A year ago, Mark Pope chased Dedan Thomas Jr. incredibly hard when the talented point guard was transferring out of UNLV. And that makes sense. Thomas ultimately chose LSU, but now he is back in the portal, and Pope is reportedly right back in the mix. That doesn't make any sense.
Under normal circumstances, landing a high-level floor general would be a massive win. Especially after last season's point guard crisis. But these are not normal circumstances, and frankly, it looks like Mark Pope has absolutely refused to learn his lesson, or is too stubborn to admit he is wrong.
Last season, Kentucky’s coaching staff made a massive, highly publicized medical gamble. They paid Jayden Quaintance a reported $2 million in NIL money, fully knowing he was coming off a catastrophic knee injury that included a torn ACL, a fractured knee, and a torn meniscus. They bet big that he could get completely healthy and lead the team.
The result? Quaintance managed to play a grand total of four games before his body gave out and he was shut down midseason. It torpedoed the entire year.
Now, Pope is doing the same thing with Dedan Thomas Jr. who is recovering from foot surgery.
A recovery timeline we have heard before
During his stint at LSU, Thomas injured his foot. He tried to push through and come back, only to injure it again, forcing the staff to shut him down for the year. He officially had foot surgery in March.
The standard medical recovery timeline for this type of procedure is four to five months. Stop me if you have heard this before, his dad is telling everyone he will be back sooner.
“He took a bad step and woke up that scar tissue,” Thomas Sr. told Sports Illustrated back in February. “It’s nothing major. They just need to go in there and clean up the scar tissue. He’ll be back in three months. What he ultimately needs is rest. But no matter what, he would have had this problem, whether it was this season or next year or five years down the road. He just needs to get it fixed.”
That was the same song and dance that Haminn trotted out last season. A player's camp promises a speedy recovery, the coaching staff buys it, and the reality of the injury completely derails the season.
Tying up the NIL budget is a fireable offense
Let's just be completely blunt: tying up a massive, significant portion of your NIL budget on a player who is guaranteed to miss the entire critical summer development program is just dumb. To do it two years in a row is a fireable offense.
I know that sounds harsh, but look at the reality of the situation. Kentucky is coming off a season where injured stars couldn't get healthy. Medical issues have absolutely ravaged the roster during Pope's two seasons in Lexington with Kentucky rarely playing with a full roster. Pope himself said he had only "17 minutes" of the roster he envisioned last year.
Why on earth would you willingly risk it all, again, for a guy that is going to be recovering from surgery as you play summer ball with the team you just built? You just watched the same movie, and you are going to pay for the sequel.
Make it make sense, people.
It isn't like the portal is completely devoid of healthy, productive talent. There are plenty of point guards out there right now who actually have better statistical profiles and will cost a fraction of the NIL price tag. Guys like Christian Bliss are sitting right there; his numbers are better than Thomas' and he will be ready to step on campus tomorrow and actually participate in summer workouts.
Mark Pope was given a pass for the Quaintance disaster because of the chaotic nature of his first full offseason. He will not get a pass this time, nor should he.
If Mark Pope pushes all his chips in on Dedan Thomas Jr. and the injury lingers into November, there won’t be any more benefit of the doubt.
At that point, it won’t just be bad luck, it’ll be a pattern.