Are apologies in order ?

May 18, 2022
367
441
63
Pope whiffed all spring LOL. Are you kidding me? MM fell in his lap cause he had more money than everyone else cause no one big signed up here, so he just shoved $6.5 million to make him come here. Believe you me, if there were some more programs offering the same money, he would not have come here. The fact that he almost went to Louisville for less money and less minutes shows you how horrible of a recruiter Pope is. So no, there are no apologies.
Moron.
 
May 18, 2022
367
441
63
Jack Pilgrim and Jacob Polacheck have stated this is

Nah. You'll get no apology from me any more than a teacher should apologize for being critical with his students who failed most of their previous tests. When the students start to raise their scores, the teacher will give them the appropriate praise. That's what I'll do for Pope in this case. I'm extremely happy for him and for BBN with this news. Hampton is a huge get and he reminds me of Rudy Gay.

I give Pope all the credit in the world for the last week. He's done in the last week what he was paid to do, but to assert that I should apologize for being critical of his recruiting perfomance up until recently is the equivalent of saying that it was was UK-level before the last week. It wasn't, and you know that.

I want Pope to succeed. I want him to land elite players. Believe it or not, I want the best for this program just like you do.
You do not want what is best for the program. You want the program to do what you want them to do. Because you know better than everyone else.
 

kyhankypanky

All-American
Mar 21, 2004
4,461
7,801
113
And what exactly do you want him to apologize for from year one?
Wretched, embarrassing *** whipping by Tennessee in the biggest game of the year. Team and coach looked lost and overwhelmed despite having 5 days to prepare against a team they had handled before. But yeah, nothing to see there.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: senonesy

kyhankypanky

All-American
Mar 21, 2004
4,461
7,801
113
Great post.
Ky Basketball is back & it’s gotta be driving the “Haters” bonkers.
Ky basketball will be back when we are top 5 throughout the season and a legit final 4 team. And not in one year out of five. It is not back by signing a single top 10 HS recruit and paying a lot for one good player. The bar for success has been so lowered by the Popists, it’s scary.
 

Chadrock

All-Conference
Jul 12, 2004
3,052
2,052
103
To all of my friends on here who said MP could not recruit because he was 'dorky'.
MP could not recruit because of his 'religion'.
MP could not relate to young players of today.
Things are looking up with MM coming and now 5 star Ryan Hampton commiting to us
MM's Dad was quoting as saying MP won him over.
Hampton said MP did not sugar coat anything
Bottom line, things are looking up and MP is our coach and I hope we can now all rally behind him and this team.
Not to mention if Jamal Crawford come on board !
Really excited about this season and the future of our BB program.
Not to be mean, but what really did Pope do? The only reason rosters are what are is because there’s a **** ton of money willingly thrown at players.
 
  • Like
Reactions: kyhankypanky

812scottj

All-Conference
Apr 24, 2014
1,965
3,946
113
I believe Pope is an honest, upstanding man. When these recruits realize that honesty is a rare find in college recruiting, the right players will come to Kentucky. It's no surprise that Stokes and Pope were not a match.
I always thought that’s why Tubby would be able to recruit at a high level. Unfortunately, many athletes come from broken homes. Tubby was a a fantastic father figure…if I were a single mother, I’d trust my child to Tubby. Things are different now, but Pope is the kind of man I’d trust my child with. Cal? Nah. Pitino? Nah….unless fame and money was the goal b
 
  • Like
Reactions: BBNinSCar

KentuckyMildCats

All-Conference
Jun 6, 2018
1,220
2,384
113
To all of my friends on here who said MP could not recruit because he was 'dorky'.
MP could not recruit because of his 'religion'.
MP could not relate to young players of today.
Things are looking up with MM coming and now 5 star Ryan Hampton commiting to us
MM's Dad was quoting as saying MP won him over.
Hampton said MP did not sugar coat anything
Bottom line, things are looking up and MP is our coach and I hope we can now all rally behind him and this team.
Not to mention if Jamal Crawford come on board !
Really excited about this season and the future of our BB program.
They won't, they'll just give all credit to mo Williams. Though they were mocking Pope when he signed Williams as an assistant saying we gotta sign a kids dad to get a recruit. These people arent fans.
 
