Pope's proven he can coach here, he just can't shake the injury bug and slow starts. If he gets that monkey off his back, I believe we're going to see the fruits.
Travis Branham crystal ball Kentucky
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Pope's proven he can coach here, he just can't shake the injury bug and slow starts. If he gets that monkey off his back, I believe we're going to see the fruits.
I hope he has figured out by now how to block out when rebounding and weak side help defense . To let Moreno develop a 10 to 12 feet mid range jumper too.
Then, maybe we need to do better. It all matters. Postseason matters most, but you’re only winning a championship at Kentucky one out of every 11 seasons historically. Since the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams, we have won less than 1 per 12 seasons. We have other things that also should be celebrated like our all-time wins record, all-time wins percentage, conference championships, rankings, etc.
Some of our best teams didn’t even make a final four:
1970, 2010, 2003, 1964.
If we start thinking March Madness is all that matters, we have given UCLA the top spot all-time. As Kentucky fans, we should consider the entire body of work. That’s why we are #1.
I agree. Pope didn’t forget how to coach. Many of us were all aboard the Pope train before the catastrophic injuries in year one — because he was killing it. I see no reason he can’t do it here and be good enough that we don’t want someone else.
That’s our point, sure. I’m not rooting for my hypothetical to happen. Just saying imo if this team goes 25-6 in the regular season and makes it to Saturday/Sunday of the SEC and then gets tripped up as a 2 seed, he isn’t getting fired.
If we missed on a few others yea. He can def coach but he just is a hard guy to like and not sure his style will ever win a title. Jai Lucas is a guy who will be around for a long time with huge connections. Luke Murray is a guy to watch down the road. I just don’t think Donovan will work in college unless he really adapts to the new style of play. He’s old and been out the college scene for a while too.
Agreed. Personally I hope pope is here for as long as he wants because I believe he will get us on top and keep us there. He absolutely can coach just has had some bad luck along with some bad fits he brought in. He is learning fast and adapting which is a sign of a great coach imo.
Yeah, but dont think people are projecting a 6 loss regular season.
I’m not either. It was a hypothetical not a prediction.
Just curious for anyone that might know. Are his other options besides college able to pay him even close to what he would make at a UK or Michigan?
Jack Pilgrim doesn't seem to know jack ****.
If a person, whether Pilgrim or someone else, believes they have actual insight, I want to know. This constant pissing about people who provide information is infantile. If you don’t find them credible, telling us each time the person is mentioned is a sign of real insecurity.
i think i heard on one of the podcasts he plays for one of the B teams. i'm sure his club would love to keep him but i'm guessing those dudes on that level are going to clear 2M-4M a year. they have to fill out the other roster spots. but just an assumption.
Jack is his middle name. Dontknow is his first.
Year old but interesting link.
Essentially after converting to dollars it looks like Barcelona’s basketball budget has been around 33-35 million dollars a year. That counts coaches, senior team(their real club), and youth clubs. Hard to fathom they could ever justify a massive contract like is being discussed for a youth team player that barely plays on the main team.
Yeah that’s great….
Except that no none of us know jack either.
Who exactly does know anything? If you don’t have a name, that means we have nothing left to do but sit here with blank stares until a commitment is confirmed?
That would be quite boring…
I think the reasonable solution is this:
- If someone is the type of person who gets upset by getting recruiting details that may end up incorrect, it may be best for them to take a break and come back after a commitment happens.
- If someone is the type of person who likes hearing the rumors during portal season, they should always take everything with a grain of salt, knowing that in the modern portal world everything can 180 in the blink of an eye.
There is no right or wrong to these things, but people like Pilgrim and Polacheck are doing the best the can with the current circumstances.
Saying his record is the same as Stoop's was an extreme exaggeration. At least in this case when you say you don't accept excuses it is the same as saying you refuse to recognize factual realities. There is a lot of weight on having success this season. I don't think there is any debate about that.
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This is what I mean there are ways to have doubts with their information without being a prick about it
Like I have pointed out numerous times even if the number was accurate it was not representative of what was actually on the court most of the year.
