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Did Kentucky find the final piece it needed to have an elite team in coach Mark Pope’s first season when BYU guard Jaxson Robinson decided to transfer to UK?
Robinson removed his name from the NBA Draft and, as expected, announced he would be joining Pope at UK.
He’s had an interesting career as he played his first year at Texas A&M before transferring to Arkansas for one season. The last two years he’s been at BYU under Pope.
The 6-7 guard was a four-star recruit out of high school who led BYU in scoring at 14.2 points per game. He also averaged 2.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 26.5 minutes per game. He was named Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year last season.
Robinson not only is familiar with Pope and his playing style, but he has also played in 96 collegiate games while averaging 8.7 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. He is a career 34 percent shooter from 3-point range.
One intriguing thing about Robinson is that he was a starter at BYU during his junior season before coming off the bench last season when he had his best collegiate season.
Robinson could be the elite scorer UK needs, the player who can get a shot and make it when everyone knows he’s going to be the one to take the shot.
Robinson is the ninth transfer on Pope’s first roster, a move necessitated because UK does not have a single returning player from last season after coach John Calipari’s departure. Six of UK’s nine transfers have already played four seasons in college.Kerr Krissa, Lamont Butler, Koby Brea, Andrew Carr and Amari Williams along with Robinson are using a COVID year to play a fifth season at Kentucky.
Robinson immediately interacted Thursday with some UK fans on social media after his decision to transfer to UK. He wished UK fan Amber Cox (@AmberCoxBBN) happy birthday and she responded that “my birthday just got so much better.” Bleed Blue Rando (@allUKball) welcomed Robinson to Lexington and the new UK player responded: “This is dope. Thank you for your service (as a current military member).”
23 Responses
With Pope’s offense, there will be plenty of shots for good shooters and this team has a lot of them. Robinson had to be "the man" on his BYU team, but that won’t necessarily be the case here at Kentucky. With Robinson’s signing it looks like Almonor/Carr will play the 4 spot, Williams/Garrison the 5, Robinson/Oweh the 3, Brea/Collins the two, and Butler/Kriisa the 1. Perry and Noah may want to think about taking a redshirt year. As for the last scholarship…it may be tough to award, lol. Very little PT will come with it unless there is an injury. I would look for a freshman big who would be ok with that. A kid that shows promise but needs to develop his game and/or body for SEC play, but could step in if an injury did occur. You have to go back to the 39 & 1 team for this level of depth. Poythress got hurt, but Lyles took his spot. It’s too early to compare this year’s team to the 2014/15 team, but it does have many similarities. Not bad for a guy who had to hire a staff and recruit 11 players two weeks AFTER the Big Dance was over.
That’s what I have said from the beginning. Maybe they won’t redshirt both of them but one of them should redshirt if not both of them. They could fill the last roster spot with Wooga Poplar and Perry and Noah would be great practice guys this year. Better than any walk ons for competition in practice. Why not get 4 great years out of them instead of them burning a year not playing much. I knew soon as Noah signed he was a potential redshirt. Their is so much experience and it would help Noah and Perry practicing against these older guys everyday but I don’t see much playing time for either one. We are 2 deep at every position and Collin is a little bit more polished of a athlete and 2 years older than Perry and Noah. I think your starting 5 is right on the money. I don’t think Jaxson will be an elite scorer. I think their will be 5 double figure scorers. In the 14-10 ppg range. You don’t need the "man" when you have a balanced team. The great thing about this team is the second team can beat the first team in practice and visa versa. I think are starters are a top 10 team and our backups are a top 25 team. When the chemistry gets better as the year goes on and if we play like I think we will by making the other team tired with fresh bodies in all the time we are going to be very good. When Pope first got here I knew when people though Perry would start we were doomed. I’m not saying he isn’t a great player he just needs a year to get adjusted to college basketball. He shouldn’t even be in your top 8-9 players in his first year for Kentucky. I think we retain more players with Pope at the end of the year than Calapari did. We have 7 5th year seniors. That is incredible. That’s a bunch of college production. Someone coming out of high school should never start or play over someone who’s already scored 1,000 points in d1 basketball. I’m so glad Cal is history. I’m more excited about this year than I have been for the last 8 or 9 years. We should get Garrison Oweh Collin Perry and Noah back next year and maybe whoever else he adds to this roster. I would go after the best freshman available or a transfer thst will be a sophomore this year. That 5 player nucleus will be better after this year. Perry and Noah will be ready and you could have a starting 5 with the players I named that will return. Very exciting times.
