CMP show 23 March 2026
- Thread starter Zuma75
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It surprised me that his first team with that time constraint was better than this years team. Even with the injuries, the three that got hurt weren’t as good as people made them out to be. JQ has potential because he is so young but he’s not that good right now
You are a clown go home
Calipari and Pitino are going to rub Pope’s nose in it on the recruiting trail after hearing this lol
Career 63% winner we have here.... Hasn't won **** in the tournament other than just 3 games over a 13 year career and he did that just in the last 2 years... He doesn't love the University like he says he does or he'd do the right thing and get the **** out of here like right now...
There is only the standard. The ONLY time in my lifetime that we accepted progress was Pitino's first couple of years after probation.
During Pope's first year, we even game him some grace because of the timing of his hire and the scramble to find players.
This year was his team and system backed by an (allegedly) unprecedented war chest. If you can't lose fewer than 10 games in that situation, you shouldn't coach here.
During Pope's first year, we even game him some grace because of the timing of his hire and the scramble to find players.
This year was his team and system backed by an (allegedly) unprecedented war chest. If you can't lose fewer than 10 games in that situation, you shouldn't coach here.
Dude is so out of touch it’s a shame. The fact that he had someone do the research so he could have some talking points against Calipari’s last 4 years is hilarious. Calipari’s last 4 years are why we wanted him gone.
And to boast about having a slightly higher winning %? And winning Wednesday and Thursday games at the SEC tournament? The guy is completely clueless, and the faster he is shown the door the better.
At the end of the day he is who he is. A mid coach with a mid record.
And to boast about having a slightly higher winning %? And winning Wednesday and Thursday games at the SEC tournament? The guy is completely clueless, and the faster he is shown the door the better.
At the end of the day he is who he is. A mid coach with a mid record.
I just don't want to pile on the guy, I really don't. But of all things, Calipari really? Jesus 
Now it makes sense why Pope said that he understands the assignment and enter his press conference triumphant with his 96 championship team. He was trying to portray himself as the new coach that already won a title at Kentucky ( though he didn’t win as a coach prior to that not even One ncaa game), that is in touch with what BBN wants “ program fist” , “ name in front of the jersey” “ number 9”…
he pretty much used a word salad with all the key phrases that would pease BBN 2 years ago, and use the anti Cal sentiment to his benefit.
now 2 years later , as a coach with record breaking negative results , he plays the same card , lets bash Cal and compare to the last 4 years of Cal.
sorry Pope , people moved on from Cal and clearly judge you for whom you are, and don’t associate with Cal’ s tenure.
wrong message buddy to put out there buddy a day after our team got historically embarrassed on national stage.
Cal is HOF coach that won number 8 for UK.. what have you done as a coach besides breaking negative records one after another?
show some respect for those who brought glory to UK before you were giving the chance to coach UK.
he pretty much used a word salad with all the key phrases that would pease BBN 2 years ago, and use the anti Cal sentiment to his benefit.
now 2 years later , as a coach with record breaking negative results , he plays the same card , lets bash Cal and compare to the last 4 years of Cal.
sorry Pope , people moved on from Cal and clearly judge you for whom you are, and don’t associate with Cal’ s tenure.
wrong message buddy to put out there buddy a day after our team got historically embarrassed on national stage.
Cal is HOF coach that won number 8 for UK.. what have you done as a coach besides breaking negative records one after another?
show some respect for those who brought glory to UK before you were giving the chance to coach UK.
True those years sucked but Pope using those years to make his 2 here look like progress is crazy. He should try teaching fundamental basketball, which isn't crazy, simple things like blocking out, playing defense etc etc. I still cannot even begin to understand how a man that played for Pitino cannot teach tough hard nosed defense, totally baffling.
He should have said we lost more games this year than John Calipari first 3 years combined
Pope before season "This team reminds me of 96"
Pope after season "Well, we were better than Cal's twilight years"
Pope after season "Well, we were better than Cal's twilight years"
Pope is getting no one worth a damn! This time next year, we are all, even the Pope nut-huggers (who will all be on ignore), are going to be talking about what a COLOSSAL mistake it was to run this dumpster wreck back another season!
Do the delusional Pope boot lickers not see that their idol is making them look more and more like complete fools by the day?
