Say what you want about Pope I'd gladly take the first two years of Popes stint than the last 5 years of Cal's yearly underperformance come march
Back to back seasons with a tournament win for first time since 2018-19
- Thread starter Mrwildcats03
- Start date
Look at it this way, Pope's won 3x as many Tournament games in two seasons as Cal did in his last five at Kentucky.
Still don't think Pope is the guy, but he's more in the mediocre-passable category than the Billy G level disaster some on this board make him out to be of late.
I’ll say again, the UK standard is still not the last 5 years of Cal.
Yeah thank God for barnyard bank shots I guess. It’s just as good as getting a real win with talent, effort, and game preparation against a 10 seed.
This. We should be comparing Pope to Cals first 5 seasons.
Just incapable of feeling any joy for UK basketball unless YOUR agenda is followed. Got news for you Pope will be back next year so you get another year in purgatory. As for me I will enjoy UK basketball when and where I can
I mean , no one compares to that and probably never will. We’ll see how Sheyer does at Duke .
I will say it over and over again, some of y’all need meds, therapy, and a new hobby.
This wet blanket, even after good things is insufferable.
This wet blanket, even after good things is insufferable.
It kinda is.
a 2 seed and 3 seed the last 3 years Cal was here.
This was a miracle win over a 10 seed
Far better than losing.
But it’s not special.
The problem with this line of thinking is a lot of you all expect an anomaly period of dominance to be the norm. If you look at our history, it’s never been like that for more than 3 to 5 years at a time.
I remember a time UK had to hit a game winning shot with 2 seconds left against Princeton in the round of 64. Worked out quite well.
I don't get people being happy with a slight improvement over Cal's worst years.
NIL has changed College basketball. Many higher seeded teams are better than their seed suggests. There is more parity in college basketball today.
It's about time that we got a little luck. Ortega won 3 games for UK on miracle shots. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!
Well it sure ain't losing buddy.
You could argue Pope overachieved in both seasons so far. Last season’s team wasn’t overly talented and lost its second best player to injury, plus other injuries peppered throughout the season, and we still made the second weekend. That team was built in like 6 weeks too.
This team has a poorly constructed roster that doesn’t fit Pope’s system (which is on pope of course) but Pope managed to right the ship as much as possible when it looked like we might lose about 18 games at one point. Wins against Pitino and Cal, swept Tennessee, beat Vandy. After losing our starting PG and best NBA prospect.
Year 3 is gonna say it all. He needs to bring the right players back, let the right players leave, and land some big fish in the portal. Stokes would be massive too. But for overall coaching, I’d give Pope like a B- at worst up to this point.
This team has a poorly constructed roster that doesn’t fit Pope’s system (which is on pope of course) but Pope managed to right the ship as much as possible when it looked like we might lose about 18 games at one point. Wins against Pitino and Cal, swept Tennessee, beat Vandy. After losing our starting PG and best NBA prospect.
Year 3 is gonna say it all. He needs to bring the right players back, let the right players leave, and land some big fish in the portal. Stokes would be massive too. But for overall coaching, I’d give Pope like a B- at worst up to this point.
We didn't get close enough to Oakland for a barnyard bank shot to tie the game up. It was a beatdown, followed by their coach and players mocking UK in the national press.
Pope has to win the SEC next year if he wants to be here any longer. Even if he pulls off a miracle and ends up back in the Sweet 16, finishing 6th, 9th and whatever low standing next season simply isn’t going to cut it. Pulling off a Final Four would erase that concern but assuming not, he’s got to win the SEC regular season next year.
Do you have any inkling how dumb this is? When Cal arrived he had Patterson, Liggins, Miller and 3 others returning. Pope had zero.
It amazes me how low the standards have become for the premier program in college basketball.
I just have a quick trigger adding these miserable losers to my ignore list. Makes this place so much better.
Another butthurt Duke fan venting
What don't you get about it? It is not where we want to be but we have at least won a few tournament games. As bad as this team has been, I'll take even a first round win over winning recruiting rankings and being bounced out in the first round of the big dance.
Shhhhh!
Rafters can't handle facts very well. Gotta love these aborted meltdowns.
Heh.
Correct. The UK standard should consider all the years at the school, not just the high or the low moments since those even out. That’s why I remind people the average Kentucky seed is a little worse than a 3 seed and a Sweet 16 finish. The peak periods are peak for a reason — as are the valleys.
Any win like today is special. Especially with several know it all, so called experts calling for the upset for SC.
Pope won't get any relief unless UK beats Iowa St.
That's just life of a UK coach.
That's just life of a UK coach.
It still counts, lord knows enough of them have gone in against the Cat's over the years, glad we got one.