UK will produce a TEAM (thanks to our new, honest & real COACH) filled with some players who can shoot at a very high FG% from long range which will give the bigs a less clogged middle which should result in a very good interior FG%.
No fan knows who will start or get the most minutes, but it seems balanced scoring will keep the D honest by having to guard all 5 UK players.
It surprises me and makes me chuckle at those who dismiss 2 of the highest scoring players in KY HS history will be irrelevant this season! It’s irrelevant what anyone “thinks” now, because the games begin in the fall. It reminds me of those who speculate about UK FB – with so many predicting how great UK FB would be in 2022 & 2023, with both seasons ending far below expectations.
UK BB is back. The biggest unknown is who will play the most minutes.
They aren’t irrelevant. They just won’t contribute as much on a team that has 7 5th year seniors a sophomore and a junior. I wouldn’t waste a year if one of them gets 3-5 mpg. They could play a 5th year instead a be the leader of the team. Maybe both of them won’t redshirt but its going to be very hard for them to fight for minutes against supreme upperclassmen. Collin Chandler is the best of the bunch. Noah and Perry are very good but played against very weak competition. Then to go from that to playing against duke and gonzaga its not going to work out good for them. They will be very good in year 3-4. Your used to freshman coming in and playing but they are usually top 30 freshman. Perry is ranked 84th and Noah is ranked 115th to think they will get alot of playing time or any against 5th year seniors is absurd.
I knew they were gonna be terrible in football in 22 and 23 they had no offensive line. The QB can’t hike the ball and throw a perfect throw if they 1 second to do so. I bet er have the best year in Kentucky football history this year. I hate when people compare a basketball blue blood to a up and coming football program its apples and oranges. It only takes 7-8 good basketball players to make a good team it takes 45 good football players to do the same thing. We’ve been to 7-8 straight bowl games we used to be a bottom feeder. Cheer for Kentucky or don’t cheer for Kentucky. Its stupid to be bias towards the program you root for. Good lord some people cry about everything.
TJ, I agree with most of the things you say about football. The offensive line was subpar. Leary missed some throws, but there were a lot of dropped passes also. The Cats had a shot to win a couple that got away. I agree this could the best team Stoops has put together. If all those injured defensive linemen are ready to go this fall, it will be a top 10 national defense. I believe the offense will be as good as Levis’ first year or better (barring injuries). The main concern is the toughest schedule Stoops has seen. Stoops is the best Coach the Cats have ever had. It’s really not even close. Go Cats!
Who will Perry play over? Who will Noah play over? Their is only 40 minutes to go around. If 4 guards play 20 mins each which is nothing to 5th year seniors that’s 40 minutes. 20 for each guard. Because Kriisa will get 20 mins Brea will get at least 20 mins Oweh will get 20 mins Robinson is a shooting guard and Butler will get at least 20 mins so where is Perry and Noah going to play PF and Center?
Well Baron you are predicting that BB is back without a single game being played yet. No different than football. You just stated it doesn’t matter what anyone "thinks" now, because the games begin in the fall. One thing I wonder about is the fact Jaxson started two years ago, but came off the bench last year. So was he recruited over? Did he Want to come off the bench?
Travis Perry will have an impact and help us win games this year.
Hide and watch.
Absolutely! UK is no longer under the control of the ego-maniac fraud who resented players who grew up in KY! Perry will shine and so will Noah!
Perry has that kind of skill, will he get enough PT to show it?
When added to the rest of the team, it gives UK many different looks that opposing teams must match up against. A 6’7" guard who can score all over the court and has played in Pope’s system.
UK has 12 players who can realistically contribute quality court time next season. I think about the intensity of the 1996 team and the offense that BYU ran, then look at this roster. This includes 5 that can potentially return next season, meaning development and continuity!
No matter the record next season, I will 100% enjoy UK basketball!
I agree! The depth is for real!
There is no team in the country who plays 12 players. 10 players is a stretch. The 10th man getting maybe 4-5 mpg
TJ. No one knows.
Let the coach work it out.
I will not diminish the opportunity of two great young humans from KY not fighting for minutes.
Pope has to build for the future and maybe playing these two young bucks and Garrison a bit more to build on for next year is a sensible thing.
