LOL, are you even a UK fan? You look more like a troll to me. This is my last response to you.
Perspective…
- Thread starter Vek96
- Start date
Lol, I want UK to be good and well coached, so clearly I'm not a UK fan. LMAO.
Rather run and hide than have to confront your own ignorance?
Tired of the Pope bashing.
Took us to the sweet 16 last season, despite losing arguably his best player to a broken wrist. (Robinson)
Butler was probably the most important player last season. However, he was never really healthy. Bad shoulder. Carr was really good, but had recurring back issues. Despite all of this, Pope took that team to the first Sweet Sixteen for UK since 2019.
This year he’s had even worse injury luck. Starting point guard, and of course, the supposed to be best interior player, have both been mostly unavailable. Despite this, we’re still going to make the tournament.
We’re not entitled to a damn thing. Pope, all things considered, is doing just fine so far.
Took us to the sweet 16 last season, despite losing arguably his best player to a broken wrist. (Robinson)
Butler was probably the most important player last season. However, he was never really healthy. Bad shoulder. Carr was really good, but had recurring back issues. Despite all of this, Pope took that team to the first Sweet Sixteen for UK since 2019.
This year he’s had even worse injury luck. Starting point guard, and of course, the supposed to be best interior player, have both been mostly unavailable. Despite this, we’re still going to make the tournament.
We’re not entitled to a damn thing. Pope, all things considered, is doing just fine so far.
Pitino was great, Early Cal was great. Obviously Rupp was great. Hall had some great moments.
I think you just have to go back and look at what you believed and said when you were Kentucky15 and a lot of us saw red flags after the Georgetown exhibition. Some still believe that
I’ll say this Kam was getting better but there’s no way to know how much better he would get. It wasn’t hard to get better though, I mean he was unplayable and couldn’t play any defense, couldn’t hit rims literally. He was terrible. So I mean, yea he hits a game where it goes in and it appears bigger than it might be. Add up games against real competition? He wasn’t any good man.
The one that was blowing up and really coming into his own was Chandler but Pope didn’t get him invovled, didn’t design anything for him, and Oweh wasn’t about to defer. I saw Oweh leave him wide open over and over to drive on 3 guys and not finish, get fouled, miss a free throw. No telling how many times we traded 3 points for 1 because of it.
Chandler was for sure coming to be the best or near best shooters in the conference but Pope didn’t set the table around him. Coach K coaching this team, Chandler right now would be the best shooter in the SEC. Kam might have been good but his defense was never playable and against top competition I dougt he would have made a massive difference. That’s the issue with the injury excuse, the injured players weren’t that good. I just don’t understand why anyone thinks it would have changed this team much. Oweh wasn’t going to defer anyway, it would have looked much the same. Definitely weren’t goin to make a difference beating top teams at all imo.
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I think UK as an entity is absolutely entitled to a great coach and competing at the highest level.
The thing is, last year there was no JMI deal and a lot of those guys came for the UK brand. Well that’s not going to happen now, it’s Pope’s brand now. And the players are not going to play for him. He’s too soft man, he’s weak. Guy is really getting manhandled and recruits are saying no. So last year will probably be he’s one and only decent year, but even that he finished outside the top 3 and got beaten soundly in the sweet 16, which is failure at UK. And he did it with one of the highest payrolls in the country. I mean it’s pretty bad. Mark is a good guy but he’s also alienated boosters and limited access because Barnhart wants him too likely. That’s pretty much going to do him in here.
I always wanted a player coach, I believe the jersey matters and it does. I but he’s not UK caliber at all, and so he can’t stay.
I 100% thought Pope was fine when this season started then;I think you just have to go back and look at what you believed and said when you were Kentucky15 and a lot of us saw red flags after the Georgetown exhibition. Some still believe that
I spoke to 2 boosters who filled me in on things I didn’t know.
Mark Pope showed how badly he lacks coaching ability
The recruits never came. The players weren’t that good, I then knew this isn’t about injuries.
It became obvious he’s in over his head, is a bad evaluator, and can’t control good players at all. Then I went back and looked at his past history again when he beat a good team and it all made sense.
I am objective. I’m not going to back a losing product here and I’m not going to going for being gaslit. I will follow the evidence and my opinion comes from there, and it can change as things change. But everything I’m saying about Mark is valid, I am going right by data and what’s happening in real time, and what history shows. Some people are not able to do that. Some stick to their original opinion and double down. They stick to their bias and since he played here that’s what’s going on.
The entire team and it's coach were broken until that win at Tennessee. That has a lot to do with where we are. Sometimes teams just don't ever mesh, this is one of them.
But when you look at Moreno, Chandler, Oweh and especially Aberdeen, those 4 players have improved greatly since they came to this program, so it's incredibly unfair to sit there and say JQ, Kam and Lowe all suck and never would have improved.
There's no way those 3 players were never going to develop/improve, no way. They are all too talented and skilled for that.
Chandler, Aberdeen, Jelevic and Mo, were inplayable at times throughout this s3ason, but look at them now. Especially Chandler and Aberdeen. You cant look at their growth and say Pope doesn’t develop players and you cant say Lowe, Kam and JQ never would have developed.
Truth is, Lowe was way ahead of DA at the pg spot, DA has come incredibly far since JL went down, if JL never got hurt, we are a much better team right now. I believe that.