Jul 6, 2025
2,387
6,794
113
To all of my friends on here who said MP could not recruit because he was 'dorky'.
MP could not recruit because of his 'religion'.
MP could not relate to young players of today.
Things are looking up with MM coming and now 5 star Ryan Hampton commiting to us
MM's Dad was quoting as saying MP won him over.
Hampton said MP did not sugar coat anything
Bottom line, things are looking up and MP is our coach and I hope we can now all rally behind him and this team.
Not to mention if Jamal Crawford come on board !
Really excited about this season and the future of our BB program.

Apologies are not in order. He sucked recruiting and kept missing sure things when we were the highest bidder. That's well worth criticism.

Also he reeled in two straight important gets. That deserves praise and hopefully its a sign he's turning it around.

It doesn't have to be a binary choice.
 

KYFOSSIL

Heisman
Jan 13, 2005
8,231
11,238
62
Pope whiffed all spring LOL. Are you kidding me? MM fell in his lap cause he had more money than everyone else cause no one big signed up here, so he just shoved $6.5 million to make him come here. Believe you me, if there were some more programs offering the same money, he would not have come here. The fact that he almost went to Louisville for less money and less minutes shows you how horrible of a recruiter Pope is. So no, there are no apologies.
When you go out of your way to devalue something someone does good it doesn't matter what they do. You'll never be happy with it.
 

KYFOSSIL

Heisman
Jan 13, 2005
8,231
11,238
62
Pope recruited two guys last year that were 5*. No, no one knows who owes him anything. He blew it last year. We had what he called a Ferrari. It’s a year before the kid even comes to campus and we’ve seen guys not make it under Pope. Not to mention, I mean, he has to win this year or he’s gone man is that simple a recruit sitting there for next year isn’t gonna save his butt. And can Mark Pope go a year of being normal? I mean, he may be able to do it in spurts. There’s a long way to go before this guy makes campus and if he doesn’t make sweet 16, I mean there’s gonna be no argument to keep him. And what his daughter’s dad was classless.. JJ’s dad has put far more into being a wildcat and Mark Pope has. Under no circumstances should his daughters have been mocking a Lexington guy. And for that matter, you don’t mock any of our players former players.. coming from the coaches daughter’s mouth is disgusting. Means they talk about it in the house. And what will happen if we need JJ down the road? He’s not coming to Kentucky no that was classless and speaks to the conversations that go on in the pope household.
🤡
 

Dward13

All-Conference
Feb 5, 2008
10,260
1,638
72
He’s gotta win some games. Show me a legit top 5 team from start to finish. Then all of us doubters can confidently and happily say we were wrong. Pope being great would be the best thing to happen to UK basketball since Pitino took the helm nearly 40 years ago.
 

CRZ4UK

Heisman
Jun 6, 2008
5,062
10,107
103
To all of my friends on here who said MP could not recruit because he was 'dorky'.
MP could not recruit because of his 'religion'.
MP could not relate to young players of today.
Things are looking up with MM coming and now 5 star Ryan Hampton commiting to us
MM's Dad was quoting as saying MP won him over.
Hampton said MP did not sugar coat anything
Bottom line, things are looking up and MP is our coach and I hope we can now all rally behind him and this team.
Not to mention if Jamal Crawford come on board !
Really excited about this season and the future of our BB program.
I think JMI is changing some or the ways they do things. I never believed for a second it was because Pope was goofy. Smokescreen because our AD hamstrung us with a company to recruit.
 

Farsight Clone

All-American
Aug 30, 2025
2,881
5,746
103
I never understood why people want to always jump the gun without the full scope of evidence?

With Pope landing Milan and now Hampton are big gets. He still missed out on a lot of really good players. You can't put your head in the sand and forget that.

I think it's fair that everyone wants Pope to succeed, but want and will are two different things. Pope still has to prove he can. Getting Milan and Hampton are good starts to rectify that.

Pope still has in game coaching issues outside of the recruiting issues that still must be answered.
  • Will Pope still have bad sub patterns that ruin momentum and game rhythm?
  • Will Pope teach multiple forms of defense to combat any defensive weaknesses?
  • Will Pope call a timeout to stop the other team's momentum?
  • Will Pope have more discipline for players who don't do what they are told?
  • Will Pope leverage other offensive play styles other than zoom action? Maybe 4 Out.
  • Will the team give up when they are getting man handled? (This happened in year 1 and more in year 2)
There are many more issues but those are the ones on top of my head.

