Kentucky's success

[VC99]

The reason Kentucky has had so much success is we almost always had
A.) Great coach
and/or
B.) Great players

But now if we don't think Pope is a great coach... and he can't land great players (and can only get 3rd options), then what is the competitive advantage? What separates us from other schools? While we still have the same expectations? If Pope can't utilize Kentucky to leverage an advantage over other programs than you can logically expect middle of the pack results, which is why we've finished in the middle of the pack in the SEC in both years. If Pope isn't a great coach and can't get great players, there is literally nothing that separates us from other programs.

 

[Captain Coy]

The hard truth. We had a coach that got a lot of great players, but he didn't know what to do with those great players. College basketball has turned into a nerd game, it's all about the math and metrics. The previous administration had no chance of ever adjusting to that, so we went out and got the biggest nerd that we could find. For all of his flaws, both portal seasons he has been able to know the players to go after. He is elite when it comes to scouting players, but getting them to sign on the dotted line has been an issue so far. Recruiting is the lifeblood of a program and he has to find a way to always be closing.

 

[RedwoodHigh]

Watching Ky bench & especially Pope on sidelines was all any observer needed to see.

 

[ftp000]

Amazing. OP has a total of 86 posts, almost all negative, and has now started 3 negative threads in the last few hours.
I'm sure it doesn't mean anything that he wants to keep as much negativity up front and constant...right?

 

[VC99]

Amazing. OP has a total of 86 posts, almost all negative, and has now started 3 negative threads in the last few hours.
I'm sure it doesn't mean anything that he wants to keep as much negativity up front and constant...right?

If Mark Pope would have simply won games or landed elite players, there would be no negativity. Fans aren't in control, we only react to what is happening. There is a lot of fan negativity that means the program/staff are doing things to illicit negative reactions.

 

[Loucatfan30]

The hard truth. We had a coach that got a lot of great players, but he didn't know what to do with those great players. College basketball has turned into a nerd game, it's all about the math and metrics. The previous administration had no chance of ever adjusting to that, so we went out and got the biggest nerd that we could find. For all of his flaws, both portal seasons he has been able to know the players to go after. He is elite when it comes to scouting players, but getting them to sign on the dotted line has been an issue so far. Recruiting is the lifeblood of a program and he has to find a way to always be closing.

He is not elite at anything other than ruining a program!

 

[Captain Coy]

He is not elite at anything other than ruining a program!

Totally disagree. All the guys he has targeted since he's been here have been the best players in the portal. He knows the players to go after.

 

[Mossip]

Well then fire his as.s and sign him up for a high stakes fantasy basketball league. Total nonsense

 

[Yardeth]

Totally disagree. All the guys he has targeted since he's been here have been the best players in the portal. He knows the players to go after.

Just can’t offer them more money and wants more than one to play together to make a Super Team and we can’t land one Top 20 player in the portal, now we didn’t lose any Top 20 talent either

 

[Supercat67]

Totally disagree. All the guys he has targeted since he's been here have been the best players in the portal. He knows the players to go after.

"he knows the players to go after" REALLY? Have you watched the last 2 years?

 

[UK_fan_41102]

Totally disagree. All the guys he has targeted since he's been here have been the best players in the portal. He knows the players to go after.

Takes a real recruiting savant to know to go after players like Stokes, Wright, Yaxel, etc.

 

[Captain Coy]

Takes a real recruiting savant to know to go after players like Stokes, Wright, Yaxel, etc.

Butler, Amari Williams, Ansley Almonor, Andrew Carr, Chaz Lanier, Brea, Liam McNeely, Silas Demary, Braylon Mullins, Yaxel, Richie Saunders, Donovan Dent, Lamar Wilkerson, Caleb Wilson etc. There's a ton of guys that have come or gotten close to coming that have been really impactful players across the country. I think last year they missed on every single one of their first guys and the portal was really weak on PG's. There were like 5 high level PGs, and then the drop off was huge. This year it's really weak on Bigs, and luckily we have our Big already.