How bout Goldens first two years at Florida then...Same Conference, no probation, had real players on the roster when he got there vs no players here for Pope...won 5 less games and lost 4 more than Pope his first 2 years. So Golden is FIRED after two years here...or you're being hypocritical. Feel free to move the goalposts
I think Oweh and Chandler actually got a lot better because of the injuries. Without the injuries I can’t even imagine the crazy lineups. Those injuries allowed Oweh and Chandler to get more touches. Like I’ve said, F68 and other basketball analyst think the injuries ended up helping. It’s because they see how incredibly insane Mark’s lineups are with more players.
Chandler ended up regressing too, in large part because Mark never forced this team to play through a hot handed player. Chandler would hit 2 3’s and never see the ball again, because other players weren’t going to let him do it. And he was wide open a lot, Oweh wouldn’t do it.
I actually think Robinson shows Mark isn’t a good evaluator. Look at Saunders. Worlds better with BYU’s coach. Moreno never improved much either, he came in better than advertised, and ended up seeming to regress too. But he’s a freshman they have ups and downs.
Players naturally get a little better when they play. That happens if you practice in a driveway. But Marks players don’t seem to do it, Oweh definitely improved in some ways, for sure. And I’m not saying Mark won’t ever get a kid to play better, I just don’t think he’s anything special at all when it comes to development. This team never got better until guys got injured, and then they just stayed kind of where they were for the most part. Some slightly improved some regressed. Pretty much, Mark did what Mark always does. Players are about the same or a little better little worse, team doesn’t fit well, mid (bad at UK) season. The issue is this Kentucky. You need to clearly be the best or close to the best in the business here. Mark is not close to that in any area, he’s a really bad recruiter, so that’s case closed. Thinking he’s going to change and become worthy of Kentucky doesn’t make logical sense. 12 years, can’t recruit, 63% winning %. Just think about this, did you ever think in your life Kentucky would hire a guy with that winning %, no tournament wins in 12 years, no conference titles, and a .500 or worse record against top 25 teams? A 12 year record? Did you ever think that was possible.
It still doesn’t fit. Yall quit with the crap. Golden showed major improvement after year 1. Golden then won a national championship. Golden wasn’t given a 20 million dollar check to buy his players and flop like a fish. There’s NO SIMILARITY between them. Golden didn’t coach for TWELVE YEARS and have NO TOURNAMENT WINS in that time.
Tall realize when you say this, Florida wouldn’t even have looked at Mark pope. Pope wouldn’t have been hired at almost any SEC program. This is Kentucky.
LMAO...so Pope is penalized for making the S16 when Golden went 16-17 year one...and you're saying the "major improvement" to 24-12 saves him here in year two?.... when Pope is sitting 21-13 after losing 3 kids to injury for most of the season??? Stop it man....so if Pope had gone 16-17 last season and then lost one less game this year, THAT would save him?? Listen to the bullcrap you are spewing dude. LMAO thats pulling the Goalposts out of the ground
Are you trying to compare the resources and pull of Florida basketball to UK basketball. Golden was given a pea shooter, Pope was given a cannon. Let’s talk about the second year coach at Vandy compared to Pope. Trending upward at a non sports school. Hmmmm
LMAO...you lose the Hurley debate, lose the Florida debate, so pivot to Byington. OK, 45-20 in two seasons, no S16s(we'll see how they do this season) and he has had a healthy roster. He is certainly having a great 2nd season, but you are cracking me up with this "he inherited a Ferrari" bull****. If Pope had taken over for Cal in 2016 he would have inherited a Ferrari...Cal's last four seasons at UK he was 60-46 with 1 NCAA tournament win in the last 5 seasons....and he inherited ZERO players...thats sounds more like a Hyundai than a Ferrari. Yes he has a lot of NIL money($22M is bullcrap, but it was a lot), but he also lost three kids per season to injury. If you want to fire Pope its fine, but don't act like the next guy will be a savior if you aren't patient. No one wanted Pope hired, me included, but the large majority of the board thought it would take time inheriting the roster in the shape it was in.
Didn’t lose either, get your pope knee pads out and go away. I’m so glad you are connected to UK and are in the know on how much they spent, more than major media figures. Has Pope ever made a conference championship game? I forgot? I can’t believe you are worshiping a guy who beat Troy and Illinois. Speaking of Cal’s last two seasons, we were a 2 seed and 3 seed in the NCAA tourney.
The injuries didn’t end up helping the team, they ended up speeding up individual player growth at best, but Garrison is never better than JQ, Lowe is a PG, Aberdeen isn’t and Kam is a big weapon at the 4. Jelevic never really seized the opportunity.
Right now, we have to go to Johnson, BG and Mo D off the bench instead of getting JQ, Lowe and Kam (Kam is back now, but really rusty).
Nobody can argue that JJ is better than Lowe, or BG is better than JQ. No way.
I mean...if I am giving you actually numbers and stats and you come back with "get your Pope kneepads" and "Pope Worship" it tells me all I need to know, there's no reason arguing with someone with a 9th grade education. Keep charging that windmill Jethro
UKCowboys has had to double his dose of Zoloft because daddy Pope let him down and he couldn’t throw old post in peoples faces.