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Absolutely. It isn’t the knockout punch that some think it is. The people that oppose the coach are going to harp on it, saying it definitely means we should have made a Final Four. No excuses.
The people that unequivocally defend the coach will say it absolutely wasn’t true — the number was fictitious.
Truth is, none of us really know. If you held a gun to my head, I’d bet the number was less than $22M, but like you said, we never got to play with a healthy $22M roster anyway.
That’s why it all rides on this year to tell the story. If Pope crushes it this year, everyone reasonable will look back at the 2026 team and say injuries played a significant role. If Pope flounders, people will look back at 2026 and say injuries played a much less significant role in the failures of that group.
The problem in the meantime is many of us want to be dogmatic about it right now.
It got buried pages back but my “why” question was in response to someone who said we should save our energy until he commits. My question is why? It was posted at a time when it was looking really good for UK.
It’s the middle of June, why not get excited and talk about the possibilities, potential, combinations. I just don’t get the desire to want to dampen anything positive. If we don’t get him, we don’t get him.
Imagine we posted literally nothing that is speculation or from any insider.
This place would be a ghost town right now……
I think there are many that don’t understand the changing of the recruiting landscape. I think they’re honestly telling us what they’ve heard.Imagine we posted literally nothing that is speculation or from any insider.
This place would be a ghost town right now……
Example: I don’t think Wright was ever coming to UK but his agents sure made everybody and their mother think he was.
I think paid insiders, who earn money doing this, can absolutely be held accountable for being terrible at their jobs. If you don't like people saying that, maybe skip over it.
You know what, though, some of us sometimes do know jack. My issue with Jack Pilgrim is that he gets paid to get intel. That's how he makes his money. If he's constantly wrong I think it's fair game to discuss. Absolutely.
Able and actually did are not the same thing. I don't get any kickbacks if we don't spend X dollars.
I just think the number was exaggerated a fair amount
It triggers an extension so the writing is mostly on the wall.
Another player same scenario. UK media sources say UK interested. UK media sources plus everyone with a web site says some other school interested. UK signs recruit. In regard to Serbian, Milan will help close the deal. He’s just 17 and his parents have to sign, not him. I doubt having Milan on the team will hurt. Just my opinion
False. Your AI quote MISCHARACTERIZES Pope’s actual quote. You really should read articles that you quote instead of using AI to summarize them.I did not indicate I did not believe UK could come up with that kind of money but Pope absolutely did say that number was not accurate for last season. Did you actually read what was posted? A large portion of whatever was spent was injured and unavailable most of the year anyway.
"Mark Pope has explicitly challenged the accuracy of reports claiming the University of Kentucky spent $22 million on NIL for the 2025-26 season, calling the figure a "distraction" and criticizing the media's accuracy. While he initially deflected specific questions about individual player offers to avoid giving reporters "headlines," he later stated that such financial narratives are often exaggerated or false."
Mark Pope takes issue with accuracy of Kentucky’s reported $22 million in NIL spending
Kentucky head basketball coach Mark Pope called out the accuracy of reporting after reports emerged of the Wildcats spending $22 million NIL.awfulannouncing.com
The “distraction” in Pope’s quote refers to the pressure NIL puts on him, not the figure itself. He did not actually explicitly challenge the accuracy of the money amount. He referred to media accuracy in general, but did not connect it to the amount of $22 million.
I don't think you said anything offended me. The other guy didn't even offend me. I just don't think you need to save somebody that tries to provide a service here you don't know Jack **** that's all.
My comment wasn't to you but why you said why it was to the other guy
Sure, man, I don’t think my point is that you have to believe anything anyone is saying. I don’t believe anyone is truly plugged in with 100% accuracy anymore. But some of y’all complain everytime someone shares anything. Well, that’s fine…..there’s only so many times people are going to share stuff before people get tired of y’all killing the messenger. I may be done myself with it. I’ve noticed a few others have toned it down as well. There’s really not a whole lot else to talk about in June. No one has to share stuff and the people that are doing so are doing it because they love the community. Even those who don’t trust the original source could perhaps refrain from copy/pasting “why you do disssss? Jack suuuuuuucks” each time.
Does that make sense?