BYU quite possibly has more money than anyone, folks don’t realize how loaded that program is. Second, other than Tennessee and Arkansas (who VQ mentioned last night), who would Kentucky fans hate to lose Lanier to? Pope’s former team.I can understand if the appeal of the brand that is Kentucky with a large bag of NIL wins out. But if he ends up at BYU because of NIL as well this entire recruitment was just disingenuous from the start.
Again this is a false narrative…This could all be nothing and Chaz still land here, but it's hard to get pissed at Barnes about NIL when he has made his stance on it clear. It seems the entire UT message is "we don't do bidding wars". Where Barnes is lacking is having a backup plan. Or, that his backup plan is basically we'll just go with what we've got though there's obviously a hole in the roster. We've seen this before. He didn't learn from Yuri Collins. He's still a great coach, we'll probably still make the tournament, but we'll always wonder "what if we had gotten a good 2 in the portal?". It's not like we have a bad team. It just could be better.
This could all be nothing and Chaz still land here, but it's hard to get pissed at Barnes about NIL when he has made his stance on it clear. It seems the entire UT message is "we don't do bidding wars". Where Barnes is lacking is having a backup plan. Or, that his backup plan is basically we'll just go with what we've got though there's obviously a hole in the roster. We've seen this before. He didn't learn from Yuri Collins. He's still a great coach, we'll probably still make the tournament, but we'll always wonder "what if we had gotten a good 2 in the portal?". It's not like we have a bad team. It just could be better.
What changed the whole deal was the May 1 deadline implemented, much different recruitment if that doesn’t exist. Either it’s a quick deal like Okpara was, or he enters the portal early on and we realize the frenzy and likely see ourselves out with other options out there. Instead you get to May 1 and that happens and now there’s limited options, sort of stuck seeing this one through.
I didn't say it tainted his legacy. He's the best coach UT has ever had. Bar none. Doesn't mean he's infallible. Humans make mistakes. It's what we do.He’ll always be remembered for running a classy program with being responsible for our 2nd Elite 8 in program history.
Folks trying to use Lanier as an example of his legacy here is clueless.