brother, Cayden Boozer, has already scheduled a visit in June with UK. Will the Wildcats sneak into his recruitment late?

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