I think Garrison starts. I think that Perry and Noah aren’t as good as the freshman we are used to seeing. That is the misconception. They are both great players. I’m not saying that I’m just saying they are not impact freshman by any means. We have 5 guards 4 of whom are 5th year seniors. Oweh is a junior who was a starting combo guard in the Big 12. All of these guys are double figure scorers who will be better as 5 th year seniors and Oweh will be much better in Popes system. Our guards are big. We could run a 3 guard 2 forward offense/defense and still be just as big as the opposing team. All I’m saying is we have 12 guys We don’t have enough minutes for 1 or 2 players at this point. So who is the odd man out or who is the 2 odd men out at this point?. Kriisa is 6’4" PG the most competition will be at the guard position. Jaxson Robinson will play the 3 but he’s listed as a shooting guard he’s very skinny. The biggest competition for a starting spot will be between 6’6" Brea and 6’5" Oweh. For then2 spot. You could really move Jaxson to the 2 and have either of them at 3 spot. Kriisa and Butler will man the point guard spot. Both 5th year point guards they will split the 40 minute game. I don’t see either one playing less than 20 mins. Kriisa is a great facilitator better on the offensive end. Butler is one of the best back court defensive guards in college basketball. So I don’t see Perry or Noah playing there too much maybe mop up minutes. The 2 will be Robinson/Brea and the reason I say this is because neither are as physical as Oweh throw in Chandler who will be 21 by the time the season rolls around he’s 6’6" as well and was a much higher recruit than Noah or Perry. He was rated Top 40 and on some Top 30 range coming out of one of the best recruiting classes to date. Alomor or however you spell will play the backup 4 behind Carr. That leaves Garrison and Williams at the 5. Lets just say I’m relying on stats and production from defense and offense you get….
Kriisa 20mpg
Butler 20mpg
Brea 20mpg
Robinson 26 mpg
Oweh 22mpg
Chandler 10mpg
Alomor 17 mpg
Carr 25mpg
Garrison 20 mpg
Williams 20 mpg…… Lets just say this is close to what the minutes per game is give or.take a.couple minutes???? Do you play these proven players less to give freshman more opportunities? Yes if we are winning by 25 or more points. But I think close games will look similar to this.
Only 2 out of the 6 freshman from last year were as good as we’re used to seeing.
I haven’t seen Noah play but I have seen Perry.
He can play with 22 year Olds, 32 year Olds or whatever age or experience.
If we get up by 20 or more you will see them slide off the bench. But if we are winning with these veteran players why burn a year to okay 5 mpg or when your up by 40 on Tennessee state tech Southeast. Why burn a red shirt For mop up minutes. When they can actually play great minutes for 4 years this year not being one of them. Maybe one of the two surprise everybody they still won’t play more than 10 mpg
What a concept!
No one knows.
Let the coach work it out.
There are those who know more than the coach…
But they’re not the coach.
I have a little coaching experience but will not designate the number of minutes each player is going to get or not get in any upcoming season.
Sharing an opinion about who might be a star, or start, or be a key contributor other than just scoring points, or improve as the season goes by – whatever… can be interesting & enjoyable.
But insisting who will not play at all and who will play the most drains the fun out of what would otherwise be awesome threads. I quit posting for years because insisting and then defending that which someone insists is not a conservation for enjoyment. It’s a one-sided inflexible stance which leads to arguing, bantering, bickering.
Simply not worth it. Too easy to take side, even when not intending to, because of some being so insistent that no one else is right about anything.
Some such as The professor, Barry Pritchett & others (who have stood strong FOR UK) including some interesting “old timers” are a lot of fun… even if I don’t always agree.
I’ll trust Pope to play those who play the best, the most consistent, the most intense FOR UK & place TEAM FIRST!
That’s what an intelligent & intelligent coach will do… so UK immediately has a decided advantage over the ruler who led collapse which culminated in 4 seasons unlike any 4 UK seasons since before Rupp!
Well all I know is that we have 12 players that Calipari never coached (tainted) and only 2 freshman so yeah there might be a little getting used to each other but other than that we should have at least a decent pre season and non conference record. Conference play will always be a challenge as it always is.
The Summer workouts will shed light on who buys into Pope’s system and who doesn’t. Pope has enough depth with this team to sit the non buyers and not hurt the team’s performance. The non conference schedule will give them plenty of opportunity to gel as a team and become an SEC contender. If we play smart and play with effort, our record will take care of itself.
A lot of experts here I see. They got to come together as a team first.
Oh now Steve we’re All fans of the big blue and I don’t think I’m no expert, but I’m one of those old farts that have been around forever and I don’t think my opinion is worth anymore than yours and coming together is the first that I want to see, however there are a lot of different things that go into making a team jel and learning to trust one another, so there’s that, anyway all the experts went to Fayetteville with Cal…. Just my opinion.