So many fans on this board always jump the gun without taking in the full scope of what needs to happen. Lets see him coach this team. If it can be like his first year, and improved of his first year team, lets potentially apologize. But consistency is key.

There are still many of us on here who are still skeptical of Pope's coaching ability. He relies on way too much analytics which is a massive issue. Analytics should be in lieu of, not replacement.

Are the "pope deniers" happy we got Milan and Hampton? Absolutely. Still doesn't mean Pope can get the best out of them and improve Kentucky's winning.

I suspect there will be a few on here who don't read this, because they lack basic reading comprehension and will troll.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cornbreadnmilk

KYFOSSIL

Heisman
Jan 13, 2005
8,231
11,238
62
I never understood why people want to always jump the gun without the full scope of evidence?

With Pope landing Milan and now Hampton are big gets. He still missed out on a lot of really good players. You can't put your head in the sand and forget that.

I think it's fair that everyone wants Pope to succeed, but want and will are two different things. Pope still has to prove he can. Getting Milan and Hampton are good starts to rectify that.

Pope still has in game coaching issues outside of the recruiting issues that still must be answered.
  • Will Pope still have bad sub patterns that ruin momentum and game rhythm?
  • Will Pope teach multiple forms of defense to combat any defensive weaknesses?
  • Will Pope call a timeout to stop the other team's momentum?
  • Will Pope have more discipline for players who don't do what they are told?
  • Will Pope leverage other offensive play styles other than zoom action? Maybe 4 Out.
  • Will the team give up when they are getting man handled? (This happened in year 1 and more in year 2)
There are many more issues but those are the ones on top of my head.

So many fans on this board always jump the gun without taking in the full scope of what needs to happen. Lets see him coach this team. If it can be like his first year, and improved of his first year team, lets potentially apologize. But consistency is key.

There are still many of us on here who are still skeptical of Pope's coaching ability. He relies on way too much analytics which is a massive issue. Analytics should be in lieu of, not replacement.

Are the "pope deniers" happy we got Milan and Hampton? Absolutely. Still doesn't mean Pope can get the best out of them and improve Kentucky's winning.

I suspect there will be a few on here who don't read this, because they lack basic reading comprehension and will troll.
So you first write the freaking Gettysburg address and then you already predict people have basic comprehension issues and will troll you. That's a pretty arrogant stance.. if you were honest to yourself, you could look at every coach and you could break down what they do wrong what you and others don't do is point out the things that he's done right. You mentioned nothing about what he did the form of very solid team with no players and very little time to start with his first year.. you mentioned nothing about setting the record for top 15 wins at Kentucky in a year. You don't mention those outstanding coaches you compared to who he has beaten. He also made several coaching corrections to turn games around. I do agree there are some problems that need to be corrected no doubt, but I can say that about every coach.
You and others on here focus only on the negative and then some of you. I'm not sure if you're one of them, but others will devalue any positive. Not to mention the personal attacks.
 
  • Love
Reactions: Cowtown Cat
May 18, 2022
367
441
63
Not to be mean, but what really did Pope do? The only reason rosters are what are is because there’s a **** ton of money willingly thrown at players.
Isn’t that how all teams recruit now? What is the difference between us and St. John’s? Duke? UNC? louisville?
 

PhattyJ

Senior
Jun 24, 2015
282
657
93
No, get a top 5 team preseason and advance to a final four and then yeah they darn sure will be.
And I hope he does it.
 

Farsight Clone

All-American
Aug 30, 2025
2,881
5,746
103
So you first write the freaking Gettysburg address and then you already predict people have basic comprehension issues and will troll you. That's a pretty arrogant stance.. if you were honest to yourself, you could look at every coach and you could break down what they do wrong what you and others don't do is point out the things that he's done right. You mentioned nothing about what he did the form of very solid team with no players and very little time to start with his first year.. you mentioned nothing about setting the record for top 15 wins at Kentucky in a year. You don't mention those outstanding coaches you compared to who he has beaten. He also made several coaching corrections to turn games around. I do agree there are some problems that need to be corrected no doubt, but I can say that about every coach.
You and others on here focus only on the negative and then some of you. I'm not sure if you're one of them, but others will devalue any positive. Not to mention the personal attacks.
The irony here is you're doing exactly what you're accusing me of doing.