It’s almost, gulp, like they enjoy it
It’s almost, gulp, like they enjoy it
Sorry, but I’m done with you silly Pope worship here, Lee Ann
Don’t waste your time on these Pope Clowns, I’m completely done trying to reason with them.
Golden was 40-29 after 2 years at Florida against much easier schedules. He also had a missed tourney and a first round knockout yet you claim would not have been calling for his firing?
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Why do so many of you keep saying 13 years when this is his 11th season as a coach? As invested and relentless as you guys are you should at least know the basic facts.
If you look at schedule difficulty ratings his two seasons have been the two hardest in school history at 14.04 and 12.73. We have rated above 11 in schedule difficulty 7 times and have never loss less than 10 games in those seasons. When injuries are added to that the results while being disappointing are not all that shocking.
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Check out the Kentucky Wildcats College Basketball History, Stats, Records, Polls, Leaders and More College Basketball Stats at Sports-Reference.com
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I don't think all is lost on Pope's recruiting.
He wasn't hired his first year until mid April. The portal is about to bust open soon and Pope will at least be able to approach players and talk about generous playing time even on the bench along with a lucrative NIL package....JMI notwithstanding
My assumption is he had a fast learning curve on the pitfalls of buying role players and not negotiating with impact players
He wasn't hired his first year until mid April. The portal is about to bust open soon and Pope will at least be able to approach players and talk about generous playing time even on the bench along with a lucrative NIL package....JMI notwithstanding
My assumption is he had a fast learning curve on the pitfalls of buying role players and not negotiating with impact players
That’s true. He has only had 23 months to build relationships with these high school kids. Even Billy g can tell you you have to start when they are 11 or 12. How else can we land Michael Avery and Dakota euton?
I think the portal is more promising than giving a freshmen $2m to play for you
He’s not getting the top players in the portal either. Never has. Never will. Dude is a weird terrible coach. No one wants to play for him.
We are acting like Mark Progress was teleported from the moon in the role of UK head coach. Wasn’t he previously the head coach of another power 5 conference school? You would think in the previous role he was building relationships with those 11 or 12 years old that he could continue to build when he moved to UK on a bigger platform?
didn’t Mark Progress bring in a record number of assistant coaches and he claimed he had one of the best staffing in the country ? Weren’t these assistants also building relationships with the 11 and 12 years old that they capitaliz on while at UK?
Didnt Mark Progress refused to keep a great recruiter on his staff OA, though Orlando was almost begging to stay. Look at roster he build at ILL.
So let’s cut out all these excuses.
Being at UK should make recruiting much easier because of the name recognition. Add to that the insane amount of NIL that Mark Progress had at his disposal .
Cal didn’t lose a bit on recruiting when he come to UK. By contrary, I would argue that his recruiting power become even better because of UK platform.
I’m a die hard Kentucky fan and if I had nba aspirations I wouldn’t play for pope for 20 million NIL
While I appreciate your perspective, Pope knew the schedule while he was recruiting. Maybe he should have recruited a backup point guard and avoided signing a guy who was recovering from an ACL injury. It's also not just the number of losses, but how we lost. Losing to Gonzaga by 30+ points and having the widest score differential in an NCAA tourney loss since 1972 aren't just losses, they are fundamental breakdowns for a program that shouldn't have them.If you look at schedule difficulty ratings his two seasons have been the two hardest in school history at 14.04 and 12.73. We have rated above 11 in schedule difficulty 7 times and have never loss less than 10 games in those seasons. When injuries are added to that the results while being disappointing are not all that shocking.
Kentucky Wildcats Men's Basketball Index | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
Check out the Kentucky Wildcats College Basketball History, Stats, Records, Polls, Leaders and More College Basketball Stats at Sports-Reference.com
Just keep lowering the bar and picking up the participation trophies. We sure ain't winning any championship trophies.
So finishing 9th in the conference and making the round of 32 in the NCAAT with a $22 million NIL budget is progress?? Just get the boosters to ante up $100 million we might be able to buy a championship. We sure ain't going to earn it the old fashioned way.
I was t so optimistic when the season started. I was seriously worried about the rost
he didn’t do anything other than accept a job he wasn’t qualified for. He’s doing exactly what he’s done everywhere else. He’s doing exactly what Mitch wants him to do.