I didn’t say you aren’t consistent. I’m saying I can’t see how anyone who attempts to be consistent is going to come away with the conclusion that the 2025 team wasn’t above average. Particularly if you are looking at all of our teams. But I’m not the police, you do you.
And I don’t see how anyone can come to the conclusion that 2025 was an above average season. What exactly made it above average? Again 7th place finish, 12 losses, blown out in the quarterfinals of the sec tournament, and blown out in the sweet 16. What about that makes it above average?
I’m not typing all that again, man. I not only explained it in detail but also showed how it stacks up to every year in the 21st century lol. I’m good man. Do you.
It does not stack up though, you don’t explain anything. What about it makes it an above average season? It was mediocre I don’t know why that’s hard for you to accept
A lot of bold statements without any substance. Can you give a better critique than this or are you the intern who thinks we need to fire the janitor in order to improve efficiency? BTW, I threw that one in there because that is EXACTLY what I did. It made things much better and that is no joke.
I was working as a transitional Executive Manager and hired to clean up an organization in crisis. The janitor (or maintenance supervisor) was a toxic influence. He spent hours in the administrative assistant's office bashing everyone and anyone. He was also spying on meetings and spreading gossip. He rarely did any real work and when he was asked by the Communications Director to fix a light in the hallway outside her office he sent her a nasty email. I have a ton more but you get the point.
I don’t think you understand that my opinion belongs to me. I was kind enough to explain my opinion and rather than you understanding it and agreeing to disagree, you chose to reject it because I didn’t use the same criteria as you. I couldn’t have explained it any more clearly.
I just don’t think it’s actually consistent,for example you have 2014 as bad but somehow last year was above average? They’re roughly the same to me, how are you making that difference?
2014 regular season was bad. The postseason was great. Very simple…the full body of work for the 2014 season amounted to an 8 seed. The full body of work for the 2025 season amounted to an 3 seed. The AVERAGE Kentucky season statistically since seeding began is between a four seed and a five seed. The reason I choose tournament seeding as the objective standard to parse with is because it encompasses all factors about a team’s regular season AKA it disallows cherry picking.
Yes, I’d say as you move down to worse seeds each time — of course the rating gets progressively worse. 2023 was a 6 seed, which is better than 2026 which was a 7 seed, which was better than 2014, 2006, 2007 which were 8 seeds.
Everything considered, I believe if 2014 is bad then 2026 should be considered bad. Not a whole lot of difference between a 7 and 8 seed and we both saw both those seasons play out. Let me ask you this because this is where I believe I’m having a disconnect with you, do you believe what you’re calling an above average season is what the actual standard should be, if that is popes ceiling should he just be the coach as long as he wants?
Uk has historically been one of the top teams in the SEC. I’m looking at what you’ve presented and I’m not sure why you’re not factoring in how far we’ve fallen in conference during Popes time here. The conference has improved, but it’s fair to say that our program has dropped off in our own conference. That’s what he’s saying to you and that’s relevant. I’m not sure why you keep dismissing that. You’re putting a lot of faith in the committee’s seeding and it’s never perfect either. In my opinion the goal should be to stay on top of the conference like we have historically even if other schools have improved. Finishing 7th and 9th isn’t acceptable and isn’t above average no matter how you wanna manipulate it.
I think people often have two different meanings for “standards”.
I ask that because in my mind an above average season would be considered good to me, so it makes me think you’re okay with the performance. Has nothing to do with anything you’ve said specifically about pope
I don’t care about conference stuff when I’m comparing the quality of two teams. Really, if you’re trying to compare UK teams across history, you’ll find factoring that in becomes a serious problem IMO. In the 40s, the Southern conference or SEC was essentially a bunch of YMCA teams, in the mid 1990s it was top heavy but weak from the middle to the bottom, in the late 2000s-mid 2010s it was very weak, and in the 2020s it became historically great. If you want to factor in conference stuff you can, but I won’t be doing it. Committee gets stuff wrong? Sure. But those NCAA tournament committees have a lot less bias as a whole than fans are when considering their own team. I like to remove my own emotion as much as possible when I’m parsing things. It doesn’t make me “right” but it does allow me to be consistent, something that is rare around these parts.
Apples-Oranges.
Average is just that. Literally average. I’m a fan just like anyone else and I want to win. So, no I’m not asking for a lifetime contract for a coach that has only average seasons.
You do exactly what you’re accused of my friend. Go to the Kansas board and ask them if they think they’ve had an above average season if they finish 7th place in the Big 12.
No. I’m not making a category error. I’ve clearly defined my methodology. You’re appealing to another fanbase or your own view of my methodology.
You seem like a nice guy, so I don’t want it to sound like I’m arguing with you or being in anyway disrespectful. I don’t see a point in explaining any further. I just don’t see us agreeing whatsoever on this and that’s ok. It’s not a big deal.
So you attempt to poke holes in my method, when I explained it very clearly and the reason why I do it that way? Then, when asked for your methodology you exit? Fair enough I guess.
I told you what I disagreed with and why. My reasoning is easy to understand. Pope has to do better in year 3 in several aspects of coaching if he’s going to make it here. Basically, getting back to where we want to be and being back at the top of our conference goes hand in hand. Kentucky has higher standards for basketball than most programs and it’s because of our history of success. I believe that’s something to be proud of. Popes not backing down from those standards and I’ll be rooting for him to turn this around. I really hope he can do it.
That’s not a methodology, my friend.
You seem to be trying your best to twist my words around so I’m not even sure if it’s worth trying to discuss this with you anymore at this point. You’re mad and are just wanting to argue. How is their bias in what I’m saying when the coach himself has said he has to do better? “My feelings” has nothing to do with Pope placing 7th and 9th in the SEC or anything else the man has done as our coach that people criticize him for. I don’t get why you’re not seeing what I’m saying? Like I told you, ask a Kansas fan if 7th place in the Big 12 is an above average season or any other blue blood program.
I’m actually not mad at all. And I 100% understand your surface level low hanging fruit of an argument. I gave you a full methodology and your response is a critique about conference rank. Mind you almost the entire conference was separated by one game, which makes the rank almost meaningless in the grand scheme of a full season to me. But I digress. You’ve yet again failed to provide a replacement model. I like your posting style and I would be happy to engage with you on future topics. As for this one, you’ve utterly failed to demonstrate anything beyond a petty critique of my model.