You say I only focused on negatives, yet I specifically said Milan and Hampton were big gets and that they were good starts toward correcting recruiting concerns.

At the same time, you're only listing positives while completely ignoring the concerns I brought up. If acknowledging recruiting wins isn't enough for you to say I'm being fair, then why is acknowledging top-15 wins enough for you to say Pope has proven himself?

The entire point of my post was that people are drawing conclusions before we have the full picture.

You responded with roster construction, top-15 wins, and notable victories. Great. Those are positives. I never denied any of them.

What you didn't address were the actual questions I raised:
  • Substitution patterns
  • Defensive adjustments
  • Timeout management
  • Offensive flexibility
  • Player discipline
  • Team response to adversity
Saying "every coach has flaws" doesn't answer any of those concerns.

As for the Gettysburg Address comment, I wrote a few paragraphs. If that's the Gettysburg Address, then your response isn't exactly Cliff Notes either.

My position is pretty simple: I want Pope to succeed. I'm glad we landed Milan and Hampton. I also think there are still legitimate questions about whether he can consistently maximize talent and coach at the level Kentucky expects.

That's not being a hater. That's waiting for more evidence before declaring the case closed.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: SenseMaker_Cats

KYFOSSIL

Heisman
Jan 13, 2005
8,231
11,238
62
The irony here is you're doing exactly what you're accusing me of doing.

You say I only focused on negatives, yet I specifically said Milan and Hampton were big gets and that they were good starts toward correcting recruiting concerns.

At the same time, you're only listing positives while completely ignoring the concerns I brought up. If acknowledging recruiting wins isn't enough for you to say I'm being fair, then why is acknowledging top-15 wins enough for you to say Pope has proven himself?

The entire point of my post was that people are drawing conclusions before we have the full picture.

You responded with roster construction, top-15 wins, and notable victories. Great. Those are positives. I never denied any of them.

What you didn't address were the actual questions I raised:
  • Substitution patterns
  • Defensive adjustments
  • Timeout management
  • Offensive flexibility
  • Player discipline
  • Team response to adversity
Saying "every coach has flaws" doesn't answer any of those concerns.

As for the Gettysburg Address comment, I wrote a few paragraphs. If that's the Gettysburg Address, then your response isn't exactly Cliff Notes either.

My position is pretty simple: I want Pope to succeed. I'm glad we landed Milan and Hampton. I also think there are still legitimate questions about whether he can consistently maximize talent and coach at the level Kentucky expects.

That's not being a hater. That's waiting for more evidence before declaring the case closed.
I didn't mention the negative because you already took care of those. I agree there's much to improve upon and I'm looking forward to him work to do that but the one reality everybody ignores it. It's only been two years since Kentucky basketball coach.
 

howitis_rivals115807

All-Conference
Aug 28, 2001
4,858
1,224
113
I don't believe people are as dumb as they pretend to be when they argue online. Pope was historically bad last year, coaching, recruiting, player evaluation, handling the media, not seeming super weird to everyone alive. If pope does terrible people aren't going to like it and they will let him know it. If he does well they will also let him know it. but doing well at UK is top 10 and competing for final fours. Performance will dictate how people react to him. Not vibes.
 

BigBluefoot

All-American
Jul 4, 2025
1,866
6,942
113
Neither can the sunshine crowd.

It’s sad.

Today should be a happy day for every UK fan.
Precisely. Pope finally lands a couple of players and we have people think, 'how can is use this to bash the fanbase.'
Not sure what makes a person like that tick. Probably someone who thought calling us "microwave fans," and " call me when we are 2-10, " was genuis. No one owes Pope an apology for finally landing some dudes. It's his job which he is paid handsomely to do.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cornbreadnmilk

BigBluefoot

All-American
Jul 4, 2025
1,866
6,942
113
No fan loves Kentucky basketball, no fan loves the BBN more than our ouch. No one . This Internet world has ruined people. Why save for s9mething when I can charge it. I doubt Pope ever really wanted Stokes because next year he is gone and hope Kansas sees what many UK say. We got a team player.
Pope absolutely wanted Stokes or he wouldn't have invested so much time recruiting him. Good grief.